Page 78 of Always Been You

"Well, I definitely wouldn't mind feeling like a new woman, but sadly I don't have a breakup to attribute it to. I would’ve actually had to be in a relationship for that to be the catalyst."

"When was the last time you were dating someone? Seriously dating them, I mean."

Brynn's eyes shifted to the left as she pondered. "I guess it would be about five years ago...yeah, it was. I remember because it was Ryder’s eighth birthday and Tim had promised to take him and his friends to the water park but he bailed to go to a music festival."

"Tim Wilburn?" Jess hadn't even remembered the two of them dating.

"Yeah."

"Asshole." Jess never really liked the guy. There's a fine line between confident and cocky, and Tim always seemed to cross that line.

"He wasn't, not really. He was just flakey and not ready to take on the responsibility of dating someone that’s a package deal entails."

"You're much more forgiving than I am." Ethan's face popped up in Jess's mind. It had a tendency to do that, oh about, every other second of every minute of every day.

They hadn't spoken since their fight four weeks ago. She'd almost picked up the phone to call several times, but her pride had stopped her. Maybe one day she'd be able to talk to him and see him and it wouldn't feel like someone was stomping on her heart with irrigation shoes, but that day hadn't come yet.

Brynn ran her fingers through her long strawberry-blonde hair. "I was thinking more along the lines of a color change-"

"No." Jess interrupted. "Do you know how many people pay big bucks to have your hair color? I took an oath to uphold the laws of natural beauty, and I, by the powers vested in me, by the state of Illinois, can't, in good conscious, break that oath by dying your hair."

"An oath to uphold the laws of natural beauty?" Brynn repeated. "The powers vested in you by the state of Illinois?"

"Yes." Jess nodded.

Brynn chuckled. "Okay. What about the breakup cut? How short would you go?"

Jess explained what length she would recommend for Brynn's sweetheart face shape and she listened intently and watched as Jess mocked the style she was thinking of by lifting the ends to show where they'd fall around her face.

When she finished explaining it, Brynn considered the change in hairstyle for a moment, then took a deep breath. "Okay, do it."

"Are you sure?" Jess had seen this happen before. Women came in with a gung-ho attitude for a change and then once she gave it to them, they immediately had buyer's remorse. Jess never remembered Brynn having her hair any shorter than mid-back. This cut would have it falling to her shoulders. "We can do something less drastic. We can do layers."

"No. I want drastic. I need drastic."

"Is everything okay? Things have been so busy I feel like we haven't really seen each other."

Things hadn't been that busy for Jess. Actually she'd been hiding out and licking her wounds. She went to work and then back home again and had been avoiding her friends. But she was going to be forced out of her self-imposed hibernation in two days for Ali’s wedding.

"Just family drama."

"Is it Max?"

Jess didn't really know Brynn's ex-husband all that well. They'd been high school sweethearts, she'd gotten pregnant at sixteen and they got married. The marriage hadn't lasted due to Max's dating life not slowing down, and she was divorced by the time she was old enough to vote. Her ex had moved to Chicago shortly after that and only came back to town sporadically to see Ryder.

"No. He flaked on seeing Ryder again last weekend, but that's nothing new. Ryder doesn't even pack anymore, he just waits to see if Max shows up and then throws some clothes in his backpack if he does."

"Is it your mom? Is she okay?"

Brynn’s mom had owned a shop that sold crystals and was a self-proclaimed spiritual guide. When Jess was ten she'd used money she'd received for her birthday and bought several crystals that were supposed to have healing powers. She still had them in her nightstand.

Margo left and moved to Palm Springs a couple of years ago. Right around the time Jess had her heart transplant.

"Yeah, she's fine. It's my dad, actually."

As far as Jess knew Brynn had never known her father.

"I didn't know you were in contact with him."

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