Page 101 of Falling Stars

Mav slides his hand behind my neck and holds me close for a moment. He looks into my eyes and rubs his nose against mine. “Love you, Bay.”

Happily, I sigh. There aren’t words for the fireworks that gooff in my heart every time he says those words. I stare up at him as a smile stretches my lips. “I love you too, Mav.”

As I practically skip to work, I get the sense that he and I can work through anything. That no challenge is too great if we love each other. He’ll always have me, and I’ll always have him.

I turn the corner to the salon and almost stumble when I see a crowd of people standing in front of Bumblebee. The last time people congregated in front of my shop, someone had put a rock through my window.

Pushing Leo’s stroller as fast as I can, I run down the sidewalk. “What’s going on?” I ask as I try to nudge through everyone.

Neighbors and friends give me sympathetic looks. “I’m sorry, Baylee,” Rory says. “I’m sure it looks worse than it is.”

What looks worse than it is?

When I reach the open front door, I gasp when I finally get a glimpse inside.

There’s trash everywhere. On the floor. On the receptionist desk. On every workstation.

And is that purple paint?

I park Leo behind the front desk and turn to Vera, who’s in tears.

She stops sweeping to hug me. “The back door was open when I got here a few minutes ago. I swear I locked it last night, Baylee. I swear.”

I squeeze her tighter. “I’m sure you did.” Vera’s my best employee. She works hard, she never complains, and she always helps out with Leo if she can. Honestly, she’s a saint. Her taking Leo to the park last night was an unusual lapse in judgment. She’s usually on top of everything for me.

Having to comfort her helps me keep my emotions in check. Part of me wants to crawl into a corner and cry, but the other part is fuming.

Someone cackles on the sidewalk. Estelle holds her hand to her mouth to feign concern. “Oh, my. Look at the mess. What a shame! Now everyone will know that when you go to trashy girls, you get trashy service.”

What does that mean? I’m not trashy. And my grandmother opened this salon, and she was the epitome of class.

Estelle smirks, but her younger sister Darla Sue looks embarrassed.

“What are you, ten?” Vera shouts. “Get the fuck out of here, you ho-bag.”

Bystanders snicker, and Estelle huffs and walks off. Darla Sue looks like she wants to say something, but Estelle shouts her name, and she scurries off like a frightened mouse.

“Did you call the sheriff?” I ask as I grab a trash bag to help Vera.

She nods. “He’s on his way.”

“What is this stuff?” It’s purple and sticky.

Vera points to the back door where I can see our overturned trash bins that were stacked neatly in the alley last night. “It’s the hair dye you used yesterday on your last client.”

What the fresh hell? I take a deep breath to calm down so I can think. “I need to reschedule our morning appointments before we clean up. That way people don’t waste their time coming down.”

She nods and, after a few phone calls, we get back to work.

The sheriff arrives with Paige on his heels. Her mouth drops open as she surveys the mess. “If I find the asshole who did this, I’m going to singe their eyebrows off with a lighter before I feed ’em to the pigs.”

The fury in my best friend’s eyes is something I’ve never seen before. She’s little but fierce.

Sheriff Reynolds shakes his head as he takes notes. “I didn’t hear that.”

She marches up to him and pokes him in his chest. “You’d better figure this out. This is the second time someone has trashed Baylee’s salon. First that rock through her window and now this.”

“Darlin’, you’re not supposed to touch law enforcement.” He’s like everyone’s grandfather. I’m not sure people around here take him that seriously.

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