Beauty Shop Tales

“Well…” I squirm inwardly and wonder what exactly my mother has told them. Because the truth is, I only assisted the stylist who did Julia Roberts’s hair on one of the movies she made back in the nineties. I didn’t actually have my hands in her hair. And I only got that job because Chet realized how disillusioned I’d become with the whole Hollywood scene and thought if I could get in the middle of the business, I’d be happy. He had his work and loved it, so he called in a favor to get me the assistant’s job hoping I’d find my place among California’s beautiful.

After the Julia Roberts movie, I worked on a few minor projects—the Persephone picture, and a couple others…nothing notable. By then, I’d had it with the industry. If I felt like a fish out of water before Chet dropped me into the great Hollywood shark tank, well, after that I was the fish who wanted to dive out of the aquarium. Working in the movies wasn’t for me. It was too shallow, too many people willing to take off their clothes and sell their firstborn for a taste of fame. Not at all what a naive, wide-eyed, small-town girl thought it would be. I was pretty much at risk for being eaten alive.

At least by doing hair in salons I was able to build relationships with clients, change someone’s outlook by helping them become the best they could be. In the movies, the only reason anyone helped anyone was if it benefited them.

I had nothing in common with these people and it scared me because Chet thrived in this cardboard world. He couldn’t understand why I’d settle for working at a salon when “if you only tried a little harder, you could make your dream come true.”

I didn’t always feel this way about California. Chet and I had had big dreams. I was going to be a star and he was going to be my agent. That was our plan—to take Hollywood by storm.

But when the plan didn’t work out quite like we thought it would, he took a job at WKGM in the mail room and I tried to land another agent. This is where the irony sets in—I couldn’t get work, but they loved him so much that eventually they created the extreme sports segment for him.

For a girl from a small Florida beach town, at first glance Hollywood seemed like Fantasy Land. But it tends to trap people this way. In the beginning, it seduces, whispers sweet nothings—delicious, mouthwatering promises.

I endured one humiliating experience after another—I couldn’t crack the reputable agents because of my lack of experience and, okay, I’ll admit it was probably because of my lack of raw talent. The only agents who were interested in me were the ones who were out to scam or prostitute me. It’s amazing what some people will do for a taste of perceived stardom. I’m no prude, but I have my standards and it soon became apparent that I did not have what it took to conquer Hollywood. In return, Hollywood had nothing to offer me. There I stood with my nose pressed to the glass of this magnificent candy store, but it was closed, the lids set firmly on the jars, all the goodies stored out of my reach.

For a short time before I came to this sad realization, I thought Chet and I could be happy there.

Chet had became somewhat of a minor celebrity around town and was bitten by the bug. People started recognizing him on the street—“Hey! Aren’t you that extreme sports dude on TV? I saw your spot on the ASP Tahiti Surfing Tour. Righteous, dude!”

Fame, minor as it was, was like a drug to him. The more recognition he got, the more he craved. The more remote the location the network sent him to—Fiji, Australia, Hawaii—the more he craved getting away. You know how I feel about flying. So I stayed behind, focusing on how everything would get better once we had a baby.

That was before I knew a baby was out of the question.

“So what’s Julia Roberts like?” A voice from the crowd pulls me back, and I realize I don’t even know who asked the question.

“Umm…she’s very nice. Very down to earth.” This is not a lie. I was in close enough proximity that I could ascertain that she’s quite pleasant. It’s the other people in the industry who weren’t so wonderful.

“So will you fix me up with her?” Bucky Farley guffaws.

Someone utters, “Get a life, Farley.”

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to ask.”

“Who else did you work on?” asks Lonnie Sue, all wide-eyed.

“You know, actually, I didn’t—”

“Back away, everyone.” My mother shoulders her way through the throng with a plate to rival Gilda’s. “Let her eat her dinner in peace.”

She sits down next to me as if she’s settled into her throne. “Avril’s home to stay, so you’ll have plenty of time to hear all the Hollywood stories. In fact, why don’t y’all book an appointment and get your hair done by our very own beauty operator to the stars and hear about it then?

“In the meantime, grab yourselves some of Maybell Jennings’s chocolate cake. It’s so good on the lips, it’s worth carrying it around on the hips.”

