Love Gently Falling (12 page)

“The old ‘what doesn't kill you makes you stronger' philosophy?”

She pointed to a dusty plaque that had been hanging by the fridge for as long as Rita could remember. “I know this is what Mom believes, Ricky. I guess I'm trying to believe it too.”

Ricky read it out loud.
“We know that for those who love God all things work together for good.”

“It's a good promise.” She sighed. “Although a bit open-ended since it doesn't say how long it will take for things to work together for good. I guess that's where faith comes in.”

He made a lopsided smile. “I never really thought you were that much like Mom, Rita. But maybe you are. That sounded just like the kind of thing she would've said.”

“I wish I was
more
like Mom.” Now she confessed to him about how she was more than a little worried about the future of the salon. She even told him about what Charlene had said. “To be honest, I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed. What if Charlene's right? What if we go to all this work for nothing? What if it doesn't work?”

“What do you mean by
doesn't work
?”

“What if we don't increase the clientele? That's what this is really all about. This family needs that business to succeed.”

“Oh…” He removed a can of soda from the fridge, loudly popping it. “Is there something more we can do to make sure that it does succeed?”

She got a soda for herself, and as they sat at the kitchen table, she went over her various plans for promoting the salon.

“Those are great ideas.” Ricky nodded. “But you know what I'd like to do…”

“What?”

He made what seemed a devious grin. “I'd like to
steal
some business from Zinnia's.”

Rita laughed. “Well, so would I. I mean, not
steal
, exactly. But I wouldn't mind if she'd share some with us.”

“I'm sure most of her clients used to go to Hair and Now.” He held up a finger. “What if I printed out some flyers? Like something we could pass out around the mall? Or maybe stick on cars?”

“People hate it when you hand them stuff or mess with their car.”

“What if these flyers had a discount coupon? A lot of people are into saving money with coupons.”

Rita considered this. “A coupon…? You know, that's not a bad idea.”

“I could make a flyer on my computer and print it out. I could even go to the mall and distribute them for you. I have no problem taking a little flak from folks.”

Rita studied her baby brother. Ricky was big and handsome and youthful. “I could imagine some of Zinnia's younger customers eagerly taking a coupon from a guy like you. Especially if you cleaned yourself up a little.” She pointed at the front of his torn T-shirt, where something had spilled.

They talked about it some more and finally came up with a solid plan that included a small price increase at the salon. They wouldn't be as expensive as Zinnia's, but they wouldn't be quite so cheap either. “And maybe we can have a members' discount club.” Rita paused to make more notes. Eventually they had it all worked out. Ricky would make the flyers with a ten-dollar-off coupon. He'd print them on lime green paper and distribute them during the weekend. Richard would be home and able to give Ricky a much-needed break from helping with Donna.

“This is perfect,” Rita said with enthusiasm. “The salon will be closed during the weekend, so no one can go down and see what a mess it is.”

“What if they look in the windows?” Ricky asked.

“Oh, yeah. Good point.”

“I could cover them with paper for you. With signs saying we're under renovation and when we'll reopen.”

“Ooh, I like that. It will make it mysterious.”

By the time Rita got ready for bed, she was feeling greatly encouraged. She knew that the hardest work was still ahead, but she felt ready for it. She felt hopeful. As she got into her creaky little twin bed, her thoughts drifted away from the salon and onto something else. Or someone else.

As much as she'd tried not to think about Johnny, it seemed that whenever her guard went down, her thoughts like an arrow went straight to him. She'd replay the times they'd spent together, the conversations they'd had—as well as the numerous times she'd stuck her big foot in her mouth. The bottom line was that she knew she was attracted to him, and sometimes she felt fairly sure he was attracted to her, too. But what she couldn't wrap her mind around was the Zinnia factor. It just didn't make sense to her that someone like Johnny would be into someone like Zinnia. Not only because Zinnia was a few years older than him, but simply because they were so totally different. Johnny was good and generous and polite and kind. And Zinnia—well, she was just Zinnia. Certainly, Rita was aware that Zinnia was petite and pretty. And she did own a successful business. And sometimes she could actually be surprisingly nice. And it seemed to be true that she'd changed some in recent years, but she was still Zinnia. And as hard as Rita tried to forget some of the less than enjoyable moments with Zinnia, sometimes it was difficult.

