9781618857569GettingitAllStorm by Troy Storm Read Free Book Online Page B

Christy Swanson, local loose lady, was going to get another look at
his sexy shorts.
    And
he was going to get another look at her without her thong.

 
     
     
    Chapter
Three
     
    At
the second chair of The Crowning Glory, Dorothy Ardmore’s cell phone rang.
    “Excuse
me, Brunnie .” She flicked off the hair dryer with her
thumb, the styling comb in her other hand hovering over her elder client’s
stylish poof of feathery white hair. “That might be Sarabeth .
She’s usually early for her appointment. I hope there’s no problem.”
    Brunhilda Mendle smiled sweetly at the reflection of her
ancient self in the mirror of the hair salon and gave an understanding wave of
her hand. “No problem, Dotty dear. Take your time. I’ll just sit here and try
to figure out how you can work the same magic on my face that you do on my hair
with those talented hands.”
    “Aren’t
you sweet. ” Dorothy put her grooming implements down
and reached for the small instrument, silencing Keith Urban mid-lyric. “Hel-lo- oo ,” she trilled, walking away from her station.
    “Oh,
Dot, she did it! She won! Already! I can’t believe it.” It was Lucy. Wailing away. “All I got was a kiss, well, I don’t mean
that. A kiss from him, I mean, I’ll probably remember it all my life, but I was
hoping for maybe just a little more. A real date, maybe. At
least.”
    Dorothy
sat down in the nearest empty shampoo chair. Amelia looked over from across the
salon from the first chair where she was clipping a young brunette’s bangs.
    “You
okay? You look…did somebody die?”
    “What?”
At least she could still breathe and make sounds. “No, I’m fine. It’s Lucy. You
know how…you know Lucy.”
    “Sweet
thing,” Brunnie Mendle offered to the mirror, pushing a wayward snow-white strand back into place, “to
be so efficient in the office and such a social misfit out. You are much too
forgiving to your young friend, Dorothy. You should shake her up a bit.”
    “I
think, Brunnie , that’s what just happened. She got
shook up. I’ll take this outside, okay? Be right back.” She headed for the back
entrance of the shop.
    Amelia
cocked her head as Dorothy passed. “It’s the Matt thing, isn’t it? Poor girl is
in way over her head.”
    “Matt thing?” Brunnie’s elegant if elderly hand swept up to cup her
ear nearest Amelia. “Matthew Bartholomew? Has someone finally shaken his tree
hard enough to get some real action out of that man? I want to know all,
Dotty!” she called as Dorothy bolted through the back door, passing her next
client who was just arriving from the parking lot.
    “I’ll
be right back, Sarabeth . I’m almost finished with Brunnie . You need a wash? Angie can take you right now.”
She rushed into the back parking area, looking for the nearest car to lean
against, maybe a little shade. Someplace to sit. She
was suddenly feeling a very strong need to get off her feet.
    “I’m
sorry about calling you at work,” Lucy whined into her ear. “I was going to
wait ‘til tonight, and I tried, but Carmen was being so nice today that—”
    “Carmen?
Lucy, you never call Carmen, Carmen.” Anything to prolong re-hearing what she
knew she was going to have to face.
    “I
know. He asked me to. At least, when there are no clients around. I don’t know
how I feel about it, though. I mean, he is my boss and everything and we’ve had
a really good working relationship, with me thinking of him as Mr. Anders
instead of, you know, Carmen.”
    Dorothy
found an abandoned plastic milk crate between two giant SUVs. She flipped it on
its end and sat in the shade of the behemoths.
    “Lucy,
let’s go back to why you called.” It was surprising how calm her voice was.
Dry. Almost normal.
    “Oh,
right.” Lucy took a deep breath and released it. “It’s really my fault. The
news, I mean. That Christy, she wanted us to get together so she could gloat—”
    “‘That’ Christy, Lucy? Thank God, there’s only one. What if