Page 5 of Power Plays & Proposals

A blur of blue body-checked me from the right side.

"Head in the game Gramps," Lou teased as he took off with the puck he'd stolen from me.

I chased after him. We traded a few hard hits before Coach told us to save it for the game. We took it easier after that, sharing verbal blows instead of physical ones. Doc checked my ankle after the skate and told me to get my nap in before the game against the Falcons.

I headed to the locker room to take a quick shower before heading home. I grabbed my bottle of body wash and headed to the showers. Still thinking about the upcoming game, I didn’t pay attention to the bottle I grabbed until the smell of vanilla cupcakes reached my nose. It was then that I looked down at my normal bottle of amber and musk body wash to notice it had been swapped for a glittery cupcake type Penelope would love.

I rinsed off as best I could, smiling even as I vowed retribution to whoever pulled the prank. When I returned to my locker a few of my teammates were smirking. I’d get them back.

The team met with Coach to talk through the game we had tonight, and I enjoyed an orange cranberry muffin from the familiar bakery boxes Hannah had brought in. I could only hope that my teammates would forget the name of the bakery.

Coach talked through a lot and then I chatted with Dan and Lou for a while. Hours later all I wanted to do was head home and get a quick nap in before having to be back here. Game days meant long nights for everyone.

I enjoyed the short walk back to my place. On game days I was especially glad my condo wasn't far from the arena. I could walk between the two in five minutes when the crowds weren't around. I checked the time on my phone as I rode the elevator up to the top floor where I had the penthouse. The elevator opened into a small room with the door to my place. I pulled out the key, and walked into my place. It was quiet and too clean without Penelope leaving her colored pencils and papers everywhere. The plate I'd used for breakfast was still in the sink, but I’d cleaned up the toast crumbs from off the white marble counter.

Light streamed in through the big windows wrapping around the corner on the far wall. I could see the dark blue ocean water not too far in the distance and the cloudy sky above. No doubt it would rain later, so I'd want to take my car to the game instead of risking getting soaked after the game.

I set an alarm on my phone and noticed that I had the Do Not Disturb setting on. I must have accidentally turned it on after talking with Penelope earlier. I switched the setting off, and my phone immediately started pinging with texts from an unknown number. I read the first one, and immediately grabbed my keys off the rack and ran out the door.

Chapter 3

I walked through dirty gray slush that matched the clouds above as I drank my drink on the way to the salon. After getting my cosmetology license, getting a job at a salon hadn't been easy. But as much as I liked Maria and the bakery, that was her dream. I loved helping people feel beautiful and look their best. The cut the salon took meant I broke even more often than I walked away with money, but I was still growing my client list. With all the holiday closures, I really, really hoped for a lot of walk-ins so I wouldn’t need to worry about being evicted.

Barely two steps inside the salon, I took off my hat and stuffed it into my bag.

"Lia!"

I snapped my head in the direction of the stylist calling my name.

Charlotte had quickly become my best friend at the salon. We'd bonded when she’d seen the latest Ella Glass novel fall out of my bag, and had sent me a couple of clients when she was overbooked. She and her client were the only ones in the room.

"After you get your coat hung up, can you grab the toner for me from the back?" she asked. "I accidentally left the bowl on the counter."

I smiled, "Sure thing."

There was a small break slash laundry room for us to keep our things in and wash towels. I found my locker and stashed my stuff, I looked at the corkboard above the coffee maker, looking for an envelope with my name on it that would mean I had a check. Until I saw that amount I wasn't sure exactly how much I needed to earn this week. There were no envelopes on the board for me or anyone else. Spotting the black bowl next to the sink, I picked it up and hurried out to the front.

Charlotte thanked me, and continued to work the toner into her client's hair. Her client scrolled on her phone and I reminded Charlotte about the book she needed to read for book club. "We had a call in earlier. She said nothing fancy, just a cut for her daughter before school starts back up. I put her on your books as you had the only opening."

"I can do that." I smiled. "Did she indicate if it's a trim or a major cut?"

"She said she wanted the kid's hair really, really short."

I didn't like the sound of that, depending on the girl’s age, super short hair didn’t get asked for. But I also needed a paycheck badly enough that I couldn't afford to decline a client based on a gut feeling.

"I didn't see checks on the board. Do you know if they were put somewhere else?" I asked.

"The boss should be in late." Charlotte rolled her beautiful toffee-colored eyes, "She decided to go on a last-minute vacation to the Bahamas last week, so fingers crossed she's back."

In the few months I'd been here, I'd discovered the boss took a lot of vacations and wrote a lot of late checks as a result. On more than one occasion my weekly promised check had been delayed while the boss caught up on paperwork from being gone. Checks should have been posted to the board Friday.

As Charlotte focused on her client, I took the opportunity to get my station ready and unpack all the things from my rolling stylist case. It didn't require much, but I fiddled with it until everything I needed to cut, color, curl, or style hair was exactly where they were supposed to be. I spun the black chair in front of the big square mirror, and realized I had terrible hat hair. When I’d pulled my hat off earlier I hadn’t realized that pieces of my red hair had come free from the braid and were now shooting in different directions like fireworks. I grabbed my comb and some gel and smoothed the pieces back into a presentable position. I preferred to wear my hair free, but there was a lot to be said about having it out of the way.

Hair fixed, I glanced hopefully out the glass windows at the front of the salon. Rain had started pouring down from the gray sky. The foot traffic wasn't heavy when I'd walked over earlier, and the dreary weather meant the likelihood of a walk-in was low.

I checked the computer and found my client wasn't supposed to be in for another fifteen minutes, so I worked on straightening the sitting area by the windows where clients waited for their turn or parents waited for their kids’ haircuts to be done. It was a simple area with a water cooler, and two chairs and a loveseat by a low coffee table topped with magazines. The magazines ranged from politics to celebrity gossip rags. I noticed one of the magazines had a picture of Mr. Hockey on it, and I picked it up curiously. He had his arm around a pretty woman with curly auburn hair and a grin on his face like he didn't have a care in the world. The photo made it difficult to tell for sure, but if I had to guess I’d say it was her natural hair color. I found myself envious of the darker undertones in her hair compared to the brighter ruby tones in my own. My ex had often compared my hair to the color of a fire truck.

The magazine speculated on the new relationship and who the mystery woman was. I didn't envy the public speculation, but I felt a pang of envy at how secure she looked with his strong arm around her as she looked up into his eyes with a spark of joy in hers. She belonged there with him, and it had been a very long time since I felt I belonged with someone. My ex had certainly never made me feel that way. I couldn't remember the last time I'd looked at someone with a spark of anything. Well, that was a lie, I could remember who I'd looked at that way, before I dropped out and was drowning in student debt. Before when?—

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