Summer Burns (11 page)

There was one set of tables where kids were doing crafts, another set where a line of adults handed out piles of papers to parents and kids, and a third where people were turning in their donated supplies.

He clenched the bag of school supplies in his hand a little tighter.

"
Well, where are the haircuts,
"
Ortiz asked.

"
Over there,
"
Miller replied. On the far wall sat a row of seven hydraulic chairs, each manned with a different barber.

Hair stylist.

Whatever.

Right in the middle was Summer, working on a little boy
'
s haircut. When she finished, the boy handed her a coin and she spun around, dropping it in a jar behind her.

"
So how does this work, Sarge?
"
Miller asked.

"
Over here,
"
he said, walking to the table where people were handing over their supplies.

Behind the table was a young woman with super-bright red hair. She grinned at them as they approached.

"
Hiya boys! How are you doing today?
"

"
Fine,
"
Ortiz said, flashing his pearly whites at her.

"
Bet you handsome fellas need some haircuts, huh?
"
she grinned back.

"
Are you cutting hair today?
"
Ortiz asked, and rubbed his head.

She laughed.
"
No, but the ones who are do amazing work.
"
She gestured to the row of people cutting hair.
"
So do I need to explain what you boys need to do?
"

"
All ears, ma
'
am,
"
Ortiz said.

Hennessey glared at the rookie, but said nothing.

"
I see you brought a fine looking bag of supplies.
"
She accepted the bag from Hennessey, and jerked.
"
And heavy! My goodness. Thank you!
"
She put the bag under the table.
"
Here you boys go. Three tokens. Give your token to the person who cut your hair.
"

"
And we just, what, wait for the next person?
"
Ortiz asked.

"
Yeah, that
'
s about it. You can sit over there and wait.
"
She gestured to a bench just to the side of the people cutting hair.

There were a few ahead of them, but not too many.

Maybe they wouldn
'
t be here too long. They walked over to the benches and took a seat. A couple of women were smiling and nodding to them, but Hennessey ignored their obvious flirtation.

His attention was glued to Summer as she worked. She seemed so relaxed, yet she also seemed like she knew exactly what she was doing.

Like she
'
d been doing it forever.

She probably had been.

"
Mister Maffew! Mister Maffew!
"

He turned, and barreling toward him was Emma, hair in piggy tails and in her arm, the teddy bear they
'
d won from the pizzeria.

His two coworkers glanced at him just as she leaped into Hennessey
'
s arms. While a slightly awkward catch, he was able to keep the kid from injuring herself, and not knock them both backwards off the bench, either.

Such trust that I
'
d catch her.
He marveled at this little girl
'
s faith.

She took a deep sniff of his fatigues and grinned.
"
Mister Maffew! Are you getting a haircut today?
"
She reached for his hair and brushed her hands along the sides.

He smiled at the little girl.
"
Yes I am, Emma. I didn
'
t know you would be here.
"

"
I
'
m helping Mama. Me and Grandma Bettes are keeping an eye on the kids.
"
She waved her arms toward the children playing at one of the tables.
"
But they
'
re good. Grandma told me I could have a break.
"

"
That
'
s nice.
"

She poked him in the chest.
"
So when are you going to come over again? There are many more princesses that we need to talk about.
"

Ortiz snickered.

Miller was staring at the ceiling, trying to keep a straight face.

"
Well, princesses are nice, but boys don
'
t really, uh, play with princesses.
"

Ugh. How was he going to live this one down?

"
Princesses aren
'
t just wishy-washy girls. Don
'
t you know Princess Leia? She fights Darth Vader and Storm Troopers and The Empire,
"
she whispered the last of it, like it was a big secret.

Miller had to turn away.

"
I always liked Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
"

She stuck her tongue out at him.
"
They use magic. They just call it something else.
"

"
The Force,
"
Miller said.

"
Yeah, The Force,
"
Emma said, grinning.
"
But that
'
s all it is. Magic set in outer space.
"

"
Leave it to a kid to break it down,
"
Ortiz said.

