The Guardian

Henry reached for the doughnuts. Taking a bite, he waved a hand and leaned back in his chair, talking as he chewed. "Yeah. Usually she goes to the earlier service, but I guess she was running late. We talked for a good long time, and boy, did she tell me some interesting stuff." He took a moment to look upward, began counting the little holes in the ceiling tiles for effect, then rocked his seat forward again, shaking his head. "But you don't want to hear about that. We were just talking about Julie's date, and you've already told me you're not interested. So should we pick you up on Sunday or what?"

Realizing his plan had just gone up in smoke, Mike just sat there, trying vainly to recover.

"Uh . . . well . . ."

Henry glanced his way, challenge lighting in his eyes. "Unless, of course, you've changed your mind."

Mike paled. "Uh . . ."

Henry laughed. He'd had his fun, and as much as he'd enjoyed it, he knew it was time to stop. "Answer me a question, Mike," he said, leaning forward. "Why do you keep pretending you don't want to go out with Julie?"

Mike blinked. "We're just friends," he said, the answer coming automatically.

Henry ignored his answer. "Is it because of Jim?"

When Mike didn't respond, Henry put down the doughnut. "He's been gone for a long time now. It's not like you're trying to steal his wife."

"Then why have you been acting like I shouldn't go out with her? Like last summer on the boat?"

"Because she needed time, Mike. You know that. She wasn't ready to start seeing people last year, or even six months ago. But she's ready now."

Put on the spot, Mike wasn't sure what to say. Nor did he understand how Henry seemed to know so much.

"It's not that easy," he finally answered.

"Of course it's not easy. Do you think that asking Emma out the first time was easy for me? There were a lot of guys who wanted to go out with her, but I figured the worst that could happen was that she would say no."

"Come on-Emma told me she had eyes for you even before you asked her out. You two were meant for each other."

"But I didn't know that. Not then, anyway. All I knew was that I had to give it a shot."

Mike met Henry's eyes. "But she wasn't married to your best friend."

"No," Henry said, "she wasn't. But then, we weren't friends beforehand like you and Julie, either."

"That's what makes it so hard. What if things change between us?"

"They already are changing, little brother."

"Not really."

"Sure they are," he said. "Otherwise you wouldn't have had to ask me about the date, would you? Julie would have told you herself. She told you about Bob, didn't she?"

Mike had no answer to that, but when he left the office a minute later, he knew that Henry was right.

Four

Singer's head rose from the blanket as soon as Richard entered the salon, and though he growled, the sound was muted, as if he thought Julie might scold him again.

"Hey, sugar? Here for another haircut?" Andrea asked, smiling. He was wearing jeans, and his denim shirt was unbuttoned at the top, leaving just enough room to see the curly hair on his chest. And those eyes. "I'll be done here in a couple of minutes."

Richard shook his head. "No, thank you," he said. "Is Julie around?"

Andrea's smile faded. She snapped her chewing gum and nodded toward the rear of the salon. "Yeah, she's here," she said, pouting. "She's in the back."

Mabel had heard the bell on the door jingle, and she stepped out from behind the partition.

"Oh . . . Richard, right? How are you?" she inquired.

Richard brought his hands together in front of him. He recognized her from the other night in the restaurant, and though her expression seemed pleasant enough, he knew she was still evaluating him. Small towns were the same everywhere he'd been.

"Fine, ma'am, thanks. How are you?"

"Good. Julie will be out in a minute. She's setting someone up under the hair dryer, but I'll tell her you're here."

"Thank you."

Though he didn't turn toward her, Richard knew that Andrea was still watching him. A knockout, that's what most people would say about her, but he wasn't all that impressed. She struck him as a forced beauty, as if she were trying too hard. He liked women who looked wholesome, the way Julie did.

"Richard?" Julie asked a moment later. She smiled at him, struck again by his good looks.

Singer stood from the blanket and nearly followed her, but she held up a hand to stop him. He froze and stopped growling.

"Hey there," Richard answered. "I guess he's getting used to me, huh?"

Julie glanced toward Singer. "Him? Oh, we had a talk. I think he's fine now."

"A talk?"

"He gets jealous."

"Jealous?"

She shrugged. "You'd have to live with him to understand."

Richard raised an eyebrow, but he let the comment pass.

"So what are you doing here?" she asked.

"I thought I'd see how you were doing."

"I'm fine, but I'm kind of busy right now. I've been swamped all morning. Why aren't you at work?"

"I am. Kind of, anyway. Being a consultant gives me a bit of freedom, and I decided to pop into town."

"Just to see me?"

"I couldn't think of anything I'd rather do."

She smiled. "I had a good time on Saturday night," she offered.

"So did I." Richard's eyes darted from Mabel to Andrea, and though they both appeared to be occupied with other things, he knew they were listening. "Do you think you could take a quick break so we can talk outside? I called earlier, but you weren't in."

"I'd love to, but I've got someone in the back."

"It won't take long."

Julie hesitated, glancing toward the clock.

"I promise," Richard added. "I know you're working."

A quick estimate said she had maybe a few minutes.

"I guess that's okay," she said, "but it can't be long. Otherwise I'll have to spend the rest of the day trying to fix the color and you're going to find yourself in the doghouse. Give me a second to check on her, though, okay?"

"Sure."

Julie went to see her customer again. The woman was having highlights put in, and her head was covered in a perforated plastic cap. Assorted strands of hair, sticking through the holes in the cap, were coated in purple slime. Julie checked the color, turned the dryer on low, buying an extra couple of minutes, and went out front again.

"All right," she said, walking toward the door, "I'm ready."

Richard followed her outside. The door swung shut behind them, the bell jingling again.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

Richard shrugged. "Nothing important, really. I just wanted to have you all to myself for a minute."

"You're kidding."

"Not at all."

"But why?"

"Gee," he said, playing innocent, "I'm not really sure."

"I found your card," she said. "You didn't have to do that."

"I know I didn't. But I wanted to."

>   "Is that why you called the salon this morning? To see if I got it?"

"No. I just wanted to hear your voice. Good memories, you know?"

"Already?"

"I was charmed."

Julie looked up at him, thinking, Flattery is such a nice way to start the day. After a moment, Richard began to tug at his watchband.

"But actually, besides wanting to see you, there is another reason I came by."

"Oh, I get it. Now that I'm all buttered up, the truth comes out, huh?"

He laughed. "Sort of. The truth is I wanted to see if you'd like to go out again this Saturday."

Saturday, Julie remembered with a pang, was supposed to be dinner at Emma's with Henry and Mike.

"I'd love to, but I can't. A couple of friends invited me over to their house. Can we go on Friday instead? Or maybe sometime during the week?"

Richard shook his head. "I wish I could, but I'm going to Cleveland this evening and I won't be back until Saturday. And I just found out today that I might be out of town again the following weekend. It's not set in stone, but odds are I'll have to go." He paused. "Are you sure you can't make it?"