Page 37 of The Millionaire Mortician
“Mhmm.” Talina’s eyebrows climbed. “With who?”
“Nobody,” I responded too fast, then sighed. “Fabian.”
Her mouth made anO. “The roses?”
I nodded. “Mmm. We were just joking on the phone, though.”
“Joking like ‘haha’ or joking like ‘ha... ha... you’re fine’?” she pried, raising a brow.
I dragged my hand down my face. “Lina, don’t start.”
She instantly softened. “I’m not. I’m just... you’re walkin’ on a thin deck, sis. Milan and Mav — they ain’t regular men.”
“I know that.” I sighed out loud.
“What do you really want, Dai?” Talina gently asked.
I looked through the little break room window at the salon floor. “I want this to keep growing,” I finally answered. “I want my girls safe, I want my peace, and I want my man to be my man.”
“You also want excitement sometimes, huh? The kind that gives you butterflies?” Talina pointed out.
The corner of my mouth curled. “Maybe.”
She stepped close and bumped my shoulder. “Then be careful with them. Butterflies are real pretty with the light on, but they tear easily.”
A knock sounded at the door. It cracked open, and one of our reception girls peeped in. “Daija, a girl just walked in asking for you. She said she needs a cut and that it’s an emergency,” she informed me.
“Put her in my book for forty minutes,” I instructed, sliding back into motion.
As I was leaving the break room, I slid into my office to grab my phone. That’s when I saw a text from Fabian.
Fabe: You hung up on me like I’m the bill collector. I’m wounded.
I stared at the screen for a moment, then shot a quick text back.
Me: Had a pop-up. I’ll hit you later.
Quickly putting my phone in my pocket, I returned to work. I was thankful for the way work saved me from overthinking because it was starting to become overwhelming.
After a long dayat the salon, I’d finally reached home and was ready to relax. As I was walking up the stairs, I heard thefront door open and shut. Obviously, there was only one other person who lived in the house, so I knew it had to be Milan.
Once in the room, I started to strip out of my clothes as he walked in, looking just as tired as I felt.
“What’s good?” he greeted, undressing himself too. “Can you clean me up?” he asked.
I was glad he asked before I went and took a shower. “Yeah, of course,” I answered. “Downstairs or bathroom?”
“The bathroom’s cool.”
While he finished undressing, I went and grabbed my clippers and other items out of the closet and went to set up in the bathroom. A few minutes later, he was seated, and I was getting to work, which wasn’t a lot since I had just given him a cut a few days before.
For a while, there was silence between the two of us, with just the sound of the clippers buzzing. It wasn’t tension like the other times, just silence.
“How’s business going?” he finally asked.
“Great! Better than I expected, actually. Everything has been running smoothly,” I excitedly replied.
It had been a while since Milan had even asked me how my day was, so I was smiling on the inside.
