Page 88 of Single-Minded
Her construction projects would both be finished in less than two weeks. I wasn’t ready to walk away cold turkey right now, but I’d make sure to be by the time the work was done. Hard stop.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Presley
Hair day in Dragonfly Lake was a different experience for me.
Going to the salon here was a social event, where you could gather advice from well-meaning women and catch up on the latest around town. Posh, Emerson’s salon, was one of those rare places where a sisterhood could be formed with near strangers over the course of a couple of hours.
In Nashville, I’d gone to the same stylist for several years, but I barely knew her and vice versa, because I’d generally worked while I was in the chair.
I couldn’t fathom doing that here. Burying my head in work and missing out on the wide range of conversations at Posh would be a sacrilege.
It was Wednesday, just after five p.m. Chloe and I had appointments together, with Emerson doing her cut and highlight and Willow doing mine in the next chair over. Gradually the other stylists had finished their workdays, told everyone goodbye, and taken off for the evening, leaving just the four of us.
Willow was sharing tales of her eleven-year-old daughter’s crush on the boy who lived next door to them, which prompted us to share our own embarrassing pre-adolescent crushes.
“Mine was Holden,” Chloe said.
“Really?” Emerson met Chloe’s eyes in the mirror, pausing in the middle of foiling a section of hair.
“I wouldn’t lie about that,” Chloe said, laughing. “Have I never told you that before?”
“You’ve mentioned you had feelings for him in high school, but I didn’t know they went back that far. And you’re not sick of him yet?”
We all laughed.
“I didn’t tell a soul back then,” Chloe said. “I wouldn’t dream of admitting that to my mom. Just goes to show how much your daughter trusts you, Willow.”
Willow grimaced as she sectioned off another chunk of my hair. “I hope that can somehow continue once hormones turn her into a teenage monster.”
“I hear you,” Emerson said. “That’s getting closer for us too with Evelyn.”
“You both seem to have built a solid foundation with your daughters,” I said. “Obviously I know nothing about parenting, but logic says that’s the first step.”
“Yeah, except logic goes out the window with kids,” Willow said.
“Amen,” Emerson said.
“You make me want to run right out and have six of them,” I joked.
My phone buzzed with a text, so I pulled it out to check. My heart did a little dance step when I saw West’s name.
West: The fixtures and railings for the rooftop patio were just delivered.
He must still be at my house, finishing up.
Presley: How do they look?
He sent a wide-eyed, nonsmiling emoji that I’d always interpreted as WTF.
I frowned, waiting for him to say more.
West: Did you order these?
A photo appeared of a heavy, bronze, medieval-looking light fixture that made me think of Conan the Barbarian or some other masculine grunter who drank mead in steins.
Presley: That would be a no.