As Rita drove through
her parents' neighborhood on Friday morning, she noticed an estate sale sign pointed toward an old but very upscale neighborhood. Although it was bitter cold and windy out, she wondered if it might be worth stopping for, especially since she hadn't had too much luck with the secondhand shops yesterday. She found the house and, seeing it was a well-maintained Victorian, decided to chance it. Several cars and trucks were already parked in front, and people were hurrying inside. Apparently the homeowner had died, and her children were trying to empty the house so that it could be sold.

“The large items are marked,” a woman said. “We'll take offers on anything that's not.”

Rita hurried through the main area of the house, not seeing anything of interest, but when she reached an upstairs bedroom, she thought she'd won the jackpot. The room was right out of the sixties or seventies. She ran to get one of the cardboard boxes she'd seen by the stairway and quickly began filling it with interesting items. She wasn't sure how much to offer, but hurried down to figure it out and was told the cashier was in the garage. And there, while waiting in a short line, she spotted a couple more treasures. One was a box of colorful Valentine decorations, including several strings of hot-pink heart-shaped lights. The other find was a box filled with old-fashioned clear glass knobs. It wasn't anything like what she'd imagined originally, but the more she thought about it, the more she thought they would work. And from what she could see there would be enough pulls for all the station cabinets. Unless they were terribly expensive, they would be absolutely perfect.

“I'm not sure how to make an offer,” she admitted to the gray-haired woman taking money.

The woman frowned at the boxes then shrugged. “Forty bucks for everything seem fair to you?”

“Sure. That sounds more than fair.” Rita extracted a pair of twenties from her wallet.

“Well, it's all gotta go. We plan to list the house next week. Tell your friends.”

Rita paid her and thanked her, but as she drove away, she felt like a bandit. And as soon as she was in the salon, she texted Marley to tell her about the fabulous estate sale. She unloaded her treasures into the storage room and unlocked the doors. Then, going to the appointment book, she looked over what was scheduled for the few days following the renovation and before the grand reopening. Seeing there were fewer than a dozen appointments, she decided to call every one of them and reschedule them for the following week. She hoped she wasn't being overly cautious, but just in case something took longer than expected, she wanted a little wiggle room. The initial response of some clients was a bit negative, but her offer of a discount for their inconvenience seemed to make up for it.

As usual, Charlene was the first one to arrive, and Rita immediately told her about the promotional plans she and Ricky had made, as well as the ads that would start running by Sunday. “So it's possible we might get people wanting to book appointments while we're renovating,” she explained. “I'd appreciate it if you could handle any phone calls while you're here.” Charlene agreed to this, but Rita could see the doubtful look in her eyes, as if she thought they were crazy for doing this.

Rita spent the bulk of the day running last-minute errands, gathering supplies, and checking her lists, and by the time she had the salon to herself, she was ready to roll up her sleeves and tear into it. She'd already had the hairdressers empty their stations into boxes that were stored in the back of the storage room, but she decided to empty everything else that wasn't nailed down.

It was past seven by the time she had the place completely stripped. She was just putting some old posters into the extra Dumpster that Johnny had arranged to be delivered to the back door when she saw a familiar red pickup driving past. She waved with enthusiasm, hoping that Johnny would pause to say hi. To her delight, he parked in back and came inside. “I forgot to tell you that no one is cleaning tonight,” he said as she closed the door. “Seemed like a waste of effort since we're going to tear into it tomorrow.”