As the knot of people breaks apart, Lonnie Sue eyes Mama’s plate and then bites into a celery stick. “Chocolate cake. Ha. With this thyroid of mine if I even look at cake, I’ll pack on five pounds.” She pats her belly. “I already have years of Maybell’s cakes to contend with.”

Mama smiles, then closes her eyes as she savors her first bite of deviled egg.

“Mmmm…what more could a girl want?” She reaches over and pats my leg. “Good food and my darlin’ girl. I got everything I need right here.”

I glance around the beauty shop, letting its familiarity seep into my bones like a balm. Everything is neat and in its functional place. Mama hasn’t redecorated since she opened the place back in seventy-six. But it’s clean and painted. Nothing looks too worn or in disrepair.

Someone has yanked down the white sheets I saw hanging when we drove by. As it turns out, they weren’t drapes after all, only a temporary prop to curtain off what was brewing inside, so Mama could drive me down Main Street without ruining the surprise. True to form, Tess Mulligan doesn’t miss a thing.

“I really never thought I’d see you back here.” Dani wrinkles her tanned, freckled nose and looks down at her hands. “I mean, I’m glad you’re back, but, well, you know…I guess if I ever got out of here and made it to California I wouldn’t want to come back.”

I shrug and so does she, nervously flipping her long, straight golden-brown hair over her right shoulder. With that too-long fringe of bangs sweeping across her tanned forehead, she still looks like the natural, pretty beach girl she was when we were in high school. Only a little spent and worn around the edges…

I try to look in her blue eyes rather than at the ring of bruise, but it’s hard to keep my gaze from wandering. Mama never says much about Dani. We weren’t very close in school. But I’m surprised she never mentioned Dani coming in with a shiner. I make a mental note to ask her about it. Not simply to gossip, but to see if she needs help.

“Things change,” I say.

I glance at her left hand and see she’s still wearing a ring. “How’s Tommy?”

“Doing good. Still over at the hardware store. He’s the manager now.”

Dani and Tommy quit high school in the beginning of our senior year after Dani got pregnant. They got married—she had the baby, he took a job at the hardware store.

“Tommy’s workin’ late tonight. That’s the reason he’s not here. Had to go on a delivery over to Cocoa. But Renie’s here.”

Renie?

She motions to a beautiful, willowy blond teenager sitting on the floor on the opposite side of the room. All bad posture and awkward, skinny limbs, she looks like the teenage version of Dani I remember, only blonder. She’s listening to an MP3 player with an expression that suggests this party is the last place she wants to be.

When Dani motions her over, she rolls her eyes and drags herself to her feet, looking downright disgusted by the imposition.

The girl presents herself, but doesn’t look up from the iPod she’s holding in her right hand.

“Renie, this is Avril,” Dani says in her quiet voice. “The party’s for her.”

I wonder if the girl can hear her mother because the ear-buds are still planted firmly in her ears. Dani reaches up and touches her daughter’s cheek.

Renie flinches and shoots the look of death at her mother.

“Renie? Remember I was telling you about the girl I used to go to school with who worked in the movies?”

The girl looks me square in the eyes and pulls a so what face. “No.”

Dani flushes the shade of the Naugahyde.

“Sweetie, why don’t you just go on home if you’re gonna act like that? I don’t want you ruining Avril’s party.”

Renie turns and walks toward the door.

“You go straight home now,” Dani calls after her. “Your daddy should be home soon and I’m going to ask him if you were there when he got home.”

Renie doesn’t turn around.

Lonnie Sue puts a hand on my arm. “Avril, hon, so you’re going to start on Monday?”

I’m glad for the diversion so I won’t have to gloss over the awkward Renie moment with Dani.

“I haven’t really talked specifics with Mama, but sure, I can start Monday if that’s what works.”

Gilda stands up stiffly and shoots me a lightning-quick look that suggests she caught the exchange with Renie. Her eyes dart away just as fast, focusing on her paper plate as she folds it in half around the chicken bones like a big white grease-stained taco.

“Actually you’re right between the two of us,” she says. “So we can both keep an eye on you.”

She winks at me. “Well, I don’t have a cranky thyroid. So I’m definitely goin’ to claim me a piece of Maybell’s cake before it’s all gone.”

