Page 4 of Captivating Anika

I call her out. “Bullshit. You’ve been showing up with mystery injuries for weeks now. Tripping over shoes, falling down stairs, running into a cupboard door, and now you want me to believe you fell in the shower?”

“I can’t help I’m clumsy,” she snips defensively.

“If you’re that clumsy, maybe you shouldn’t be wielding scissors all day.”

It flies from my mouth without thinking, and I instantly feel guilty when her face crumples and she bursts out in tears.

“Shit, I’m sorry, Kim. Come here.”

I fold her in a hug, feeling her stiffen when I squeeze a little too hard. When I see the front door open and Landon walk in, I quickly hustle Kim into my office and close the door.

That should be enough of a warning for the rest of the gang to give us a little privacy, since I rarely ever have that door shut.

I gently coax a weeping Kim to sit down in my desk chair, while I grab the rolling stool, I sometimes use to prop my feet up on, and sit down in front of her. I reach over my desk for the box of tissues and place it on her lap.

“Where else are you hurt, honey?” I inquire gently. “Should we get you to a doctor?”

“It’s just bruises.”

I’m letting that slide for now, focusing instead on getting her talking.

“What is happening, Kim?”

She slaps her hands over her face and shakes her head.

“I don’t know. My life is falling apart,” she wails.

That doesn’t tell me much, but twenty minutes later—when Monique knocks on my door to let me know my first customer is here—I have a pretty good idea.

I grab a key from my desk drawer and press it in Kim’s hand.

“Go upstairs, there should be bottled water in the fridge and I left my old couch there. Take as long as you need. We’ll cover your clients.”

She can slip out the rear door to the stairway up to the second-floor apartment to avoid curious eyes.

I check to make sure the coast is clear before ushering her to the back.

“I’ll check on you in a bit.”

It’ll give me a chance to process what she just shared.

Chris—the man she’d married straight out of high school—has gone off the rails. I only met him a few times over the years and he always struck me as a bit boring. Not someone I would’ve thought as abusive which, as it turns out, he is. According to Kim, it was limited to verbal abuse and only recently has become physical.

Work stress, Kim tried to explain. Chris is an air traffic controller. Six months ago, this was apparently compounded by yet another failed attempt to get pregnant, something I didn’t know they were trying. Fertility treatments had strapped them financially, and that had made Chris’s drinking worse.

Then three months ago he was discovered drinking at work when his impairment caused a near crash on the runway. He was fired on the spot and has been taking out his misery on Kim ever since.

She’s scared of him. Terrified of the consequences if she goes to the police, which I suggested she do immediately. She’s going to need a bit more convincing.

“Everything all right?” Monique mumbles when I walk into the salon.

“No. I can’t explain now, but if for whatever reason Chris Cooper shows up, you have no idea where Kim is.”

“Her husband?”

Monique’s eyebrows are up in her hairline.

“Yeah. Oh, and I’ll be tweaking the schedule today. Between us we’re going to have to absorb Kim’s clients. Brace yourself, it’s about to get busy.”

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