The Hairdresser Diaries (15 page)

Follow your heart where ever it takes you, and be happy. Life is very fragile and only loaned to us for a while…

-Unknown

Work went by slow; I had a big cancellation and a no show. I really hate when people don’t show up without calling to at least say they can’t make it. Don’t people know how rude that is? If we knew, we could call someone who was actually willing to come in, instead of sitting here with an hour and a half opening. Not to mention, most stylist work on commission. So when clients don’t show, that’s less money we get in our paychecks and people don’t understand that. I’m pretty sure most people don’t not show up for a doctor’s, car, or dentist appointment, so why do it to us?

To pass the time, I helped Peyton out. She was overbooked. In the time I had open I helped her by shampooing clients for her or ringing them out. The good thing about her being busy, it didn’t give her time to ask about my date with Cole. It’s not like there was anything to say anyway.

I got done with my last client and once Peyton was caught up, I headed out early before my shift was over. I didn’t get paid hourly so it’s not like I really had to put the hours in.

When I got home I thought taking a nice long relaxing bath would help prepare me for tonight. I needed something to take my mind off of whatever it was that Cole had planned.

I went into the bathroom, turned on the water, and poured in some of my Victoria Secret bubble bath. Got undressed and hopped in. This definitely was a good idea. I was starting to feel relaxed already. Well, I was until Cole text me.

“What’s ur address?”

I text him my address and then asked, “Do I get to know what we r doing?”

“Nope”

“Can I at least have a clue so I know what 2 wear?”

“Dress comfy and casual”

Great, that helps.

I decided to wear my white peasant dress. It was light and flowy and came down to my knees. The dress had spaghetti straps, so I decided to wear my hair down in loose waves. I only put on a minimal amount of make-up. Light pinks and peaches.

I was ready by five, so now I had an hour to kill. I hated waiting. I tried to find things to do to kill the time, but had no such luck. I was too antsy. I went to the fridge, grabbed a beer, and sat on the deck to calm my nerves. I also debated about eating a snack, since I wasn’t sure what we were doing. I was scared he might take me somewhere and I’d go hungry because I didn’t like the food. I shrugged it off giving good faith he’d pick a good place. God let’s hope he does.

While sitting there waiting, my one beer turned into two, then three. Crap, maybe I should have had a snack. Once I realized I was on my third beer I stopped and snacked on a couple pretzels. Then I brushed my teeth and reapplied my lip gloss. By the time I was finished, there was a knock at my door. I checked the time, six on the dot. I grabbed my purse and opened the door.

There he was in jeans and a t-shirt, smiling that marvelous smile. I stepped out locking the door behind me.

He took one look at me and said, “That’s what you consider comfy and casual?”

I looked down at my dress, “I think it’s very comfy and this is one of my casual dresses. Why, should I change?”

“No, it’s fine.” He put his arm out for me to take it and led me to his car opening the door for me.

Once we were both in the car I asked, “Now are you going to tell me what we’re doing?”

“Nope you’re just going to have to wait and see,” he said.

Great he’s going to kidnap me and tie me up in his basement.

I tapped my fingers nails nervously on the door ready to open it in case he was a serial killer.

Cole glanced over at me. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to kidnap you,” he said.

I looked at him surprised, yeah that’s what they say to help you relax so you’re easier to restrain. I opened my mouth to say something, but I couldn’t.

“You’re tapping your nails on the door nervously as if you were preparing to make a break for it.”

“Oh, sorry,” I said and quickly pulled my hand away.

He tried to hide his smile. “It’s okay, I don’t expect you to trust me…yet,” he glanced over at me. “I know trust has to be earned and I can tell you’re someone who doesn’t trust people easily.”

“No, I don’t,” I said turning my head and looking out the window.

“No worries, I’m willing to spend as much time as necessary to earn your trust.”

“Why do you do that?” I said.

“Do what?”

“You’re just… just, I don’t know.” I couldn’t find the words to explain it. He raised one eyebrow at me, but I didn’t say anything.

I really wanted to say he was annoying, but that would be kind of mean.

It didn’t take long for us to get where we were going and I recognized the park as soon as Cole pulled in. I’d been here lots of times when I was younger with my parents. They use to take us here on weekends when it was nice. We’d ride our bikes along the trail and play at the playground.

Cole pulled into an empty spot in the parking lot, got out, and opened my door for me. Then he went to the trunk of his car to retrieve a few items.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

“Having a picnic,” he said. I turned and saw he was now carrying a cooler, blanket, and to my relief a pizza.

“Here let me help.” I reached to take one of the items from him. He handed me the pizza box. It was still pretty warm. I wasn’t sure where he wanted to go so I let him lead.

There were different sections to the park. If you went up the small hill to the left, there were picnic benches, or over down a bit to the far right there were a few more picnic benches by a bridge.

He went straight down the hill to the open grassy knoll and stopped about ten feet from the creek. If you looked over to the left you could see the statue of a giant stone turtle that sat in the middle of the wide open space on the grass.

Cole put down the cooler and laid out the blanket. Then he took the pizza box from me and set it in the middle of us and gestured for me to sit. I slipped out of my flip flops and took a seat on the blanket. Cole sat down, opened the cooler, and pulled out plates and napkins from the top. Then he pulled out a beer and offered it to me.

“Pizza and beer?” I said.

“You can never go wrong with pizza and beer.”

“True,” I said, thinking it’s a good thing I really like pizza considering this was the third time I had it this week.

“I brought water too, if you want that instead.”

“No the beer’s good, thanks.” I took the beer and helped myself to some pizza. I was pretty hungry now and when it came to food that was one thing I wasn’t shy about.

