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I was ready with a plan before she arrived.
I’d point out all his good qualities, reassure her of the things I knew to be true, and just simply state my opinion on the man. I was allowed to have an opinion.
I knew one could argue this wasn’t any of my business, and I needed to stay out of it. But what kind of person would I be if I kept quiet and passed on an opportunity to help my friend? Not a person I would want to be friends with, that was for damn sure.
I just needed Valerie to bring him up. Or…
I just needed to say the right thing to encourage her to bring him up.
“So, what’s new?” I asked as I sectioned off her hair, leaving down the pieces underneath she wanted to color pink.
“Not much, really. My life is kind of boring.”
“Has Sean reached out to you any more?”
Or, another option, I could lose my patience in this matter and simply bring him up myself. Great.
I wasn’t being obvious at all.
She bit down on an ice cube and swirled her drink. “Yeah, he called last week, telling me how sorry he is again and how he’s trying to do right by the girls this time. It’s the same ol’ speech, basically. All his messages are the same.”
“You don’t talk to him?”
“I don’t want to talk to him.”
I nodded with my lips pressed so tightly together, they began to sting.
Shit. I was in way over my head with this. What was I supposed to say? Should I tell her how much I liked talking to him? What the hell good would that do?
“Do you think I’m doing the right thing?” she asked, with honest concern in her voice.
Holding her hair against a piece of foil, I started applying the color. “What do you mean?”
“By not letting him see the girls…They ask about him, and I just—”
“Aw, they do?” I met her eyes in the mirror, and she nodded, causing my heart to ache.
“They think he’s on vacation.” Valerie rolled her eyes. “A vacation lasting over a year, can you imagine? I’d kill for that.”
I giggled.
“I think I’m doing the right thing,” she said solemnly. “But then, I think I’m doing the wrong thing, and I worry I’m going to regret it as they get older. I worry about it all the time. It would be easier if the court was involved.”
My stomach tightened.
“Uh, yeah, but then that’s so official,” I rebutted, panic filling me as I thought about Sean being ordered to stay away from his girls, and what that would do to him. “And would you want that? What if you changed your mind?”
“I know,” she agreed. “That’s why I haven’t done it.”
>Tension eased from my shoulders.
“What if the girls end up hating me for this, Shay? What if they get older and find out Sean never went on vacation and hate me for keeping them apart?”
Shaking my head, I dropped the brush into the bowl I was dipping out of and closed off the foil around her hair. “They won’t hate you,” I told her, taking the clips out now that I was finished, then gripping her shoulders and looking into the mirror. “And whatever you decide to do, Sean will understand. This is your call, Valerie. He knows that.”
She snorted. “You say that like you know him.”
“I do know him. He’s my friend.”
She frowned.
Shit. Too obvious. Too obvious. Now everything I say, she’ll think I’m doing for him.
“I mean, we work together, remember? He’s my work friend,” I covered, which wasn’t a lie. Not at all. We were friends who met at work.
That was exactly what we were.
“Oh, that’s right.” She waved a dismissive hand. “I keep forgetting that. That is so crazy to me.”
I smiled.
Then, as his work friend, I gave in to the urge I was battling something fierce and said what needed to be said.
“He’s a really decent guy. More than decent,” I told her. “He’s helped me out of a few jams, and he seems to really have his shit together. He’s done amazing work on that house. It looks great.”
“I don’t know,” she mumbled, her gaze falling away.
“It’s your choice. They are your girls, and you will protect them and make the right decision. I know you will.”
Valerie reached up and placed her hand on top of one of mine. “Thank you.”
“Of course.” I winked at her. “Now, it’s dryer time. And then, hellllo, Ms. Pink.”
Valerie giggled, then followed me over to the dryer so she could cook.
After washing and a quick blow dry, followed by some curls, because I never let any woman leave here without a little something fancy, I spun Valerie in the chair and let her check out her new look.
“Oh, my God. I actually love it!” she squealed, fingering the ends of her hair to see the pop of color underneath.
