Fresh Ice by Rachelle Vaughn Read Free Book Online Page A

You were the best in your class. Send Maeve out of this salon looking and feeling fabulous.
    S arah sectioned Maeve’s hair and picked up her scissors. When she started cutting, her natural instincts took over until she didn’t even have to think about each snip.
    They engaged in small talk but Sarah could see Maeve’s eyes never left Sarah’s hands in the mirror.
    Sarah finished the cut, blew Maeve’s hair dry and ran a flat iron through to add extra smoothness.
    “Okay, you’re all finished,” Sarah announced. She spun Maeve’s chair around so she was facing the mirror again. “What do you think?”
    Maeve blinked a few times then reached up to touch the ends of her newly cut hair. “Peach usually dries it so it ’s wavy with my natural curl.”
    Sarah swallowed and bit down on her tongue to keep from apologizing. “Well, I thought I’d style it straight so you could see your different options with this cut.”
    Maeve turned her head from side to side and finally a smile slowly spread across her face. “I think I like it Sarah. It’s so…different. It’s taking me a minute to get used to it, but I think I really like it.”
    Sarah let out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding.
    Peach hurried over to inspect the cut and her jaw dropped. “Look at you, Sissy, with your straight and sassy hair!” She patted Maeve’s shoulders and smiled at her sister’s reflection in the mirror.
    Somehow Sarah had made Maeve look softer and younger and the woman positively glowed.
    Peach ran a comb through Maeve’s hair and checked to make sure it was cut evenly. “It’s perfect, Sarah. I hate to admit it, but I couldn’t have done better myself.”
    “I really do like it! ” Maeve exclaimed after a thorough examination in the mirror. “I’m going to have to get Frank to take me out to dinner tonight, I feel so good!”
    Sarah beamed as Maeve’s praise boosted her self-esteem through the roof.
    “ Whoohoo!” Destiny hollered from the next station over. “Maeve’s going out on the town with her new hair!”
    Maeve turned to Peach. “Put me down on the calendar for six weeks from now. Sorry, Peachy, but I don’t want anyone touching this head but Sarah!”
    Peach smiled. “We can certainly arrange that.”
    After Maeve left, Peach put her hand on Sarah’s shoulder. “You’re a natural, Sarah. You’ve got an eye for style and a talent for cutting hair.”
    “Thank you, Peach. Thank you so very much.”
     
    Throughout the rest of the day, Sarah kept so busy she barely had a minute to catch her breath. She learned how to book appointments on the computer and about all of the different products the salon sold. When she wasn’t taking walk-ins, she swept and kept the laundry going so they wouldn’t run out of clean towels.
    She was good at finding things that needed to be done before Peach even had to tell her about them. It was like Sarah was afraid that if she didn’t keep moving, she might wake up from this wonderful dream.
    At the end of her shift, Sarah was exhausted in the very best way. She’d swept and shampooed and cut and blow-dried and answered the phone. She’d listened and chatted and heard hours upon hours of gossip. Phew, those ladies could talk the stripes off a zebra for goodness sake!
    When it was time to go home, Sarah went to the break room to get a glass of water before she headed to the motel. Man, was she parched.
    She eyed the plate of Abigail’s muffins on the counter. The idea of eating a homemade muffin for dinner instead of instant noodles and stale crackers appealed immensely to her growling stomach. Destiny’s words of warning echoed in her head but how bad could a muffin really taste?
    S arah wrapped a muffin in a paper towel and was tucking it carefully into her purse when the break room door swung open. Sarah jumped and her hands froze around the muffin.
    “My, you ’re a jumpy one, aren’t cha?” Peach said with a chuckle.
    Sarah swallowed to ease her