Forever Together (6 page)

“What if we twist your hair into a loose
chignon? It would suit the style of the dress and draw attention to
your face. If you want an even softer look we could leave some
wispy curls trailing down your shoulders.”

“Sounds lovely.”

For the next thirty
minutes,
Kate back-combed and twisted Sally’s hair into a
soft halo. When she’d
finished,
she held a mirror up so that Sally could see the hairstyle from all
angles. “What do you think?”

Sally turned her head to the left, then the
right. She had a smile on her face that told Kate she was pleased.
“It looks fabulous. I’m meeting Amy for dinner. I’ll show her what
you’ve done.”

Loretta walked across and took a good look at
Sally’s hair. “You did a great job. If you can apply makeup as
expertly as you did Sally’s hair, then you’ve got yourself a
part-time job. Keep working with Sally. There’s a spare makeup
chair beside me.”

Kate knew she could impress Loretta. She
loved working with makeup; creating shadows and highlights, using
color to draw out the natural beauty of each woman’s face.

She moved across with Sally to the makeup
station and looked at the range of cosmetics Loretta had available.
After a little bit of
experimentation,
she was ready to start.

Kate fastened a fresh cape around Sally’s
shoulders and smiled. “Would you like a natural looking makeup or
something more exotic?”

“Make it natural, something that will look
good on Amy’s wedding day. Next
time,
I’ll try something different.”

Kate started with cleanser, then toner and
moisturizer. She selected a foundation, airbrushing short, fast
strokes across Sally’s face and neck. Then came the layering, the
color that would enhance the beauty of Sally’s face. She took her
time, added highlights, blended
powders,
until she’d created a natural finish that looked
stunning.

Loretta watched what she was doing, smiled
when she saw the end result. “What do you think, Sally?”

“I think you should grab Kate before someone
else snaps her up.”

“Sounds like you’ve got yourself a part time
job, Kate,” Loretta said. “Can you work from one until five each
afternoon next week and all day next Saturday? I don’t know when
we’ll need you the following week, but I’ll do my best to give you
at least ten hours.”

Kate breathed a sigh of relief. “I’d love to
work with you.”

“I’ll organize the paperwork and get you to
fill in the details.” Loretta folded Sally’s cape and placed it on
a shelf. “You did a good job. I’ll see you here on Monday at one
o’clock. Did you know about the fashion show next Friday?”

Kate nodded. “I offered to help.”

“Emily needs all of the makeup artists she
can find. When Mary-Liz told me how many models had volunteered
their time, I knew it was going to be busy. We can go to the
rehearsal on Thursday night
together,
if you like?”

“Thanks. That would be great.” Kate wanted to
be busy. She’d never been very patient and the wait for Kaylee’s
transplant seemed to be taking forever. By working part-time at The
Beauty Box and helping with the fashion show, she not only had
something to keep her busy, but it would help pay her rent. “I’ll
see you on Monday afternoon.”

Loretta smiled and welcomed her next client
into the salon. Kate knew she’d been lucky to find a part-time job
so easily. She just hoped the forms she needed to fill in wouldn’t
ask about her criminal history.

Dan was right about one thing. She’d managed
to fly under most people’s radar her entire life, only it was
getting harder to ignore her past.

She walked toward her parked car and thought
about Kaylee, about her future, and about a certain Deputy Chief of
Police who had her stomach turning in knots for all the wrong
reasons.

***

Kate walked into Angel Wings Café and smiled
at Emily. She was here to meet Logan Allen, a local reporter for
the Bozeman Chronicle. She’d been nervous about meeting him and had
almost called the interview off. But if the article helped
raise
everyone’s awareness of HLH
and sold a few more tickets for the fashion parade, she’d go
through with it and hope for the best.

She looked around the café. Most of the lunch
crowd had already left. There were four empty tables, so she chose
the one closest to the window.

“You’ll be
fine,
” Emily said as she joined Kate. “Logan knows how
much the fashion show means for Kaylee.”

Kate put her hands
on
her lap, then leaned them against the table. “What
type of reporter is he?”

