Summer Burns (3 page)

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 late.
"

"
It
'
s never too late to pay respects,
"
I said, a little irritated at my mother
'
s comment.
"
He might have been overseas.
"

"
True,
"
she replied.
"
It was nice of him to stop by.
"
She made that
"
tsk
"
noise that she makes when she
'
s not sure she approves of something.

I rolled my eyes. I wasn
'
t sure what Mom was thinking over this, but I wasn
'
t sure I wanted to find out. I started to leave the break room, when Audra came in.

And my chance hit me.
"
Audra!
"

She grinned.
"
Shelby has gone.
"

I grabbed her hand and pulled her into the far corner of the room.
"
Now dish woman,
"
I said in the loudest whisper I could manage.
"
I have to know what she said about me.
"

Audra laughed.

Chapter Four

Thursday

After Henessey finished at work, he decided to stop by Gregg
'
s, a local pizzeria to grab a slice for his dinner. He walked in, and the place was fairly crowded as he headed to the counter to order. Training kicked in, and he started scanning the crowd, looking for threats.

He forced himself to take a deep breath and remember where he was. This was a pizzeria, not a war zone. There weren
'
t enemies hiding in the corners, waiting to pounce.

It was just families. Families who were there getting some food. Kids ran around--video games took up a back corner, and several kids were playing the noisy things.

Another breath.

In and out.

Easy.

Hennessey didn
'
t have PTSD, as many of his friends had come home with, but there were moments when crowds and noise bothered him. He
'
d been to all the therapy he was supposed to go to, and they
'
d cleared him for active duty. However, considering the loss of his comrades from his last mission, he
'
d been kept state side.

This too shall pass
.

Laughter made him turn, and he saw a young girl, blonde hair cut to her shoulders, with bright green eyes, smiling at her mother.

He paused.

He
'
d seen that face before. But in a helmet, and all grown up.

He blinked. And took a step toward the little girl. The little girl stopped laughing, and she stared back at him, her brow crinkled in a funny expression.

"
Mama, who is that man?
"
she pointed right at him.

The girl
'
s mother turned.

It was Summer. Which meant the girl was Bette
'
s daughter. The one he
'
d talked about. Hennessey
'
s breath caught.

Summer smiled.
"
Hi there, Sergeant.
"

He took a couple steps forward.
"
Hi.
"
He kept staring at the little girl. It was uncanny. Really. Just incredible how much that little girl looked like Jake Bettes. Pain hit him in an unexpected way--like a kick he never saw coming.

"
Are you a friend?
"
the little girl asked.

He glanced to Summer, unsure how to answer. He
'
d never been around kids much.

"
Sure he is.
"
She wiped her mouth with a napkin.
"
He worked with your daddy.
"

"
Oh.
"
The little girl seemed to process this for a moment. Then she turned her bright green eyes on him.
"
Well, my daddy
'
s in heaven now, so we have this extra chair here, if you want to sit down.
"

"
Thank you, miss.
"
He nodded to the girl.
"
But I was going to grab a slice and be on my way.
"

Summer gestured to the pizza on their table, where only two pieces were gone.
"
Please, sit down. We have plenty. If you don
'
t mind pepperoni, anyway.
"

"
I wouldn
'
t want to impose.
"

"
Really, it
'
s no trouble. Take a seat.
"

He hesitated. Not that he didn
'
t want the piece, the pie smelled great--hence the reason he came in. However, he felt a little strange taking a handout from his friend
'
s wife.

But as he looked into Summer
'
s blue eyes--strikingly different than her little girl
'
s--he couldn
'
t help himself, and sat in the open chair.

"
Thank you,
"
he said as he got comfortable.

The waitress brought him a plate and he ordered a soda.

The little girl glanced at him.
"
I
'
m Emma.
"

"
Nice to meet you, Emma. I
'
m Matthew.
"

She grinned.
"
There
'
s a boy named Maffew in my class. But he
'
s kinda stinky. I don
'
t like to share my crayons with him because he breaks them sometimes.
"

Summer arched her eyebrow at the little girl.
"
Emma, really?
"

"
Well, he did one time.
"
Emma forked a piece of her cut-up pizza.
"
But you don
'
t stink. Well, you do, but you stink like my daddy did when he got off work, so it
'
s okay. I like that smell.
"

He glanced at Summer, and for a second, her eyes glistened, but she cleared her throat.
"
Emma, we don
'
t talk about how people smell.
"

"
Sorry.
"
She waved her fork around.
"
But what if the smell is good? Do we talk about that?
"