“I plan on being around for your wedding, and I definitely don’t want any weirdness to occur between him and me that would leach into that.”

“So, sweaty sex was definitely on your mind, though.” Ava grinned at me.

“Well, just look at him.”

“You’ve been around a lot of sexy men with Jared and all those fashion gurus in New York. I’m sure Mac’s like, what, a seven or eight, out of all those men?”

We both stared out at the guys on the patio. They looked in and caught us staring. Eli smiled at Ava. Mac just stared period.

“I’d say he’s pretty close to a ten.”

“Really?” Ava sounded surprised. “I feel like Eli is a twenty, and there’s nothing to compare to that.”

“That’s only because you can’t be objective with all that love potion flowing through you.”

“Okay, what would you rate, Eli?”

“An eight or a nine.”

“That was fast. You’ve thought of my soon-to-be husband in this regard before, I see.” She wasn’t mad at all. She continued, “But I don’t agree.”

“I know. Again. Not objective.”

“But you really think that Mac is a higher rating than Eli?”

“Taller. More muscles. He’s got the eye thing going for him.”

“Eye thing?”

“Those blue eyes that I bet look even bluer depending on what he wears. And you know me, I’m a sucker for beautiful eye colors.” I smiled at her, and she pushed my arm.

“I like your green ones today,” Ava said. The timer let out a shrill noise, and she jumped up to stir the rice that smelled like heaven to me. Chorizo and onions and a scent I wasn’t sure I could name. Ava said it was a secret recipe that Lacey from the bar had given her. I understood. I had a few of my grandma’s recipes that weren’t going to leave our family…or me…anytime soon.

The air conditioner kicked in, pushing my hair into my lip gloss. I pulled the dark strands away from my face. Leaving the salon behind me, I’d decided to just let my hair go back to its normal color and stopped attempting to hide the white streak I’d had since I was little. It would be too much work to keep it up without the salon. And, truth be told, I was more than a little tired of doing hair—mine or anyone else’s. It had never been my dream. It had been a necessity.

Letting my hair go au naturel was one thing; my eyes were another. My contact addiction wasn’t going anywhere. For me, it was like putting on the right jewelry with an outfit. I just didn’t feel quite ready until I had the right colored lenses in. I had almost every color they made—and some they didn’t—thanks to my friends in the fashion world. Like the black ones I rarely wore, and the ones that were almost black but were really a dark, dark blue. The bright green ones I’d put in today were one of my favorites. They were close to my real color but with an extra oomph to them.

I helped Ava bring the food out to the patio, and we placed the bug nets over it all. Even though it was hot and muggy, it still felt good to be out in the summer sunshine with the smell of sea grasses and the sound of the ocean pounding near us. It wasn’t the first time I’d vacationed with Ava and Eli since she had graduated and come back to Texas, but it was the first time I’d vacationed without a desperate need to get back to New York and the salon.

As we ate out on the deck, the margaritas kept the banter easy and the mood light. Friends catching up after time apart. It was so different from the meals with my friends in the city. The beauticians who had worked for me, and Jared and my fashion friends, had always hung out at high-profile restaurants and bars where the atmosphere was as close to a high pitch as you could get—as if, one more notch higher, and you’d have to duck your head, shielding your ears. I’d loved it: the pace, the noise, the friendships. But I was also ready for a new pace. A new feel.

After dinner, Ava had to head downtown to the bar she owned. I’d been going with her almost every night since I’d been there, but tonight, I just needed quiet instead of chaos, so I declined. Eli and Mac went with her, and I had the house and the beach to myself.

I brought a blanket, a book, and the last of the margaritas down to the edge of Ava’s property where she and Eli had built a firepit in the middle of an octagon-shaped wooden deck that hosted a smattering of Adirondack chairs and lounges. The deck was right at the end of the crushed-shell path, tucked in the sea grass just before it broke into the sand. It was a bit of paradise in Texas.

I read until the stars started to sprinkle the sky like fairy lights being turned on, and then I just sat, staring at the expanse. You never got to see the sky like this in the city. I missed it, and yet, I didn’t. Just like I missed my friends in New York, and I didn’t. The price to keep the salon and that life would have been too high. Not only the price of the new lease the landlord wanted me to sign, but the price of my own dreams that I had this one last chance to make come true.

As if reading my mood from a continent away, my half-sister, Raisa, texted me.

RAISA: Are you at the beach yet?

ME: I’ve been here for two days.

RAISA: What happened to going to D.C. to check out an apartment?

ME: I just stayed the one night. The place I got is almost too good to be true.

I hadn’t planned on flying to D.C. before coming to Texas, but I’d discovered an ad for a loft in an apartment with two other people that I hadn’t wanted to pass up. It was close enough to campus that I could walk, and it wasn’t going to break the bank.