Emily looked confused for a moment, then
smiled. “You mean, is he the social editor, the sports editor, or
an investigative journalist?”

Kate nodded.

“He seems to do a bit of everything. He wrote
a really good review about the café when Tess first opened. The
following week he started writing a regular column about small
businesses in Bozeman.” She squeezed Kate’s hand and smiled.
“You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Kate wasn’t so sure. The doorbell tinkled and
a man in his
mid-thirties
walked
into the café.

Emily stood up and smiled. “Hi, Logan. This
is Kate.”

Kate stood and shook his hand. “Nice to meet
you, Logan.”

Logan’s brown eyes crinkled at the edges.
“I’ve heard a lot about you. Kaylee must have been excited when she
met you?”

“I felt the same way.” Kate took a deep
breath and sat down.

“I’ll leave you to your interview, but first
I’ll get you a drink,” Emily said. “Would you like
a coffee,
Logan?”

“Sounds good. Thick and black with
sugar.”

“Kate?”

“No coffee for me, but a glass of water would
be great.”

Emily stood at the counter waiting for Tess
to make Logan’s coffee. Kate settled down for the interview. She’d
focus on Logan’s questions, answer what he asked and leave the rest
alone. God knew what trouble she’d get herself into if he found out
about her past.

Logan pulled a notebook and digital recorder
out of his satchel. “Do you mind if I record our interview? It
makes it easier when I’m writing the story.”

Kate shook her head. “I don't mind.”

Logan smiled. “How did you find out Kaylee
had HLH?”

“My father called me.” Logan waited for her
to continue. “I was living in San Diego.”

“Had you heard of HLH before your dad
contacted you?”

Kate tried to keep her face blank, not to
give away what was going through her head. “Yes, but I didn't know
very much. The doctors at Sharp Memorial Hospital explained more
about the disease when I went in to see them.”

Logan scribbled a few notes and Kate took a
deep breath. She was walking on the thin side of honesty and it
wasn’t a good feeling.

“Tell me about you. What were you doing in
San Diego?”

Kate told him about her job at the beauty
salon. His eyes didn’t glaze over, so she figured she hadn’t bored
him too much. The interview continued and Kate relaxed, but not
enough to start babbling. Not enough to harm her family or herself.
She’d promised Anna she’d do the interview and she was determined
get through it. She just hoped Logan took her answers at face value
and didn’t look too deeply into her past.

***

Dan cruised along Main Street after his visit
with Kaylee. It was Wednesday and even though Kaylee was doing okay
he felt restless, too strung out to go home.

He slowed down as he passed The Beauty Box.
He’d seen Kate on Monday
night
when he’d invited himself out to Anna and Tom’s ranch for dinner.
She’d told him her first afternoon at the salon had been busy. One
of the beauticians had called in sick and the rest of the staff had
juggled appointments all day.

He figured it was about time he called into
Loretta’s salon to see how Kate was fitting in. He parked down the
road in case someone he knew drove past and saw his truck. If
anyone at work found out he was keeping an eye on Kate, they’d
think he’d gone crazy. Maybe even arrest him for stalking just for
the hell of it.

He opened the front door, not sure what to
expect from the powder puff pink interior. A dozen women turned and
stared at him, wondering what the hell the Deputy Chief of Police
was doing in a woman’s only domain. As soon as he saw the
over-sized hairdryers he knew he’d made a mistake.

“Nice to see you, Deputy Dan.” Loretta
grinned at him from behind the reception desk. “Have you come in
for an eyebrow wax?”

Someone snickered from behind one of the
turbo hairdryers and he scowled. “I was
driving past
and thought I’d come in and see how
everything is going.”

“That’s mighty friendly of you, Dan. As you
can
see,
we’re doing fine.”

Now he really felt like an idiot. He forced
himself to gaze around the room, trying not to look uncomfortable,
trying to find something to distract the women still staring at him
like a fish in the wrong pond.

Kate walked out of a room at the back of the
salon and stopped. Her mouth dropped open. “Dan? What are you doing
here?”

