Chapter 18
BETWEEN APPOINTMENTS
JOSEPHINE
Having the salon to myself this morning is exactly what I needed. It’s quiet, save for the steady hum of traffic blocking up the road out front from after-school drop-off.
Taking a long drag of my favorite iced latte, I balk at the woman staring back at me in my station’s mirror.
Besides the dark circles under my eyes and the stiff pull in my lower back from squishing myself into bed next to Haley, I look like I got ready in the dark.
If my clients come in and see the state of my hair, they’re going to turn around and run for the hills, which would be mighty impressive considering most are in their seventies, rounding the corner to eighty.
Being back home has been tense. It’s only been a couple of days, but getting a breather is probably in everyone’s favor at this point.
Haley’s back in school, Vik’s off to deal with the club, and until he gets things straight with Ghost on the paperwork front, Trenton’s hanging out at the house, hopefully staying out of trouble.
I debated bringing him in with me, but I didn’t want him to feel like he couldn’t be trusted.
Plus, one step in here with my regulars and the news would be around town before the end of the night.
Setting my caffeine down, I get to work, smoothing my dark hair into submission. The slicked-back high pony will have to do for today, until I can wash the weekly buildup of grease from my roots—dry shampoo can only save a girl for so many days.
Charlie doesn’t have any appointments until this afternoon, so I make my way around the salon, flipping on the open sign, tuning the radio to a station that doesn’t sound like you’re opening a bag of chips, and straightening up the front desk.
It doesn’t take long before Mrs. Loretta shuffles in with her walker, her granddaughter taking one of the seats in the waiting area.
One after another, my regulars make their appointments. We chat about the latest scandals plaguing our little town, or their children who don’t visit enough. I’ve done four set and curls, and one blowout by the time lunch rolls around and Charlie bursts through the front doors.
“Good lord, woman, who’s hot on your heels?” I chuckle, watching as she frantically looks behind her. Unease builds in my stomach at the look on her face. “Whoa, are you okay?”
Charlie drops her bags in her chair, not answering my question, before disappearing to the back room where we keep all our supplies. I’m too worried about her rushed entrance not to follow.
When I make it behind the half wall, she’s pacing back and forth, her thumbnail wedged between her teeth.
She looks as bad as I did this morning, and that’s more unsettling than her behavior.
Charlie’s always put together. The girl loves her morning routine, which I’d never have time for between breakfast and drop off.
But today her shoes don’t match her outfit, and her lips are bare.
“Did you see them?” she asks, but never lifts her gaze from the floor.
Peeking around the corner, I eye the front door. The sidewalk’s clear, a blue sedan drives by, but other than that, nothing’s happening out front.
“See what, babe? You’re worrying me.”
At my concern, her muscles seem to tense all at once as she stops on a dime in front of me. “There’s something I need—”
But before she can finish that thought, the front door chimes, and Trenton walks in with that damn black hoodie pulled tight over his head.
“I’m so sorry, give me a second. We’ll come back to this, I promise.”
Hustling to the front, I find Trenton awkwardly waiting by the unmanned desk.
“Hey, kid. What are you doing here?” I ask, keeping my tone light.
“Are you busy? I need to talk to you.”
I check my watch, noting the time. My stomach grumbles as if on cue. Charlie’s gathered herself, but her usually bronzed skin is as pale as a sheet, while she works to get her stuff put away at her station.
“Hey, Char? You good if I go get some lunch?”
“Yeah, sure.” Her voice is an octave too high and chipper for the moment we just had, but I can only handle one problem at a time.
“You had lunch yet?” I ask, since I have a while until my afternoon clients.
“No, ma’am.”
“Alright, let’s go grab something. There’s a great little sandwich shop across the way.”
He follows me down the street quietly. It’s already stifling out, the humidity coating my skin in a thick invisible film.
The weather’s calling for a massive storm front, building in the west, and headed our direction by evening.
Another problem to solve before the days through, lest the chickens drown, and Henry get hit by lightning.
It’s busier than normal as we take a seat at one of the booths in the back, waiting for Randi to come by with our menus.
“Does Vik know you’re here?”
“He said he had a few things to take care of with the guys and that he’d be back later.” He shrugs. “Also, said I’d have to start school next week.”
He looks annoyed at that, but it’s not an option. He’s only fourteen, should be a freshman in high school, but I haven’t thought to ask if that’s the case.
“Were you in school back in Austin?”
He fidgets with the silverware, getting a small reprieve when Randi stops by to take our drink orders and hand over the lunch menus.
“Well?” I ask when she leaves.
“It’s been a while. We moved around a lot, and ma didn’t always get around to enrolling me before we were on the road again.”
Jesus. That woman was a piece of work.
“What’s the last grade you finished, Trenton?”
His head falls forward, concealing himself completely. This isn’t going to be good.
“Seventh.”
I calm the frustration bubbling inside. I hate this for him.
No kid should have the opportunity of an education taken away from them because the adult in their life couldn’t get their shit together.
Bouncing from one place to another is hard enough, but not having the support of an adult who actually cares is probably why she got away with it.
“Did you like school?”
Everything about his demeanor shifts. His shoulders pull back, and that hood finally comes down, revealing his messy hair—I should really offer him a cut after this.
“It was fine.”
But nothing about the spark in his eyes tells me that’s the real answer.
“Fine, huh? What was your favorite subject?”
The way Trenton lights up when he gets your full attention is like watching Haley treat the world as her stage every single day. What she takes for granted, he absorbs as if it’ll never be offered again.
“Math, hands down. It’s just a set of rules that, when you follow, work out any equation.”
“I’m terrible with numbers, but that’s awesome. You know, I think the high school here has a math club. I want to say I sponsored one of their trips to Dallas for some conference with a world-famous mathematician.”
His eyes grow wide, like he can’t even imagine the possibility. Randi drops off our sandwiches, and the easy conversation flows. I get to know this young man a little more as the minutes tick by. Once we’ve finished, it dawns on me that he showed up with something on his mind.
“I have to head back to the salon soon. What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
The nervous energy our lighthearted talk dispelled is back. His body jostles in the booth across from me, the material squeaking with every bounce of his knee under the table. Whatever it is, he’s worried about bringing it up.
“You and Vik… you guys are like okay, right?”
Damn. I’m used to having a kid who’s so unaware of her surroundings from growing up in a stable household, that she didn’t think twice about the little unexpected overnight we spent at Lexi’s.
If that’s not what gave us away, I’m sure the silence between Vik and me, or the fact that I’ve accidentally fallen asleep in Haley’s room every night since we’ve gotten back, was easy enough to pick up on.
“It’s not about you, kiddo, I promise. We’ve just got some stuff to work out, married people things. Plus, Vik is worried about some big changes coming to the club. It’s nothing you need to worry about.”
He doesn’t look convinced. Only time will offer him the assurance he’s craving, the safety he’s never felt, or the support he’s never received. But no matter where Vik and I land in all of this, he’s Haley’s half-brother, and he’ll always be in our lives.
“All I want you to worry about right now is what you’re going to let me do to the mop on your head that you call hair.”
“You want to cut my hair?”
“Desperately. Let’s go. Then, when I’m done, we can head over and get you some new clothes for school.” I offer, sliding out of the booth.
The wind knocks from my lungs when his towering frame smacks into mine, wrapping me up in his lengthy limbs.
“Thanks, Josie,” his whisper hits my ear.
I hold back the tears welling quickly at the unexpected show of appreciation, not wanting to scare him off when he finally pulls away. His pale cheeks tinge pink, but I give him a quick nod and lead him back to my salon chair.