Chapter 21 Jade
Jade
Jade swore at the snow piled on her windshield.
She was a Midwesterner to her core, and normally, the white crisp flakes tapped into something satisfyingly primal within her.
The substance, whether powdery, flaky, or full, dredged up the want to engage in a snow fight, or go sledding, or skate on a lake.
But today, the snow was more of a wet, clumpy, dirty slush.
And she was over scraping her windshield.
She wasn’t even in Lucy’s house that long, definitely not long enough for this white crap to coagulate on her car.
She grabbed a brush and pushed off the snow, then flumped into her car and slammed the door.
Breathe, breathe. Jade shouldn’t have snapped at Lucy like that. It wasn’t fair. But ugh, they’d talked about this open house. A lot. How the hell did Lucy forget? Nope, breathe. It wasn’t like Jade couldn’t go alone.
Lucy hadn’t been feeling well this month so most of the time Jade stayed in with her, cuddling on Lucy’s couch with her and Chucky. And Jade loved it. Really, she did. But she’d been looking forward to the opening night all week – and she had not imagined going alone.
She pulled down the block, slush spraying beneath her tyres. A snowplough moved behind her and she inched over to allow it to pass, its blinking lights illuminating the snow-covered streets. The plough shook her car as it passed, and even the radio couldn’t drown out its metallic scraping sound.
‘Ugh!’ Jade yelled to no one as she pushed her head against the back of the seat.
Was this level of irritation warranted for the queer bookstore open house? Probably not. But … it wasn’t just that. Lucy had hit a nerve about the salon books.
A couple weeks ago, Jade finally dived into the books and started recording discrepancies.
What with the whirlwind of a new relationship, she’d pushed aside Shayna’s sinking profits, a vendor who marked up their products over twenty per cent without warning, and an electric bill that was supposed to be on autopay which oddly defaulted to paper and got lost in the shuffle.
Being with someone special pushed pesky things down the priority list – like having a solid heart-to-heart with her former top stylist as to why she was currently ranking ten out of seventeen.
At this point, Jade just needed to accept that for the second year, Shayna hadn’t brought in what she brought in the first year.
And maybe that wasn’t that odd? People tended to hustle hard their first year in a salon as they fought to push their way to the top.
Sometimes it was harder to maintain a top spot than get there in the first place.
Jade slid to a stop at the light and scolded herself for being distracted. Minnesota winters and space-cadet driving did not mix, and she needed to focus. She plucked her wool gloves off and gripped the steering wheel.
God, why had she stomped out like that? Elizabeth used to always complain that if anything got heated, Jade would bolt. Lucy didn’t deserve that reaction, and as Jade turned down the block to her neighbourhood, a pinch squeezed in her chest.
Her girlfriend was having a damn baby for someone else.
A freaking baby! Jade should be back at Lucy’s rubbing her feet, running a bath, helping with dishes – not having a short fuse.
She had no idea, nor desire, to know what it was like to be pregnant.
And she had gone into this relationship with eyes wide open, knowing things would change for Lucy as they went forward.
Jade should be more accommodating and not let these little things get to her.
Because these little things were getting to her, hard, and she needed to pinpoint why.
Two nights ago, Lucy promised to get Jade’s favourite eclairs from a local bakery and forgot.
And last Monday, they were supposed to go see Kate McKinnon’s latest flick, and Lucy forgot she had a doctor’s appointment.
Jade had to choke back her irrational irritation. Again.
She slunk into the house, tossing her keys on the counter.
The candy stash in her drawer called to her, and she indulged as the chewy caramel melted on her tongue.
She popped one more, put on her sweats and ripped off her bra, an unofficial declaration that she was not going alone to the bookstore opening. She was staying in for the evening.
Her phone rang. She dug it out from her cross-body bag and read the screen.
Amanda.
‘Hey, lady, got a second?’
‘Sure.’ Jade slid her feet into her slippers and checked her watch.
‘What’s up? You’re not still at the salon, are you?
’ The salon closed an hour ago, and if Amanda was still there, it meant that the stylists were not pulling their weight in cleaning.
