Hannah jumped into the conversation. “It’s better than the perms she was giving everyone last year.”
Karen wasn’t so sure. “I take it you two don’t use Brianna very often.”
They looked horrified. “Never. Petra cuts as fast as she talks but she’d never cut your hair in a way that makes you look stupid. Even if you tell her to,” Hannah insisted.
“And she doesn’t gossip,” Judy added.
“Isn’t gossip a favorite pastime in a small town?” Karen asked. Next to bartenders, hair salons were notorious for clients unloading their emotional garbage on the stylist. Must have something to do with sitting in a chair and being told not to move for hours on end to bring out all of one’s problems to a near stranger.
“It’s the only pastime in a small town,” Judy told her. “Unless you knit.”
Petra’s salon housed the familiar smell of hair chemicals and shampoo. There wasn’t a hair salon in the world that didn’t have the same distinct odor. Hospitals and salons…you’d know where you were if you were blind and in a different country just by the smell.
Much like any small salon, there were two workstations with swiveling chairs. A hair-washing sink sat off to one side where clients could lie back and tuck their necks into the most uncomfortable position ever.
“Oh, good, you’re on time.” The woman Karen assumed was Petra waved from over the head of a young woman who sat in the chair. “I thought you’d get sidetracked showing Mike’s wife around town.”
“I told you two o’clock,” Hannah said. “Hi Becky.” She waved at the girl in the chair. Becky looked to be Hannah’s age. Her soft brown hair had been blown dry and was floating around her face like a cloud.
“Hi Hannah. Hi Judy. Home for the summer?” Becky asked.
“Can’t avoid it,” Judy told the girl. “Petra, Becky, this is Mike’s wife, Karen.”
Karen waved at the other women. “Hi.”
Hannah approached her friend and lifted a strand of her hair. “I like the little bit of color.”
Becky blushed at the compliment and looked at herself in the mirror. “I like it too.”
“Like it?” Petra asked with a laugh. “It’s perfect for you. Look at your eyes sparkle.”
Hannah giggled, showing her age. “You sure that’s not Nolan putting that sparkle in your eye?”
From Becky’s shoulders, Petra removed the plastic smock that kept the bits of falling hair from soiling her clothing.
“You’re dating Nolan Parker?” Judy asked with interest.
Becky stood and let her eyes slide to the floor.
Hannah gave Judy’s arm a playful push. “He took her to prom.”
While the girls talked and giggled about what was obviously an exciting subject, Karen sat back and observed as she often did while at the club. She could learn a lot about the kids by watching them interact. There was always a pecking order among teens. The popular girls tended to lead the pack and the conversations. In this trio, it seemed that Hannah had the upper hand with Becky, but Judy was obviously a rival. Probably because of her age.
When Becky stepped out of the chair, she leaned forward to catch a hair clip before it hit the floor. When she did, the shirt she wore gapped at her waist. An angry red welt mark peeked below her shirt, which she quickly tucked down as she stood.
Karen skirted her gaze away from the girls, who didn’t seem to notice, and over to Petra, who had noticed the mark as well.
“I can’t believe your parents are letting you date Nolan.”
Becky’s shy smile fell. “Daddy doesn’t like him.”
“Because he’s not Mormon?”
Becky shrugged.
Karen felt her insides start to twist. How much did Daddy dislike Nolan?
“That’s stupid,” Judy said. “Nolan’s a good kid. Best employee my dad’s ever had.”
Petra moved around her shop and listened, something that struck Karen as strange. Didn’t Judy say that Petra talked obsessively? Seemed she was doing a lot of listening.
Becky placed an unconscious hand to her abdomen and offered a coy smile. “My dad isn’t going to like anyone I date.”
“Dads are like that.”
“Who’s first?” Petra asked as their conversation started to fade.
Judy stepped forward. “I am. I can’t find anyone in Washington to do my hair right.”
Karen sat in a chair and picked up one of those gossip magazines that always seemed to litter the baskets in salons. Between those and magazines dedicated to hairstyles, hair salons were well-known for ten-minute reading material. Though she pretended to read the latest Hollywood gossip, she watched Becky from the corner of her eyes. She rubbed her stomach several times, and when she reached for her purse, Karen noted another mark on her upper arm.
It killed her to watch the girl leave the salon. Alarms were going off in her head and blaring loud enough to keep her from hearing what Judy and Hannah were talking about after the other girl left.
“Nolan, really?” Judy asked Hannah after Becky walked away.
“Someone caught him kissing her after the Homecoming game. After that, they were always holding hands in the halls at school.”
“I bet her dad is pissed.”
Hannah practically fell into the chair at Karen’s side. “Probably. She’s really come out of her shell since she hooked up with Nolan. He’s good for her.”
Out of her shell? Becky seemed as shy as they came.
“He always said he was leaving this shit town when he graduated, but he didn’t. I think it’s because of Becky.” Hannah turned to Karen and clarified. “Nolan graduated this year.”
“Oh.”
“I bet they run off together after Becky’s out of school.”
Judy lay back in the salon torture chair with her head in the sink.
“Are you good friends with Becky?” asked Petra.
“We’ve been friends since third grade. But we don’t hang out very much.” Again, Hannah turned to Karen to explain. “Her family is Mormon and they don’t like it when Becky hangs out with those of us who aren’t.”
“You’re making it sound like a cult,” Judy chastised.
“It’s true. Did you ever get invited to your Mormon friends’ slumber parties?”
Judy didn’t comment.
“Exactly. Becky and I hang out at school.”