“Maybe you could tell him it wasn’t you.”
“She left town.” She shakes her head.
“If you talk to him—” I try again, but she cuts me off.
“I believe his words were ‘Stay the fuck away from me, you psycho bitch’ when I tried.”
“That’s not good,” I say as she turns around to face me.
“You wanna know the worst part?” she asks softly, moving to sit in my stylist chair.
“What?” I ask, thinking this couldn’t possibly get any worse. She has an evil twin—that’s storybook bad.
“I met him the day before it happened.” She takes a breath, letting it out slowly. “My car got a flat on Old Fork Road, and he stopped to help me change it. After he got the new one on, he asked me if I wanted to have coffee with him and I said yes. I never say yes,” she whispers as tears fill her eyes. “I know you’re going to think I’m a slut, but I swear I have never done anything like that.”
“Had coffee with a guy?” I ask, confused, seeing pain in her eyes.
“No, after we had coffee, we went back to my place, and one thing led to another,” she says, waving her hand around, and I understand what she’s saying.
“Oh,” I breathe, and she nods.
“Then later the next night, he met my sister, and now…” she trails off.
“Now he thinks you’re her,” I finish her thought.
“Yep.” She nods again as her mouth forms a sad smile.
“There has to be a way to prove to him it wasn’t you.”
“I tried to talk to him, but he refused to listen to me, and honestly, I don’t think I care anymore. At first, I was upset, because I really liked him—or what I knew of him—but since then, I have seen him around town numerous times, and he’s always with a different girl. Really, he left my place, and the next night he went out to a bar, so that says it all, I think.”#p#分页标题#e#
“I’m sorry,” I murmur, not knowing what else to say right now. I mean, maybe Sage is actually an asshole, ’cause this doesn’t seem like something a nice guy would do. A nice guy would at least listen to you.
“It’s okay, really. I don’t know why I just laid all of that out for you.”
“I would like to think we’re becoming friends,” I tell her softly, giving her a hug. “He’s not worth the tears,” I whisper as I hear her sob quietly into my shoulder.
“It’s not him. I just…I could use a friend right now,” she says, pulling away and wiping the tears from under her eyes.
“If you ever want to talk, I’m here,” I assure her, giving her shoulder a squeeze.
“You ladies ready to open shop?” Frankie asks, walking out of the backroom heading towards the front of the salon.
“Ready.” I smile at him as he passes by then turn to look at Kim, who has pulled out a compact from her bag. “Will you be okay?”
“One thing I know, Ellie, is I will always be okay,” she says softly, but I understand immediately what she means. Being happy isn’t something I found easily until I was blessed with raising Hope. I know how it feels to struggle everyday, never really feeling any true emotions like happiness or joy. Always just being okay.
Feeling my throat get tight, I swallow through the pain and press my lips together for a moment. “One day, you’re going to find happy, Kim,” I tell her softly when I catch her eyes in the mirror in front of us.
“One day,” she agrees, putting the compact away before heading to the front of the salon, out of sight. Pulling in a breath, I finish setting up my station then head to the front of the salon so I can take a look at the appointment book. When I walk around the corner into the waiting area, I see Mellissa talking to Frankie.
Ignoring her, I walk behind the reception desk and take out the calendar. Seeing I have a client coming in in twenty minutes who is getting a full head of highlights, I head to the back of the salon and go to the small color kitchen that is set up. I begin getting products out so that when my client comes in, the process will go by much faster. Once I have everything together, I start toward my station, but as I go to pass by Frankie, who is standing at one the shampoo bowls in the back washing Mellissa’s hair, I feel her foot hit me just above the ankle, which causes me to go tumbling forward. Dropping the items in my hands, I hit the ground hard, landing on my hands and knees.
“Ellie, are you okay?” Frankie cries, wrapping an arm around my waist and helping me stand.
“I’m fine,” I mutter, dusting my knees and hands off as I feel my cheeks grow red with embarrassment.