The Boyfriend Experience (The Boyfriend Experience 1)

It made Evie incredibly sad, too. But what could she say to that? Evie continued the coloring process. Dipping the brush into the dye. Applying it to her hair. Another section, repeat process.

Ginny raised her eyes back to their reflection in the mirror, meeting and searching Evie’s eyes as though she’d found someone who might understand the family situation and, maybe, her son.

“Did he tell you about Trisha?” she finally asked, a flicker of grief passing across her features.

Evie tried not to appear startled, because she never would have anticipated Ginny bringing up something so personal. Then again, maybe she’d kept everything bottled up for so long and now saw something in Evie—like a connection to her son that she, herself, didn’t have—that made her want to open up about the past. “Yes, he did.”

“We all took her death differently, and I’m beginning to realize that I’ve spent way too many years hanging on to the past and not being present in Eric’s life like I should have been.” Her voice cracked slightly, her anguish nearly palpable. “I know I’ve missed out on so much by letting my grief over Trisha’s death consume me, and my biggest fear is that he won’t be able to forgive me for shutting him out when he needed me the most. How does a mom fix something like that?”

She sounded so ashamed, and Evie’s heart went out to Ginny. She’d made mistakes but she clearly loved her son. And she wanted to make amends. Evie gave her the only guidance she could without being too intrusive. “You start by being present in his life. By talking to him about things you’re feeling, even if the topics are difficult ones to address. Eric just needs to know you’re there for him.”

“You sound like my therapist,” Ginny said, clearly trying to make light of the situation.

Evie smiled at the other woman. “Then maybe you should take their advice and apply it to your relationship with Eric. He’s one of the best men I’ve ever known, and he’s going to love you and forgive you and be there for you no matter what’s happened between the two of you, or in the past.”

“You know that about him?” she asked quietly, hopefully.

“I do,” she assured Ginny as she finished with the hair dye. Eric’s heart might have been shattered, but his kind, compassionate soul spoke for itself. She’d seen so many facets of his personality last weekend to know exactly what kind of sincere, honorable, humble man he was, even if he didn’t believe it himself.

“All I want is him to be happy,” Ginny said candidly. “To meet a girl and fall in love like he deserves. I hoped since he’d mentioned you that maybe that had finally happened.”

A swell of emotion tightened in Evie’s throat, and all she could manage was a shake of her head to indicate a reply of no. It wasn’t her place to explain Eric’s reasons for not wanting to commit to Evie, to his mother.

When she finally felt as though she could talk again, she said, “I’m going to have you sit here in my chair for about a half hour to let the color develop.” She reached for a nearby magazine and handed it to Ginny to read if she wanted. “I’m going to go gather some other things I need and be back in a few minutes.”

She walked to Scarlett’s station, grateful that her friend was in a room giving a client a facial so she didn’t see everything written all over Evie’s face and hound her to talk. She’d been avoiding conversation with both Scarlett and Jessica about Eric, and she knew her time was limited. She grabbed a few makeup items to use on Ginny after her hair was done, and when Evie returned to her station, their conversation turned to other things. Like Ginny’s job at a nursery and how much she loved nurturing plants and flowers. She even told Evie about meeting the friend from long ago for lunch.

By the time the appointment was finished and Evie turned Ginny around to look at herself in the mirror to see the full effect of everything Evie had done—from the rich color of her hair, the soft, layered bob, to the light application of makeup on her face—the other woman gasped audibly and tears filled her eyes.

“Oh my God,” Ginny whispered in wonder and awe as she stared at her reflection. “I look . . .”

It was as if she couldn’t bring herself to say the words, so Evie smiled and supplied them for her. “Absolutely beautiful.”

A tremulous smile touched Ginny’s lips, and her eyes shone with undeniable joy. “Yes, I do look beautiful. And about ten years younger, too. I never should have let myself go for so long.”