Page 142 of The Dominator

I look forward to it. G2G get ready now. Love you. <3!

Tommy: Be safe, baby girl. XO. Love you too.

Tessa wrote back for me to be ready at 11:00. I asked her if they could do a trim and some waxing, too, and she wrote back it was her friend who owned the salon so she was sure it’d be no problem. It was now 10:15, so I zipped downstairs and made a coffee. I spooned my 3 sugars in knowing Sarah wasn’t here to judge and then went upstairs to get a shower. I was excited about getting out of the house.

The phone blooped with another text and it was another number.

It’s Nino. I’m outside and will text you when Tessa gets here so you can meet us at the car.

I saved his contact info and sent him a reply.

Okay, thanks.

* * *

Tessa was excited to get out, too, and told me she hadn’t had a day without her boys in a few weeks. She said she was going to get all gussied up tonight for a dinner date with James. He had to work tonight at our house, but they’d go to dinner and hopefully have a quickie before he had to leave for work.

Sarah was at her house today with the boys. She said she and Sarah were in talks about her sharing the load between her place and Luc’s place since Tommy didn’t want a live-in any longer. She seemed happy about it, as Sarah had been like family to them and was great with the kids.

We pulled up to the salon and Nino followed us in. Tessa had linked arms with me and told me Tommy insisted Nino drive because I was cargo that was too precious to be subjected to her crazy driving. Aw! (He was right. Nino called her Tessa Andretti, teasingly.)

I was glad she didn’t joke about it having anything to do with me taking off. We laughed and then as we stepped inside, Nino grabbed and then was kissing a girl behind the counter. She was tall, brunette, beautiful.

Holy crap, this was my cousin. She and I had the same hair. And I could see my mother in her eyes. It was faint, but it was definitely there.

“Tia, this is Bianca. This is her shop.”

I was dumbfounded.

She gave me a knowing smile. I could tell she knew who I was. She reached out and pulled me into a tight hug.

“Nice to meet you,” I said softly, almost numbly.

“C’mon girls, let’s go have a cappuccino and a natter and then I’ll make you both even more beautiful.”

* * *

Bianca was awesome. She was smart, together, fashionable and it was obvious that she was like a big sister to Tessa. They’d grown up together on the same street. Bianca and Nino had a six-year-old son. She told me she was an only child and had no other cousins on her dad’s side of the family, but lots on her mom’s side. We had no living grandparents on our side, either. But I had her and that was at least someone. I liked her a lot.

We didn’t talk about anything heavy, like her deceased father or my deceased mother, but she told me about our Nonna, who’d died about a year before my mother died. She said she was an old battleax who was super-strict. Bianca said she remembered my mother from when she was small, but that she hadn’t seen her since she was about eight or nine years old and that her name wasn’t mentioned much because of some family fall-out that no one wanted to discuss.

Her salon was cute. It was small, only had three stylist chairs and she was working alone today, only had one part time employee, said she was just getting started but was doing okay. She was skilled, gave my hair a trim, adding some long layers, then did my nails, and we talked about waxing.

“So, I didn’t know we were related when I decided to ask for a Brazilian,” I said, blushing with embarrassment.

She laughed. “I’m a professional, I can handle it. But have you had a Brazilian before?”

I shook my head. “No, I usually just, err, shave. All of, um… it.”

“It’s gonna hurt,” Tessa said with a wince.

“And you shouldn’t have sex till tomorrow if you do,” Bianca added.

Tessa laughed and made a gag motion with her finger in her mouth.

“Oh, I don’t know if I should, then. Tommy’s got a very, uh, voracious, appetite.”

“I can’t hear this.” Tessa raised her hands with her still wet nails and left the back room we had gone into.

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