Summer Burns (28 page)

I
'
d bought it. I figured I owed Mom after the wax room fiasco. While she would never disown me or anything, she does, uh, give me these looks whenever I go in the wax room. I swear, it
'
s clean. She swears there
'
s still sticky on the floor.

"
I think she
'
ll like it,
"
Winter said, gesturing to the awning.

I nodded.
"
It
'
s blue. That
'
s a good chakra color, right?
"
The guy on the ladder froze, giving me this dirty look.

I
'
d debated the color for over an hour when I
'
d ordered it. If I wanted to change now, he might come off his ladder and have, well, some choice words for me.

But blue was good.

I knew it was a chakra color or something.

Winter knew about as much as I did.
"
I have no idea. You know how I feel about that metaphysical shit.
"

I snorted.
"
And you work in a hair salon and spa.
"

"
So do you.
"
She shrugged.
"
It
'
s not my job to worry about the shop
'
s chakras. It
'
s my job to make sure you all show up and do your job. Speaking of which, you were late this morning.
"
Winter raised her eyebrow at me.

"
And? I was unpacking.
"
I rubbed my shoulder. It only mildly ached today after last night
'
s work.

The last month, every week, I
'
ve gotten boxes from Mom
'
s house and moved them into my new place. It was time--Emma and I needed our own place.

And living with Autumn and her bohemian ways was making me nutty. Because, yeah, she wasn
'
t leaving.

A door a couple of shops down opened, and a guy stepped out the back. Tallish, broad shoulders, definitely had that hard-working look to him.

He glanced at the two of us and waved.

I waved back.

Winter turned away.

"
Lovely manners,
"
I mumbled.

She shrugged.
"
I got better things to do than talk to an exterminator.
"
And she walked back inside.

By this time, the neighbor guy had crossed toward me.
"
Hi there,
"
he said, smiling.

"
Hi. Shaun, right?
"
I asked, hoping I remembered his name.

He nodded.
"
Yeah. You
'
re the seasonal gal, right? Spring?
"

"
Summer,
"
I said.

"
Right. Sorry.
"

"
It
'
s okay.
"
For a minute, we shared pleasantries about business. I was always nice to the exterminator guy. He would spray the back of the building for spiders when he had leftover stuff and occasionally would spray the shop, if, you know, we smiled and asked him to. Well, if I did.

Winter wasn
'
t too fond of him, but she never said why.

My cell phone buzzed in my pocket.

"
Oh, excuse me,
"
I said and I pulled it out.

"
No problem,
"
he said, glancing at the awning being installed.
"
Where
'
d your sister go?
"

I shrugged.
"
Probably inside to make sure her heels didn
'
t get messed up,
"
I muttered.

"
She does like those shoes,
"
he said, smirking.

My phone buzzed again and I pulled it out of my pocket and grinned. It was Matthew.

You at work? -- Hennessey

I told him I was, and tucked the phone away.
"
Sorry,
"
I said.
"
Boyfriend.
"
I felt so funny saying that. So embarrassed at the phrase, because it sounded so juvenile, but it
'
s what he was. He had a while yet before he was completely out, but he should be fully out by the holidays.

Meanwhile, we got together on the weekends whenever we could. Most of the time, he came up here on Friday after work, and would head back Sunday morning.

It worked.

For now.

I could make it a few months. I
'
d done longer stints with Jake overseas. And at least I know that Matthew wasn
'
t getting shot at.

Shaun drew me from my thoughts.

"
I didn
'
t know you were seeing someone,
"
He said with a grin.
"
Lucky guy.
"

I laughed.
"
Aww, thank you. What about you, how are you doing?
"
I
'
d heard that he
'
d had some difficulties a few years back, but I was fuzzy on the details. Though what I did know, I could certainly relate to.

He shrugged.
"
As best as I can. Two years this past March. Heather was a good woman. Put up with my ass, anyway.
"

"
It gets easier. It does. It just takes time.
"
I gestured to the salon.
"
I didn
'
t think I
'
d meet anyone, and then, well, I did.
"

He nodded.
"
Not sure that I
'
m looking, really. If I learned anything from Heather, it was to appreciate every day.
"

I knew exactly what he meant.