“Absolutely.” She kicked some pieces of a broken picture frame toward the door. “It's already starting to look like a demo site in here.” She led the way to the salon, pointing out to where she'd actually pulled up a piece of vinyl flooring. “I can't wait to see it all torn out.”

Johnny reached down and pulled off a piece too. “Looks like this will come up pretty easily. That's good.”

She checked him out more closely as he stood. “You look nice, Johnny. Big date tonight?”

He shrugged. “No, not really.”

“Well, it
is
Friday.” As she wiped her dirty hands on the front of her dirty jeans, she wondered what “not really” meant. Did he actually have a date, but didn't want her to know? “Some people are known to go out on Fridays.” She grabbed another corner of the flooring, giving it a firm jerk but only managing to peel off a few inches. She tossed it with the other pieces. “And I'm sure there are plenty of available women who'd jump at a chance to go out with a guy like you.” She made a cheesy grin. “Like
Zinnia Williams
for instance.” Okay, she instantly regretted the snarky tone in her voice, but it wasn't like she could take it back now.

Johnny looked slightly embarrassed, or maybe just uncomfortable, and she really wished she hadn't said that. She was obviously fishing for information about Johnny and Zinnia. So pathetic. Really, what was wrong with her?

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “It's really none of my business who you go out with, Johnny. My bad.”

He peered curiously at her. “You really dislike Zinnia, don't you?”

She shoved her hands into her pockets and pressed her lips together, trying to think of an honest answer. “Oh, I don't know that I'd go that far. To be honest I probably don't know Zinnia well enough to dislike her. And I really don't like the idea of disliking anyone. Although I'll admit that I disliked her when she worked for my mom. But to be fair, she was young. So was I. Fortunately, we've both changed.” She made a sheepish smile. “Maybe I'm the one who needs to change now, huh?”

“Maybe…”

For some reason that stung. It felt like he was looking right through her and not looking at what he saw. “Look, Johnny,” she began slowly. “I think of you as a good friend, okay? And I realize that you might be involved with Zinnia. And although that's absolutely none of my business, it does make me scratch my head. I mean, I don't want to say anything negative, but you seem too good for her.” She held up her hands. “There—I've said it. You can say I stuck my big size-eleven foot in my mouth if you want to, but that's the truth. That's how I feel. Nothing against Zinnia.”

“Nothing against Zinnia?” He tilted his head to one side like he doubted that.

She shrugged. “Okay, I suppose it sounds like something. Like I'm disparaging her for no good reason. And maybe I am.”

“How much do you really know about her?”

“
About
her?” Rita sank into one of the detested pink chairs. “I know that she could be pretty mean—but that was back then.”

“Did you know that her parents went through a really nasty divorce when she was eighteen? I think it was right before she went to work for your Mom. I think your mom was kind of like a second mother to her back then.”

Rita considered this. “I don't really remember much about Zinnia's family or a divorce.” She wanted to add that Marley's parents had divorced about then, too, but it hadn't turned Marley into a bully.

“What did Zinnia do to make you feel so antagonistic toward her?” He sat in the chair across from her.

“Antagonistic?” Rita frowned. Really, was that how he saw her?

“I know there must be some reason, Rita.”

“Yeah…there is. But seriously—you want me to tell you about stuff that happened so long ago?”

His brow creased. “Yeah. I'm curious.”

Feeling like she was treading on thin ice, Rita began carefully. “Well, Zinnia always had this superior attitude—at least she did toward me. And she had a pretty sharp tongue to go with it. It's ironic, because she's such a petite little thing, I'm sure I could've easily taken her out.” She laughed but not with real humor. “Not that I was into that sort of thing. But sometimes Zinnia and I would be the only ones here. Usually, I'd be sweeping up hair, doing laundry, cleaning the back room, folding towels…” She glanced at him. “You know?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I know.”

“Without my mom or anyone else around to see her, Zinnia would cut loose and really slice into me—with her mean words.”

