Summer Burns Read Free

military man, " Miss Evelyn asked me.
    I blinked. " Pardon? "
    " That boy in uniform. You looking to get back to the military life? "
    I shook my head, my cheeks warm. " Oh no, Miss Evelyn. He was, uh, just a friend. "
    She snorted.
    " Sure he was. " She shifted in the chair as I pinned the last roller, making it fall out. " I saw the way he was looking at you. "
    " Stop wiggling, " I said. " You ' re as bad as my daughter. "
    Evelyn laughed. " We all revert to childhood as we get older. Diapers and everything. "
    " You ' re not right, Miss Evelyn. "
    " Well, maybe not, but you young things, you worry about everything. I ' ll tell you what my mother told me. Even women have needs. We just hide it better. "
    I dropped my comb. " Miss Evelyn! "
    Winter, who ' d been walking by, stopped and glanced at Evelyn. " Now Miss Evelyn, are you being good over here? "
    " Nope, not a bit. "
    We all laughed, including Lucy and Nicole, the stylists on either side of me, and both of them glanced at me, shaking their heads. Even over all the noise, hairdressers tend to hear everything, and the three of us were no different.
    Especially when little old ladies started speaking their minds.
    " Come on, Miss Evelyn, let ' s get you under the dryer. " I helped her across the room, and tuned out the conversation she had with ladies in the shop. Every week, the ladies who came in the shop to get their weekly ' do had all become friends and the latest gossip about who ' s kid, or now, grand kid, was doing what, their health, and whatever else was on their minds filled the salon.
    " Well, I saw that tall drink of water holding the door for you, Evelyn. He was handsome, " Miss Janet said.
    Evelyn snorted. " He ' s got the hots for Summer. "
    " Oh really? " Miss Janet glanced at me, approval on her face.
    " Ladies, no one here has the hots for anyone, " I said, trying to rein them in.
    But oh no, it was too late for that.
    " I used to date military men, they were wonderful. We ' d write letters and I ' d tell them all sorts of things to keep them warm at night, " one of the ladies said.
    The laughter overpowered the dryers.
    " Okay you ladies, this is still a place of business, " I said.
    This only made them laugh harder. So I walked away. Let the hens gossip. I glanced at my watch as I walked into the break room, and noticed the clock was three minutes fast. So I slid a chair over to adjust it--yes, I ' m that anal person.
    " Good grief, Summer, what are you doing? " my mother asked, her usual flowy clothing replaced with a set of pink nurse ' s scrubs and her hair in a bun. Evidently, she was about to do a massage.
    " I ' m selling an iceberg to the desert dwellers, Mom. What does it look like I ' m doing? " I had the clock in my hand, and I adjusted the minutes to be on time.
    " Don ' t be a smartass to me, kiddo. I changed your diapers. "
    " And I ' ll change yours in thirty years, " I said as I sneezed. " Gah, it ' s dusty up here. Would you hand me a towel. "
    She wet a rag and handed it to me.
    I started wiping off the top of the cupboard the clock hung over and fought more sneezes. Didn ' t work out very well for me.
    " And who was the young man who showed up here? " she asked.
    I sighed. " He was a soldier with Jake. Came to pay his respects. " I finished my job and climbed down. My chest felt tight, but I wasn ' t sure it was because of the dust or just the arrival of Hennessey and the latent emotions his appearance brought up.
    It may have been three years, but some days, it felt like only yesterday. I touched my inhaler in my smock pocket.
    " I see, " Mom said.
    " What is it with everyone today? He ' s a guy. He came to pay respects. End of story. " I finished my job and climbed down, my chest felt tight.
    " Did you know him? " she asked.
    I shook my head. " No. " I took a shot of my inhaler to cut off the impending attack. " Not really. He went to school with me and Jake for a year. I sort of remember him. "
    " Seems like he ' s a little