Chapter Two
Rebecca
Oh, my God. The moment Austin looked at me, I knew who he was. I’d never forgotten those bottomless dark eyes or the way he made me feel when we were teenagers. He answered me when I asked what type of cut he wanted, but seeing his handsome face distracted me. I had no clue what his answer had been.
Austin Harris was here. I hadn’t heard a peep from him since he moved away eleven years ago. He’d broken my heart, but I hid that from him back then. Only Mama knew how I felt.
I told him to come on over, and Austin stood, showing me how muscular his tall frame was now. He was gorgeous, even more so in person. I’d seen him on television and in magazines. They always talked about how rich he was or which famous woman he was dating this week.
The women he went out with didn’t look like I did, now or back in high school. They were typically blonde, skinny, and drop-dead gorgeous. He lived a completely different life now. I pressed my hands to my skinny jeans before I led him to my station in the back corner.
Blake Shelton played on the radio, and I watched him take a seat. He looked massive in the chair. I took in a deep, slow breath and slowly lowered the chair. Lord have mercy, but he’d grown up.
“So, what did you say you wanted to do with your hair?” I asked softly and met his gaze in the mirror. I secured the barber cape around his neck. He kept looking at me with a smirk before explaining that he just wanted a trim.
“How are you doing these days, Rebecca?” he asked. I noticed a trace of his accent, and I smiled.
“I’m good. It’s North Reed, you know? I’ve seen you on television now and then. It seems that you’re well.”
“I am,” Austin replied, sounding like a man as he leaned back confidently in the seat. He was just eighteen when he left, and while Austin always had a plan for his life, he was more successful than I thought he would be now.
“I can give you a shampoo before I cut it, if you’d like. It helps when I cut wavy hair like this.” I reached out to touch it, stopping as I caught his gaze in the mirror again.
“Anything to make it easier on you,” he replied.
I told him to follow me to a sink. Austin got comfortable in the chair and leaned back. I wet his hair with a warm spray, and he locked gazes with me. Sensations rushed through me that I hadn’t felt in years. I pumped some shampoo into my hand and stroked it through his thick hair. I did this every day with almost every customer, but there was something intimate about being this close to Austin.
We were quiet as I washed his hair, but I normally didn’t talk too much at this point. It was a little noisy, and I preferred to think of this part as a chance to let the customer feel spoiled. There was plenty of room for talk when I did the service they requested. He looked at me, but I focused on rinsing all the shampoo out and conditioning, with only a few glances his way. I still reeled with shock at seeing him, and I needed to control the way my hands were shaking.
I wrapped a towel around his neck and eased Austin up with a hand on his shoulder. I took a deep breath and smiled. I led the way to the chair, tucking a brown curl behind my ear. He sat back down and got comfortable.
“So, just a little off the top?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said.
I picked up a comb and worked it through his soft hair.
“Everything is good here in town?” Austin asked, sounding a bit forced to me.
“It’s North Reed. Nothing much changes here.” I shrugged. I pulled his hair up to see what the ends looked like. “Don’t they cut hair in the big city? This is long.” I tried to sound like I was teasing him, but I could hear my voice shaking as I spoke.
“There are a lot of choices there, actually.” Austin sounded annoyed, and his dark eyes looked down at the floor. “I just got busy and didn’t think about it for a while. I work for myself and presentation isn’t always important.” There was a sense of loftiness in his voice that made me feel small. I shrank back.
He was the arrogant ass they portrayed him as on television, after all. I’d hoped that there was still some of the sweetness that Austin had back in high school. It wasn’t often in the two years that we were together, but I did see that side of him.
“I see,” I murmured. I went to grab the scissors and dropped them. I groaned.
Get it together. He won’t be here forever.
“How long have you worked here?” Austin asked. I forced a fake smile to my face.
“Ten years,” I said. “I graduated from beauty college and they hired me immediately.” He looked at me in the mirror again.
“You saw that through,” he said.
I nodded. We both had our plans and seemed to have gone through with them, even if they were like night and day.
“I did,” I said. I bent over to get the scissors, managing to get a grip this time. I smoothed his hair through my fingers and trimmed the ends. Austin always had gorgeous hair, and I enjoyed the sensation of my hands in it again. “I thought I saw that you were flying somewhere for the holidays. They made such a fuss over it. Wasn’t it the Bahamas?”
“That was just to throw the paparazzi off. They’d flood the town, otherwise, and it isn’t big enough for that.” Austin smirked. “I didn’t want to burden my family with it, either. They normally come to see me for a while in the winter, and it’s a lot crazier there.”
“I would imagine,” I murmured, giving him a sympathetic glance. “I heard about Mel, and I’m so sorry, Austin. I hope he’s well. That’s what the word is.”
