A Clean Break (Gay Amish Romance Book 2) (11 page)

In front of the barber’s mirror two hours later, David watched in fascination as the man snipped and sheared his hair with efficient movements—a far cry from Mother putting a bowl on his head and cutting around it.

“You want your bangs still?” the barber asked. He was an older man with graying hair and an accent David couldn’t place.

“I’m not sure.” The floor was littered with chunks of his hair, and when he reached behind his head, it was short all over, sheared well above his ears as well. “What do you think?”

The barber brushed David’s hair over his forehead. “I’ll shorten and thin them out. Too heavy right now. Yes?”

“Yes.”

David couldn’t see the mirror since the barber was in front of him now, and he concentrated on sitting still as the man snipped. He shifted his rear slightly, wondering how English men could wear briefs for hours a day. Although at least he didn’t have to worry about getting anything caught in a zipper.

He tried to spot Isaac from the corner of his eye in the next chair. Isaac’s barber was speaking to him in the same accent. David thought of the movies he’d seen. It was Italian, maybe?

“You see how it stands up now? Just use a little gel like I showed you. That’s all.
Buono
,” Isaac’s barber said.

The man working on David stepped behind him again. “You like?”

His bangs were wispier now, only covering part of his forehead. It was shorter than he’d ever had it, and he felt lighter all over. “I like.”

“So do I,” Isaac said. “How about mine?”

Isaac had little sideburns, and his sandy hair was short at the back and over his ears, but it swept up a couple of inches at the front of his head. In his new jeans, sneakers and hoodie, he didn’t look Amish at all.

For a peculiar moment, David was forlorn. What else would change as they made their way in the world? He shook the brief melancholy away and smiled. “You look great.”

“You both do,” Aaron called from his seat at the front of the shop where he flicked through a magazine. “Carlos and Tony are the best. Ready for lunch? There’s a great tapas place in the Mission that isn’t far. Tapas is little Spanish dishes. It’s fun, and you can try a bunch of different things.”

While Isaac went to the front, Carlos or Tony—David wasn’t sure who was who—swiped at his face and neck, and David closed his eyes, trying not to fidget at the ticklish hairs of the brush.

“Thanks, Carlos,” Aaron said. “We’ll take a bottle of the gel too.”

Ah, so that meant it was Tony who had cut David’s hair. Tony swept off the large bib from around David’s neck with a flourish. David smiled and thanked him and eyed the prices on a board, adding the cost to the running tally in his head.

At the till, Carlos asked, “Debit?”

Aaron handed him a plastic card. David realized he’d gone to the toilet at the store that morning when Aaron had bought the new clothing. Now he watched intently as Carlos ran the card through a little machine, and then handed it to Aaron.

Aaron tapped some buttons and gave it back. With a whirr, paper rolled out of the top, and Carlos ripped it off for Aaron with a smile. Somehow that was it, and everything was paid for without any actual money changing hands. The stores near Zebulon had these machines, but David had never given them any mind since he’d only used cash. Something else to learn.

“Ready?” Aaron asked.

No
. But David nodded and followed Aaron and Isaac to the parking lot.

The streets were clogged with cars and trucks. From the back of Aaron’s little blue Toyota, David stared at the bicycles weaving fearlessly between lanes. A siren wailed somewhere, but he couldn’t see any flashing lights. Images of the accident loomed in his mind, always lurking. When Aaron spoke, David forced them back.

“David, Isaac mentioned that you know how to drive? If you want to get your license, Jen’s cousin runs a driving school. You can both sign up. He’ll give us a great deal.”

As they came to a stop and a bike whizzed by, David winced. “Driving on the back roads in Minnesota is pretty different.”

“Just throwing it out there. And I was thinking…” Aaron stepped on the gas and glanced over his shoulder as he changed lanes, smoothly fitting between two trucks.

“Was it the first time?” Isaac asked.

Laughing, Aaron punched his shoulder. “Har, har. You’re funny now, huh? As I was saying, I was thinking about your business, David. The one with your friend June? I looked up the website, and your furniture looks amazing. I’m sure you could sell to people around here and keep up your online business as well. We could look for a workspace. Assuming you still want to be a carpenter, that is.”

David blinked. “What else would I be?”

“Whatever you want.”

Whatever I want
. It sounded so easy when Aaron said it.

At a stoplight, Aaron glanced at Isaac beside him in the front seat. “I know you were working together, and there’s no reason you can’t keep doing that.”

What else would they do?
David watched the back of Isaac’s head, trying to discern Isaac’s reaction.
Of course we’ll still work together
. It was the only thing they knew. When he thought of them in their own workshop again, he breathed easier.

“I know there’s a lot to consider,” Aaron said. “Like I said, there’s no rush. One step at a time. I’m just excited.” He took another turn, honking at a bike rider who zoomed in front of him. “Couriers,” he grumbled. “They’re crazy.”

David wasn’t sure what a courier was, but he definitely agreed they were crazy. Riding these streets on a bicycle alongside cars, trucks, buses and little trains seemed like a good way to die young.

“I was thinking after lunch we can do some sightseeing. Give you a feel for the city so it won’t seem so overwhelming. San Francisco really isn’t that big, although it seemed massive to me at first. And then do you want to see a movie tonight? Jen’ll be at the hospital.”

