It’s been a long time since Caleb has come home to you crying, scissors in hand and regret obvious.
His keys are still in his hand as he pushes the apartment door open and the faint sound of her pacing greets him before she does.
She’s standing in the middle of the bathroom doorway, scissors dangling from her fingers like a guilty weapon, hair on the floor in sad little clumps. One side is an inch shorter than the other. The back looks like it lost a fight with a weed whacker. There’s a crooked swoop over her left ear that makes him want to laugh and cry at the same time.
As she looks up, her eyes are already glassy.
And just like that, years collapse into one heartbeat.
He’s 17 again, sitting on the edge of the bathtub while she sobs into his shirt, clutching those same damn scissors, bangs hacked to uneven stubs because she “wanted to look cool like the girls on TV.” He’d spent an hour fixing it with gran’s good comb, whispering “it’s okay, I got you” until she stopped hiccuping.
Now she’s twenty-something and still running to him the second something goes wrong with her hair.
He drops the keys on the counter, crosses the room in three strides, and kneels in front of her without a word.
Her lip wobbles. “I messed up.”
“Yeah,” he says, voice soft, already reaching for the scissors. “I can see that.”
She sniffles. “I was trying to do that cute wolf cut thing from TikTok.”
He bites the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. “I can see that too.”
He turns her gently toward the mirror, standing behind her, hands settling on her shoulders. Their eyes meet in the reflection, she’s pouting, unshed tears glistening and he looks at her steadily and reassuringly.
“Same as always, huh?” he murmurs, brushing a choppy strand behind her ear. “You freak out, you call me, I fix it.”
She nods, small and sheepish. “You’re the only one who’s ever been able to.”
He smiles. It’s slow, fond, the same smile he gave her when they were kids and the world felt too big.
“Sit,” he says, nudging her onto the closed toilet lid.
She obeys. He grabs the good scissors from the drawer (the ones he keeps sharpened just in case), combs his fingers through what’s left of her hair, and gets to work. He snips slowly, carefully, evening out the disaster with the patience of someone who’s done this a hundred times.
Every few cuts he pauses to kiss the crown of her head.
“Still cute,” he mutters after fixing the swoop. “Even when you butcher it.”
She snorts, a wet little laugh. “Liar.”
“Not lying.” Another kiss. “You could shave it all off and I’d still think you’re the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.”
And in all his learned skills as her personal hair stylist over the years, he’s finished in 10 minutes. Soft layers, a little messy in that intentional way, framing her face perfectly. He steps back, tilts her chin up, studies his work.
“There,” he says quietly. “All better.”
She turns to the mirror. Blinks. Touches the ends like she can’t believe it.
Then she spins around and buries her face in his chest, arms tight around his waist.
“Thank you,” she mumbles into his shirt.
He wraps her up, chin resting on her head, breathing her in.
“Anytime, trouble,” he whispers, kissing her hair. “You know I’ve got you.”