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Once I’m ready for the day, I fill the travel mug that Derrick left by the coffee pot for me and lock up before I leave. Monroeville is a small town in Alabama. It’s a very picturesque town and we attract a lot of tourists looking for a quiet vacation spot.
I couldn’t wait to escape it when I was in high school, Dean and I talked about it a lot. Talked about leaving. We wanted to travel the country, working our way up and down the coasts. But my senior year of school we ended up pregnant and our plans to leave got shelved. When we lost Everly and Dean left town without me, I ended up stayin’. Sure, I could have left. Could have traveled like I wanted to, but the thought of leaving Everly, even though I knew she was dead, the thought of leaving her behind never felt right.
I cruise through town, making my way to the salon. It’s located in the center of town, right off the square. The Curl Up ‘n Dye salon, ran by a young woman named Lainey. She moved to town about a year ago and opened this place. No one knows much about her, she’s pretty quiet, keeps to herself. I’ve invited her out with me and the girls a few times, but she’s always declined. She gives good hair though and has built herself a successful business in the short time she’s been here.
I head inside once I find parking, the bell on the door chiming when I open it. Lainey is perched at the front desk, head bent, scribbling on some paper.
“Hey girlfriend,” she greets as I hang my stuff up and she motions for me to head on back. She rents booths out to other cosmetologists and lets them all set their own schedules. Looks like right now it’s just her working, which is fine by me. All the other stylists know my sordid love story, and I don’t feel like rehashing it all right now. We chat as she puts the color on my hair, purple this time. A few months back she talked me into wild colors, saying if anybody could pull it off it was me. We’ve done vibrant colors the last few months and I have to say, I love it. There is something freeing about expressing yourself through your hair.
The door chimes and Avery comes blowing in. Shit. She’s been texting me since last night, pumping me for information about why Dean is back in town. I answered the first three texts but then stopped, because just thinking about him being back makes me queasy.
She storms back to the station we are at and flicks me in the forehead.
“Ouch, Ave. What the hell?” I rub the spot where she flicked me, Lainey laughing. Avery hitches her purse up on her shoulder and props a hand on her hip.
“Yeah, Whit. What the hell? I’ve been texting you for twelve hours!” A sigh escapes me. She flops down in the salon chair next to us and I know I can’t avoid her any longer.
“I’m sorry. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that he’s back.”
“Who’s back?” Lainey asks.
“Her boyfriend that left her behind ten years ago,” Avery announces. I narrow my eyes at her and she shrugs her shoulders. “She’s gonna find out eventually, Whitley. The whole town knows Dean is back.” I groan and cover my face with my hands.
“Why is this happenin’ to me?!” Why would he do this? Come back, buy a bar, and demand that I run it.
“Maybe he’s still in love with you,” Lainey says, and my heart rate accelerates at her comment. There is no way that after twelve years that man is still in love with me.
“If he was in love with me, he never would have left,” my heart cracks a little with that confession, something I’ve never said aloud to anyone in the last ten years other than my mother. How could he leave when he knew I was hurting so bad? He never asked me to come and he never told me he was leaving. Just one day he was here and the next he wasn’t.
Avery pats me on my knee. “Everyone grieves in their own way, honey.”
Grief is such a fickle bitch. It comes in waves, ebbing and flowing. One minute, I’m fine. Next, I’m choking back tears, wondering what my life would have been like if Everly were still here. Wondering if Dean ever thinks about her. About us.
“I know,” I sigh, “it’s just gonna take me some time to adjust to him being back in town.”
“What does Derrick think about all of it?” Lainey asks as she checks the foils in my hair.
“I’m not sure, honestly. He didn’t have a whole lot to say about it last night when we hung out. Just that he’d support me in whatever choice I make, staying at the bar or leaving.”
“You’re not really thinking about leaving, are you?” Avery asks and I turn the question over in my mind.
“‘Course not. I couldn’t, y'all know how much that bar means to me. How much Fred means to me. I’m just not sure I can share the same space as Dean.”
“Set some ground rules,” Lainey says, and I shoot her a questioning look. She goes on, “Let him know that you’re willing to make this work, but you’ll only work shifts when he isn’t there and he needs to let you do your job without being all in your space.” I consider what she’s saying. It could work.
“Can we turn the attention to Avery and Jaxson, please,” I’m over discussing the details of my messy life. Time to redirect the focus.
“There is nothing to talk about,” Avery says while inspecting her nails.
“Not true,” Lainey quips, “I heard his car was at your house until close to midnight last night.”
Avery groans. “Why is this town full of gossips’! Who told you?”
“Poppy,” she says, and I bust up. Poppy is the biggest gossip of all in town.
“He was helping Genevieve with her math homework and that is it.”
“Until midnight?” I question with a cheeky grin. She is ass over head in love with that fella, doesn’t matter that there’s roughly twelve years between the two of them.
