“Thanks for saying yes.”
She smiled at him in a way that made his gut feel like he’d been punched. Hannah had the kind of a smile that could stop traffic. Bright and beautiful, making her eyes sparkle.
He’d always known when she was happy, because he could see it in her eyes. Like now.
“See you Saturday, Kal.”
She walked away, and he stood there watching her, feeling stupid happy.
It was just a date. Nothing to get excited about. But there he was, excited as hell because he had a date with Hannah on Saturday.
He grinned, grabbed his keys out of his pocket and headed for his truck.
CHAPTER 5
HANNAH FINISHED APPLYING THE LAST FOIL ON A PARTICULARLY difficult double color on a client, so all she had to do was wait for that to process. While the client sat under the dryer, she updated some appointments for next week and returned a phone call for a client who wanted to change the time for her haircut.
Then she went into the back of the salon to rest her feet and catch up on how this week’s sales had looked.
She rented out space to other stylists, which was going well.
Delilah Watson was the reason Hannah had ended up opening up this salon when she’d returned to Ft. Lauderdale. Having to close her salon in Georgia had hurt Hannah, both emotionally and financially. She figured she’d wait to open a salon once she got back here, maybe work for someone else until she could get back on track.
And then she’d reconnected with Delilah, and Hannah had been thrilled to find out that Delilah was doing hair in another salon. Getting stylists was one of the biggest problems for a salon owner. Delilah had been awesome with hair in high school before she’d ever gotten her license, and when she told Hannah she worked six full days a week, Hannah asked if she’d be willing to come with her.
Delilah hadn’t hesitated. She said the owner of the salon she worked at was a total bitch and she’d leave in a heartbeat. Having an incredible stylist ready to go meant she could get her business up and running. She’d found the location, and they had clients the first week.
Hannah had since added another stylist, and a manicurist was starting next week, which made her very happy.
Her friend Delilah came into the back room.
“You and me both, girl,” Delilah said, pulling up the chair next to her. “I was about to die if I didn’t sit down.”
Delilah was a force. Beautiful, with short spiky blond hair and tattoos down one arm, she was petite but talked with a loud voice, and where Hannah was introverted, Delilah was super outgoing. But they’d bonded over their love of the world of Harry Potter in middle school and had been friends ever since. They’d lost touch for a while after Hannah left Ft. Lauderdale, but once she moved back, she’d run into Delilah at the grocery store and their friendship had kicked right in once again.
“It’s been a long day, for sure. But a good day. I’ve been busy.”
Delilah nodded. “Same here. You’ve got a killer location. Much better than that last shop I was at.”
Marguerite, the other stylist, came in to grab a drink from the fridge. “I agree. This is the best spot. Easy to get to, and traffic brings in walk-ins. I love it here and so do my clients.”
Hannah smiled. “I’m so glad. We love having you here.”
“Thank you. And you’re much nicer than the last salon owner I worked with. She was terrible. Always giving me orders like she was my boss, telling me I had to work late, clean up, wash all the towels.”
Hannah frowned. “You just rented booth space, didn’t you?”
“Yes. But that woman, she didn’t seem to understand that all her stylists were independent. I was happy when Delilah told me you were looking for people.”
“Hey, I was glad to get you out of there,” Delilah said. “Maybe once she loses all her stylists she’ll figure out she’s the problem.”
Marguerite laughed. “I doubt it. She’s not what I would call self-aware.”
Hannah shook her head. “I ran into that problem with salon owners before I bought my own shop. They think stylists work for them. If you’re not paying them a salary, they don’t.”
“Either way, we’re happy to be here with you, where you treat us like equals,” Delilah said. “And where we all pitch in to keep the place clean.”
Hannah smiled. “You’re both so great. I’m so thrilled to have you here with me.”
“And we get Josephine on Tuesday,” Marguerite said. “You’re going to love working with her.”
Their new manicurist was Marguerite’s cousin. Hannah had interviewed Josephine and even had her do a mani/pedi on her. She’d done a thorough and beautiful job. Delilah knew her as well and had used her services before. It was important to Hannah that all the stylists got along, because she’d worked in shops before where personality clashes caused conflict and tension, and clients always picked up on that. She didn’t want that in her shop.
She was confident that wasn’t going to happen here.
When her client was done, Hannah rinsed and styled her hair. It turned out great, shades of blond highlights in her beautiful light brown hair. The client was delighted, and Hannah was satisfied it had turned out well. And the client booked a follow-up appointment, which was even better.
Since that was her last client for the day, and both Delilah and Marguerite had finished up as well, they put towels in the laundry and cleaned up the shop. After the women had left, Hannah waited for the towels to finish, then turned out the lights and locked up, happy to be finished earlier than she expected. She called her mom to see if she wanted Hannah to pick up dinner for Oliver and her. She told Hannah she already had dinner planned, so Hannah drove home.
When she got inside, Oliver was watching TV. She went over to plant a kiss on the top of his head.
“Hi, Momma,” he said, his gaze focused on whatever cartoon show he was watching.
“Hey, kiddo. Good day?”
“Yup.”
She put her bag down on the table by the door, then went into the kitchen.
“Something smells good.”
“I’m making enchiladas for dinner.”
“Oh. I’ll be sorry to miss those.”
Her mother slanted a smile at her. “There’ll be leftovers.”
“Good. I’m going to go take a shower.”
She’d much rather slip into her shorts and a tank top and veg on the sofa with Oliver and her mom tonight, but she’d made this date with Kal, so she was going to have to follow through.
After her shower, she did her hair and makeup. Kal had told her to keep it low-key and casual tonight, so she put on flowered capris and a short-sleeved T-shirt, then slid into her tennis shoes, hoping what she wore wasn’t too casual. She put on earrings and a bracelet and called it good.
When she came out, the smell of the enchiladas made her stomach growl. “I’m so hungry.”
Her mom cocked her head to the side. “Did you eat today?”
“I had a salad and some apple slices.”
“Okay. Where are you going for dinner?”
She shrugged. “No idea. Kal said it was casual.”
“You need casual, not fancy and dressed up. Especially after a long day at work. I’m sure you’ll have a good time.”