Page 47 of Her Rock Star's Dark Secret

“That was my grandmother. It’s gotten a bit of a reputation for being a salon geared toward older clients. But I’m working to change that. I’m hoping to renovate the place and maybe do some rebranding.” Lauren hadn’t actually thought about rebranding before, but Jessie’s assumption that the salon was a place for older women had given her the idea.

Maybe that had been her problem from the very beginning. Her brand was reaching the wrong audience. She wanted to do hair for women her own age, but everything about her salon’s brand still appealed to older women. This discovery was huge for her salon.

“You’d probably benefit from a new logo. I’d be happy to trade a logo design for a cut and color.”

Lauren perked up. She hadn’t realized she’d be benefitting so much from this conversation. “I would definitely be interested in a trade like that.”

“Let’s meet next week.” Jessie pulled out her business card and handed it to Lauren. “Text me later on, and we’ll get that set up.”

Lauren walked away from the conversation with renewed vigor. She finally had a plan to pull her salon from financial devastation. And this was a solid plan. Rebrand. Get new signage up. Maybe do a little advertising, announcing a brand-new look for the salon. She had gotten some initial help from Chase’s post on social media, but unless her salon got a new brand and redesign inside, she wouldn’t be able to keep that spike in traffic. It would be nothing more than a one-time spike, because people would forget about Chase and his visit to the salon. And they’d just go back to the salons that were targeted toward younger clientele. Only grannies wanted to go to Granny’s hairdresser.

“What are you so happy about?” Chase approached her near the punch table with a genuine, curious look on his face.

Her good mood faded away. She didn’t want to discuss her salon plans with Chase. That would be letting him back into her life, and she couldn’t go there. She was in too much danger of serious heartbreak.

“What makes you think I’m happy?”

“Because you’re glowing.”

She didn’t know how to respond to that.

“Jessie Davis is going to help me rebrand my salon.”

“Rebrand?”

“I’m targeting the wrong clientele. I specialize in hair for women my own age, but all my branding is targeted toward older women because it’s leftover from the days when my grandma was running the shop.”

“That sounds like a problem.”

“Exactly. This rebranding is the key to saving my business.”

“That’s incredible news. I can see why you’re glowing now.”

“You seemed like you were glowing a minute ago too.”

A confused expression crossed Chase’s features. “You mean because I was talking to those girls?”

“You tell me. Were they the reason you were glowing?”

“Does it bother you to see me talking to other women?”

“It shouldn’t. You’re free to talk to whomever you want. But for some reason, it does.”

Chase seemed surprised that she was being so open with her feelings. Really, she was surprised herself.

“I appreciate your honesty,” Chase said. “Now I’m going to be honest back. If a bunch of guys were swarming you, I wouldn’t like it. And it’s dumb because we aren’t together or anything. But I wouldn’t be able to help it.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that our lives don’t fit together.” The hurt opened in Lauren, raw and aching.

“No, it doesn’t change that.”

“This is why it’s better for us to go our separate ways. We just have to get through tonight and tomorrow, and then you’re going back to California, and we can go back to the way things were before you came back in town.”

Pain flitted across Chase’s features. “Is that really what you want?”

“Do I have a choice? It’s not like you and I can hang out like friends. That won’t work for me. It hurts too much.” The pain was already almost overwhelming. To think that Chase would be living his life in California without her was too much to bear. She needed to step away from Chase before she did something foolish. “I’m sorry, Chase. I can’t do this.”

Lauren fled the room and went outside. She couldn’t stay in that old high school building. It was too full of memories. And now she had new painful memories to add to the collection. She missed Maisy. She should be here tonight, catching up with everyone, letting them know she’d gone to nursing school just like she’d planned. But Maisy was gone. And Lauren needed her more than ever tonight. Lauren walked to the football stadium and took a seat on the bleachers. Tears streamed down her face.

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