“Do you think she was jealous?” he asked. “I mean, because of her parents' marital problems, I think she really looked up to your mom. Maybe she was envious of your being Donna's daughter.”

Rita considered this. “I guess that could be true. I never really thought of it like that before.” And she hadn't—but really, was that an excuse to tear into a person the way Zinnia used to do?

“But I can tell there's more to it,” Johnny said softly. “What happened?”

“It seems so juvenile now. I mean, it was so long ago.” Rita bit her lip. “But I was still in high school when I helped out here on evenings and weekends. I guess I was pretty insecure.” She forced a smile. “You know…being extra tall and stuff. And so when Zinnia would pick on me, like if I was clumsy—and I always felt extra clumsy when she was around. Anyway, it hurt. And then sometimes she'd blame me for things that weren't even my fault. And I wouldn't say anything…I'd just suck it up. And then, even if other people were around, she loved calling me names like Amazon woman and Bigfoot and stupid things like that.” Rita felt the old pang of hurt rising up inside of her as she tugged on a loose piece of chair piping, ripping it all the way off. “I know it sounds silly now, but to an insecure and overly tall and gawky teenage girl, it was pretty painful.”

He leaned forward with concern in his eyes. “Yeah, I can imagine it was. And I know how Zinnia likes to tease sometimes, but I had no idea she'd ever been such a bully.”

“Well, she was barely out of high school herself. And maybe you're right, maybe it had to do with her parents' divorce. Who knows? Anyway, it seems really lame to talk about this now.” Rita's face was flushed with emotion and she could feel tears in her eyes, but she was determined not to actually cry. How stupid would that be? “I mean, I realize Zinnia has grown up, Johnny. She's not like that anymore. But sometimes she'll say or do something—maybe even something a little thoughtless—and I probably take it out of context. I react like I'm still an insecure teenager.” She made a feeble smile as she stood up. “There, you know how immature I am now.” She went over to the sink area to wash the grime from her hands. Suddenly she just wanted to go home.

“I appreciate you opening up like that.” He came over behind her. “I can tell that it wasn't easy for you.”

“Well, who wants to whine about childish stuff that happened that long ago?” She tore off a paper towel, drying her hands. “And, really, I'm glad that Zinnia's doing so well. And I know I should give her a second chance. Especially since I know she's friends with Marley. And with you, too.” She sighed as she tossed the towel in the trash. “In fact, I think it was therapeutic telling you that, Johnny. I don't feel nearly so antagonistic toward her now. Thanks.” This time she gave him a sincere smile.

“Glad I could be of help.”

She led the way to the back room, turning off the salon lights as she went. “So if you were on your way to take Zinnia out, I hope you both have a wonderful evening. I really do.” She got her jacket out of the closet. “I've got to get home now. I didn't realize it was past seven thirty. I missed seeing Mom last night, and I promised not to be too late tonight. I know she's been blue. Dad's bringing home pizza, and we're going to try playing a board game with her afterward. It's a word game her therapist recommended.” Rita knew she was babbling as she grabbed her handbag, pulling out her keys. “It's supposed to help her with her speech skills. Hopefully it will work.”

“Give Donna my best,” Johnny said as she turned out the lights and opened the back door. “By the way, I told Mason and Drew to be here by nine tomorrow. Is that okay?”

“Perfect.” She nodded as she locked the door. “Just one more reason I need to hit the hay early tonight. Tomorrow's going to be a big day.”

“See you then.” Johnny waited for her to get in the car.

She waved then started the engine. She could feel what seemed like a phony smile plastered over her face as she backed out. And then, once she was driving through the parking lot, she felt the tears coming. She knew it was silly and wasn't even sure why she was crying like this. Was if from remembering Zinnia's bullying? Or from the disappointment she'd seen in Johnny's eyes? Or simply the possibility that those two were together tonight? Or maybe it was just plain tiredness. Whatever it was, she knew she couldn't help herself.