Page 5 of No More Hiding
“Both,” he said.
“And you’re not much of a talker either,” she said. “Can I get your name at least?”
He realized now he hadn’t given it when she said hers. “Brent Elliot.”
“Okay, Brent. I’m going to turn you into someone else completely,” she said.
If only that were possible, but he kept those words to himself.
He wasn’t out to change his life as much as he wished he could wipe some of it away.
The bad parts. The sad ones.
The ones that still woke him up with nightmares and made his heart hurt more than it should.
When his cut was done, he looked in the mirror and was shocked he almost didn’t recognize himself.
Or more like who he saw was the old him when he gave a shit.
“Wow. Good job.”
“Thanks.”
He ran his hand over his beard that now didn’t look like it belonged with the fresh cut. “Time to deal with this I guess.”
“I can do that if you’d like,” she said.
“Really?” he asked. “I’m not sure I want a blade on my face.”
“I was thinking of trimming. But if you’d like it gone, that’s your choice.”
“A trim is good. I’ve grown used to it,” he said.
She pulled out another razor, put some attachments on it and then got to work. She was close in his face and he found he couldn’t look away.
Her blue eyes were glancing up at his, they were meeting and staring, then they’d drop away.
She was a cool one, but polite with it.
When she stood back, he didn’t think it was him in the mirror with the close-cut beard and wondered how the hell he was going to maintain this.
At least his mother would be thrilled when she saw him in a few days.
“I think you’re all set and I can wash it now unless you want some more trimmed?”
“No,” he said. “It looks great. It really does. Guess it was my lucky day the barbershop was packed and I didn’t want to wait.”
She laughed. “Everyone comes out of there looking the same, but I’m sure you would have been just as happy.”
He probably would have been, but not as much as he was now.
He got up and followed her to the sink at the other end of the room to have his head washed.
When her fingers started to massage his scalp he realized that no, he wouldn’t have gotten this there.
“You’ve got some magic fingers,” he said and heard a lot of laughter.
She smiled at him and when he sat up he noticed that the other client was gone but in that person’s place was the owner and another young employee. He hadn’t even heard Cash leave, unless he was still in the back.