“I really liked the movie I saw with David.” Isaac looked back with a hopeful smile. “It’ll be fun, don’t you think?”

“Yes.” He’d always loved losing himself in the darkness, traveling to another world for a few hours.

Aaron braked for a red light and half turned. “And really, tell me if anything is too much. Like I said, I’m just excited you’re here. There’s a cool new superhero movie in 3D, which is going to blow your minds in the best possible way.”

“Superheroes—like in the comic books you used to sneak into your trunk?”

“Yep. But bigger and better than ever.” Aaron ran his palm over the back of Isaac’s newly shorn head. “God, I missed you, little brother.”

Isaac beamed. “I still can’t believe we’re here. Getting haircuts and seeing movies. It’s scary, but…” He grinned and echoed Aaron. “In the best possible way.”

David peered out at the city whirling by—the buildings and cars and people filling his senses in a constant hum. He jerked back from the window as another car roared past. It
was
scary, and he hadn’t expected that. They’d left so quickly, he hadn’t had time to think about it. He’d thought he was more prepared.

“Don’t you think?” Isaac peered back, his face pinched in concern. “David?”

He hadn’t been strong enough for his family, but he wouldn’t let Isaac down. Ignoring the hammering of his heart as another horn blared, David smiled. “Absolutely.”

Ding!

Beside David, Isaac was already holding his Clipper card and practically vibrating as the cable car appeared over the rise of a hill. With a grin, David fished his card from his jacket pocket. It wasn’t a train, but it was close.

They’d spent the last few days going out on walks around Aaron and Jen’s neighborhood and had ventured up to the top of the hill with the radio tower at Bernal Heights Park. From there they’d been able to see for miles in each direction. San Francisco was so vast compared to any place they’d ever been, and the bay and ocean were beautiful. From up there, it had all seemed so peaceful.

But today was their first day going into the heart of the city, and David didn’t know where to look first. Near where they waited at the cable car turnaround there were dozens of fancy stores with big windows and fake ladies wearing skimpy clothes.

People bustled this way and that, and the noise was constant. When they were in their room at Aaron’s house, David could imagine that everything would be okay. He could be confident, even. But beyond the safety of those walls, he was less sure.

The sun came and went behind clusters of clouds, but at least the morning fog had lifted. Still, David shivered as the wind gusted, and he was glad he’d worn a sweater beneath his new black raincoat.

There were a few women waiting by the turntable as well, one of them gushing about how cool it was to get the chance to ride a piece of history. As David watched the cable car approach, it sure looked modern enough compared to a horse and buggy.

“The wheels are metal,” Isaac noted. “If not for the electricity, the Ordnung might approve it.”

David chuckled. “But look at the yellow and red paint. Maybe if it were all black.”

“True. But the car itself isn’t electric. Aaron said it clamps onto the cable, right? That’s how it moves? So it’s the cables themselves that are breaking the rules.”

“Hmm. I think Bishop Yoder would say the cable cars have succumbed to worldly temptation.”

Isaac smiled sadly. “It’s amazing, isn’t it? How quickly we get used to breaking the Ordnung. Practically everything we do here is against the rules. But once you start, it’s easy.”

“Easy not to think about it, at least.” For when he thought about it, David remembered how hard things were in Zebulon. His chest tightened as he imagined how Mother and the girls would be struggling without him. Who would break the ice in the well, or chop the wood for the stove? Or—

As the cable car dropped off its passengers and did a loop around the turntable to face the way it had come, David shook his head as if he could shake free his thoughts. He could never go back. Only forward with Isaac.

He and Isaac waited so the women could clamber on first. David looked for the machine to tap his Clipper card the way Aaron had showed them, but didn’t see one by the driver. They sat on the bench in the front open-air part of the car.

Isaac glanced around. “I read in that book Aaron gave us that there’s a conductor who comes around, and—oh.”

A man in a bright yellow vest appeared, holding some kind of machine in his hand. He smiled widely and held it toward them. “Morning.”

His skin was brown, and it looked like he had dark fuzzy hair beneath his cap. David thought he might be Hispanic. Aaron had shown them pictures of people on the internet and explained the differences. Some of the people working at the hospital near Zebulon hadn’t been white, but in San Francisco he’d realized just how isolated they’d been.

“Good morning.” David tapped his card on the machine, which made a
beep
. There were so many beeps and whirs and alarms in the English world. As if to punctuate his thought, a truck honked. As the cable car moved, David gripped the pole and looked around, but couldn’t see anything amiss. Sometimes it seemed that English people simply liked the sound of their horns.

The conductor chuckled. “Where are you boys from?” He stood on the white wooden board that ran along the side.

David smiled ruefully. “Is it so obvious?”

“Well, your friend just pulled out a pocket map, and you look like you’re expecting to get shot any second. But don’t worry, folks hardly ever get shot. Not on the cable car, at least.”

It took a moment for David to realize the man was joking, and he smiled. Isaac put the map back into the pocket of his dark green coat, which he’d picked because David had thought it brought out his eyes.

“We’re from Minnesota. I just wanted to make sure we’re going the right way. To Fisherman’s Wharf?” Isaac asked.

“Absolutely. You can’t miss it. This is the Powell-Hyde line, so you’ll get off at the end near the water and walk down to your right. Got big plans?”