AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Right. A big, shiny,newcar—with heated seats,” she murmured, peering at him pointedly from beneath her lashes. Whether her feelings were ridiculous or not, she’d still never before driven a brand-new car.
He flashed a crooked smile.
“A safe, reliable car, with passengers far more precious than the vehicle itself.” He dropped his arm away from the door in order to rest his hand against her lower abdomen. He then leaned in and pressed his lips against her temple. “I’ll see you tonight. Eat without me. I’ll try my best to be home before bedtime.”
“Okay. I love you.”
This time, he bent to bring his lips to hers before he replied, “I love you, too.”
“I love you three!” cried Evie from the backseat.
Lawson grinned and Nora knew when he caught Evie’s eye when she saw him wink.
“Have a good day, darlin’. I’ll see you tonight.”
“Bye, daddy.”
Lawson finally closed the driver’s side door, and Nora waited for him to climb into his truck before she carefully backed her SUV out of the parking spot. While she’d been known to drive a few miles over the speed limit, she followed the law to the letter all the way to the pre-school, cautiously growing acquainted with her new ride. The car wasn’t off for long as she escorted Evie inside, and she was quite pleased to find her seat still marginally warm upon her return.
With no appointments on her books for the first couple hours of the day, Nora wasn’t in any great hurry to get to the salon. When she arrived at The Square, she took her time finding an ideal parking spot, then walked half a block to Sweet Tease. It was a few minutes after eight when she opened the door and found the salon just as expected. Arizona was in her chair, coffee in one hand, a magazine spread across her lap. Clementine was at her wash station, prepping the water temp for her first client of the day. It was Barb, sitting behind the front reception desk, who captured Nora’s full attention as the door shut behind her.
“There you are,” she greeted, as if Nora was tardy.
Quirking an eyebrow in confusion, she bellied up to the desk and asked, “Am I late for somethin’?”
“No. You’ve got a walk-in.”
Nora glanced behind her but saw no one sitting in the waiting area.
“She ran to the bathroom. She walked in right behind Arizona, downin’ a cup of coffee.”
More confused now than she was a moment ago, Nora frowned over at Arizona who shrugged, showcasing her own bewilderment.
“She asked for youspecifically,” said Arizona. “I’ve never seen her before in my life.”
“Your first client isn’t scheduled to come in until ten,” Barb continued, earning Nora’s attention. “I figured you’d be al’right to get a good head start on her before then.”
Walk-ins weren’t unusual, even if they were infrequent. Nevertheless, it was rare someone came in on a whim asking for Nora-Jean by name. Recommendations knew it was best to guarantee a spot in Nora’s chair with an appointment.
“I assume that means she wants a cut and color?”
Before Barb could confirm, the sound of thick heels against the hard floors drew everyone’s gaze toward the back hallway. Nora’s stomach dropped, recognition clicking just as Ashlynn smiled and asked, “Nora-Jean?”
“That’s me,” she replied automatically.
Ashlynn’s smile turned into a grin as she drew closer, but all Nora could manage was a blank expression in return. It wasn’t that she was caught off guard by how stunningly gorgeous the woman was—and she was, especially when she smiled. What struck Nora as incredibly odd was that Ashlynn was smiling at her as if they were best friends.
She’d gotten the play-by-play from Lawson about their coffee outing the day before. Lawson described her as delusional but harmless. Given all they’d been through and the promises she and Lawson had made to each other, Nora knew better than to be threatened by the likes of Ashlynn, but she wasn’t clueless. Harmless or not, this woman had openly admitted she’d moved her entire life in order to be with Lawson—and now she was at Sweet Tease. Her smile was not to be trusted.
“I think you know by now I’m new around here. A fresh start deserves a fresh look. I love my length, so I’m not really interested in a cut so much as a trim—but I am lookin’ for some color. A quick search on the internet led me to Sweet Tease. I was readin’ some of the reviews, and your name was mentionedmore than once. Seein’ your name nagged at me for a minute until I realized I’d heard it before—when Lawson said it.
“Anyway, seemed like serendipity. I figured, considerin’ what we have in common, no doubt I could trust you with my hair.” She paused long enough to pull her long, shiny hair to one side and flash another smile Nora’s way.
Nora’s eyebrows shot up, appalled by the line—considering what we have in common—given theonlything they had in common was that they’d both had Lawson inside of them. Just thinking of her man with the woman in front of her conjured too many emotions to properly sort through or identify, so she shoved it aside and forced her lips into a small smile. The expression was far from genuine, but it was the best she could do under the circumstances.
“I know it’s quite dark, which is a lot of work for you, but I’ll make it worth your while.”
Nora wasn’t obligated to serve every person who came in wanting to sit in her chair, but she’d never turned anyone down. Ever. Eventhinkingabout refusing Ashlynn seemed petty, especially given the fact that she herself was the fortunate one. Lawson might have had sex with Ashlynn, but he hadn’t given himself to her or to anyone the way he gave himself to Nora. She knew he wasn’t paying her lip service when he said as much because she could say the same. No one understood the depths of their love more than each other—which, in a way, made her feel sorry for Ashlynn. So much so that she broke their silence with a nod as she said, “Okay.”
