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“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” He shifted on his feet and looked around, blinking like he was confused.
What was going on?
Oh no. Did he have a head injury from the fall?
I stepped closer. “Are you sure? Should you be up and around already? Maybe you should go home and lie down.”
“No, I don’t need to lie down.” He met my eyes again. “I just wanted to say thank you.”
That was nice of him. “You don’t need to thank me. All I did was call an ambulance. And I didn’t even do that. Sandra did.”
His brow furrowed. “Weren’t you at the hospital? Or did I dream that?”
“You didn’t dream that. I was there.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Maybe you should go home and lie down.”
“No.” Glancing away, he rubbed the back of his neck. “What’s wrong with me? I don’t know why this is so hard.”
“Why what’s so hard?”
“This.” He gestured between the two of us.
A gust of wind blew my hair around my face again.
“See,” he said, as if the wind explained everything. “It’s all wrong.”
“Do your parents know you’re up? Did the doctor say it was okay?”
“Yeah, that’s not the problem.”
This was so strange. Why was he acting like this? “What problem?”
He threw up his hands. “I don’t know.”
“Marigold, we have to talk,” a woman said behind me. It was Gina Hembree, my next client. I hadn’t even noticed her approach. “My ends are fried and I really think we need to go darker this time.”
I tore my eyes off Zachary. “Okay, Gina. Go ahead inside and Stacey will get you checked in. I’ll be there in a minute.”
She checked her watch. “I hate to rush you, but I have another appointment after this.”
“No problem.” I smiled at her and turned back to Zachary while she went into the salon. “Sorry, but I have to go.”
The pained look in his eyes didn’t make any sense. What was going on with him?
His gaze moved from me to the salon door then back to me. “Okay. Work. I get it. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Zachary, I’m serious, are you okay? You’re worrying me.”
“Yeah.” He started backing away, his brow still furrowed as if he were confused. “Fine.”
He was not fine, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it. The first drops of rain pattered on the sidewalk around me and the cold wind cut through my jacket. He turned and walked the way he’d come, not looking back at me again as I watched him go.
“Mari?” Stacey stood with the salon door partially open. “Are you okay?”
