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I finger my ponytail. “How do you know I’ve got split ends?”
The blonde-bobbed woman juts out her hip and says, “Honey, there are approximately two thousand people in this town. I can tell you off the top of my head who has male pattern baldness, who has a child that won’t sit still for a cut, and who is weeks behind on their bottle jobs.”
I see.
“Fine. Sure. Fix the split ends,” I say, slumping into a kitchen chair parked backward in front of a small washtub on my table. The woman squeals in delight and introduces herself as Hattie.
“You’re going to feel so much better,” she remarks, helping me adjust so I can lean back and let her wash my hair.
“Thought you were just gonna cut it.”
“You’re getting the works today,” she says, massaging her fingers into my scalp. Between that and the warm water, I’m starting to relax.
“Girl, I don’t know who’s been doing your hair, but it begins with a wash, deep conditioning, scalp massage, trim, and style.”
I barely hear her because my eyes are closed, and I’m lost in the moment.
I don’t believe anyone has ever washed my hair for me since I was a kid.
I might float away or fall asleep.
“Me. I cut my own hair. Sometimes my housekeeper cuts it.”
The hairdresser laughs, assuming I’m joking. Then she changes the subject when I don’t come back with a laugh. She asks, “So. How long have you been dating Tanner?”
Heat sears my cheeks. “Oh. We’re just friends. We’re not actually dating.”
Since my eyes are closed, I can’t see her expression, but she sounds genuinely surprised. “Oh. I thought since you bid on him….”
“No. I’d never met Tanner before the auction.”
As soon as those words are out of my mouth, I realize I should have said nothing.
“Really? So, if I might ask, why did you bid on him? And for that much? Not that it’s a problem. It’s very generous. But you should know, everyone in town is talking about it.”
Yikes. I don’t much care for people flapping their gums about me. But I suppose there’s nothing I can do about it.
“I just liked the look of him in those jeans,” I say, which Hattie answers with a good-natured laugh, and I’m relieved at that. “Plus, he looked like he could handle a little bit of hard work, and I knew I could use just one day with an extra set of hands.”
Hattie has me sit up while she towel dries my hair. She combs through my wet locks and separates it into sections to prepare for trimming. “He seems sweet on you. And believe me, I know Tanner.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. You might not be aware since you’re not from here. Tanner and I dated a long time ago. We were just kids, but we were together for a couple of years. I was the cheerleading captain. He was the quarterback of the Darling Creek High School football team. Then one day, the rumor started going around that he was seen under the bleachers kissing Rachel Springer during P.E. class. The whole school was talking about it. I confronted Rachel, and she corroborated the story. But when I confronted Tanner, he denied the entire thing.
“At any rate, everyone attributed it to Darling Creek losing the high school football championship. We’d been trying to beat Bozeman West High School for years and years. It’s a rivalry that goes back decades. Finally, we got to play them in the championship game, and we lost. All because of Tanner being cursed. And that’s why Tanner doesn’t want to show his face in Darling Creek.”
That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard, but I’m not about to say that out loud to the woman moving sharp shears back and forth this close to my jugular.
“That’s quite a story,” I say.
In the mirror, Hattie smirks. “Tanner came to my shop last night, insisting I hear him out. Mostly I wanted to keep the waters calm — my husband hates him — so I told him I believed him and agreed to help him out with this thing today. Not even my husband will say no to that much money.”
I don’t dare ask how much. It seems impolite. “What do you mean, keep everyone calm?”
She shrugs and gently flattens a section of my hair between two fingers, then snips away at the jagged ends. “Ennis, my husband, gets real agitated whenever Tanner’s name comes up. He’s been in a mood since Tanner came home to Darling Creek. He’s a little overprotective. But that’s why I love the guy.”
I smile warily at her in the mirror.
