Page 46 of Before This Ends (Before)

“Fine.” She pouts, and I try—reallytry—not to smile, but she is cute when she’s mad.

With not a lot of time to spare, I comb her long hair out and quickly trim her ends and her bangs, then blow-dry it. As I start to curl it, hoping that it will cheer her up, Miranda comes back from her break with two coffees in hand.

“If I knew you were going to be here, I would’ve brought you one,” she tells Miles, accepting a kiss on her cheek from him before depositing a large iced coffee on my station.

“Win wanted to see Em, and she needed a haircut,” he informs her.

“It looks great.” She smiles at Winter through the mirror.

“I wanted it shorter.” She pouts.

“Oh.” Miranda glances between Miles and me, and I shake my head in a silent “don’t go there.” “Are you excited to hang out with Kingston tonight?” she changes the subject.

“Yes.” Her mood instantly lightens, and the first smile I’ve seen since she expressed how upset she is about not being able to cut her hair lights up her face.

“I think we’re going to make homemade pizza and watchInside Out.”

“Can I have pineapple and ham on mine?”

“Of course.” Miranda smiles at her, then looks to the door when it dings. I do the same and see it’s my last client of the day. While Sammy gets her settled on the couch at the front with a bottle of water I finish up with Winter’s hair and quietly talk with Miranda and Miles. When I’m done, I remove her cape and lean over the back of my chair, wrapping my arms around her in a hug from behind.

“What do you think?”

“I like it.”

“Do you?”

“Yes.” Her smile is small, so I know it’s a lie. I also know it’s not personal, she probably had it in her head that she’d be leaving with the cut she actually wanted and not the one she was given.

“Good,” I say quietly, kissing her cheek before turning the chair toward me and helping her down.

“How much do I owe you?” Miles asks while Winter goes over to talk to Miranda.

“Nothing.”

“Em—”

“Am I meeting you at the restaurant or at your place?” I cut him off.

“I’m picking you up.”

“I can meet you.”

“You could, but I’m picking you up. Our reservation is for six. Does that give you enough time?”

“Plenty. I only have one more client today. I should only be here for another couple of hours.”

“Good,” he says softly, reaching out and smoothing his fingers down my wrist, the simple contact sending a tingle up my arm and across my scalp. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“See you tonight.” My stomach drops when he leans in and softly touches his lips to the corner of mine—definitely not the platonic cheek-kiss he gave Miranda earlier. “Ready, kid?” he asks Winter.

“Yeah.” She gives Miranda a hug, then comes over to hug me before taking her dad’s hand.

“Sammy, do not let him give you any money!” I shout as they start toward the front desk.

“You got it!” she shouts back, and Miles shoots me a look over his shoulder that is so filled with annoyance it’s cute. When I grin at him, he shakes his head, and I can hear his sigh of frustration from across the salon.

“So, Winter wanted to see you?” Miranda asks when they leave through the door of the salon. I look over at my best friend as she takes a seat in her chair giving me a wide eye look while taking a sip of her coffee.

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