“You’re not from around here are you?” I asked Cole in between bites.

“What makes you say that?”

“You’re not like most people I meet.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” he asked me.

“I don’t know yet,” I said in a skeptical, guarded way.

Cole looked at me and gave me the barest glimmer of a smile.

“I’m originally from California. I moved here about two months ago.”

“Why?” I said looking at him like he was crazy and thinking not to rule out serial killer yet.

“Well Tommy’s job transferred him out here back in January. I came to visit him and I liked it here. So I thought what the hell, something different. When I got back home I packed up all my stuff, came back, and moved in with Tommy.”

“You’re serious? Most people leave here, not come to stay.” I was really starting to think there was something wrong with him.

“Then why are you still here?” he retorted. That question caught me by surprise. I wasn’t sure if I knew how to answer. I never really thought about leaving, but I knew there had to be some place better than here.

“I don’t know? I guess it’s just familiarity. It’s just easier to stick with what you know. That whole fear of the unknown, maybe, I don’t know,” I said shrugging my shoulders.

“You can’t be afraid of what you don’t know or you might miss out on some great opportunities.”

I thought about that for a moment while I took another slice of pizza. Not knowing where to go from here I changed the subject.

“Do you have any siblings?” I asked.

“No, I’m an only child. My parents had trouble conceiving and went through a lot just to have me. To them having one child was better than none at all. I guess they didn’t want to go through the stress and disappointment again.”

“Oh,” was all I could manage.

“How about you? I met your brother Tyler. Do you have any other siblings?”

“I have a younger sister, Trina, she’s thirteen. She lives with my dad in Arizona. They moved there a couple years ago.”

“How come you and Tyler didn’t go with them?”

“This is where we grew up. I was only eighteen at the time and I didn’t want to leave. Tyler had a steady job and a good life here.

Everything I knew was here and I didn’t want to leave it behind. My friends and family are here, well most of my family.”

“Your dad was okay leaving you here?”

“Well not at first. Tyler told our dad he’d stay with me for a while until he knew I’d be okay. That made him feel better, knowing we’d have each other to look out for.”

He swallowed a bite of pizza. “Do you and Tyler still live together?”

“Ha! No, we lasted about two years then he moved out.”

“You guys seem to get along,” Cole said looking confused.

“We do now, because we don’t live together.”

“Ah, I see.”

“How about you? How’d your parents feel about their only baby boy moving so far away?”

“They were happy about it. My parents are always encouraging me to try different things. It might also have to do with the fact that they were tired of seeing me moping around bored without Tommy there.”

“Awe, what’s the matter, no one else wanted to play with you?” I teased.

“No, trust me I had my fun.”

“I’m sure you did,” I said flashing him a little smile. “What exactly is it you do for a living? Being that you can just pack up and leave whenever you want.”

“I’m, in between jobs at the moment.”

“So you’re unemployed,” I said.

“Basically, yeah.”

“What do you for money?” It was the next logical question.

“Well…money is not something I have to worry about.”

“Ah, I see, spoiled little rich kid,” I nabbed a bite of pizza.

“Right away you’re gonna label me?” he said looking slightly hurt.

I shrugged, “I call them as I see ‘em.”

“Ouch,” he said as he put his hand over his heart in a dramatic gesture.

“How else would you put it?” I asked.

“I’m fortunate. I grew up wealthy, but that doesn’t make me a bad person.”

“I didn’t say it did. I just don’t like people who throw their money around and act like they’re better than everyone else.”

He thought for a second, “I’m not like that and I don’t associate with those kinds of people either. Usually I don’t tell people I come from a wealthy background.”

“Why’d you tell me?”

“Because you asked me not to lie to you and I don’t want to, I don’t think I can,” he said, our eyes meeting. “Plus usually when people find out you have money they wanna be your friend for all the wrong reasons.”

“Is that why you moved in with Tommy?”

“Part of it. Tommy and I went to school together. We grew up together. He’s like my brother. It was hard to have him here while I was still in California. Plus I feel like I need to keep an eye out for him.”

“Tommy seems like he could handle his own. I’d be more worried about you.”

He laughed lightly and I saw his shoulders fall a little. He was sitting with his knees pulled up and his arms wrapped around them, staring at the water. “C’mon,” he said standing up suddenly and reaching his hand out to help me up.

We walked down to the edge of the water. Cole picked up some rocks and handed me some. He started skipping them in the water and I did the same.

“Tommy didn’t always have it great,” he began while still tossing the rocks in the water. “He was your typical spoiled rich kid.

He had everything and anything he wanted. Unfortunately his dad was an alcoholic and eventually lost his job because of it. His mom was your typical Beverly Hills housewife. So when there was no money to keep up the lifestyle she was accustomed to, she left and got remarried to another wealthy man and left Tommy behind. His dad never got control of his drinking so he couldn’t keep a job. We took Tommy in for a while until his dad got help.”

“Did his dad get help?” I asked.

“No. Things got so bad his dad couldn’t handle it anymore. He killed himself.”

I said nothing.

Cole just stared across the water.

“Tommy blames himself,” Cole said after a moment. “He says if he didn’t act so spoiled, maybe things would have been better.

Maybe he could have helped his dad.”

“He has to know it’s not his fault,” I said turning to look at Cole.

“After a while he knew there was nothing he could have done differently, but he still struggles with it. That’s why when he got offered a job out here he jumped on it; new place, new beginning.”

I glanced down at the ground, watching the wind blow gently, bending the soft blades of grass. I knew how he felt. I went through the same thing with my dad when my mom died.