Don't Break My Heart (Return to Redemption, Book 6) Read Free Page A

college.” She stepped back and studied Trisha’s
shoulder-length hair. She glanced at Frankie and Annie. “What do you girls
think she should have done?”
    “I’ve always thought some blond highlights would look great
on you,” Frankie suggested.
    “Definitely,” Annie agreed, “and maybe a trim and some
shaping.”
    Even though the salon overflowed with other guests having
their hair and nails done for the wedding, they seated Trisha in front of a
mirror in only minutes. “Is the salon always this busy?” she asked Clarence,
her hairdresser, whose bleached, spiked hair didn’t inspire a lot of confidence.
    “The resort wishes that were so. Mr. Elliott hired me and
four other stylists to drive out from Manhattan to handle the wedding
overflow.”
    “Okay, I’m putting my head in your hands, Clarence. If I
look hideous when you’re through, you’re gonna have to answer to the bride.”
    “I don’t think you’ll have any complaints.” In record time,
he washed, highlighted, and whacked off a lot more hair than Trisha had
anticipated losing. But as he styled her locks with the blow dryer, the man’s
talent soon became clear.
    Clarence clearly wasn’t just an ordinary hairdresser from
some walk-in budget salon like she usually patronized. She would bet a month’s
salary this guy styled the hair of the rich and famous on Park Avenue.
    The collar length style he’d chosen flattered her face,
emphasizing its heart shape. And the layers he’d cut gave her baby-fine hair a
fullness she’d never had before. However, the highlights made the biggest
transformation.
    “ Holy-moley ,”
Frankie said, walking around the chair as Clarence whipped off the protective
cape. “Talk about a blonde bombshell.”
    “You don’t look half bad yourself,” Trisha said, admiring
the up-do Frankie’s stylist had given her.
    Frankie pointed to the back of the salon. “Time for a
mani-pedi.”
    “Okay, but would you pinch me first? I never expected I’d
get pampered like this.”
    “No pinching. It’s all courtesy of Ben.”
    Trisha continued staring at the mirror and laughed. “Great.
After all of this, I’m gonna have to
sleep with him—whether my girl parts tingle or not.”
    “If that’s the case,”—Frankie swept her hand around the room
filled with women—“Ben’s gonna have a crowded bed tonight.”
    As they walked to the back of the salon, a young voice
called, “Ms. Mason, Ms. Conner, what are you two doing here?”
    Trisha turned and discovered Dani Riverá, one of the
students from her school, sitting at a manicurist’s station having her
fingernails painted a dark purple.
    “Hi, Dani. We’re here for the wedding. Ms. Conner’s brother
is the groom, and she invited me as her plus-one. What are you doing here?”
    “The bride was one of my nurses back when I got sick. She
and my mom became good friends.”
    When the school hired her, a little over a year ago, to
counsel Sue Carlson’s students during her maternity leave, Trisha had gotten to
know Dani and her best friend, Haley.
    After learning who Dani’s uncle and Haley’s father were,
Trisha had been relieved to transfer the R through Z files back to Sue in
September and be reassigned to counsel the M through P students previously
overseen by the recently retired Mr. Barton.
    “How’s school going this year? Are you and Haley attending
all your classes?”
    “Yes, ma’am. Well, at least I am.”
    Not surprisingly Haley was still having problems. Trisha had
heard Marc had passed away during the summer. She knew what it felt like to
lose a parent. She’d been only twelve when her own mom died from a brain
aneurysm. Losing both parents had to be twice as devastating for Haley.
    Speak of the devil, the dark-haired teen bounded up to the
table a second later, out of breath. “The beautician told me, since I’m a
minor, I need my mother with me if I want hot pink highlights. You should’a
seen the witch’s face when I told her that