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I sighed. “I can’t.”
“Oh, ok,” she said. “Maybe we can do something else?”
That was her polite way of asking if she could come over. That sounded like fun, but I had to put my foot down and be firm.
“No, I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I said. “Listen, this is hard to say. We’ve become pretty close the past few months, closer than I had intended, and I just want you to know that I would never want to hurt you in any way.”
“You’re dumping me…” she whispered.
I could practically hear the tears in her voice. It broke my heart. I felt like a jerk, but I knew it would be harder later if I didn’t do this now. I just wasn’t built for a long-term relationship.
“This isn’t going to work,” I said. “You’re looking for something serious, and I can’t give that to you. I told you that from the start.”
“I know. I know… it’s my fault. I thought you had changed. I thought that what we had was special enough… I guess I was wrong.”
I groaned. This was harder than I thought it was going to be. “I’m sorry. We are just on two different pages. It’s best if we just let things go now. I’m so sorry if you thought this was going somewhere that it wasn’t.”
“Ok, well… you have a nice life,” she said. “Take care of yourself.”
“You do the same,” I replied.
I ended the call and went to take my shower. A part of me always wondered if it was a mistake to break up with a woman this great. It was fun, but I knew in my heart that having a long-term thing would just make me miserable. How long would it be before my misery made her crazy too?
Yeah, I was doing the right thing. I knew I was…
Chapter Two
Kat
“Are you sure you are doing this right?”
The woman’s voice made my skin crawl. I felt like I was about to lose it and smack her right then and there. Somehow, I was able to keep calm and stay in control of myself.
“It’s fine,” I said. I took a few deep breaths and stole a look at my friend Cassie who was working on her own client’s hair. She smiled and shook her head to let me know how much she did not envy my situation. Old, cantankerous Mrs. Duvall… She was a regular who had a real tough time with anyone touching her hair since Melanie left. Melanie could do no wrong, but had moved to San Francisco and left poor Mrs. Duvall in quite the bind dealing with us low levels who she was convinced had no idea how to cut her hair. Only Melanie’s magic fingers could do the trick.
I truly hated this woman.
But I desperately needed this job, and I was not about to blow it by saying or doing the wrong thing to this golden customer who came into the salon at least once or twice a week.
“What are you doing?” Mrs. Duvall asked. “I wanted my bangs tapered… this is like straight across. Can you fix them?”
“Sure, I’m not done yet. I was just adjusting some things,” I said with a big, fake smile.
I took my comb and smoothed out the bangs before beginning to snip them slowly with my scissors. I could practically feel the apprehension as the woman wanted to squirm in the chair. I had to stop and move her head to the right spot before beginning again.
I was about halfway across when she started to move her head back apprehensively. I sighed and got close to her face. “Mrs. Duvall, you need to sit still, or this will not work. You can’t move. OK?”
She nodded briefly. I wanted just rail into her with my mouth and slap some sense into the old woman. But I couldn’t. Patience… just breathe. You can keep it together Kat, you have to.
I took a deep breath and I began again. I was almost done with her trim, when the door opened behind us and Mrs. Duvall turned her head slightly at precisely the wrong moment. My scissors cut through the hair at a very odd angle, leaving the right quarter of her bangs basically nonexistent, gone, no way to fix it. She would just have to wait for them to grow back in.
Shit. I was in so much trouble.
Mrs. Duvall gasped as she realized what happened. She saw the shocked look on my face and spun her chair around to look in the mirror. She saw the damage and her jaw dropped wide open. “What in the hell? I knew you’d mess this up! Why weren’t you paying attention?”
“I was. You jerked your head,” I said.
“I did no such thing. I was still as could be. Don’t try to blame this on me. This is an outrage! I can’t believe it. Oh, no. You’ve got to fix this!”