As she ambles off, Mama corrals Lonnie Sue and Dani into a discussion about the overbooked schedule on the Saturday of the Founder’s Day celebration—which appointments they want to keep and which they want to shift over to me.

I’d wondered how my coming on board would work. The way Mama’s been billing me as the “beauty operator to the stars” and urging people to come in and book an appointment with me, I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes by poaching their clients. Hairdressers can get a little territorial and the last thing I want to do is get off on the wrong foot.

I’m glad Mama broached the subject and decided to let them figure it out. I get up and circulate, thanking people for coming, talking to others about who married whom, who’s divorced and who died—seventeen years worth of gossip to catch up on in one night. Most of it I already know because a leaf couldn’t drop from a tree without Mama calling to tell me.

It’s wonderful to see everyone, but it’s also a little overwhelming. By the end of the party, my head is buzzing. I’m relieved when the last person bids us goodbye, leaving Mama, the girls and me to clean up.

I start gathering used paper plates into a pile.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Lonnie Sue stands in front of me with her hands on her hips. “You will not tidy up after your own party. Right, Tess? I’m sure she’s exhausted so tell her to get her skinny self upstairs and stretch out on the bed and let us get this place back in order.”

All four of them make noises about me leaving them to do the cleanup as they bustle around tidying up in a routine that almost seems choreographed.

“I am tired,” I admit. “But I don’t think I can sleep just yet. I’d like to take a walk and get a breath of fresh air.”

“Oh, honey, it’s dark outside,” Mama says. “Dani, you go with her. I mean, I’m sure it’s safe, but, well…you know how it is.” She flutters her long fingers and bends down to retrieve a plastic fork from under one of the chairs.

I’m just opening my mouth to protest, because I really am looking forward to the solitude. What I had in mind was breathing in the fresh night air as I walked down Main Street, reacquainting myself slowly without having to make conversation. But Dani’s already got her purse on her arm.

“I’d love to take a walk with you, Avril.”

We’re mostly silent as we walk the short block up Broad Street toward Main Street.

We turn onto the deserted main drag, pausing in front of the salon’s big plateglass windows to watch the three women make quick work of putting the place back in order. They wave at us. We wave back and start walking again.

The street is lit by old-fashioned wrought-iron gas lamps that illuminate the storefronts, allowing just enough light to see inside. We stop again, this time in front of Paula’s Bakery.

“Are you going to take back Mulligan?”

It takes a moment to realize she’s asking if I’ll take back my maiden name. I want to say “I’m a widow, not a divorcée,” but instead, I shake my head.

“I want to keep Chet’s name. At least it makes me feel like I still have a part of him.”

A balmy breeze blows in and I breathe in deeply, savoring the briny ocean scent. I want to ask her about the bruise, but I don’t know how.

Instead, we start walking again.

As we turn the corner to complete our circle around the block, the glow of the gas lamps on Main Street doesn’t illuminate the small community parking lot that’s adjacent to the hardware store. It’s dark and a little eerie hearing the crash of the waves off in the distance.

“Oh, good, Tommy’s back.” Dani gestures to the shadowy far corner of the lot, and I can just make out the outline of a big, dark pickup. “Renie and I walked to the party since Tommy took the truck. I’ll just ride home with him. But, of course, we’ll both see you back down the block.”

It makes me a bit uneasy thinking that Tommy might have given her that bruise, but it seems worse for her to walk in the dark alone. Of course, one of us could have driven her…

“Let’s go around to the back door,” she says. “He’s probably in the office doing paper work.”

She raises her hand to knock, but the door opens and Tommy stumbles out. His long black hair is mussed. His blue button-down shirt is completely open, showing a pelt of dark chest hair that narrows as it disappears beneath the top of his unfastened jeans. Holding a beer bottle in his left hand, he has his right arm draped around the shoulder of a buxom brunette.

CHAPTER 5

Real life never turns out like the movies.

In real life, Superman doesn’t swoop down and catch the jumper before she hits the pavement; the governor doesn’t call at the last second to grant a stay of execution; and when the husband is discovered rumpled and mussed with a sexy bimbo half his age, you just better accept the fact that the screwing going on in the hardware store had nothing to do with hardware.

Well, not the metallic variety anyway.

