"You can't go tonight," I say, sweeping up hair from the last customer. The salon is really busy today, which is typical for a Friday when everyone wants their hair done for the weekend.
"I'm really sorry," April says, pulling her pink hair up in a ponytail and securing it in place. "It's just that Wayne's buddies cancelled at the last minute and he's taking me out to dinner."
"So you cancelled your plans for him even though he'd never do the same for you," I say, continuing to sweep.
"It's not like that. If you had a guy, you'd understand."
I stop sweeping and look at her. "Really?"
She cringes. "Sorry. I shouldn't have said it that way." She perks up. "Wait! You do have a guy. You have Nate. What was I thinking? Just go out with him tonight. You'll have more fun with him anyway."
"Nate and I aren't a couple," I say, going over to get the dustpan. "But if we were, I wouldn't cancel on a friend just because he told me to."
"Riley, I'm really sorry. I'll make it up to you. How about we go to lunch tomorrow? My treat."
"I can't. I start at the pool tomorrow. There's a staff meeting."
"That's right. I forgot. Well, I'll make it up to you some other way."
"Don't worry about it. I'm not mad at you. I understand you want to be with your boyfriend. I'm just annoyed whenever this happens because it's what my mom used to do, and still does."
April frowns. "Sorry. I wasn't even thinking about that."
April knows about my mom's obsession with men and how she'll do pretty much anything to keep a man until she's done with him. Growing up, she'd cancel our plans all the time because of a guy. Once she even cancelled my birthday party so she could go on a date.
"It's fine," I tell her. "I just hope it doesn't become a regular thing. You should be able to have a life outside of Wayne. He shouldn't be able to do what he wants, but then tell you what to do."
"He doesn't tell me what to do. I mean, he kind of did today, but I really do want to see him tonight." She takes the broom from me. "Let me help you clean up."
"You can't." I take the broom back. "You have an appointment at 12:15."
"I do?" She checks her phone. "I don't see it on the schedule."
"It's a walk-in. That's why I'm hurrying to clean up around your chair."
April searches the front waiting area. "Where is she? What's she look like?"
"It's not a she. It's a guy." I look up front, but only see women. "I don't know what he looks like. I didn't see him. Maybe he went next door to get a coffee." I check the clock. "You have five minutes. You should go put your stuff away. I need to finish cleaning up."
She takes off for the break room as I sweep up the rest of the hair.
"This seat taken?" a deep voice asks.
I look up and see a guy standing just behind the chair. He's tall with thick brown hair and dark eyes, wearing a black shirt that has to stretch to fit over his wide shoulders and muscular arms.
"Sorry, that was a joke," he says.
I was totally checking him out and never answered him. I quickly look up at him and smile. "Yeah. Um, go ahead. I'm almost done."
"I can wait until you're finished." He's holding a cup of coffee from the place next door. He takes a sip while I hurry to collect the last clumps of hair.
"Busy place," he says, looking around.
"Yeah, we get really busy on Fridays. Everyone wants to look good for going out on Friday night."
"Same here. I thought I'd clean up before going out."
The guy looks familiar. He seems close to my age, but I didn't go to school with him. He must've come into the salon before. But if he had, I would've remembered him. A girl remembers a guy this hot.
"Where are you going tonight?" I ask, setting the dustpan back against the wall.
"Just out with my cousin. We'll probably grab dinner and a beer."
Cousin? Wait—is he Nate's cousin? He kind of looks like Nate, which is probably why I thought I knew him. But Nate said his cousin wasn't getting here until later today.
"What's your name?" he asks with a smile that makes my stomach do some fluttery thing it's never done before.
"Riley." Now my heart's beating really fast, which is making my fluttery stomach feel kind of sick.
"I'm Brad." He takes my hand and shakes it. "Good to meet you."
"Yeah, you too. Are you Nate's cousin?"
His brows rise. "Yeah. How'd you know?"
"Small town."
"Not THAT small."
I smile. "I'm Nate's friend. He told me you were coming."
Brad slowly nods. "So you're THE Riley. The girl Nate can't stop talking about."
"Um, I guess, but I'm sure he talks about more than just me."
"He does, but somehow every conversation comes back to you."
This guy is so freaking hot he's making me nervous. I can't even think of anything to say.
"Can I have a seat now?" he asks.
I step back. "Go ahead."
He sits in the chair and my eyes go to his legs. He's wearing shorts and his legs are pure muscle.
"I need a good trim on the top and a little shaved off the sides," he says, showing me in the mirror.
"Oh, no, I'm not your stylist. I just sweep up the hair."
He smiles. "I bet you could do it. It's just a trim. Go for it."
"I can't. I'm not trained. I went to cosmetology school but had to drop out. I'm really bad at hair."
"C'mon. You can't be that bad."
"Trust me, I'm horrible. I even screwed up the mannequin's hair. It was so bad they had to throw it out."
He laughs, a deep hearty laugh. "Sounds like me and ceramics. I took it for an easy class in college. First time I tried to use the potter's wheel, my clay went flying across the room. Hit some poor guy in the head so hard his glasses flew off."
I laugh, then cover my mouth. "Sorry, I shouldn't laugh. Was he okay?"
"Totally fine. And you can laugh. I sure as hell did. Everyone else did too. I ended up dropping the class." He chuckles. "So yeah, you can't be good at everything, but hey, at least we gave it a shot, right?"
"Right." I stare at him, completely enthralled by him. He has this energy about him. He lights up the room. I've been dragging all morning, but now I feel alert and awake.
"Is this my new client?" April asks, hurrying over to him. "Sorry I'm running late."
"No problem," Brad says. He holds his hand out to her. "Brad Whittaker. Good to meet you."
"I'm April." She shakes his hand.
"He's Nate's cousin," I tell her. "He's here for the summer."
She looks at him in the mirror and tilts her head. "I kind of see the resemblance, although you're a lot bigger than Nate."
"Coach made us hit the weights hard. But I've always been someone who works out a lot."