Tony.
“To be fair, it’s hardly like I’d be anywhere else if I’m not with a client.”
This man was everything. When I’d first moved here, I’d been a shell of myself. I’d dressed in baggy clothing I could hide in, and I was too scared to put myself out there for a job doing hair anywhere. I could barely even look in the mirror.
Before I’d gone to college in Austin when I was twenty-one, I’d trained in hair and beauty, with my overall goal being to open my own salon. For almost a year after I’d moved here, I’d existed, only making hair appointments with friends of the family in Palmerstown.
I’d gone to the diner in Piersville one day to meet my sister, Aariyah, and Tony had walked up to me and sat down. He’d taken one look at me and declared it was time for me to embrace my beauty. I’d been so shocked, I hadn’t even blinked when he’d programmed his number into my cell. And even though I should have learned a hard lesson from the last time I’d blindly trusted a man, I didn’t get even a hint of anything malicious from Tony and agreed to meet up with him, but this time I’d brought my sister, Asia, along with me just in case.
Our friendship was strong almost from the beginning, and he’d helped bring me back to life with his ‘embracing my beauty’ demands.
Tony’s idea of me doing this had consisted of enduring weeks of ‘tutorials’ and ‘self-love therapy’ from the guy, including the fact that what we wore under our clothes influenced both how we felt on the inside and how we looked on the outside.
Ugly underwear made us feel ugly, and sexy ones made us feel sexy. It was as easy as that, and he was right. I’d thrown out all of the nasty shit I’d bought to hide in, and I’d replaced it with nothing but silky, lacy beauty.
To be fair, it’d worked because I’d met Sayla and Evie through him and now we owned Delicious Divas. If I hadn’t done that, I reckon I’d probably still be the woman who only ventured out when she had a member of her family to hold her hand.
But the underwear thing was why I was in my current predicament.
Not seeing the point in stopping what I was doing—if anyone would understand, it’d be this guy—I went back to doing my lunges.
Raising an eyebrow as his lips twitched, he asked, “Stretching out new underwear?”
“Why the shit do they make them like this? The material’s soft, damn it, but does it stretch?”
“If it stretched, you’d end up paying good money for crappy clothing. The whole point is that it’s meant to keep its shape and support you.”
“I hate it when you talk common sense,” I muttered, giving a butt wiggle to shift them back into place. “Anyway, to what do I owe this pleasure?”
Tony lifted a shoulder as he looked around the place. “Just thought I’d check in on you and see how you’re doing.”
I gestured to my body. “Aside from the underwear issue, as you can see, I’m good. How are Lars and the girls?”
His husband was a dream. Whereas Tony tended to be hyper and outgoing, Lars was relaxed and quiet. They were perfectly matched. Tony brought Lars out of his shell, but Lars settled and calmed his husband down, too. And their daughters were just gorgeous. I loved all of my friends’ kids, and the two little girls, who the best men on earth had adopted, were included in that love.
“Good for Lars, fucking insane for the girls. They don’t tell you parenthood requires infinite amounts of patience and sanity. I can do the patience, but my sanity’s being tested.”
“I’ll take your word for it. I’m never having kids, but I live vicariously through those of you who do have them. I get to love on them, spoil them, do their hair, watch movies and cartoons with them, feed them crap, and then pass them back to you. It’s the best of all worlds.” I paused, then added, “For me.”
His eyes narrowed on me. “Uh, yeah, I got that when my babies came home wired last time.”
“That wasn’t my fault,” I pointed out. “They found that candy in the bags in the trunk by themselves.”
He’d just opened his mouth to reply when Evie stuck her head around the corner. “Hey, chick. Your one o’clock is here.”
Winking at Tony, I skipped past him and into the main salon. Like he usually did when he had nothing going on, Tony sat down in the empty chair next to my station and made himself comfortable.
“Hey,” I greeted the new client, holding my hand out. “I’m Jacinda. It’s great to meet you.”
“Cyn,” she replied, shaking my hand with a big grin on her face. “I’m new here and desperately in need of some TLC for my hair.”