Yeah. It pretty much boils down to what you see is what you get, despite all the happy spins the Hollywood script-writers have dreamt up. Because let’s face it, Sago Beach is about as far removed from Hollywood as you can get. Since there aren’t writers lurking behind the sets of our lives to script us off the ledge of emotional suicide, nobody was a bit surprised when Dani called in sick Monday morning.

“Not a problem, hon,” Mama said. “Avril will handle your appointments—on a temporary basis. ’Til you feel strong enough to come back to work…Of course we won’t say anything to anyone…Right…No, now Dani, whatever’s said will come from you. It’s not our place to be tellin’ your private business….”

Never mind that she’d already told Lonnie Sue and Gilda the entire story, justifying it with, “We’re like family here. So y’all need to know what’s going on with Dani.”

I get the sinking feeling word will spread just like in the old Fabergé organic shampoo commercial from the late seventies where everyone tells two friends and they tell two friends and so on and so on….

Poor Dani. Nothing like having the entire town take a front-row seat while the intimate details of your marital problems unfold center stage.

Mama cradles the phone between her ear and her shoulder and opens the register. As she counts money into the drawer, she nods and says things like, “Right,” and “Umhm,” and “You poor dear.”

I wonder how she can count and listen at the same time.

Gilda, Lonnie Sue and I pretend we’re not listening. They’re tiding up their stations. I’m setting up all the things I’ll need to get started, which is not much—scissors, combs, brushes, blow dryers, flat irons and curling irons. Everything that fit into one suitcase.

I sold my supply of bleach, foil, color and other expendables to the owner of the last salon I worked in, figuring I could restock once I got here.

The bulk of my belongings are on a truck making the cross-country pilgrimage to join me. I sold the car and some of the larger pieces of furniture. I suppose getting rid of the hair dye didn’t really lighten the load much, but it seemed the thing to do at the time.

You know, one step closer to making a fresh start. When the furniture gets here, I’ll put it in storage. At least for the time being, until I get a place of my own. But for now it feels kind of nice to travel light.

“You don’t suppose Dani caught Tommy with that King girl, do you?” asks Lonnie Sue.

Both she and Gilda stop what they’re doing and look at me.

The ugly scene of two nights ago replays in my mind and a pang for what Dani must be suffering unfurls inside me. Sometimes I miss Chet so badly it’s a physical ache. But seeing how Dani is suffering, I realize at least I still have the sanctity of our marriage to cling to. I don’t know which is worse, to loose your love to death or to another woman. Suddenly talking about Dani behind her back doesn’t seem right.

As I bend to plug in a curling iron, I say, “I have no idea who that King girl is.” Instead of looking at them, I check to make sure the button is turned to Off. Then I look through my purse for my lipstick.

“That’s Jimmy and Bobbi Nell King’s girl. Oh, what was her name…?” In the mirror, I see Gilda’s lips tighten into a thin line and I gather there’s no love lost there. “I guess you wouldn’t know her, seeing how they only lived here a couple or three years. They moved after Mary West caught her husband in a compromising position with that girl.”

I think Gilda means to lower her voice, but all she manages to do is duck her head and say in a loud stage whisper, “Seems she has a thing for married men. Was this gal with Tommy a short redhead?”

I shake my head, relieved when Mama hangs up the phone and Gilda and Lonnie Sue turn to her expectantly.

“Well, that was Dani. She’s going to take some vacation time.” Mama straightens a stack of appointment cards on the desk as she speaks, her eyes averted. Then she plucks a purple feather duster from a drawer and sweeps it around. A nervous gesture that makes me think Mama doesn’t want to gossip about it, either.

“Well, who can blame her?” says Lonnie Sue. “After this, let’s hope she finally dumps the no good jackass. It’s been a long time coming. When she came in here with that black eye, I almost went after him.”

Still holding the duster, Mama puts her hands on her hips and shakes her head. “Now look, we need to be respectful of Dani’s situation. I’m sure I don’t have to ask you to be discreet.”

Gilda and Lonnie Sue snort and tsk, pulling faces that suggest Mama has cut them to the quick. I put the cap on my lipstick tube, put it back in my purse. Proud of Mama for doing the right thing.

“All rightie then. Avril, I suppose you heard me tell Dani you’d take her appointments today. It’ll give you a chance to get acclimated.”

