Chapter 7
Chapter seven
Julius
Mindy turned in a circle and checked her image in the full-length mirror. “What do you think?”
“You look stunning. I promise.” Everyone deserves to believe they’re beautiful on their wedding day, so I would’ve said so even if Mindy didn’t look like a princess, but she did.
Her dress was the perfect style for her body, and the hair tinsel we’d added sparkled in the light almost like she was wearing a halo.
It had been a week since the incident at the club, and while Gator checked in with me every day, so far, they hadn’t made much progress on locating Noah.
I tried to focus on Mindy and Sherri’s special day and not think about how the poor guy might never get the chance to find his own happily ever after the way they were.
“If I look stunning, that’s all on you.” She gave me a watery smile.
“No crying,” I scolded. “You don’t want to mess up your makeup.”
She sniffled and took in a deep breath. “You’re right. I don’t. Have you seen Sherri?”
A wedding with two brides and two sets of bridesmaids meant we had to have two teams to make sure this wedding went off without a hitch. “I haven’t, but Migs is taking care of her, and you know he’s like a magician. I’m sure she looks just as beautiful as you do.”
Mindy grinned at me. “She’s always gorgeous, but dressing up isn’t really her thing, so I know she’s probably nervous.”
I pulled back a stray strand of hair and pinned it in place. “I can’t wait to see your wedding photos. The two of you are such a beautiful couple.”
I turned to the two women who stood off to the side waiting and smiled at them before motioning to our bride. “What do you think?”
“Oh, Mindy, you look great,” her sister Wendy gushed. Yep, that’s right, Mindy and Wendy. Why on earth anyone thought that was a good idea, I will never know.
“Fabulous even,” Carol, one of the other two bridesmaids, said.
“You really do look lovely.” Her mother looked over from the table she was sitting at where Harper had just finished up her makeup.
“Thanks, Mom. You look great, too.”
“Well, who’s up next?” I asked.
Most of the time when we did hair and makeup for a wedding, the bride went last so they could be freshly done for the wedding, but Mindy had requested to go in the middle of the lineup because that timing worked best for her.
She wanted a little time to sit and chill before she met Sherri in the narthex, and they walked down the aisle together.
I’d promised her I would do some light touch-ups right before she headed out the door, so her plan should work just fine.
“Me and Carol are the only two left, so I guess we’re up,” Wendy said.
“Sounds good to me.”
Wendy came over and sat down in the chair Mindy had sat in earlier.
Mindy gasped. “The ring. You have the ring, don’t you?”
“Yes. I have the ring. It’s right here, I promise.”
“Okay.” Mindy’s shoulders relaxed, and she moved to sit down, but her mother grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back up.
“You’ll wrinkle your dress.”
“I didn’t even think of that when I insisted on getting completely ready early.”
“Here, let’s do this.” I pulled one of the round makeup stools over to the middle of the room, then grabbed Mindy’s hand and led her over.
“Carol, you go over there and lift up your side of her skirt while I get this side. Mom”—I motioned for her to come over to us—“you hold her hands to steady her while she sits down.”
We worked together to hold up her skirt and fan it out behind her while she sat on the stool. She let out a relieved sigh. “Thank you, Jules.”
“You’re welcome, my lady.” I gave her a dramatic bow and then turned to Wendy. “Let’s get you all fixed up.”
An hour or so later, all the bridesmaids looked picture perfect.
Mindy gave me a hug, then they all left the room.
I followed them out and watched as she and Sherri saw each other for the first time that day.
I hadn’t been wrong when I said Migs would take care of her.
Her makeup and hair were on point. She was wearing a white three-piece suit, and she looked every bit as stunning as Mindy did.
I smiled as the happy couple embraced. I loved weddings. I turned to my team. “Okay, guys, good work today. Let’s get this cleaned up and get out of here.”
It took us about thirty minutes to get everything packed up and on our way, each of us pulling a Shag Shack-branded case on wheels and carrying our bags.
“That was fun,” Migs said. “I love weddings.”
I laughed. “I was just thinking that earlier. Maybe we should see if we could get more of them. I was always hesitant because they pull so many of us out of the salon for the day, but I think it’s worth it.”
