The Hairdresser Diaries (29 page)

I opened the box, holding my breath, imagining the most ridiculous, most beautiful ring ever and…nothing.

I mean it was empty.

I looked at Cole thinking, “What the hell” and he just smiled and reached into his pocket. He took my hand and placed the ring on my finger. It wasn’t a gigantic rock or anything gaudy like I expected. It was a simple platinum band with a flat square diamond that sparkled every way I turned it and it was perfect. Not too big, but not too small, just perfect.

I kissed him sweetly, leaning back against the couch, resting my head on his shoulder.

“When did you have time to come up with all of this?” I asked.

“Well…I thought of the idea a while ago, but was waiting for the perfect place and time. And I’ve been to Vegas tons of times so I knew where to scatter the pieces.”

I was not surprised. I could only imagine Cole and Tommy making weekend trips to Vegas for a guy’s night out.

We sat there enjoying each other’s company and I asked Cole how long we had the room for.

“All night,” he grinned.

“Well then, how about we take advantage of that huge bathtub I saw earlier.” Cole jumped up and swung me over his shoulder.

“I’m going to take that as yes,” I laughed as he carried me to the bathroom.

Cole brought the candles in from outside and lined them up in the bathroom while the tub filled up. We stayed in there until our fingers turned too prunes. Then we put the king size mattress to good use.

In the morning I opened my eyes and looked over at Cole. He was watching me sleep. “Good morning,” he whispered.

“Yes it is,” I whispered back. “How long have you been awake?”

“Not long.”

“And you were just lying here…watching me sleep?”

“I was admiring your beautiful body and…all its artwork.” He trailed his fingers down my back with his eyes following. The sheet was only covering me from the waist down and I was lying on my stomach.

“What about it do you admire most?” His hand stopped at the edge of the sheet then crept lightly underneath. I laughed and turned on my side moving closer. “Not a surprise, most people tell me I have a pretty great ass.”

“You have a nice rack too,” he teased. I wasn’t going to deny it. For a skinny chick I did have some pretty big boobs and a big butt.

“Is that why you asked me to marry you, because I have a nice rack and butt?”

“Is that wrong?” I smacked him and he wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. “Of course not, I love you. You are beautiful inside and out and I could never imagine my life without you in it.” Nice save I thought. “The boobs and butt are a bonus.” I laughed again and pinched him. “So, does the artwork have any meaning or is it all for decoration?”

“Some of it does. This one here,” I leaned back on my stomach and pointed to the little angel tattoo on my lower back. “This one is for my mom. And this one here…” I moved back to my side and pointed to the angel with a broken wing on my lower hip, “…

means no one is perfect.”

Cole traced his fingers over the tattoo and it sent chills up and down my body like it always did when he touched me. “I think this one is my favorite,” he said kissing me there on the tattoo.

“How much time do we have before our flight leaves?”

“A few hours. You know, we don’t have to leave, we could stay another night,” Cole said trying to coax me, running his hand down my thigh.

I sighed. “Tempting, but we can’t.” Cole looked at me with a sour face. “Sorry, I have to work Monday and so does Tyler. Plus Nala will be pent up in the house all day and probably destroying it.” With a sigh Cole agreed. “We still have time though.” I gestured with my finger for him to come closer.

We spent the rest of our time in Vegas in bed. We almost missed our flight. I hadn’t seen or talked to the girls until we reached the airport and got on the plane.

Right away Peyton bombarded me with questions. What happened? What was the treasure? What did the puzzle say? And before I could even answer she caught a glimpse of the ring and grabbed my hand. “Oh My God! I knew it!” Peyton cheered. She picked up my hand in the air almost tearing my arm out of my socket and screaming to everyone “It’s a ring! Tatum’s engaged.”

I turned to Cole annoyed. “See what you started.”

He just smiled at me. All the girls tried to rush over and see, but luckily the flight attendant told them they had to remain in their seats. I could hear everyone whispering and buzzing about the news.

Peyton started then. “So when’s the date? What kind of dress you going to get? Who are the bridesmaids, besides me of course…” and she went on and on.

