Chapter 4
Chapter Four
DANIKA
Pure Elegance was the salon run by my friend Nona Wanderly.
It might have been the only salon in town, but there were others to choose from in the towns around ours like Hidalgo and Grapevine.
However, it was the most popular because Nona and her girls gave seriously good hair.
If Nona had been old enough to do hair back when I’d been a teenager, I imagined life would have been a lot easier.
As it was, I was just grateful I had her now.
Using my shoulder, I pushed the heavy glass door open and stepped inside the salon.
“Oh, please. Please tell me one of those is for me.”
I spun around to find Gypsy at the counter, staring at the two white to-go coffee cups with the red Muffin Top logo in my hands.
Gypsy, another friend, worked the front counter.
I had the utmost respect for all my friends, but when it came to Gypsy, that respect knew no limits.
The woman was a force. She’d been kicked while down more times than any human being deserved, and each time, she’d get back up, dust herself off, and carry on.
Before this gig, she’d been working two jobs to help take care of her brothers and sisters because their parents were the worst kinds of deadbeats. She’d been a checkout clerk at the local grocery store and a dancer at a strip club called Pink Palace.
She’d gone through a particularly nasty patch when a local bad guy had bought the club and started using it as a front to move meth.
When all of that went down, she’d quit and started working for Nona, but the ugliness of that situation had still blown back on her.
It had been a big thing when she and another one of the girls from the club had been kidnapped by said bad guy.
With the help of the police and the men from a local private investigation and security firm called Alpha Omega, they’d both been rescued and the bad guy was put out of commission, but before all of that, she’d gotten tangled up with one of the Alpha Omega guys working the case—and it had to be said, those were some seriously hot guys.
During all that drama, the two of them had fallen in love, and after it all went down, they’d made things official. They’d gotten married, and she was now settled down with Marco Castillo, and together, they were raising her siblings, living their happily ever after.
It wasn’t a surprise that the strip club had been shut down after that, but the other girl who’d been taken with Gypsy, McKenna, bought the place with her man, Bruce, a former bouncer, and together, they reopened it as a cool-as-hell burlesque club called Whiskey Dolls.
All the girls stayed on, loving the new direction they were moving in.
It went from seedy to classy and cool, and the women went from taking off their clothes for money, to putting on amazing shows people from all across the state came to see.
I made a face and put one of the cups on the counter in front of her. “Is that a serious question? You really think I’d come here without a coffee for you and Nona?”
She smiled while bringing the cup to her lips. “No. Because you’re a smart, smart woman, and you love your friends.”
“You’re right, I do. That’s why I brought you a new creation.” She took a sip, her eyes going huge. “Three shots of expresso, skim milk, three pumps almond syrup, two pumps coconut syrup, with whipped cream and chocolate drizzle. I call it an Almond Joy.”
“I call it a caffeinated orgasm. Damn, hon. I love Marco with everything I have, but I’d leave him in a heartbeat and marry this.”
“Glad I could be of service,” I said on a laugh. “So how is school going?”
After working at the salon for a while, and subsequently discovering her love for all things hair, Gypsy had decided she wanted to go further, so now she was enrolled in a program, working her way toward becoming a licensed stylist. As soon as she was finished with her schooling, Nona was giving her a chair in her salon for as long as she wanted to work there.
“It’s good. It hasn’t been easy, doing that, plus working, taking care of the kids, and making sure my man gets the attention he deserves.
” She gave me a lascivious wink, telling me exactly what kind of attention her man got from her.
“But Marco’s been great, and I’m nearly done, so things should start to slow down soon. ”
“Good. I’m glad. You deserve it.”
“Thanks, hon. That means a lot.”
The phone rang, taking Gypsy’s attention, and I gave her a quick finger wave before spinning around to head for Nona’s station. “Hey, No.”
Nona’s glossy red hair swished as she turned her head. “Hey, doll!”
Nona Wanderly wasn’t only a genius when it came to hair, she was also one of my closest friends.
Like me, she was a Hope Valley native, so I’d known her for as long as I could remember.
The gorgeous redhead had two teenage kids from her first marriage that had turned bad.
A couple years back, she’d hooked up with another Hope Valley police detective, Patrick “Trick” Wanderly, and now the couple was happily married, having blended their families seamlessly and added to it with a son of their own, Liam, only a few months back.
I lifted the cup in my hand. “Brought you a little something.”
“Oh, you sweet lifesaver.” She snatched the coffee from me and took a healthy glug before placing it on the shelf in front of her mirror and waving for me to take a seat.
She got to work, sectioning off my hair and painting the strands before wrapping them in foil, and I took that opportunity to catch up with her and a few of the other women around her station.
Going to a salon for a woman wasn’t just about getting her hair done, it was about communing with her people. If you didn’t know what was going on in your community, it was a fact that you’d be filled in on everything happening just by sitting in one of those chairs.
I loved salon days, not only because of the scalp massages and trims, but because I got to hang with my friends.
Currently, one of the town residents, Sadie Cosgrove, was sitting at the station beside mine, getting her hair done by another stylist, Blair, and filling us in on all the goings-on around town. Sadie was a sweet woman in her forties with a penchant for gossip.
It was also known around town that she liked to play matchmaker, only she was just as bad at it as my mother, so when she looked over at me and said, “So, Dani, I have this cousin over in Norfolk—” I couldn’t help but to let out a pained groan.
