THIS IS A LITTLE OF WHAT WENT ON LAST WEEK…

"You'll get fired within minutes. I happen to be good friends with the boss."

Mary frowned. She knew that the minute she opened her mouth, she'd be out of a job, and that Oskar Ivanov would probably make it very hard for her to ever find another. She stood up and walked towards the door. "We're not done," She said over her shoulder, opening the door slowly and peeking out into the hallway. "Not by a long shot."

Shit, Kat thought nervously. I'm going to have to tell mama and papa before she tells them.





And this week…

Chapter Sixteen

"Wait, don't do it yet!"

The barber stopped just as he was about to cut the first lock of hair, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. He'd been about to start for nearly fifteen minutes, but Oksana interrupted him every time. He was trying to be very patient; after all, this was going to be the most powerful woman in Sanford in a couple of days. Carson looked at Oskar for help, but The old man shrugged, smiling.

"I don't want it too short, Carson." Oksana said again. She loved her hair, and she really didn't want to cut it down, but she agreed with her grandfather about it. People wouldn't take her seriously with her hair the way it was. In the last ten years, the trend for serious businesswomen was for either very short serious hair, or very long serious hair; some of the styles of the previous century were not longer acceptable in the business environment.

That fact didn't stop her from feeling like Sampson when Delilah cut his hair, bleeding him of all his strength. She knew the idea was absurd, that she would be the same person, but it still felt like an important piece of her was going to be missing.

Carson watched as she panicked and tried to smile reassuringly. "Why don't you close your eyes and let me do my thing?" He asked gently.

Oksana looked for her grandfather through the mirror, seeing that his attention was on his folder; the slight curving of his mouth betrayed his amusement, but he never looked up. Reining herself in, Oksana took a deep breath, clenched her eyes closed, and grasped the chair's arms in a death grip. She whimpered at the sound of the first snip, and continued to whimper as Carson worked on her hair.

After an interminable amount of time, Carson urged Oksana to open her eyes. She stared at herself in the mirror, turning her head from side to side as she took in her new hairstyle. Her hair was now cropped short at the sides, shaped neatly around her ears; the top of her hair was longer by an inch, long enough to be brushed in any direction that she wanted. Soft strands fell over her forehead, and she reached up and pushed them tentatively to the side.

"Oskar?" Carson said, glancing at his long time client, but Oskar was already staring.

Oskar had never realized what a truly gorgeous creature his granddaughter was. Owen had been incredibly handsome, and now obvious that he'd passed on his genes to his daughter. Oskar took her in through the mirror. Her very blue eyes seemed even bluer without the hair that used to fall over her forehead and covered her eyes. She looked grown, more like the adult that she was.

"Well?" Oksana said loudly, uncomfortable under his scrutiny.

Oskar swallowed past the lump in his throat. "You look great." He said. "It becomes you." If the women were falling all over themselves when Oksana had longer hair, they would faint when they saw her now.

Oksana looked herself over once again, her eyebrows rising. He's right, she thought, increasingly comfortable with her new haircut. She smiled at Carson, showing her satisfaction. "Thank you," She said, standing up after he removed the cape from around her neck.

"Anytime, young woman. You come to me when you need your touchup, alright?" He shook her hand.

"Most definitely," She grinned at him, handing him fifty dollars and gesturing him to keep the change.

"Why, thank you, Ms. Ivanov." A pleased Carson said as she and her grandfather left.