The Daddy Box Set

“Swoon,?

? Heather said, following me across the expansive salon to the nail technicians waiting at the chairs where we’d be getting our hair done. “It sounds like you’re well past just having a little crush.”

“I think I am.” I knew it, actually. “I think that this relationship might just be the real thing.”

Heather whirled around in her chair so fast, I was afraid that she might have given herself whiplash.

“It’s probably best if you don’t do that when I have scissors near your ears,” the hair stylist reprimanded. She was a cool-looking girl with a slightly gothic style and bright pink hair. “I’m Anna. I’ll be responsible for your ears today.”

Heather shot her an apologetic grin and waved between us, but her eyes were pinned to mine. “I’m Heather. This is Gabrielle. What did you just say, Gabbi?”

“You heard me. I said that I think that this might just be the real deal.” Heather’s eyes widened to the size of saucers, and even Anna giggled in delight.

Anna caught my eye in the mirror, winked, and started brushing through my hair. “What? I’m not going to apologize. One of my favorite parts of my job is that I get to hear all the juicy gossip going on in my clients’ lives. I’m a vault. I’ll never tell.”

“You hear that, Gabbi? Anna’s a vault. So spill.” Even the nail technician leaned in closer, not-so-subtly eavesdropping, but not quite as open about it as Anna.

Having this conversation with so many people listening in should have bothered me. It didn’t. Frankly, I would have shouted it from the rooftops for all of the world to hear. If my father didn’t live in this world. Or if I’d already broken the news to him.

“I’m in love with him, Heather. Like over the moon, reach for the stars, World Series kind of in love.”

Wow, soppy much? Since when was I such a goddamn romantic? I hated romantics. Yet as I sat with a stupid grin on my face and told the girls all about James, I couldn’t bring myself to care.

I loved James. I was in love with James. It was undeniable, and I didn’t even want to try to. If that meant that I’d turned into a romantic, then so be it.

Well, I told the girls almost all about James. I still hung on to his identity and his chosen profession. I would have to break that to Heather in private when the time came. I wasn’t going to risk rumors flying around and making it back to my father somehow.

Anna styled our hair as she listened with rapt attention. You would have sworn that I’d known her for as long as I’d known Heather from the “oohs” and “aahs” they delivered in perfect sync.

They asked a million and one questions, and I answered them all, neatly sidestepping the dangerous ones that would give away who he was.

“Have you told him?” There was the dreaded question. The one that I couldn’t sidestep and didn’t want to answer.

“No, I haven’t told him yet.” I twirled the ring on my index finger. Heather picked up on my nervous habit and tilted her head questioningly.

“Why not?” Anna squeaked. “From the sounds of things, he’s as far gone as you are.”

“There are some things that we need to work out before we can have that talk.” There. That was vague enough.

“There will always be things, girlie.” My nail technician, an older woman with hair graying at the temples, chimed in, finally giving up any pretense that she wasn’t listening to us. “Take it from someone who’s been there. You have to tell him. Men have a tendency to be slow on the uptake and do some stupid things on the way there.”

Her words rang with quiet authority, settling heavily all around us until Anna broke the sudden contemplative tension. “Amen to that, sister.”

“I agree,” Heather said. You have to tell him, Gabbi. I’ve never seen you this way before. He’s good for you.”

“Yeah, he is,” I agreed. “I’ll talk to him about it, soon.”

They breathed a collective sigh of relief, and the light, happy mood returned. Anna switched from working on me to working on Heather.

As they talked, the older woman’s words bounced around in my head, almost like an omen.

Things were going spectacularly well between us, but I still had no idea how James felt about me. I was certain that I was much more to him than a faceless fuck or a notch in his bedpost by then, but we hadn’t exactly discussed the status of our relationship.

I hoped we could talk about it once James signed his new contract, eradicating the threat that our relationship could compromise his future.

My father had to postpone their meeting because he got caught up wherever he was, but as soon as that contract was signed, I planned on sitting James down and talking through it. Bubbles of nerves floated through me.

“What do you do?” I heard Anna ask Heather once I forced myself to focus on the present again.