“Peyton…PEYTON!” She stopped. “Relax okay. I’m not going to worry about any of that stuff right now, there’s no rush. Just let me enjoy it and get used to it.”

She sat back in her seat and tried really hard to keep quiet.

“Still have some of those pills?” I asked Cole.

“You know we could avoid all this and come back to Vegas.”

“Sounds tempting, but I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“I don’t care what we do, just as long as I know it’s you standing beside me.”

“Awe, that’s so sweet you’re giving me a toothache.”

“Oh how I adore your loving personality,” Cole mocked and gave me an exaggerated smile.

I put his arm around me and lay on his chest. “And don’t forget about my big boobs and nice butt.”

“And those too,” Cole laughed.

Once our flight landed and we departed the plane all the girls rushed over with question after question. How did he do it? Did I cry?

Scream? Faint?

Jesus Christ.

I looked to Cole for some help, but he stood with the guys trying not to laugh. Even though I knew he knew I was uncomfortable with this whole thing, he seemed to find it amusing. I pleaded with my eyes for him to help me and he took out his phone.

Okay, really, if he keeps this up I’m gonna…my phone rang. I excused myself from the girls to answer it.

It was a blocked call. I picked up.

“I thought you could use some assistance.”

It was Cole.

“It’s about time. I don’t know how much longer I can deal with this. I might soon change my mind,” I warned him.

Cole hung up the phone and walked over to us. “Excuse me ladies, but you if don’t mind I like to steal away my beautiful bride-to-be so we can go home and celebrate.”

All the girls gushed with awe.

I wanted to throw up.

I said goodbye to everyone and quickly rushed out of there.

Cole spoke up once we were away. “You’re welcome.”

“Please, you’re just lucky you came over when you did or you’d be celebrating on your own and be the only person to get engaged and unengaged in one day.”

“Do you really hate all this wedding stuff?” Cole stopped and faced me.

“I don’t hate it, I’m just not…that girl.”

Cole’s face dropped. “Tatum, do you even want to marry me?”

I made him look in my eyes. “Of course I do, 100% no doubt in my mind. It’s just so overwhelming.”

He understood. He wrapped his arm around my waist and we left the airport and went home.

I was so happy to get home and see Nala and Leo. They both jumped at me as soon as I walked in the door.

I didn’t even bother unpacking. I just threw my stuff on the floor and crashed on the bed. I was jet lagged and exhausted from all the excitement that went on when everyone found out I was engaged.

Not knowing if I could handle it tomorrow at work I thought about not wearing my ring, but then I’d have to explain to Cole why and he’d just think it was because I didn’t want people to know because I really didn’t want to marry him.

Ugh! My head hurt. Best to not think about it anymore and just go to bed.

And that’s what I did. I’ll figure everything out in the morning.

While getting ready for work, I contemplated, on whether or not I should wear the ring. Knowing Peyton she probably told everyone already so there would be no way to hide it regardless.

I slipped on my ring, kissed Cole Goodbye, and headed to work ready to face the pit of snakes, but when I got there, nothing.

Their attention was on something else.

“What’s going on?” I asked Jenna.

“Oh it’s great. Kayla turned some lady’s hair blue,” Jenna said trying not to laugh.

“What!?! Why is she even here, I thought she didn’t work Mondays anymore?”

“You know Kayla, she said she came in for a client and decided to stay to make some extra money.”

“Yeah and steal all the walk-ins for herself.”

“Yeah, but look where it got her,” she gestured for me to peek my head around the corner and take a look. I told her after I put my stuff away I would meet her outback so she could tell me the whole story.

I walked past the shampoo bowls on my way to meet Jenna and I saw Kayla’s client. My jaw dropped and I almost stopped dead in my tracks until Kayla saw me and glared at me. I kept walking trying not to say anything. This lady’s hair was blue, like the sky, and her ends were white as a ghost.

“What the hell did she do?” I asked as soon as I stepped out back.

“You saw it?” Peyton asked. No surprise she was already out back.

“Well this lady came in and wanted a retouch. Her ends were white and she had four inches of re-growth.”

“What color were her roots?” I asked.

“Black, she said she was buying bleach at one of the local beauty supply stores and doing it herself,” Jenna explained.

