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His gut burned as he studied her. He could almost picture her wrapped around Jeff.
"What a surprise," she said. "Have you come to get a haircut?"
There was no telling what Mia had already told her roommate about him. By the way she smiled, though, he had to think not too much. She probably didn’t know he was Jeff’s brother-in-law … It was either that or she didn’t even know who Jeff was, though he had a bad feeling she did.
"Uh … " Not sure which question to answer first, he settled for what he hoped looked like a friendly smile.
"If you need a trim," she said, "I’ve got an opening. Come on back."
He paused, not wanting a haircut. He liked to keep his locks long enough to curl. When he was little, his mother hated his curls, saying they made him look like a girl. She’d kept his head practically shaved. After she walked out, he made a point to grow the curls as long as he could stand. It was probably a stupid rebellion since his mother didn’t even know he did it, but he couldn’t seem to stop.
"No thanks," he told Mia’s roommate. "I, uh … Actually, I, came in here to talk to you about Mia."
She cocked her head and sent him a questioning look. "You already knew I worked here?"
He opened his mouth and floundered a second. Then he gave a shrug. "She mentioned it."
When she smiled, his tense muscles loosened. He hoped she’d think he meant Mia when he said "she." No way was he telling her Amanda had mentioned it first.
"Well, I’d love to talk to you about Mia," she said before pausing. "Sure you don’t want a trim while we’re at it? Like I said, it’s pretty dead around this place right now. And I’ll do it for a discount since you’re Mia’s friend."
His hand went protectively to his hair. "I’m okay."
She just smiled as she studied his mane. "I have a really good idea of something to do with it," she coaxed.
His eyes widened as he pictured Mohawks and dreadlocks.
She chuckled, reading his expression. "Come on back." She waved him to follow. "I promise you’ll like it. I’m not going to shave you bald."
He swallowed. "How much are you going to take off?"
"I’m just going to reshape. I think you should look less like David Hasselhoff and more like Tate Donovan."
She rolled her eyes. Lifting her hand like she was taking an oath on a bible, she swore, "It’ll look great. I promise."
He started to follow until he realized what he was doing. Mandy would slaughter him if she knew he was letting Jeff’s supposed mistress anywhere near his hair. She used to comb it back when he’d been too young to care about doing that himself. Letting Piper touch it felt like he was cheating on his sister too.
"Drew-eww?" she sung his name in a coaxing taunt. "Do you want to talk about Mia or not?"
He clenched his teeth. "Oh, all right." This was for Mandy, he told himself as he slowly came forward. Mandy. And okay, he wanted to get some advice on Mia too. He’d love to know what had happened to make her so skittish.
Piper beamed, triumphant. "Now we’re talking."
Chapter Ten
"So, Mia huh?"
Drew cracked open one eye. A droplet of rinse water dribbled down the back of his neck and inside the plastic cape Piper had bibbed around him. When a second followed, he squirmed.
"First things first," Piper said, she pressed down on the silver lever by his feet and his seat sank. "How serious about her are you?"
He blinked. "Well … I’ve only met her a few times." But they’d been very significant encounters, each leaving him a little more lost in his fixation.
"But you’re interested enough to come talk to me about her," Piper urged as she snipped off his first chuck of hair in the back.
Frowning as he tried to watch her in the mirror, he answered, "Right."
He tensed when she clipped away another chunk, thinking this was a very bad idea. He didn’t want to lose his curls. They’d grown on him in the past twenty-some years.
