Her body jerked and she hesitantly moved to the high front of the receptionist desk.

“Uh, here to see if you can fit me in, Dominic,” she said softly, her eyes shifting back and forth between Dominic and me. She stopped in front of the desk and locked on Dominic, sucking in breath; she gave him a shaky smile and finished, “Emergency procedure.”

She was nervous. And she was nervous because of me.

She should be. She knew I knew what she did. She knew I was standing there wanting to tear her hair out, scratch her eyes out and take her to the ground, kick her in the stomach and spit on her when she was down (amongst other things).

Unfortunately, for Ty, I could not do that.

Fortunately, she didn’t know that.

My eyes narrowed on her. Like she felt it, her eyes slid to me and I was pleased to see her face pale. Then they shot back to Dominic when he spoke.

“Girl, you know I love to have my hands in your hair. But I got a one o’clock half highlight and cut and while she’s cookin’, one of my sweet little blue hairs is comin’ in for a set. My afternoon is all decked out. Kayeleen’s on lunch but, she gets back, her afternoon is full too. We can’t help you out. Make an appointment, I think I got an opening late the week after next.”

“But, the thing I need my touch up for is Tuesday night,” she told him.

“Sorry, precious, no can do,” Dominic replied, shaking his head, her eyes slid to me and back to Dominic, her mouth working with indecision and I’d know why when she spoke again.

“Dominic, this is a big deal for Chace. He told me awhile ago and I clean forgot about it. And you know he’s not a man who likes roots,” she admitted softly.

Good. Chace was going to get pissed at his wife for being a moron.

Good again. It was clear by the way she said it, she was a moron often and Chace didn’t like it. The worried look in her eyes said he also didn’t mind telling her.

And good yet again. It was clearly not all fun and games in the Keaton household.

And one last, big, f**king good. She did have roots. That blonde was way fake. I liked that.

All this made me feel better. Tons better.

My eyes unnarrowed and I felt my lips tip up.

“Sorry, darling. It’s impossible today,” Dominic told her.

“Well, can you squeeze me in sometime Tuesday?” she asked Dominic and, now feeling helpful, I moved to the schedule book, flipping it open and turning pages.

“Let me see…” I entered the conversation, scanning the scribbles on Dominic’s columns as well as Kayeleen’s. Then I looked at Misty. “Sorry, babe. Nothing open. All booked up.” I flipped the page then another then another and kept going until I was two weeks out and told her, “Got an opening two weeks Thursday. Two o’clock. That good for you?”

She stared at me. Then she whispered cautiously, “I need it Tuesday. Can you move someone around?”

“Nope,” Dominic answered for me and her eyes went to him. “Tell you what, my lovely, couple places in Chantelle, they do decent work. Maybe they can fit you in. Lexie here will book you now, though, so if they can’t, I can take you in a couple of weeks. You just call, you get in in Chantelle.”

“Everyone in Carnal gets their hair done by you or Kayeleen. I can’t go to Chantelle,” she told him.

“Precious, listen,” Dominic returned, his voice getting tight, he was losing patience. “I’d love to help you but I’ve said I can’t and I can’t. Sorry your man isn’t gonna be happy but, Misty, I told you before, you need me, you call two, three weeks in advance. I got a bunch of biker bitches who have standing appointments. They do not change. And you do not ask those bitches to change. Now, you work with Lexie here, get yourself a standing appointment so you can avoid disappointment. You can’t get in at Chantelle, go to the drugstore, buy a bottle and I’ll sort out the damage when you get in.” The bell over the door went, my eyes moved to it and Dominic kept talking. “There she is, my one o’clock. Hello you!” he called then back to Misty he said, “Lexie will set you up. Enjoy Chace’s thing, darling.” Then to his customer. “Get over here, gorgeous. Let’s touch up that beauty.” And then he bustled away as his biker babe client moved toward him while eyeing Misty with unconcealed disdain at the same time eyeing me with unconcealed curiosity.

I ignored this, settled in my roller chair and grabbed a gel pen with a fine tip and flowers printed on the sides of it that wrote in purple ink, the only thing in Dominic’s pen holder which also happened to be purple (as was much of the interior of the salon not to mention the sign outside) but the pen holder also had glittered white butterflies on it (as did the outside sign).

I pulled off the cap and positioned the tip on the schedule book.

“So,” I said, smiling brightly up at bitch-face Misty, “two weeks Thursday? Two o’clock?”

Her eyes slid down to me. “Uh…”

“Then standing appointment every six weeks?” I asked.

“Um…” she mumbled.

I tipped my head to the side.

She bit her lip.

“Thursday? Two weeks? Two o’clock?” I prompted.

“I, uh… okay,” she said.

“Excellent,” I bent my head and wrote her name in, missing out the “bitch-face” part (for obvious reasons). Once done, I looked back at her, still smiling and asked, “Does Dominic have your number?”

“Yes, um… I think so.”

“Okay then, you need an appointment card?”

“Uh, no, I’ll remember.”

She wouldn’t, the idiot. She didn’t remember Chace’s big thing on Tuesday night, no way she’d remember an appointment with Dominic.

However, this could also mean that she had no intention of taking the appointment. Seeing as I worked there, she was probably thinking she’d make her standing appointment in Chantelle, no matter that everyone in Carnal took advantage of a talent that should be in New York or LA but was in a small town in the Colorado Mountains because his g*y partner happened to be a mountain man.

I didn’t care whether she missed it or moved stylists, either way worked for me. Though I hoped for the latter as that would mean I’d have less chance of seeing her again.

“All righty,” I said. “Then we’ll see you in a couple of weeks.”

She stared at me. Then she bit her lip. Then, for some totally insane reason, she went for it.