Hunting Sawyer

Too Cocky

Tessa was slammed that week. I found my rhythm and made it my own personal mission that she would only have to ask things once.

By my second week, I now knew how gauge how long her services took and how to tend to clients while they waited. When to step in and start cleaning around her or when it would annoy her. How to stare at patrons at checkout to make sure they tipped her well. I now had the shampoo art down to a science and she taught me a few techniques for facial upsells and how to apply a glaze color treatment. She let me hold her foils and color bowl so I could watch her technique. I felt like a sponge, soaking it all in.

Fast forward and I’d been hiding away at Tessa’s for almost a month now. Undisturbed, living in my own world. My belly had truly popped and I was able to feel my son’s movements on the regular at only 12 weeks along. I was starting to truly worry about him. I knew I was showing signs of a woman far more pregnant than I should be. But it was Blake’s son…I hadn’t been with another in years. So, I had to accept that I was literally just along for the ride.

I kept in contact with Joe, secretly. He would call Tessa’s landline to check in and ‘make an appointment’ that he would call back a few days later to cancel. It was the most I’d ever heard Joe talk….through those phone calls. And it made my heart swell to hear how much he cared. That he’d boxed up my worthless junk and stored it away. The supplies I had saved up for the baby so far, he had delivered to the salon through a mutual friend. The cronies still made an appearance every Friday, but only 2 or 3, and they would make a spectacle of looking for me. The regulars all believed the lie about me skipping town and proceeded to gossip about it for the next several weeks, creating lovely stories on where I’d made off to and why. They’d all witnessed the crazy that was Blake, so the content practically wrote itself. It helped organically fuel the fire for the cronies’ tracking. But there was still no sign of Blake.

Joe’s health was doing okay. He’d leveled out, but I still worried about how much time he had left. He was obsessive about the baby. Wanting to know what I needed, if I’d seen the doctor, if I had any weird cravings. But I’d been feeling completely normal other than looking like I was halfway through my pregnancy at three months. But damn I was tired. But my drive refused to let the exhaustion win.

Tessa quickly started giving me more responsibility around the salon. I started tracking the books and placing orders. She started teaching me how to cut and style and some of her braver clients let me test out what I’d learned. Tessa was happy with my work. She was proud of me. It was a feeling I wasn’t used to, but it meant the world.

But that’s where I got cocky. That’s where I got comfortable.

A month and a half into hiding away as Moxie at Tessa’s salon, I was trimming a young girl’s hair while Tessa was applying color to one of her regulars. I heard the door chime and I called out for them to have a seat and I’d be with them in a moment. I started wracking my brain- these should have been our last clients for the day. Then I saw his boots reflected in the floor length mirror.

One of Blake’s cronies. The blonde one with the scar on his face. He was here.

I shot Tessa a panicked look through my own mirror and she clenched her jaw. I finished the cut and signaled to my client that I had to grab something from the back. I willed my heart to stop. Tessa said these guys worked on scent.

I calmly walked to the back room and grabbed some product for the girl while I scanned the room. Tessa’s lunch was perched on the top of the trash can, and I shoved a piece of garlic clove in my mouth and grabbed a bottle of men’s cologne from the tray outside the restroom. I doused myself and switched my mother’s engagement ring that I wore on my right hand to my left ring finger. Then I calmly walked back into the salon to hear Tessa chirping at the henchman.

“We’re booked for the next two weeks. You can call and make an appointment, but we don’t take walk ins.” I could see the fire licking in her eyes and admired at how she was so impressive. Tessa was probably barely 5’4” but she stood like a sycamore. Solid and unmoving. The guy gave his best charming smile, noticing me as I walked over to my client and began explaining the product I’d brought out and how it would help with heat protection and frizz. I made sure not to make eye contact in the mirror, but I saw how his reflection watched my ass when I bent over and licked his chops like I was his next meal.

I decided to lean into my new name and show some moxie of my own. I turned over my shoulder and rolled my eyes at him. Placing one hand on my hip and the other on the back of my client’s chair.

“Got a problem, bud?” I barked with a little southern drawl in my tone. I felt Tessa smirk in my direction. “Because if you don’t have an appointment, I don’t think there is anything we can help you with here.”

“I’m sure there is something you could help me with, missy.” He tried to charm, and I held up my left hand signaling to the ring. My mother’s small diamond sparkling in the light. I flipped him off confidently before turning back to my client and continuing like he wasn’t hulking in the corner, caught between laughter and rage.

“We’re closing up. You can call tomorrow and book a time when we can dedicate our attention to your delicate masculine energy.” Tessa almost barked back.

“I was only coming to see if you’d heard anything about a missing female. But clearly you two are too caught up in your feminist narcissism to be helpful members of the community. f**k you both and your damn shop. I hope this business fails if this is how you treat people. Bitches. The both of you.” He stomped out and Tessa and I bit our lips, holding back the triumph.

“And f**k You Too! Asshole!” The little old lady in Tessa’s chair called out. My teenage client flipped two birds toward the door.

We all cackled, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I couldn’t wait to tell Joe that I kept hidden right under their noses.

Still, I was too cocky.