“I like that idea.”
We came around the corner, and the whole wedding party was standing out front posing for pictures, so we veered to the left to avoid them, and Harper shook her head.
“That’s the thing I don’t understand about weddings.
All that money and effort put into making everything so perfect, and the whole thing was over in less time than it took us to clean up. ”
“True, but—” My words dried up as my gaze drifted over a familiar face.
My heart stuttered. That couldn’t be the same man.
He shifted slightly, turning his head in my direction.
His features snapped into place. The same wide forehead and narrow chin, the same dark curl of hair falling over his forehead.
The same dark eyes…narrowed in on me. Oh God, he was looking right at me.
“That’s him, the guy from the alley. Right there.
” I lifted my finger to point at the man, but he was gone.
“Are you sure? I mean, why would he be at Mindy and Sherri’s wedding? That doesn’t make sense.”
I let out an exasperated sigh. “I don’t know why he would be here, but believe me, I’ll never forget that face. Never.”
Harper grabbed my arm, tugging on me. “Okay, well, if that was the man who kidnapped that guy, he might’ve recognized you. We need to get you out of here. Let’s go.”
I wanted to hunt for him. I’d checked in with Officer Russo a few times this week, and so far, they didn’t have jack.
Now I had a chance to find him, but I remembered the cold way he’d looked at me when he’d told the other men they would take me with them.
Just thinking about that made my breath catch and my heart race, and self-preservation won out over the urge to try to find him.
“You’re right. Let’s get out of here. I’ll see you all back at the salon.”
The wedding had gone so well, so I tried to push the image of that man out of my head and focus on the positives.
We’d easily made enough to offset the salon being closed, and we’d had fun working together as a team.
I definitely thought we should start a marketing campaign to try to get more weddings.
As I made the drive from the venue back to the salon, I began to formulate a plan for how we could make that happen.
I normally parked out behind the salon, but since we all needed to unload our equipment, I parked out front instead.
I went to the trunk and pulled out my cases.
I wheeled them inside where most of my crew were already washing their supplies and putting things away.
But Migs and Tori had both done makeup as well, so their cleanup took a little longer.
“Okay, guys, I’m done here. What can I do to help?”
Tori shook her head. “No, boss, we got it all covered.”
“Seriously, you should go home,” Migs said. “You ran your ass off today, and you look beat. Besides, I booked a client for this afternoon since I knew we would be back before she wanted to come in.”
I had no idea where he got his energy. There was no way I would’ve booked a client today, but power to him.
“Okay, you all know how to get a hold of me if you need anything. This was fun, but it was exhausting. I think I’ll go stuff my face and collapse on the couch for a night of wine and bad television.”
Migs looked up from what he was doing. “Okay, love ya, babes.”
I blew him a kiss and headed outside, only to freeze just outside the door.
There was a familiar-looking black Camry parked in front of the shop next to mine, with two men sitting there watching my salon.
Normally, I wouldn’t have thought anything about it.
There were a ton of reasons someone might be sitting in a car in a parking lot.
They could’ve been waiting on someone who was inside the shop next door or waiting for a song to end before they got out.
I did that all the time. But after seeing that guy at the wedding, it didn’t feel so innocent.
I looked at my car parked on the far side of the parking lot.
I hadn’t wanted to take up any close spots for the shopping center’s customers, so I’d parked on the far side, but I regretted that choice now.
I tried to decide if I could make it from the salon door to my car and get the doors locked before the guys in that car could reach me if they decided to grab me. I didn’t like my odds at all.
I stood there for a few minutes, trying to decide what to do.
It might not be the guys from the alley, but something inside me told me it was.
I started to go back inside, but what if they followed me there?
I didn’t want to put Migs and Tori in danger.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I didn’t actually think they would try to grab me out here in public like this.
There were visible security cameras all over this shopping center, so the odds were that I’d be fine getting to my car.
“Are you okay?” a woman I recognized as one of Mig’s clients asked, and I realized I was blocking the door to the salon.
“I’m fine, Holly. You here to see Migs?” I stepped to the side so she could go in.
“I am.”
I nodded at her. “He’s waiting for you. You have a good evening.”