Page 10 of Crazy in Love

“You don’t have to be so sarcastic. And don’t touch my food. You know I hate that.”

“I do know. But what are ya gonna do about it?” she teased, waggling her eyebrows. “With only one good arm and one good leg, it’s not like you can chase me down and take it back.”

He harrumphed. “I will get better. And I have a long memory.”

“It’s been over a week,” Tess said, polishing off the sandwich. “Didn’t the doctor say you should be walking soon?”

“I go a little farther every day. Even got to the end of the driveway once. And I can go a few hours at a time without the arm sling now,” Nick said, running a hand through his hair. The gesture reminded him he needed a haircut.

“How’s the pain?”

“I’ll live.” He shrugged. “I’m trying to go easy on the pills.” He’d heard one too many horror stories of people getting hooked on meds after an injury and was determined to make sure that didn’t happen to him.

“Well, don’t be dumb about it,” Tess said.

“Can you drive me to the barber sometime soon?” He could feel his hair sticking every which way and tried to tamp it down.

“You really gonna trust Cletus to cut your precious do?” Tess raised an eyebrow.

“He’sstillcutting hair? He must be a hundred years old!”

“And his haircutting skills are what you’d expect. I’ll take you to Faith. She’ll cut it.”

“Whaddya mean?”

“My friend Faith. That’s what she does.”

“Oh.” Every time Tess mentioned Faith, Nick’s brain immediately brought up the incident at the lake. Would he be able to look her in the eyes after seeing her naked? Of course he could. It had been ten years, and he was a grown man, for heaven’s sake. “Fine. Whatever. Can we go now? I gotta get out of this place.”

Tess pulled out her phone, made a quick call, and hung up. “She can squeeze you in if we hurry. Come on.”

Climbing into Tess’s SUV hurt like the dickens and forced him to take a pill, but by the time they arrived at Shear Genius, the pain had settled to tolerable.

He hated having to rely on his cane, but it was that or potentially end up on his face. They entered, and Nick recognized Faith immediately. Tall, long blonde hair tied up in some fancy ponytail, body like a…Stop!

She was laughing at something the woman in her chair said, and the tinkly sound floated over to where they stood in the entryway.

“All finished,” Faith said to the client. “You look fantastic. You’ll have to beat Carl off with a stick.” As she whipped off the hair cape, she caught Tess’s eye and held up a finger.

“Thank you, Faith,” the woman said, smoothing a hand over her hair. “You were right about the color. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”

Faith escorted the lady to the front, where she stopped to pay the receptionist. She said goodbye and turned to him and Tess.

“Well, if it isn’t Nicky Walker,” Faith said, eyeing him up and down. “Long time no see, sailor.”

“Easy, girl,” Tess said. “He’s still my brother.”

“And it’s Nick,” Nick grumbled, cringing at the childhood nickname he hadn’t heard in years.

Faith held up both hands. “Okay, Nick. Come on back.” He averted his eyes from her butt as she sashayed—no other way to describe it—to her station. “Have a seat.”

He tamped down a grimace as he gingerly slid into the chair, but she noticed and frowned at his discomfort.

“Sorry about your injury,” she said. “I’ll do this quick. You just want a trim?”

“Any chance you could wash it?” he asked. “I can only raise one arm and haven’t done a proper job of it in days.”

“Sure,” she said. “Let’s get you to the sink.”

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