I really did--every memory with Jake is precious. Every moment with Emma, even when she
'
s driving me nuts, is special, and I will miss it soon enough, because she
'
s growing so fast.

And every weekend I get with Matthew is a gift. We hadn
'
t talked about anything more serious yet--other than he would be coming back up to Kansas when he got all the loose ends tied up in Texas.

I couldn
'
t wait.

The back door popped open, and Winter almost slammed me in the face.

"
Jeez, watch it,
"
I snapped.

Shaun caught the door.
"
You okay?
"

I nodded.

Winter rolled her eyes.
"
Come in.
"

"
Why?
"

"
Client.
"

My turn to roll my eyes. Either my next client was an hour early, or Autumn had booked me another haircut. I swear, my sister did it to annoy me.

I said good bye to Shaun and headed inside the salon, the cool air washing over me. Awning or not, nothing replaced air conditioning.

"
We may need to talk about booking procedures,
"
I muttered as I walked toward the salon floor.

Winter glanced at me
"
What?
"

"
Nothing.
"

As I stepped out to the main salon, the usual noise and chatter had vanished, replaced with a soft whisper.

It was like everything had stopped. No one was working anywhere, they were just, well, staring.

I looked around.
"
What
'
s going on?
"

No one spoke. Winter
'
s heels click-clacked on the floor, only stopping when she took a seat in my styling chair.

"
Okay, this is weird,
"
I said, taking a couple more tentative steps into the room.

"
Mommy!
"
Emma cried as she ran onto the floor with a bouquet of pink and yellow roses. She slammed into me, wrapping her arms around my legs.

"
Emma, honey, what are you doing here? Where did you get the flowers.
"

Emma pressed the roses against her nose and sniffed them, her eyes twinkling.
"
They
'
re for you, Mommy!
"

I took the flowers, they really were beautiful.

"
Look, Mommy,
"
Emma said, pointing to the reception area. I followed her gaze.

And my breath caught.

Matthew Hennessey stepped around the corner, dressed in his formal uniform, a stunning sight to behold. He took two steps toward me, and dropped to his knee.

My hand started to shake and I covered my mouth, because I already could feel the tears. My other hand clenched the flowers so tight, I could have snapped the stems.

Matthew glanced at me, winked and then turned to Emma. He held up a single blue rose, about the same color as the dress that Emma wore.

"
Emma Bettes, I would like the honor of being your step-father. If you would like me to be a part of your family.
"

Emma stepped forward and accepted the flower.
"
I would like that, Mister Maffew.
"
And whatever formal tone Matthew was trying to keep was lost as soon as Emma leaped into his arms.

She tried to wrap her arms around him, but the flower kept getting in the way. The clatter of heels alerted me to Winter coming over. She took the flower from Emma so the little girl could properly hug Matthew.

Matthew whispered something in Emma
'
s ear, then they both turned to me. I could see the glint of tears in Matthew
'
s eyes.

Between that and Emma, sitting on his knee, the emotions that hit me so hard, I started to cry.

And not the pretty tears either.

This was gonna be the ugly crying.

"
Summer Bettes,
"

"
Oh my God,
"
I whispered.

"
Would you do me the honor of marrying me?
"

Cue the ugly cries.

Yes.

Yes.

How could I not say yes to this man? He
'
d brought me around, proved to me that I could be happy, and I didn
'
t have to hide from anything. I didn
'
t have to remain a widow in mourning.

I wondered if my heart still worked when I first met Matthew.

I knew it did now, because it hammered so hard, I thought it might burst from my chest.

The room was silent, and I looked around.
"
What?
"

"
Answer him,
"
Miss Nora stage-whispered from her seat at one of the manicure stations.

"
You mean I didn
'
t?
"
I asked.

"
Come on, Mommy!
"
Emma said.

"
Maybe this will help,
"
Matthew pulled a ring box out and opened the black case. The ring, a simple solitaire, shined in the salon
'
s lights.

"
Oh wow, that
'
s so beautiful,
"
I said, and held out my shaking hand.

Matthew slipped the ring on my finger.
"
So what say you?
"

I nodded.
"
Yes. Of course. Yes.
"