“He is. The doctor is making him relax and eat better, which he hates. That’s part of why I’m here. Mom didn’t want him traveling too much, and she begged me for a traditional Christmas.” Austin shrugged. “How is your family doing?”
“They moved to Arizona when Dad retired from the factory. Scottsdale. They love the heat, and I tolerate it to visit them as often as possible. I miss them, but my sister, Kim, is still here, working for the library. We live right down the street from one another.” I smiled at the mention of my baby sister.
“Did you stay in your parents’ place?” Austin asked.
I nodded. “She rents a cottage down the road, though…” I let my voice drift off.
“What is it?” Austin asked.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “There’s some issues with the library. You know how old it is. It’s in dire need of repairs. The city is having a hard time fitting that into the budget. As much as parents love it for their kids, nobody wants an increase in their taxes.” I glanced at Austin in the mirror as he frowned. We’d all spent hours there, reading as kids, and doing schoolwork once we were older. It wasn’t big like some of the ones in the larger cities, but it had a special place in my heart. Kim worried about having to move out of North Reed, and I didn’t want that.
“It concerns you,” he said.
“Yeah, if they can’t fix it up, Kim will lose her job. I’ve invited her to move into the house if need be. We can figure it out if worse comes to worst.” I pushed my worry away and snipped some more hair off.
“She can always run off to Paris. Is she still obsessed with that damn place?”
I giggled. Kim’s room had been covered with everything Paris in high school, and her place still had that theme.
“Let’s just say it’s a good thing that decor is back in style,” I replied dryly and shook my head. My sister and I loved it here. All the Paris talk was just that. Talk.
“It’s a beautiful city,” he said with awe in his voice. “I traveled all over Europe a few times. I think I’ve been everywhere over there by now.”
I noticed the arrogant tone of his voice. Wasn’t he special just running away from home to see the world? I was already over this reunion, and I yanked his hair in my fingers to trim another set of uneven lengths.
Austin arched a brow at me, apparently still aware of how I had trouble hiding my moods. “Are you okay?” he asked in a low tone.
I tried to focus on the song playing over the speakers. I used to love it.
“Why are you even here?” I asked coldly, looking around to see who was watching us.
The billionaire being in town was a big deal, and this was a small town. I didn’t want to be part of the rumor mill and eaten alive. Thankfully, it was mostly older customers today, and they were busy talking to their stylists. They didn’t notice me in the corner.
Mid-morning in December was like this. A lot of the kids were sleeping in after being up late with their friends. I missed those times, looking back.
I didn’t miss Austin. Not at all. I just missed being younger.
“Mom asked me to come,” he replied evenly. “She deserves a traditional Christmas after the year that they’ve had.”
“Is she aware that you hate it here?” I asked as I met his gaze in the mirror. His expression told me I was right. Eventually, Austin shrugged.
“I don’t come right out and say it, no. I’m sure she knows that, though.” His voice was low. He looked around the room. “It’s just so small here. There aren’t the opportunities there are in New York.” Austin had talked about New York ad nauseam in school, and I rolled my eyes. “I made my life work there.”
“I think there is opportunity everywhere,” I argued, still chopping at his hair. I was ready for this to be done already. “Lots of people are happy here with what they have. I guess you never were, so you can’t see that. You haven’t changed, Austin. I am amazed that we had anything at all in common in school.”
Everything I used to think was good between us, that I’d missed until this day, faded away. I was just a girl who went to his school that he dumped when he left this horrible place, making me regret the fact that I fell for him in the first place.
“Oh, I’ve changed, Rebecca. I’ve changed in at least a billion ways.” Austin chuckled obnoxiously. I shot him a dark look in the mirror.
“Your money might impress the people in New York, or all over the world, but it doesn’t impress me. I think it’s made you a worse person than before, and I hope you hide this side of you from your mother.” I finished the cut in record time, feeling unsettled as he silently watched me in the mirror.
It looked as though he was trying to figure me out.
I finished and asked in as few words as possible if he was satisfied with the cut. Austin seemed to sit there forever. He ran a hand through his gorgeous hair before nodding. I brushed off the cape before taking it off. I led the way to the register to tell him how much the haircut was.
A few people seemed to recognize him now, but I only saw the fifty that he tipped me with. Granted, it would get me a few extra groceries this week, but screw him for being so uppity and rich.
“I might see you around,” he said. “Although I am trying to lay low, so the media doesn’t get the tip that I’m here.” Austin looked at me. “Thanks for the cut, Rebecca. It was nice seeing you.”
I nodded curtly at him.
Austin walked out of the door, and I tucked the money into the pocket of my jeans, vowing to use it for something good. I couldn’t help but frown at the shiny, fancy car he got into.
Austin didn’t get what life was all about. Looking back, he never really did.