That had happened once last month, but after Jade gave them all a stern chat about being a team, she’d been under the impression that everyone had stepped up.
‘Yes, but it’s not what you think,’ Amanda said. ‘I forgot my laptop charger there. I have to finish an essay that’s due tomorrow morning, so I swung by to get it before heading to the library. And, uh, Shayna was there doing hair on a couple of people.’
Huh. ‘That’s weird. She doesn’t work Wednesdays.’ No matter, though. Jade allowed the stylists to use the facility for family after hours. Even Amanda had done that. But they usually just stayed longer on the shifts they were already working, as opposed to coming in after hours on their days off.
‘Jade … I, um, don’t think they were family.’ Amanda’s normally confident tone wavered.
The skin on Jade’s neck prickled. ‘How do you know?’ She lowered herself onto the sofa.
‘I recognised them as a couple of clients she used to have.’
The prickle spread and Jade’s heart dropped. Her internal organs were labouring double-time. There had to be an explanation. ‘Did you say anything?’
‘No, I didn’t know what to say. She just looked up when I got there and maybe looked a little sheepish? It’s hard to say. The space had such a funky energy, so I grabbed my stuff and split.’
A low but fierce throbbing had started in Jade’s temples. She jammed her knuckles into her forehead to release the pressure and exhaled a quick breath. ‘Thanks for letting me know. I’ll look into it.’
As soon as she disconnected the call, Jade propped her elbows on her knees and dropped her head into her hands.
Dammit. What a shit night. Her former top employee was definitely up to something, she had no text messages from Lucy, and she was a month behind on quarterly reviews for her staff.
The only thing that could make today worse was if her ex called.
Jade stormed into the kitchen and filled a glass with an Argentina Malbec, grabbed a block of cheese (don’t judge) and returned to the recliner.
She snugged her favourite grey-and-white knitted blanket over her shoulders and stared out the window, the plate of food resting firmly on her crisscrossed legs.
The fresh snow falling in the moonlight was beautiful, making the ground sparkle like white sapphires.
She tried hard to focus on that and not the sick feeling that was rising in her chest.
The tart wine melted into a robust, velvety mix of plum and berry on her tongue, and the brie was a perfect offset.
She savoured the creamy cheese, which she withheld from eating around Lucy, since she was avoiding almost all soft cheese right now.
The cheese thing didn’t make much sense to Jade – like how many pregnancies were actually affected by cheese, but whatever.
It made Lucy feel better to avoid it, so Jade supported her.
Yep, Jade was doing anything possible to avoid thinking about Shayna.
She sipped from her glass and rolled the wine on her tongue.
She was pretty sure she knew what had been happening with Shayna but didn’t want to face it.
There was no chance that Shayna was doing that many re-dos.
Confronting things like this head-on made Jade sick, but …
she had to. I mean, she was the owner, dammit.
The salon was her life, her career, her baby. Time to protect it.
Her night was ruined anyway. Between missing the bookstore opening, and the way she’d left things with Lucy, how much worse could it get?
She grabbed the laptop and set it back on her legs.
She had access to security footage from the salon but had never needed to review it.
After multiple failed log-in attempts – and enough F-bombs to make a Gen X’er blush – she finally pulled it up.
She poured herself another glass of wine and scrolled through video after video. ‘Nothing …’
No weird activity, except for an oddly large amount of people who tried to peek through the window after hours.
Sip and scroll, sip and scroll. She sank her teeth into another chunk of buttery brie and stopped.
A terrible sensation seized her chest. Her neck felt cold, then hot.
She leaned in as she watched Shayna bouncing through the door, followed by several people.
The footage was from 8 p.m. last Wednesday, an hour after the place closed.
Amanda was right – Shayna wasn’t with family. The man trailing Shayna was one of her clients, Tony. Not that Jade knew the names of all Shayna’s clients, but she remembered joking with Shayna about how much he resembled Justin Bieber.
The recliner squeaked as Jade edged forward, looking even closer at the screen. What the … she scrolled through the footage as the shop became alive until almost midnight. Five clients served. And not a single one was Shayna’s mom, sister, or brother – all of whom Jade would have recognised.