Chapter Two

Chapter Two

J

essica groaned as she shifted against her bed. She heard her phone ringing out, and it forced her to pull one of her eyes open. What the hell was that sound? She had no idea what it was. She rolled over onto her back and let her hand fall on her phone before pulling it in front of her face.

“My alarm?” she asked.

She squinted as she took in the time. Five thirty. It was five thirty in the morning. Then why did she feel as if she hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep? She turned her alarm off and tried to force herself upright. This was odd for her. Jessica had always been a morning person. Even though she had her alarm set for five-thirty, she hadn’t actually heard it go off in years. Her alarm was always set for five-thirty, but every morning like clockwork, she bolted upright at five twenty-five—just early enough to turn her alarm off before getting her day started.

But that morning, she felt as if an eighteen-wheeler had leveled her.

I never should have had that wine.

Of course, Charity would find a way to screw her over somehow. She respected the woman for sticking to her guns, but she understood ruthless business tactics. Charity had tried to throw her off somehow. She had used many of those same tactics on rival store owners for years. Outbidding them for products by distracting them during the bidding process. Catching them at inopportune business moments and catching them off guard just enough to get them to agree to things that favored Jessica. She had become a professional at the psychological game of business ownership.

It seemed as if Charity had a few tricks of her own as well.

Jessica stumbled into her bathroom, trying desperately to wake herself up. She stood at her sink and leaned over, brushing her teeth three separate times. Once with a basic paste, once with activated charcoal to help whiten, and once with an enamel protector. She washed her face before running a toner over it and finishing it off with a moisturizer. A nice combination of three. Then, she made her way into the kitchen.

Three shots of espresso later, she finally felt as if she was waking up. She opened her refrigerator and pulled out three eggs, then made herself three slices of toast. She cooked it up and filled her stomach, then started back into her room. She put her thick raven locks up in curlers to give her hair some oomph, then she started the painstaking routine of picking out her outfit.

After choosing a nice pair of black pants and a gray blouse she tucked in, she slipped into her shiny black boots. She painted navy blue eyeliner around her wide-set blue eyes, trying to make them look as if she wasn’t a deformed owl in the process. She filled in her sharp eyebrows, making them appear perfect before contouring the slope of her cheeks.

A nice set of three makeup tactics that made her seem more put together than she felt.

Even though she didn’t have to be at the salon until nine, she always arrived by eight thirty. She needed to be early, in case something happened with opening up. Or in case she ran into traffic. Or some sort of accident. Never in the past eight years had she been late for a single day of work. Perfection was what she had to strive for since she was a self-taught stylist. Those with formal degrees, when she was first starting out, always held a larger torch to her. People passed her by simply because she didn’t have formal training. But that didn’t stop her.

Nothing ever did.

She chiseled out a routine she stuck to. A routine those in the community came to favor and memorize, whether they wanted to or not. And after almost two years of struggling to get clients, people finally started taking a chance on her. A chance on her techniques. A chance on the all-natural products she stocked her shelves with instead of the lab-formulated bullshit people always put in their hair nowadays.

And now, she had her own personal empire of beauty to take care of.

Jessica stepped out of her car and made her way up to the front door of her salon. It was a little before eight thirty in the morning, and Jessica finally felt awake enough to run her day. She saw a customer standing at the front door. Waiting for her like they did on so many occasions. She kept her grin as she brandished the keys to her store, then ran her eyes along the woman with the curlers still stuck in her hair.

Jessica smiled. “Good morning, Miss Kist. How can I help you?”

“Do you have time to fit me in for a quick blowout? I took out a couple of these curlers, and it is just not working for me today.”

“Any special reason why you’re panicking in front of my salon?”

The woman sighed. “I’m meeting my boyfriend’s parents for the first time today. I don’t want them to think I’m a ratty old woman.”

“Let me guess—he’s younger than you.”

Miss Kist nodded quickly. “By about fifteen years.”