“Please no. No fix-ups.”
“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Nona declared.
“Why haven’t I thought of fixing you up until now?
” She kept going without giving me a chance to reply.
“I mean, maybe not Sadie’s cousin, but someone else around here.
” She quickly cast her eyes to the woman in question.
“No offense to your cousin. I’m sure he’s a great guy, I just don’t know anything about him. ”
Sadie gave that some thought before shrugging her shoulders. “Ah, no offense taken. He is kind of a dud.”
My head whipped around in her direction before Nona grabbed it and forced it back into place. “Then why would you want to set me up with him?”
“I knew you were single, and he was the first person who popped in my head,” she answered unapologetically. “But if we’re gonna brainstorm on a guy for you—”
“No. We aren’t brainstorming anything,” I insisted.
At that moment, Gypsy came scurrying over like a shark that smelled blood in the water. “Did someone say fix-up?”
I was suddenly starting to seriously rethink my love of going to the salon.
“No one said anything about a fix-up,” I grumbled.
“Sadie mentioned her cousin,” Nona chirped like she hadn’t heard me. “But I’m thinking local.”
“Ooh!” Gypsy threw her hands up. “I know there are still a few of the Alpha Omega dudes who aren’t tied down. I can talk to Marco tonight and figure out which would be a good fit.”
“No fix-ups!” I exclaimed.
No one listened.
“Or what about Micah Langford?” Blair asked, drawing the intrigued attention of the women around me.
“Oh, yes,” Sadie said, waving her hand in front of her face. “That detective is one fine hunk of man.”
“Hmm.” Gypsy tapped her chin in thought. “I don’t know. He’s good looking, that’s for damn sure, but he also likes to play the field. Not sure he’d be right for Dani.”
“Uh, guys.” I lifted my hand and waved it in the air. “I’m right here. And if any of you care, I really don’t want to be set up.”
“We don’t,” all four of them said at the same time.
“What about Leo?” Nona queried.
Oh lord. I clamped my mouth shut, pulling my lips between my teeth and biting down as my cheeks began to burn.
That got Gypsy’s full attention, and she swiveled around to face Nona full-on. “Leo Drake?”
“Didn’t he just get divorced?” Blair asked.
Nona spoke next. “Yeah, but it was like, a year ago. That’s enough time, right?”
“Normally, I’d say yes to that,” Sadie answered before frowning and continuing with, “but that ex of his is a real piece of work. Not sure our Dani needs to take on something like that.”
I’d given up. Those four women were going to keep talking about me like I wasn’t there, so I decided my best bet was to keep my mouth shut. There was also the added fact that I wasn’t sure I could speak without it becoming glaringly obvious how just hearing them say the name Leo Drake affected me.
“True,” Nona said on a sigh. “So then we’re back to one of the Alpha Omega guys?”
Letting out a beleaguered breath, I cast my eyes up to the ceiling and mumbled, “From here on out, I’m going to the salon in Grapevine.”
They all knew I was full of it, and they showed that by bursting into laughter.
It was official. I needed new friends.
They continued on like that for several minutes, to the point Nona had finished with the foils, and they were still rattling off names.
I couldn’t take it any longer. “Seriously, guys. No setups,” I pleaded. “I mean it. If I’m supposed to meet someone, it’ll happen naturally.”
“Not when all you do is spend your time working, hon,” Gypsy stated.
I pulled my lips between my teeth again, this time feeling the hit of her words, because she wasn’t wrong.
Owning my own business, I worked crazy hours and was on my feet the whole time.
Usually, I was so exhausted by the end of the day that all I wanted to do was go home and pass out.
That didn’t really give much of a chance for a social life, and it played a large part in why I was still single at thirty-four.
“Gypsy,” Nona said in a low, admonishing voice.
I looked into the mirror to see her looking down at me with concern and understanding.
“It’s fine,” I said softly. “I mean, she’s not totally wrong. I work like crazy, then go home. That’s pretty much it.”
“See?” Gypsy threw her hand out toward me, looking to Nona as she declared, “She gets me.” Her gaze turned to the mirror, her expression turning contrite. “But I am sorry, babe. I didn’t mean to—”
“Don’t.” I held my hand up to halt her apology.
“You don’t have anything to apologize for.
I didn’t take offense. I get it, and I need to do better.
But—” I added quickly when her and Nona’s faces both lit up with excitement.
“How about we start smaller? Much smaller, say, with a girls’ night in which none of you try setting me up with a man. Deal?”
The two of them turned to each other, communicating silently before facing the mirror and looking back at me to say in unison, “Deal.”
“Where are you going?” I called out when Gypsy spun around on her heel and started scurrying away.
“To make some calls,” she returned. “You said you’re down for a girls’ night, so I’m gonna set something up. I’m thinking Whiskey Dolls, next Saturday.”
“I’m out for that weekend, but don’t let that stop you,” Nona informed her. “I’ll catch you guys another time. I know Eden and Tempie will be in. You just need to check with Tessa, Sage, and Rory.”
Gypsy’s hand went up in the air. “On it. This is gonna be so much fun!”
I might have initially used this as a diversion to get them off the path of fixing me up, but now that it was actually in the works, I was starting to get excited. I hadn’t had a night out in so damn long, and Whiskey Dolls was the perfect place.