"
You got that right,
"
Miller said.

"
We could watch the
Star Wars
if you want, Mister Maffew, when you come over for your play date.
"

He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by an older woman, who he could only assume was Grandma Bettes.
"
Emma, what are you doing to this man?
"
She tried to pull Emma off Hennessey
'
s lap, but Emma wrapped her arms around his neck.

"
This is my Mister Maffew Grandma!
"

The woman froze, her stare cold.
"
I see,
"
the woman said.

Hennessey stood, Emma still wrapped around him, and held out his free hand.
"
Matthew Hennessey, ma
'
am. I served with your son. He was an honorable man. My condolences on your loss.
"

"
Thank you.
"
She reached for Emma, but she still didn
'
t look very happy.
"
Now come on Emma, we don
'
t want to hold up your Mister Matthew. He needs to get his hair cut now.
"

Hennessey turned to look. Sure enough, Summer
'
s station was open.

Ortiz started to head over, and he glared at the rookie.

Ortiz sat back down and Hennessey crossed to Summer
'
s available chair.

Summer was cleaning up her station when he approached.
"
Well hey you. How are you doing today?
"
she asked, with a bright smile on her face, though her gaze darted to the crowd, then back at him.

"
Not bad, yourself?
"
He said as he sat down.

"
Can
'
t complain.
"
She wrapped a cloth cape around his neck.
"
Actually I can, but it doesn
'
t do any good, you know?
"
She stepped around so she faced him, standing on his side.
"
So what kind of hair cut do you want?
"

"
Short. Tight on the sides.
"

She nodded and ran her hands through the hair on the sides, just like Emma did. Probably where the little girl learned it.
"
How long has it been since you have a haircut?
"

"
Too long.
"

"
I guess so.
"
She picked up her clippers and started running it over his head.
"
I saw Emma hugging you. Sorry about that, she
'
s still asking when she can see her Mister Maffew.
"

He smirked.
"
So she said.
"

"
I also noticed that you met my mother-in-law.
"
She ran her clippers along the sides.

"
She did not seem very happy to meet me,
"
he said. And that was putting it mildly.

"
I don
'
t know what her deal is this week. She gets funny about stuff when it comes to Emma and Jake. She
'
s barely said a word to me since we got into a fight last weekend.
"

"
About?
"

She waved her hand.
"
Nothing important, really. She thinks I
'
m exposing Emma to bad people or something.
"
She put her clippers down and got a comb.

"
How?
"

"
I don
'
t want to get into it now,
"
she said.
"
Maybe privately sometime.
"

He nodded.

She ran her hands through his hair as she cut the top and he felt the sensation all the way down.

In all the good ways.

Not like the base barber shops--thank God.

"
When?
"
he asked, grimacing how deep his voice went.

If she noticed, she didn
'
t acknowledge it.
"
When what?
"

He sighed, hoping to not sound so damn stupid before speaking again.
"
When do you want to discuss it privately?
"

She grinned, but it was obvious the words caught her off-guard.
"
Oh, that. Um. Well, I don
'
t know. When are you thinking?
"

"
What about Friday?
"
His fist clenched in his lap--wasn
'
t it Fridays she said she didn
'
t have Emma?

"
Um, sure, I guess. You wanna have dinner or something?
"

"
Okay.
"

She got out her little clippers and cleaned up his neck line.
"
Okay. Call me with the details.
"

"
Sure.
"

She flicked off the cape.
"
I think you
'
re done, sir.
"

"
Thank you,
"
he said, and handed her the token.
"
What are these for, anyway?
"

"
The pledges.
"
She took the coin and shoved it in a cup behind her.
"
We
'
re tracking how many haircuts each of us do--some people pledged so much money a haircut.
"

He stood from the chair.
"
I see.
"
Yet he couldn
'
t seem to make his feet move just yet. Instead, he stood there in front of her for a minute.

"
It
'
s supposed to raise more money for the school. This is our first year doing it, so we
'
ll find out.
"