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Chapter One
Ultimately, Hazel Channing’s hair was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
That miserable, blue-haired old bitty…
“Ashlynn Donovan!” she nearly screeched. “What did you do to my hair?”
“Um…”
“Look at it! Just look at it! I look like something out of one of those…those…videos that you millenniums post all over the place!” She stared at her reflection in utter horror.
It would be wrong to correct her and tell her it’s millennials, not millenniums…
“Miss Hazel,” Ashlynn began calmly. “It’s not that bad. It’s a little…bluer than usual, but we can tone it down and make it right. Just let me…”
“Becky! Becky, where are you?” the older woman cried out. “Oh, this is a nightmare. A nightmare!”
“It’s not so bad, “Ashlyn assured her. “I can put a rinse in to…”
“You’ll do no such thing! Where is your boss? Becky!”
Oh, good Lord…
Ashlynn was already in a tense standoff with her boss and this situation wasn’t going to help. They had been arguing for months over seniority and which stylists get the prime booths—something that she had been passed over twice for.
“What in the world is going on in here?” Becky Marshall asked in a hushed tone. “Everyone is freaking out just hearing all the screaming. Now what happened?”
“Look at my hair, Becky! Just look at it! It’s blue!”
“Um…”
“You know how white my hair is and I wanted to tone it down a bit and Ashlynn explained the process when I showed her a picture of what I wanted.” Then she pulled up the picture in question. “Does this look blue to you? No!”
Becky came closer and began running her hands through Hazel’s hair. “Why didn’t you just use the Quick Fix solution? That’s specifically what it’s for.”
“I was going to, but…”
“I don’t want her touching my hair!” Hazel snapped while glaring at Ashlynn in the mirror. “Girls her age have no right touching older women’s hair.” She snorted with derision. “This never would have happened if Louise were still here.”
Becky gave her a patient smile. “Hazel, you know that Louise retired two years ago. We’ve been over this.”
“Still, most of the girls here have been okay, but this one…”
Ashlynn bit her tongue so she wouldn’t come out and say something she might regret. “Miss Hazel, there’s a rinse we can use right now that will help. If you’ll just step over to the sink…”
But Hazel was on her feet, her blue hair spiking out in every direction and her salon cape flapping wildly. “I refuse to let you put anything else in my hair!” Then she looked at Becky. “You fix this!”
“Of course, Hazel. Go ahead down to my booth and I’ll be right with you.” It wasn’t until Hazel was out of earshot that Becky put all her attention on Ashlynn.
“Well, I hope you’re happy. That woman is going to bad-mouth us all over town, thanks to you!”
She fought the urge to roll her eyes at how dramatic this was all getting. “Becky, you and I both know that this was an honest mistake. One extra drop of blue and it went rogue! And white hair is particularly tricky! Now I’ll admit that I might have messed up when I mixed the colors, but she’s blowing this way out of proportion! It’s not like her hair’s electric blue or something!”
The look her boss gave her was openly hostile. “If you want to argue with me, then I would appreciate it if you would be professional enough to wait until we were in my office with the door shut. But here you are, making a scene as usual.”
“As usual?” she repeated. “What the hell does that mean?”
“And your language…really, Ashlynn. I can’t have you representing Lavish Locks. I’ve tried to look past all your eccentric…um…quirks, but I just can’t do it anymore. Please pack up your things and go.”
