Chapter 31
Fiona was determined to do everything in her power to forget Porter. It had obviously been a mistake. There would be other rental spaces. There would be other men. No reason to get hung up on dreams that fell through. She’d blocked his calls and texts, and was ready to move on.
She was telling herself this for the fiftieth time that day when her customer walked up to her door.
“Hey, Fi!”
Jenna, one of the waitresses at Hearth, gave her an enthusiastic hug.
“Hey,” Fiona said warmly. She had been lucky that she’d worked with such fun people at Hearth, short lived as it might have been.
She’d had a couple cancellations that afternoon, so she was able to get Jenna in for a quick haircut. She’d also happened to cancel the haircut that Porter tried to book, petty as that might have been. But if she had to find a new rental space, then he could find a new hairstylist.
“Just a trim today?” Fiona asked, pulling out a cape for her.
“Yes, and some layers,” Jenna told her. “I’ve been so busy that I kept pushing this off.”
“So, fill me in,” Fiona said. “What’s been going on at the restaurant?”
She leaned Jenna back and began shampooing her hair.
“Well, Ava and Jeremiah had a thing,” she started. “Which I totally called, by the way. Oh! And you were right about Sergio. He’s obsessed with me.”
Listening to the Hearth gossip, Fiona felt herself unwind, just a little. She trimmed and shaped Jenna’s curls, relishing in the familiarity of her work.
She told Jenna about Savannah Glam, and Jenna even booked a session for her birthday over the summer.
Fiona took a breath. She and her friends would be okay, she decided. The rental space was just a hiccup on their journey. And apparently, so was Porter.
After she finished styling, Jenna beamed at herself in the mirror. “Wait until Sergio sees this,” she said.
“I’m glad you like it,” Fiona said, grabbing her phone. “Do you want to book your next appointment? Our schedules are starting to fill up with Savannah Glam, so I like to book early, if I can.”
“Sure,” Jenna said. “Maybe a few months out? I’ll have to touch up my roots.”
She started to search for her credit card in her purse, but suddenly, she gasped.
“Oh my god, did you hear? They’re expanding the restaurant already.”
Fiona blinked at her. “What did you say?”
“David and Porter,” Jenna added, thrilled to share more gossip. “They rented the space next door and they’re turning it into a lounge. Sergio got the inside scoop.”
Fiona blinked again, her mind suddenly blank.
“The space…to the right of the restaurant?”
Jenna nodded. “They’re going to be closing the restaurant for a couple days to knock down part of the wall. Sergio and I might take a quick trip to Charleston when that happens.”
She grinned, clearly excited for some time off.
“Huh. That’s…interesting.” It was all Fiona managed to say. She’d strongly suspected David and Porter were the ones renting the space. But confirming that suspicion hurt even more.
“Um, I’ll text you the link to my calendar, if you want to book your next appointment,” Fiona said, desperately wanting to tell Stella and Cassie everything she’d just learned. She clung to the idea that maybe this was some kind of absurd misunderstanding. Because if it wasn’t, it meant that Porter had knowingly stolen her dream of a Broughton storefront.
Fiona was pacingaround Stella’s apartment, like she had been for the past half hour. Cassie and Stella both exchanged glances, neither one of them sure what to say.
“You’re sure you don’t want to call him?” Stella asked, for the fourth time.
Fiona just shook her head.
Cassie sighed, defeated. “If you just call him, then you two can get to the bottom of this whole thing.”
Fiona stopped, her thoughts still racing.
“I just don’t get it,” she said, finally deciding to sit on the couch. “None of this makes any sense. Why would he move forward without telling us?”
Stella squeezed Fiona’s shoulder. “I’m sorry, babe. I know you really liked him.”
Fiona stared at the ground. “I cannot believe I didn’t see this coming. I actually believed him.”
“We will find a place, Fiona,” Cassie assured her. “We can start looking tomorrow. We have to believe there’s a reason it didn’t work out.”
Fiona nodded. She would agree with Cassie, eventually. And something would work out, one day. But right now, in this moment, all she felt was profound loss.