She flips the sign on the door to Open and unlocks the dead bolt, admitting Maybell Jennings, who’s wearing a red headscarf tied beneath her chin.

“Mornin’ Ms. Maybell.” Gilda motions her client over and pats the chair.

“Well, howdy-do girls.” Maybell hefts herself into the chair with an oomph and pulls off the scarf, revealing a head full of small gray mesh rollers with pink picks poking out at all angles.

“Just a comb-out today, honey. Hope you got lots of gossip because I’m hungry for it this morning. So dish it up, sweet and juicy.”

Gilda shoots Mama a guilty look. Mama raises her brows at her in a don’t-you-dare warning that I remember so well from when I was growing up. Gilda gives Mama an almost imperceptible nod of understanding before she starts removing the rollers from the older woman’s hair.

Apparently satisfied, Mama walks back to the desk. “Avril, your first client is Marge Shoemaker, but she’s not due in for another hour and she’s always at least a half-hour late—”

The chime on the door sounds. My stomach lurches when I see Max Wright, my cowboy airplane seatmate, standing there with his black hat in his hand.

IT’S SUCH A Catch-22, small-town life. At times like this, I realize I have a love-hate relationship with it. I love being part of the fabric in the patchwork quilt that is a community. Still, I hate the way everyone knows your business—sometimes before you do.

Max stands in the doorway, silhouetted by the morning sun. Every gaze in the room is fixed on him. Especially Lonnie Sue, whose face lights up as she locks in on him like a homing device on a target.

Man at eleven o’clock. BeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeepBeep.

Target locked.

“Well, Avril, look who’s here to see you,” Mama says before Lonnie Sue can launch herself. “It’s Max, isn’t it?”

All heads swivel from him to me. I stand there like a dolt, not knowing what to say other than, “What are you doing here?”

It sounds wrong. Snippy. I want to explain to him that it’s not that I’m unhappy seeing him standing there. In my mother’s salon. Knowing he’s come all this way. I suppose surprised is a better way to put it. I’m surprised. And a little uncomfortable. Embarrassed by the palpable waves of glee radiating off my mother. But before I can utter a word, Gilda says, “I don’t suppose you’re here for a haircut, are you, darlin’? If so, Avril can take you now. Can’t ya, hon?”

A grin tugs at Max’s lips. He runs his free hand through his hair. I force myself to hold his gaze.

“Actually, I’ve come to see if Avril would like to have a cup of coffee with me sometime.”

“She’s free right now.” Lonnie Sue shoves me toward Max. I stumble and whack my hip on the chair at my station.

I don’t even have to glance in the mirror to know my face is flushed.

I may have fleetingly forgotten the perils of small-town life, might have been momentarily drawn in by the hunger to be part of that patchwork quilt, but Lonnie Sue’s shove jolts me back to reality.

Even though I really don’t want to have coffee with Max—or any man who isn’t Chet—I’d better get him out of the salon before the girls graduate to the next step which is dragging out my baby photos and old home movies.

“I suppose I’ll take a break now.”

I brush past him, motioning for him to follow me outside.

He does.

Once the door is closed securely behind me, I say, “Well, this is a surprise. What brings you to the ’hood?”

He looks at me for a few beats, and I want to squirm.

“I had to see for myself where Sago Beach’s very own beauty operator to the stars holds court.”

I shake my head and do my best to suppress a smile.

“Okay then, I understand there’s a place nearby that serves the best cup of coffee this side of—” He glances down the street toward the big Founder’s Day Celebration banner. “This side of Main Street. Or is that just an urban legend?”

I snort and I’m not even embarrassed.

“Definitely urban legend. Despite the beauty and old-fashioned feel of downtown Sago Beach, there’s one thing it lacks.”

I arch a brow at him, challenging him to venture a guess.

“A place where you can get a decent cup of joe?”

I nod.

“Uh-oh.” He grimaces.

“Oh, wait, it gets worse. Do you know there’s not even a place within walking distance where you can get a cup of coffee to go? Totally foreign concept ’round these parts. If you want someone to serve you coffee, you sit down in a booth, drink it out of a sturdy white mug and you don’t pay an arm and a leg for it. The folks at the Sago Diner wouldn’t dream of asking you to shell out nearly five dollars for a cup of frou-frou that doesn’t include all the free refills you care to sit there and drink.”