Page 4 of No More Hiding
“Don’t be sorry. We moved on. You didn’t. Then you took another blow. Move on, Brent. Please.”
He nodded his head and watched her leave, then grabbed his keys and decided it was time to do as his mother said.
When he got in his SUV and drove around looking for a barber, the one he found was packed. How the hell could it be packed midweek in the afternoon? There had to be a strip mall or something around here where he could find a place.
When he turned the corner onto Central Avenue, he saw the sign for Hannah’s Salon. There didn’t seem to be many in there and he wondered if they took walk-ins.
He parked and walked to the front door before he changed his mind and went back to work.
“Can I help you?” the woman said. She was sweeping hair around her station. Another chair had a client in it, the stylist smiling while she worked, the short brown pixie cut with some bright pink on the ends making him regret this decision.
“I’m looking for a haircut. I wasn’t sure if you had time?”
“I happen to have a break before my next appointment,” said the woman with the broom in her hand. He might have run for the door if she wasn’t sporting a normal hairstyle.
She was tall and thin, young, pretty. Stunning actually. Her hair was a long dirty blonde with streaks of lighter shades falling across her back.
“Thanks,” he said.
“Why don’t you come take a seat,” she said. “I’m Vivian Getman.”
“Thanks for fitting me in,” he said.
“Let me finish up and I’ll be right back.”
He sat there and looked around and felt completely out of place being the only man and wondered what the hell he’d been thinking to come here.
When he heard the door open he turned and saw a big man walking in, all the girls grinning. “Hannah, your sweetie is here,” the one with the pixie cut said. Oh, must be the owner by the name of the salon, Brent thought.
A petite woman with long blonde hair came out from the back, walking toward the big man that looked pretty comfortable around the girls. He gave the blonde a kiss.
“Aw, aren’t you so sweet, Cash,” Vivian said. “I remember the day Hannah couldn’t get you to take a bottle of water in the heat.”
“I’ll take anything she wants to give me now,” the man said. Brent assumed his name was Cash, but he’d never heard that before.
“That’s good to hear,” Hannah said. “I need you to fix my shelves in the back.”
“Figures,” Cash said and followed her to the back. The man sure did look like he worked with his hands.
Brent had barely left his house and now he knew why when he watched that interaction and started to shift around wanting his computer again. He just didn’t like being around people.
But he was stuck when Vivian came back with a smock that she put over his shoulders.
“So, what are we doing with your hair today?”
“Cutting it,” he said.
“And it needs it,” she said with a grin. “But do you have a style you want?”
“I’m not fussy. Something short and easy to maintain. Just don’t buzz it off. I could have done that myself. Maybe I should have.”
“That would be a crime,” she said. “You’ve got nice thick hair that many men would be jealous of.”
He supposed that was a compliment, but all it did was embarrass him. “Thanks, I think.”
The other two ladies in the room laughed and he knew they were finding enjoyment in this. Since the other guy was in the back he returned to being outnumbered by the women.
“I’m going to wet it down and then I’ll wash it after. There will be a lot of hair that is coming off.” He nodded and let her do her thing. He would have been happy with the peace and quiet, but after five minutes, she asked, “Are you new to this area? Or just new to the shop?”