Jessica grinned. “Well, I’m sure I can find a time to get you ready for your cougar-like afternoon, but my shop isn’t open yet. You’ll have to wait until nine o’clock.”

“But—”

“Nine, Miss Kist. I don’t make any exceptions, and I don’t plan on starting now. You can stand out here and wait until the shop opens.”

Miss Kist sighed. “I can’t even come in and sit down?”

“No. You can’t.”

Jessica slipped into her salon, leaving the poor woman standing outside. She walked up to the front desk and started turning everything on, listening as the technology she used booted up. The register came alive, and the iPad everyone used to pay with cards and sign for their receipts blinked on and off, collecting itself like Jessica had to that morning. She turned on all the lights of her salon as she made her way into the back. She headed straight for her locker and stuffed her purse and her coat away before slapping a padlock on it. The key to it was on her key ring, which she kept in her pocket at all times.

She trusted no one. Not even the people she had employed for years. The only person she trusted was Sarah.

And even then, there were times when she questioned Sarah’s integrity.

“Why is Miss Kist standing outside?”

Jessica sighed. “She needs a quick blowout this morning, Sarah. Something about meeting her boyfriend’s family or something.”

Sarah sipped on her coffee. “That didn’t answer my question.”

Jessica looked at the clock on the wall. “The salon isn’t open yet, Sarah. We have...eleven minutes.”

“She could have at least come and sat down in one of our chairs. It looks like it’s going to be storming today.”

“She’s got a car. She can go it in it. It’s not like her hair’s going to get ruined. I’m going to be fixing it up anyway.”

Sarah sighed. “Sounds like you woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”

Jessica made her way to her station. “I haven’t ever taken earlier appointments, and I don’t intend on starting now. I don’t have any morning appointments, so I can take her in…nine minutes.”

“You really are a coldhearted bitch sometimes. You know that?”

Jessica smiled. “You'll give her a coupon or something and it’ll all be fine.”

“I’m not your customer relations representative to clean up your messes. I’m the customer relations representative because you need one.”

“Because I need someone to clean up my messes.”

Sarah sat her coffee down. “

You’re

a mess.”

Jessica chuckled. “Good morning to you too.”

“You sure you’re okay? You seem a little chaotic this morning.”

“I’m never chaotic. I do everything with a purpose. You know this.”

Sarah shrugged. “I don’t know. You just seem off. Did you have enough coffee this morning?”

“Had my three shots, like I always do.”

Sarah nodded. “Well, have another cup of coffee. Or three. I’d hate to see you mess up Miss Kist more than she already has been by your assault today.”

“I simply told her the salon wasn’t open yet.”

“And I know you well enough to know there’s nothing ‘simple’ about you telling anyone anything.”

Jessica drew in a breath through her nose and looked around. Seven minutes until she opened, and every morning she made it a point to look around. To take in the buttery black leather of her comfortable salon seats and the sleek chrome fixtures that lined the walls. She took in how pristine the mirrors were that sat in front of each of the chairs and let her eyes wander along the black, gray, and silver marble floors at their feet. Her black metallic shelving that lined the walls and sat against the front of the salon held sharp edges. It really gave a sophisticated look to the entire place.

Jessica felt pride swell in her chest before she nodded. “Ready to open?”

Sarah walked to the door. “Time to let poor Miss Kist in.”

Jessica swiveled her chair around to greet the woman coming through the door, but she watched her best friend lead Miss Kist over to another chair. Jessica quirked an eyebrow before Sarah turned around, then pointed to the small kitchenette at the back of the salon. Sarah mouthed the words “Coffee. Now.” Jessica rolled her eyes. She didn’t need another cup of coffee. She needed to tend to her business.

Then Sarah plastered a smile onto her face, turning her back to Jessica. “Well hello there, Miss Kist. What brings you in today?”

Another shot of espresso, it is. Or three.