Page 2 of Dependable Cowboy

Joy gripped her cracked steering wheel, her sweaty palm slipping as she did. But then a view of what her mom had told her to search for. A coffee house named Mountaintop Java. Ajewelry store that went by Montana Jewels. And in the middle, her destination of Salon 406.

Tossing her troubles out of her mind, she did her best to straighten her hair and makeup. Her outfit was too informal for an interview, but she was just going to see if she could make an appointment anyway. She’d attempted to make it by phone, but the number kept going to the same message.

“Hi, there, you’ve reached Salon 406. This is Christine, and I’m probably knee-deep in hair dye or some other chemical concoction meant to make you gorgeous. My other stylists probably are, as well. So, leave us a message.”

Since yesterday, Joy had left three without hearing anything back. It’d been a letdown. Maybe this was how Wayne had felt.

But she couldn’t afford to take no as an answer. Hence her reason for just showing up in person. One thing hit her as a positive right off the bat.

There was a help-wanted sign posted in the window.

“Come on, sweetie,” Joy told her daughter as she pushed herself out of the car and smoothed whatever clothing wrinkles she could with her palms. “We need to go in here for just a minute. And please try to just stand with me and don’t fidget.”

“Can’t I just stay here?” Kara asked.

“No, it’s boiling hot out here. This should only take a minute.” Her daughter looking immensely unhappy had Joy squinting at the special highlighted at the coffee place. “This mountaintop place has smoothies. I’ll get you one when we come back out if you’ll just come in and wait for me to do this one little thing. Okay?”

Kara’s face brightened back up to its full wattage, so Joy waited for her to get out and they hurried over to the salon. Entering it felt both familiar and unfamiliar. Back in California, her job had been all about preparing actors to go on the set ofFutile Passions, a soap opera for which her husband had once hoped to become a main character.

While Wayne hadn’t been able to get anything but a member of the assorted background cast or a walk-on, her position had kept them from starving. Especially since his job as a server paid much less than she’d heard some servers in LA made in tips.

Joy had been given a single initiative. Make everyone beautiful.

So this couldn’t be much different.

On the surface, it wasn’t. There were three salon chairs with their foot-activated pumps to adjust the height as well as lots of hair products like mousse, gels, shampoos, and conditioners on shelves nearby. Her last position didn’t have the sinks and blow drying machines she saw here, but her beauty school had.

She could work with this. If they’d let her.

“Be with you in a sec,” one of the women called out, a petite blonde with curly hair. The other woman, an older lady with an iron gray bob, continued trimming her client but did offer Joy a brief tight-lipped smile. “You the eleven-fifteen?”

Joy blinked at her before realizing she must mean an 11:15 appointment. “No, actually. I was just wondering if you had paper applications since there weren’t any online.”

“Ooh, you job hunting?” Blondie continued their conversation.

“I am.”

“Fabulous. I’m Christine Brickell, the owner. I’ll be right over.” Christine was as good as her word, finishing up and taking payment in an efficient manner, then hurrying to extend her hand. Shaking it, Joy introduced herself, even while she peered about for that elusive application.

Kara was doing as Joy had asked her to do, though she was looking at the books on the table in the corner. Joy reached over and smoothed her daughter’s back to mildly encourage her to keep up the good work.

“So, tell me about yourself.” Christine smiled as she bobbed her head.

Speedily, Joy rattled off the basics. “I have my license in cosmetology and ten years of experience. I’ll be happy to email you my resume. Oh, and I can start right away.”

“Oh, you don’t need to email your resume,” Christine waved off her concerns. “Let’s go have a seat together so I can find out more about you.”

It sounded like this salon owner wanted to interview her on the spot, which would be fantastic except… Joy glimpsed down at her high unprofessional outfit and how much of a hot mess she was. She couldn’t interview like this. Not to mention that Kara was probably just about ready to run out of patience.

“I’m sorry, but I really can’t right now,” Joy told her, then backpedaled. She didn’t want to sound reluctant. “I mean, obviously, I’m not dressed for an interview.”

“That’s all right. We’re don’t stand on formality around here.”

“And well, this is my daughter… I wasn’t planning to interview right now or I’d have come in here without her.”

Christine glanced down at Kara and gave her a huge smile. “Well, she’s a little cutie. And what gorgeous hair! I always notice hair, I’m sure you understand that.”

“I do the same, so I get it.” Joy smiled and nodded as she tousled Kara’s hair gently.

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