“I know, I know.” She sighed again. “But it could happen.”
“It absolutely could. You deserve a dashing gentleman.”
“Thank you.” She stopped cutting and fluffed my hair, then checked the length on either side of my face. “Speaking of gentlemen, I can’t say I know everyone in Tilikum, but I do know a lot of people. If you ever want the inside scoop on someone before you take a chance on a date, let me know. There are plenty of good guys around, but definitely a few I’d need to warn you about.”
I felt a nervous flutter in my belly. I hoped Josiah Haven wasn’t one of the ones she’d warn me about. Not that I wanted to date him or anything. “Oh, really? Who would you suggest I avoid?”
“Let’s see. Joel Decker for sure. He’s been divorced twice and he’s a jerk in general. His sidekick, Cory Wilcox, is just as high on the jerk scale. I probably don’t even need to warn you about those two, though. If you meet them, you’ll see what I mean.”
“I don’t think I’ve met either of them.”
“And I’d be careful of anyone with the last name Montgomery. Some of them are perfectly decent people, but there are some bad eggs in that family.”
“Good to know.” I waited, wondering if she was saving the worst for last and I was about to find out that Josiah had ten kids with six different women or something. But she didn’t continue. “I guess I haven’t met a lot of people, now that I think about it. Mostly the people at work and Missy at Happy Paws. And Josiah Haven.”
“Oh yeah? How do you know Josiah?”
“I’m renting a house from him.”
“You must have met Annika Bailey, then. She’s one of my best friends.”
“I did. She seems super nice.”
“She’s fabulous. You’d love her. We’ve been friends since we were little, along with our other bestie, Isabelle. You’d love her, too. I’ll have to see if we can all get together. Although planning things is tricky, since they have six kids between them.”
“Wow, six?”
She nodded. “Annika has four and Isabelle has two. I adore their sweet little families.”
I heard a hint of sadness in her voice, despite her smile. “I bet it makes the single in your thirties thing a little bit harder, though.”
“Does it ever. I feel like I can’t admit that to them, though. I love being the favorite auntie and I don’t want them to feel like they have to hold things back from me to spare my feelings. But yes, seeing my two best friends living their dream lives does make mine seem a little lonely.”
“I totally understand.”
“So, Josiah Haven.” She met my gaze in the mirror and lifted her eyebrows. “What do you think of him?”
I felt a tiny bit of panic rise from the pit of my stomach into my throat. What should I say? “He’s – nice?”
“You think so? That’s not what most people say about him.”
“Actually, I’m a little bit scared of him. But also not. I don’t know how to explain it. Wait, he’s not the cute boy you liked who never noticed you, is he?”
“Oh, no. Definitely not. I grew up with the Havens, I knew better than to crush on Josiah.”
“Why?”
“Don’t get me wrong, he’s a good guy. As much as I say I’d love a Mr. Darcy, I’m probably too sensitive to be with a man who’s so serious all the time. I’d wind up feeling responsible for his emotional state and stressing about his moods.”
“That’s very insightful.”
“I’ve done a lot of growing up, especially since I turned thirty. And I’ve probably read too many self-help books.”
“It’s weird because the grumpy thing should be totally off-putting to me. I hate confrontation and he’s kind of intimidating. I’m not usually drawn to that, but –”
“But?”
I took a deep breath. “I am. He’s so broody and mysterious but once in a while, he smiles and it’s amazing. By the way, I haven’t admitted any of this out loud, not even to my dog. Sorry for pouring my heart out to you when we just met.”
“Don’t worry, it comes with the job. Sometimes I’m equal parts therapist and hair stylist.” She put her comb and scissors down and grabbed a round brush and hair dryer. “And don’t worry about the Tilikum gossip line. I hear all the gossip—and I mean all of it—but I don’t spread it. What’s said in the sacred chair of hair, stays in the sacred chair of hair.”
“That’s good to know. Thank you.”
“As far as Josiah, he’s a good guy. I’d wonder why he’s still single in his thirties, but that seems to be a theme with the Haven brothers. Plus, I’m pretty sure he almost wasn’t.”
“Oh, really?”
She nodded. “I think it was about five years ago? He’d been dating a woman named Cassandra for a couple of years. Annika thinks he was going to propose when she broke up with him and moved to California.”
“Ouch.” I put a hand to my chest. “That’s brutal.”
“Right? Although obviously it wasn’t meant to be. But the poor guy hasn’t dated anyone since. Not that I know of, anyway.” She paused and fluffed my hair. “Regardless, he’s not a guy I’d warn you away from, especially if you like broody lumberjack types.”
“I never have before, but let’s be honest, my track record stinks. Not that I’m thinking of dating Josiah Haven. I don’t even know if he’d be interested in me.”
“I’m not saying a new haircut is all it would take, but it wouldn’t be the first time a fresh look helped a guy see what’s right in front of him.” She winked.
“Then I guess we’ll see what happens.”
She grinned. “Indeed we will.”
Marigold blew out my hair and then added some soft waves with a curling iron. It did feel fresh and vibrant, without being too big of a change, just like she’d said. Sandra was right, she was a magician.
Before I left, we exchanged phone numbers, since we agreed we’d become instant friends. I walked back to work feeling fresh, pretty, and invigorated. A new look and a new friend? How could my day get any better?
And then I saw my car.
I’d parked on the street in front of the Tribune office and when I’d left my car there this morning, it had been in perfect condition. Okay, so I was overdue for an oil change and there was a ding on the driver’s side from when some jerk had opened their door into mine a while back, and it definitely needed to be washed. But that huge dent in the front? That had not been there.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I glanced around helplessly, as if the person who’d hit my car would somehow materialize and fess up. It was obviously a hit and run. They hadn’t left a note. Just backed into my car and drove off, probably hoping no one had seen anything.
But maybe Sandra had seen it. It had to have made noise, my bumper was crunched. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d taken a picture of the guy’s license plate and was already on the phone with the police to track him or her down.
I rushed into the office, my mouth open to ask Sandra if she’d nabbed the culprit, but her desk was empty. She must have gone out to lunch.
Ledger leaned back in his chair with his feet on his desk and didn’t look up from his phone. “Hey.”
“Ledger, did you see who hit my car?”
He glanced up. “Someone hit your car?”
“Yes, right out front.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah, it sucks a lot. They backed right into me. You didn’t hear anything?”
“No.”
Of course not. His earbuds had probably been surgically implanted into his ear holes. Lou was in his office, but he almost never came out. Not much chance that he’d seen it happen and even less that he’d be able to help me figure out who had done it.
“Nice hair,” Ledger said.
That almost made me laugh. “Thanks. I was having such a great day, too.”
Josiah’s insistence that I call him if anything weird happened crossed my mind. But this wasn’t weird, exactly. More like frustrating and stressful. I didn’t need to bother him about it. But I probably did need to file a police report or something.
With a heavy sigh, I sat at my desk and looked up the non-emergency number. I didn’t relish the repair bill I’d be facing, but it could have been worse. At least my car would still run.
Hopefully.
JUNE 30TH