I run my fingers through my hair, pulling it back off my face. I feel like I’m being sidelined from the action, but also that he is protecting me from something.
“What exactly are we doing to the salon?”
“Whatever she wants, just do it. She wants the upstairs space too and I have made arrangements. It’s empty, but a mess. You will need to gut it down to the shell and start over.” He moves to sit down. “Use some of the guys we had helping at the old warehouse, they’ve all been after work. Rat, just make my wife happy, because nothing I do does.”
He shakes his head and cradles it in his hands. He looks old.
He’s not that much older than I am, but the responsibility of being the next in line to this family has aged him. Growing up, he always battled with right and wrong. Rain likes right and this entire business is built on foundations of wrong. We were close once, before we had to be men and do what our fathers said.
“Things a little harder than you thought? I don’t understand why now, Rain? Just let her go again, this looks like it’s killing you.”
“She doesn’t want to go.”
He looks up at me like that’s the worst thing ever. I thought she’d run for the hills, kicking and screaming, putting up a fight, but I don’t pretend to understand women.
“Isn’t that a good thing? I mean, that she wants to be with you?” I am so confused.
“I think she’s just staying because she’s afraid of me.”
He might have a point, he is a scary fucker.
“Okay, well, when do you want me to start this thing?” I certainly don’t want to be here if my father will be in and out.
“Go see her today, set it up with her, Rat, whatever she wants to do. Just keep me updated over the phone.”
“Thanks, Rain.”
“It’s a chance to show me you can be in charge, Salvi. My Papa, his days are numbered, and I plan to change a lot of things, I want you to know I see you.”
His support makes me smile. The older men in this family don’t see me, I’m just Rat to them. My other cousins have always been favored over me.
“Don’t fuck it up, please,” he says it with a smile, but I know it’s as much a threat as a joke.
This part of town was the place to be in its heyday about fifty years ago, but now it’s aging and falling apart, attracting the wrong sort of inhabitants as the old people die off and the youth move to the flashing lights of the city in the distance.
The salon’s neon lights burn even during the day. I’ve been here a few times to collect or drop money off with Gina, and I know the place is like a time capsule from years gone by. The old ladies that live in the area still come to get their hair set every week, and a few hipsters moving in frequent the place occasionally. Some people will come here because it’s cheaper than a big salon in the city.
I drive around to park in the back, but my wheels come to a swift halt when I see my father’s car parked there. What is he doing here? Maybe a money drop? I reverse out and look for a spot down the street.
When I see him pull out and leave, my heart stops racing and I jump out of my car and walk up to the glass store front of Cut & Blow – what a god-awful name.
An electronic bell chimes when I pull the door open, and a good looking guy in a lilac shirt greets me with a smile, from behind a counter covered in marble wallpaper straight out of 1982.
“Hi, welcome. Do you have an appointment? Can I help you?”
No, I don’t and probably not. I don’t say it out loud. He’s so friendly that it’s creepy.
“Rainieri sent me to see his wife about the renovations.” He looks at me, one eyebrow raised. “I’m here to see the boss lady,” I clarify for him.
“Oh, Ailee. I’ll get her for you. You can take a seat.”
He points to a plastic-covered, faded pink couch, with a table of old magazines beside it.
I amble around the small waiting area looking at the beauty products on a glass shelf. Hair gels and sprays, some as old as the building itself. Folding my arms, I glance around and wonder what she wants to do with the place.
Bulldoze; it seems the only real option in my mind.
“She’s in the office at the back, you can go in.” Reception guy returns and points to where Gina’s office was.
I walk down the aisle of stylists and mirrors, hair dryers and clippers buzzing as I pass them, the snip of scissors, accompanied by the smell of hair products.
Knocking on the glass door, I see that the office glows with yellow light from an old fitting. I push the door open, and notice it still smells of stale smoke.
“Hi, Rain sent me to see you about the renovations,” I greet cautiously, as I step in and shut the door behind me.
She’s pretty, and young.
Very young.
Six
Butterscotch Blonde
CHELSEY
Sal was pissed the last time I saw him. I went home to see what holy water my mother had drunk to be there, sober and cooking, but by the time I got there she was three sheets to the wind. Shaine had luckily saved the food, so I went to Sal’s house and parked in the street as he instructed.
The night was a disaster. He was in a foul mood and took it out on me. He wasn’t in the mood for our playful games of run and hide. No, he had other ideas, ideas I wasn’t excited about at all. I woke after three in the morning, aching and ill, so I snuck out, did the walk of shame to my car, and went home.
In a little ball on my bed I cried, then got dressed and went to work. Sal came to see me at the salon. He apologized and said he’d had a bad day. He said his nephew had a fight with him about me, and we should just lay low for a few days. His wife was coming home early as well.
He’s not called me since. No texts, only a check deposited into my account to cover my rent, with ‘sorry’ as the reference.
It’s Saturday. I know I won’t see him tomorrow because of their family stuff, and I doubt he will come to the club. The only time I ever saw him at the club was the night we met. I am almost certain he was there on the prowl for bunnies, and I just happened to be the one he caught.
Tonight I don’t want to party. I feel like crap and I’m exhausted, but Ailee has a free pass because her husband is going to be there too and I want to catch up with her a little.
At some point I am going to have to tell her what’s going on in my life. At some point I’m going to have to admit just how much shit I am in.
The building crew has started work upstairs, so the bang and clang and incessant jackhammering all day adds to my already aching head and fatigue.
We all pile into the staffroom to get changed as soon as the last customer has been booted out the front door. Everyone is buzzing and excited for the week to officially end, except me. Something is off. Sal ignoring me isn’t helping either.
I guess his wife came home pissed off and needy. Or, he’s busy with work. He doesn’t usually shut me out like this though. Checking my phone before I change, there is still no text from him, so I slip out of my work jeans and into a miniskirt.
Fuck him.
I am the slowest one tonight, but I don’t mind. I’m going in my own car. I love having my own car. In the past I would crash at Ailee’s apartment on Saturday nights and we’d go to the diner and eat shit, greasy hangover food in the morning, but now she’s married and I’m all alone.