Amanda, sitting in my salon chair, looked up from her phone. “Hey,” she protested my use of the wordsno one.
Camille curled her fingers like claws and roared as if she were a wild cat.
I spun Amanda in the chair. “I included you in theus,silly.”
She focused her gaze on me as her body rotated in a tight circle, whipping her head around to refocus like a ballerina would to not get dizzy. Once the chair slowed, she returned to tapping on her screen. “Thank you.”
I sighed. With the amount of time Amanda sat in front of screen, she’d be blind by forty. I rummaged through my purse and pulled out an eye-glass case. Popping it open, I unfolded a pair of bright yellow blue-light-blocking frames and handed them to Amanda. “Use these. I can’t let you damage your retinas.”
She accepted my glasses and slid them to perch on her nose. “Nicole the Protector to the rescue.”
“I’m not exactly a superhero like Diana Prince.”
“Sure you are.”
“How, do you think?”
“She’s from the Amazon.” Amanda shrugged. “You want to save the Amazon.”
I rested my hip on the half counter holding my hair dryer, clippers, and other tools of my trade. “One is a mythical island and the other is a rainforest responsible for producing six percent of the world’s oxygen as well as absorbing large quantities of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.”
“See? Totally the same thing.” She grinned.
I shook my head at her.
She pocketed her phone, winced, and touch her temple.
“Headache?”
Her blue eyes blinked then cleared. “It’s nothing.”
I grabbed a brush from a drawer and moved to stand behind her.
“What are you doing?”
“Stop being so suspicious and relax.” I released the hair tie holding her ponytail in place and let her long brown locks flow over the back of the chair. Starting at the bottom in case there were any snags, I ran the brush through her hair. After a few minutes, when the bristles ran over her scalp, Amanda sighed.
“That feels good, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Long, even strokes from the crown to the tip drained stress from her muscles. “Straight talk?”
She peeked at me out of one eye.
“Where were you the other day? Not that I expect you at Sierra’s games or anything, but you’d said you’d be there, then you weren’t.” My hand stilled. “I just want to make sure that you’re okay.”
If I hadn’t been looking, I’d have missed the flinching of her fingers on the armrest along with the slight downturn of her mouth.
Was something going on in Amanda’s life that she hadn’t shared with me or any of the other girls? Why would she feel the need to keep secrets from us?
The front door opened, the outside breeze catching and blowing in a familiar scent. One of clean soap and freshly mowed lawns. Of Friday night lights and lazy weekend mornings. Of warm hugs and scintillating kisses.
Our gazes collided in the mirror. My lips tingled, remembering the last time Drew and I had spent time together. Heat infused my cheeks…then spread southward throughout the rest of my body.
“Interesting,” Amanda drawled, widening my frame of mind to more than one point. One man.
I glanced at Amanda, but what could I say? Not that long ago I’d never have thought in a million years that there’d be anything between Drew and me but animosity.
I hadn’t judged the book by its cover—there wasn’t a thing wrong with Drew’s cover, if you know what I mean—but the pages he showed the world weren’t the complete story. There was so much more to him than he let most people see. Yes, he liked to play games, but I trusted him not to play games with my heart.