“Gees, when will people learn.”

“Oh, it gets better. She also said every time she did her roots she would pull the bleach all the way through to the ends to refresh them.” Jenna used air quotes on refresh.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. That would explain the white ends. I’m surprised she even has hair left. This woman has to be nuts or just really stupid,” I said.

“I think she’s both.”

“How did it end up blue?” Peyton asked while I was thinking the same thing.

“Kayla didn’t lift it high enough and she tried to tone it, but because the lady’s hair was so damaged to begin with, it sucked up all the color and pulled the base.” I started laughing. It really wasn’t all that funny, but because it was Kayla, it was.

“I wouldn’t even have touched that lady’s hair with bleach. I would have suggested trying to take it a shade darker and tone it down.”

“She actually did try that, but the lady refused, she said she didn’t want to change the color, she wanted it like it was.”

“Now look where it got her. She might have to change it now if Kayla can’t figure out how to get that blue out.”

“That’s easy,” Jenna said.

“You know, I know, and Peyton knows how to fix it, but Kayla doesn’t and I sure as hell am not going to tell her. She should know though and that proves she doesn’t know shit like she think she does.”

“Agreed,” Jenna and Peyton said. We stayed outside coming up with different scenarios on how this would turn out. Peeking in every now and then to see if Kayla figured it out yet. She didn’t.

Teresa came out back and lit up a cigarette. “Since when do you smoke?” I asked her.

“Since Kayla turned this lady’s hair blue.” I laughed and Teresa shot me a dirty look. “It’s not funny Tatum. This lady is threatening to sue and Kayla keeps arguing with her.”

“Uh, shouldn’t you be in there to help prevent all that?” Peyton said warily not wanting to get on Teresa’s bad side.

“She’s under the dryer,” Teresa snapped.

“Teresa is her hair still blue?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“You can’t put her under the dryer it’s just going to set it in more.”

“I don’t know! Then you go fix it!” she yelled.

“It’s not my client.”

“It is now, go in there and fix it. Go!” she snapped. I stood up and went inside before she really bit my head off. The last thing I wanted to do was help Kayla, but if someone didn’t make this lady happy it could trash the reputation of the whole salon.

I didn’t see Kayla anywhere and her client wasn’t hard to spot. “Hi, I’m Tatum, I’m going to wash you out for Kayla and throw a special toner on it,” I said to the lady with blue hair. She nodded and followed me to the shampoo bowl. She didn’t seem angry or upset or like the typical person who would be threatening to sue.

“May I ask why I am having a toner put on for the third time? Is there something wrong?” the client asked.

Crap.

I was guessing she hadn’t looked in the mirror yet and realized her hair was blue. Then why was Teresa saying she was threatening to sue?

“Oh this is a special toner. The first one didn’t take as well, so we just want to run this one through, no worries.” I smiled at her trying to reassure her everything was fine despite the fact her hair was blue.

I went in the back to mix some bleach with ten volume, knowing hopefully this should do the trick.

I opened the back door to talk to Teresa. “Hey, did that lady actually say she was going to sue? Beause from what I understand she hasn’t even seen her hair.”

“Wait what?” Teresa said looking confused.

“She asked if everything was okay, like she had no idea her hair is blue.”

Teresa’s eyes widened, “Son of a bitch!” She covered her mouth with her knuckles and started pacing.

“Was Kayla the one who said she was going to sue?” Teresa stopped and looked down too embarrassed to comment. “I’m not trying to undermine you, but why would you believe anything Kayla says and why didn’t you talk to the client first?”

“Cause Kayla pulled me in the back room right away screaming and yelling saying that this lady was threatening to sue and I said I was going to talk to her. But she said not to, that it would make it worse and she wouldn’t talk to anyone.” I have never seen Teresa let anyone control her in the way Kayla did. Normally she wouldn’t stand for anyone’s bullshit—especially Kayla’s.

Something had to be wrong, but I didn’t have time to find out.

I finished mixing and went back to the shampoo bowl to apply the bleach. Right as I started to apply it, Kayla came around the corner and started flipping out. “What the hell are you doing?” She screamed. “That’s my client.”