The next day I felt ready. Readier than I had any other day of this crazy new career. I liked to think it was the not-a-date with Rowe. Oh, but he was so cute! Pity I had to release upon him some psuedo-philosophy to make my own job sound good. It was his father running the place, not me. Maybe he should complain there.

I stormed into the shop in the most pleasant way possible. It was attitude in movement, not mood. My mood was doing pretty darn good. I was going in today to conquer. Mary was at her desk, actually reading a paperback book-horror genre, by the look of things. She smiled shyly as I passed. "You went out last night?" she asked.

I could not help but stop and allow myself a girly scream-kept within sound limits of course. "Yes."

"Fun?"

"He's an odd one, but yes. Fun." I looked at her with scrutiny. "You're going to have to let me do something to your hair. Cut it or something."

She visibly squirmed. "Tansy, I work with beauticians. I have forever. Please don't come near me with a pair of scissors."

I shrugged, figuring I could always corner her later. Maybe when she was sleeping. Then I moved in to work.

The girls were getting ready for the day, the ones that had showed. Some of them looked to be in various stages of waking up, and I felt a little glow of pride that I was one of the ones who was actually ready. Here I was, ready to do something. Make people look good.

Good princesses. I wanted good princesses. Not the crazy ones.

But when I opened my schedule book, there it was for my first appointment: Cinderella.

Not just any Cinderella. Cinder.

Of course. How could I be so stupid? In the reading of a single name my morning was shot.

But it didn't have to be that way. I wasn't so naive.

Linda was giggling to herself as she looked at me. "Cinder?"

I nodded. "Do I look it? Like I have Cinder scheduled in?"

"Yes. I think you need caffeine. More caffeine than you had. You were looking pretty chipper until then." One hand resting on her baby bump she walked my way and slipped me a cube of dark chocolate. "Did you know how much caffeine dark chocolate packs?"

Whatever it was, I needed it. I unwrapped the chocolate and popped it into my mouth. Nice. She had sprung for the good stuff.

Cinder was, of course, late. Why had I expected anything else from her? I was all but ready to take Alexis' advice and call in some poor servant girl with better taste than Cinder then Cinder's door swung open and in strode the horse princess herself. If anything, she looked worse than she had the other day. Did she consider that I was going to do pure magic and clean her up? Her overalls were covered in what I didn't know. Covered as in I couldn't see any real material at all. Her hair seemed to be soaked in dust and had the appearance of a rat's nest. If it really was, I would not have been surprised. Still, she came in with all the confidence I had come to expect from her with a smile that snuck in and improved my mood all over again.

"Hey!" she said with a beam. Oh, but did she have good teeth. So unfortunate about the rest of her. "I'm so sorry I'm late. One of the mares decided to drop a foal this morning."

Jennifer dropped her straightener, nearly burning her princess.

"A foal?" I echoed.

Cinder nodded. "Yep. Cute little thing. Going to be a great racer once he's all grown and trained." Another big, beaming smile. "So. Where do I sit?"

She really was kind of cute. I gestured to a chair.

She all but took a running leap into it. "Wow! It spins! How neat!" And she set at once to spinning it around and around.

It was a forceful foot I had to put on the chair to stop it. "Okay. Fun. I know. Are you allergic to anything you know of?"

She shook her head. "Nothing besides my brainless stepsisters."

"Perfect. Let's wash."

I don't know if she had ever washed her hair before judging from the panic that glowed from her eyes. She actually screamed as the water from the sink hit her hair. I would have screamed to if I had let myself. Actually, it was kind of cool how muddy the water splashing up and filling the sink became.

Her hair was thick. I found that out quickly. The kind of thick I would have killed for. Tragically it was not suiting her hanging around as she had it. I was going to have to cut. But first thing first. I shampooed again, then loaded as much conditioner as I dared onto her locks. She had finally stopped struggling. I wrapped a towel around her head and went for the scissors.

She closed her eyes the entire time as I snipped. Her face came into view. Very pretty face, despite the freckles. Actually, the freckles made it cute.

She was going to need a facial. I loved giving facials.

This was fun.