“Loretta’s already asked him that,” Jessie
yelled from under one of the
hair
dryers
. Dan blinked twice at the layers of foil wrappers
surrounding her head. Jessie was a seventy-something woman who knew
the ins and outs of most people’s lives in Bozeman. “He said he’s
here to see how we’re doing.”

Kate’s eyes narrowed. If she gave in to the
murderous thoughts sending blue flames his way he wouldn’t be the
only one that was arrested. Colin would shove them both in a cell
and God knew what would happen then.

Kate crossed her arms in front of her chest
and glared a bit more. “Looks as though you could do with a
trim.”

Dan ran his hand through his hair. He
purposely kept it longer than the buzz cut he used to wear. It
curled at the ends, occasionally fell in his eyes and annoyed the
hell out of him on hot days like today.

But he’d grown used to it. It was a reminder
that he was different to the man who’d left for Iraq. He’d gone
overseas to fight for democracy and ended up fighting for his
sanity. At least he’d come home alive. His best friend’s body had
come home in a casket, leaving Dan and the rest of his platoon to
struggle with what had happened.

Kate picked up a pink cape and flicked it
open. “My last client just left.” The smile on her face worried
him.

He looked at the cape and took a step
backward. “I don’t need a haircut.”

Kate wasn’t taking no for an answer. Before
he could leave the
salon,
she
dived toward him, holding his arm. He couldn’t move without taking
her with him and that wasn’t going to happen. The women in the
salon were staring at them, remembering every word for the gossip
sessions he knew would circulate town.

“You’re not running away are you, Dan?” Kate
threw his words back at him with a smile on her face.

Her fingers tightened their hold on his arm.
If he didn’t know
better,
he’d
swear she cared about the length of his hair. Or had hatched a
devious payback plan.

“I need to get back to work.” Okay, he was
definitely grasping at straws. He’d changed his shifts when Kaylee
had been admitted to the
hospital
.
He started early and finished at three o’clock, give or take any
overtime when all hell broke loose.

“It’s nearly four-fifteen,” Jessie said from
beneath a head covered in tinfoil. “I thought you finished
early?”

Damn. That’s what you got for living in a
small town. Everyone knew your business, even when you didn’t think
they cared.

“You’re not scared are you?” Kate dropped her
voice to a low whisper.
Goose
bumps
skittered along his skin.

“It’s the cape.” Loretta looked incredibly
pleased with her insightfulness. She took a black cape off a shelf
and handed it to Kate. “Try this one.”

Dan didn’t want any cape. He didn’t care if
it was pink, blue, purple, or yellow with orange spots. Kate wasn’t
getting anywhere near his hair. She did her matador trick again,
opening the cape like a seasoned pro. Sweat trickled down his neck,
under the hair she wanted to cut.

He glanced at the door and then at the smile
on Kate’s face. She was enjoying every minute of his impulsive
decision to come into the salon. He had two choices; get his hair
cut or make up a phony excuse about why he had to leave. The truth
won out, but only because he couldn’t think straight with Kate
smiling at him.

“You can cut my hair, but don’t go crazy. I
like my hair the way it is.”

He didn’t understand why every female in the
room sighed, or why Loretta grinned at him like he’d rescued a
kitten out of a tree. “And no hair spray, or gel, or whatever else
you think I need.”

Kate glanced at her watch. “Anna’s picking me
up in forty-five minutes so we’d better get a move on.” She pulled
him across to a sink, pushed him into a chair, and wrapped a towel
around his neck. Before he could ask what she was
doing,
she had the black cape around his
shoulders and the faucet gushing water. A firm hand connected with
his chest, pushing him backward.

“I don’t need…”

“Of course you do,” Kate said as she soaked
his head with water. He felt her hands running through his wet hair
and decided he might as well enjoy the experience.

He relaxed against the plastic headrest and
smelled the fresh scent of the shampoo. Kate’s hands worked through
his hair. He closed his eyes and concentrated on nothing except how
good her fingers felt against his scalp.