Rick took an audible breath. “Uh, I’m about to ask for a favor so huge, you should be prepared to tell me to fuck off ten times over.”
Considering what he’d just been thinking, Jimothy snorted. “Sounds serious.”
“It is. I went to see my father this morning. You know, like you told me I should?”
“Oh, blaming it on me, huh?”
“Well, you said I needed to find out what Alice had worked out with our father about the wedding. It turns out he hadn’t agreed to come to the wedding, but he also hadn’t totally refused. So, like you suggested, I went to ask him myself.”
“Brave man.”
“Yeah, actually. We did the usual, he threatened to fire me, all the regular crap. But I figured out that the reason he’s not coming to the wedding is because he feels out of place, like he’ll embarrass Alice if he shows up.” He sighed audibly.
“That can’t have been an easy thing to pry out of him.”
“It was more like I recognized it from myself. That’s pretty much how I felt until I met you and, well, learned a few things.”
Leia nuzzled the phone, and Jimothy brushed his cheek against her fur. “You haven’t learned anything from me that you couldn’t have gotten in any men’s department?”
“Sure I have. Somebody else could have fitted a suit on me, but you taught me that being dressed well isn’t putting on shitty airs. It lets you start on an even playing field with other people instead of ten steps back. I mean, it might be flattering when people like you in spite of your hair or your clothes or your table manners, but it’s more considerate of them if you don’t make them jump through those hoops. Being yourself doesn’t mean being a slob.”
“You learned that from me?”
“Yep.”
“Wow. I didn’t know I was that smart.”
“I haven’t told you my favor yet.” He sighed. “I told my father that I’d felt the same way about embarrassing Alice until you helped me. I suggested maybe you could help him.”
“Ha. Rick, your father would never take advice from me. Hell, from what you’ve told me, he’d rather beat me up and leave me in an alley.”
“Ouch. Look, I know it’s pretty unlikely, but he didn’t say no. He said I should ask you if you were free to help him and let him know. I totally get it if you don’t have time or don’t want to.”
What had he just been thinking about meeting the family? Holy hell, this sounded like a trial by fire. “Tell him I do have time.” He chewed his lip.
“Oh my God, thank you, Jimothy, I—”
He barged in. “And tell him that I’ll call him to set up a time to meet.”
“Wh—uh, you mean go alone?”
“Yes.”
“Holy shit, are you sure?”
“Entirely.”
Felicia stuck her head around the corner. “Your client’s here.”
Jimothy peeked and saw Alice standing at the front desk. “I’ve got to go. Your sister’s here.”
“Don’t tell her anything about my father, please. I don’t want to get her hopes up. My dad might even say he’s coming and then not show.”
“No problem.”
“Oh, and quote my dad a low price for your time, and I’ll make up the difference. He’s a cheapskate, but I’m definitely paying you for this. It goes way beyond friendship.”
“We’ll worry about it later.” He almost forced himself to hit end, but his mouth kept running. “Want to come over for dinner tonight?”
There was the slightest intake of breath before Rick said, “I’d love to. Shall I pick something up on the way?”
“Darling, when I invite you to dinner, it means I’m cooking. All that stainless steel isn’t for show.” He laughed. “Come on over at six. Gotta go.”
“Okay. Bye.” He sounded like he was smiling. Damned if Jimothy wasn’t too.
He walked to his station where Alice Ronconi was frowning into the mirror.
Jimothy waved a hand. “Oh come, it’s not that bad.”
She bounded from the chair and threw her arms around his neck. “Jimothy! The more I look at it, the worse it gets. Save me.”
Jimothy pulled out a pile of magazines he’d preselected. They flipped through pictures until he was laughing. She’d say she liked something that was long and luxurious and then go gaga over a pixie cut. Finally, he tossed the magazines on a side table.
She stared at him with wide fascinated eyes. “What did you learn?”
“That you care almost nothing about hair and have no idea what you want.”
Her finger went straight to her nose. “Bull’s-eye!” She spread her arms in a helpless gesture. “I really care how I look at my wedding, but not really how I look in general, if that makes any sense at all. I’d be happy if you just selected the style that would look best on me.”
“Done.”
He draped her, washed her hair, and then started cutting, based on his own vision.
She said, “So how long have you known Rick?”
He grinned. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe a week and a half.”
“You’re kidding? You seem like you’ve known each other forever.”
He shrugged. “It feels kind of like that. Funny. We never would’ve met at all if it hadn’t been for your wedding. I mean, how would Rick have ever met a guy like me otherwise?”
She sighed and nodded. “I wish he got to meet more people like you.”
“Oh?”
He must have looked perplexed because she said, “Interesting people with different ideas and experiences. Rick’s given up so much for me. If he hadn’t been looking out for me, he’d have gone to college himself and not be stuck working for my father.”
“But I understand he’s really good at his job.”
“I suppose.”
He smiled at her in the mirror. “It might be hard for a scientist like you to imagine someone being content building things.” He clipped up another row of hair. “I know it doesn’t seem like my business has anything in common with Rick’s, but truthfully, we really do such similar things. We work with our hands, get to solve problems creatively, and we run small businesses. Not very different at all.”
“Well there, you see? Only you’d see that.” She frowned. “I worry that Rick gets locked into one way of viewing things.”
“Your father’s way?”
She made a razzberry sound. “I don’t think there’s much danger of that happening. Ever since our mother died, it’s been me and Rick against the world.”
“Against your father?”
“I guess that’s the way it came out a lot of the time, sad to say.” She glanced at Jimothy’s face in the mirror. “Our father’s got some really narrow-minded ideas that, well, I think they’ve limited Rick’s view of the world.”
Jimothy nodded. He couldn’t much disagree with that idea. “Tell me all about the wedding.”
Asking a bride to describe her event was like turning on a faucet, and Jimothy barely had to say anything but ooh and ahh for the rest of the haircut.