Page 11 of Big Deal Sweetheart

“It wasn’t a date and stop looking at me like that.” Nova wagged her finger at the woman who she could tell was already planning to call Stacks and get details from anyone and everyone who might’ve been there. No thank you. She was in town for a short time and being the focus of local gossip was the farthest thing she wanted to be.

“How am I going to be a great grandmother if you refuse to settle down?” Her Nana harumphed.

After a half hour of her deflecting and outright ordering her Nana to leave it, she took the dishes into the kitchen, cleaned up, and then helped the older woman to bed. Surprisingly, she too was tired. Mountain air and the long day and night clearly had a lot to do with her exhaustion. She climbed into the queen bed in the guest room, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillows. Morning came and with it a sense of clarity. She’d been harboring a sense of not quite loss, but a feeling that she wasn’t good enough. Ever since her breakup with the jackhole of an ex, she’d allowed the things he’d said and done to color her self-worth. Not when it came to business of course, but she had inadvertently allowed his words and actions to keep her from putting herself back out in the dating world. “You’ll come crawling back to me, begging me to take you back. You’ll be lucky if I’ll let you, Nova,” she mimicked his cultured, almost too feminine voice.

After catching him having a threesome with a man and a woman, the man going down on Jeffrey, her ex, she’d been too shocked to do anything but gasp and hurry out of their apartment. That day, she’d walked around Soho in a complete daze, her phone ominously quiet, even though she knew the woman who had been enjoying Jeffrey’s talented tongue had seen her. The catty bitch had smirked even as she’d moaned Nova’s name, telling her to come join them. It had taken a couple hours before her fiancé had deigned to call her, his outrage that she’d returned early his first words.

Strange how meeting a man and his daughter could finally be the catalyst to getting her out of her...funk. Well, maybe it was more the man than the daughter, but she wasn’t going to split hairs within her own mind. The thought made her smile. Another first since she hadn’t had a cup of coffee yet. She hurried through to the bathroom, quickly using the facilities and brushing her teeth then went in search of coffee and to check on her Nana.

Hours later, Nova raised her arms over her head, twisting to the side to ease the ache of standing on her feet. “Linny, do you think my Nana would care if I ordered you ladies some new mats to stand on? I think you all need some new antifatigue ones and with the space you have I would suggest square ones so they cover more ground and would make it less likely for you ladies or my Nana to trip and fall.” She tapped her lips, knowing the ones she was going to order. From just two days, her back was telling her to take a break and could only imagine the impact it had on the others.

“Girl, I have thought of doing just that. You tell me how much, and I’ll pay for mine,” Linny offered.

Nova nodded but had no plans to accept her money. There were several options that were offered. Only the ones she was going to get were over two hundred dollars each. She was going to gift them to the salon and her Nana, so they had comfort and style. Besides, they’d be a tax write off. She quickly found the ones she wanted, making sure they could be delivered before she had to leave. If her Nana was the one who was there to accept delivery, she didn’t think the other woman would accept them. This way, the salon got a little something, and Nova could relax knowing her Nana would too.

“There. They’ll be here the day after tomorrow. What time is your last client?” She noticed Darla had already left while she’d been ringing up her last lady, which meant there couldn’t be too many left on the schedule.

“She just texted to reschedule due to her youngest being sick, so I get to go home early. How about you?” Linny asked while shrugging into her puffy coat.

“I’m done too. Nana has company, so I think I’ll stop by the coffee shop and pick up a treat on my way home. I love how all her friends seem to find a reason to pop over while I’m here. She was worried she’d be bored or lonely, but that hasn’t been the case. As a matter of fact, I noticed a very handsome man walking up the steps as I was leaving today.” She glanced across the salon to see Linny’s reaction.

“That would be Mr. Rhett.” Linny nodded, wrapping a scarf around her neck while affectively avoiding eye contact.

“Come on, Linny. Give me the details. Who is this Mr. Rhett? What’s his first name? Has he been married? Does he have kids, a job? You know, tell me all.” She put her hands up under her chin like she was praying, sticking her bottom lip out.

“First of all, I am not swayed by that.” Linny waved a gloved hand toward Nova. “Second, why don’t you ask your grandmother?”

Nova dropped her hands to her sides. “I did, but she said he was just a friend, which made me break out in a song that was totally inappropriate when you’re talking to your Nana.”

Linny’s eyes widened, and then laughter burst from her. “Oh my gawd. You’re killing me, smalls.”

She let Linny laugh for another minute until she thought she might hyperventilate. “It’s really not that funny.”

“Yes, yes, it is. I can just picture you singing that and your Nana doing her little dance she does. Have you seen it?” Linny began doing the booty shake and head bop she was referring to while singing the lyrics.

“If you don’t stop it, I will hurt you.” Nova held up the hair dryer like a gun.

“Death by heat,” Linny snorted.

She’d been too engrossed in laughing with the other woman they hadn’t heard the door chime. So, when a voice cleared behind her, she froze. “Please tell me that’s not my Nana?”

“I’ve been referred to as many things, but a Nana isn’t one of them.”

Nova carefully replaced the hair dryer in the holder. She stared at Linny, mouthing in the hopes the other woman was a good lip reader. “Do I look like a crazy person?”Linny, being the woman she was, shook her head, then nodded, then shook her head. Not helping in the least.

She figured she would have to turn around, or he’d think she was crazy or avoiding him, both would fit what she felt was her in that moment.

“Hey,” she said, then wanted to kick herself for such a lame opening. Been there, done that, last night as a matter of fact.

“Alrighty then, I’ll just let myself out. Don’t forget to lock up. You know the drill. Toodles.” Linny hurried out the door without a backward glance.

Nova wanted to beg Linny to stay, kind of. Heck, she wasn’t sure what she wanted except she did. Her dreams the night before were filled with images of the man standing in front of her. Only he was even more handsome in person, which she’d almost convinced herself he hadn’t been.

“I hope I didn’t make her run off?” Keifer looked at the closed door before facing Nova again.

“Um, no. I mean she was running. No, you didn’t run her off, she was on her way out.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. Can we start again?”

He chuckled; the deep baritone was reminiscent of a country singer she’d heard on the radio. Not that she listened to country music much, but the singer in question was one tall drink of water, and that voice was one even the most jaded of women had to love.

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