Margo leaned back into the shampoo bowl while Lisa washed her hair, Zoey watching from her perch on a nearby chair. Lisa’s hands began to move through her golden locks, working the shampoo into her hair while she glared over at Zoey, who ignored her. Zoey was flipping through a style magazine looking for the perfect hair cut so Lisa could tame her own brown locks into something besides a bushy mess of curls. Margo sighed, thinking about how great her life had been over the last four months—well other than the trips Gunner kept taking for work. That was why Lisa was glaring at Zoey, who’d just said that Gunner leaving every few weeks for what he’d termed ‘business trips’ was a sure sign he was cheating on Margo.

Lisa had suggested that maybe he hadn’t told her where he was going because it was something he couldn’t talk about. Margo suspected Lisa knew something about Gunner that they didn’t, from her reaction to Zoey’s snorted ‘Yeah, like he’s got a wife and kids’. Margo wasn’t surprised by her friend's skeptical words, Mark had done a number on her two years ago. Zoey had loved him and what he’d done to her had almost broke her. Mark had been a charming man that Margo had never admitted she distrusted, despite Zoey’s fascination with him. He’d been a worse asshole than she’d thought. She had never guessed his true nature. According to him, his job had him traveling to another part of the state every ten days for a week-long trip, and every ten days like clockwork he’d gone on said business trips. It had always seemed strange to Margo, but she’d kept her mouth shut not wanting to argue with her best friend.

After four years of dating, Zoey had begun hinting that they should get married. Mark had resisted at first, but when Zoey had begun preparing to move on with her life since their relationship wasn’t moving to the next level, he’d asked her to marry him. Zoey had been ecstatic, she’d planned a surprise trip to meet him when he went away on business. Zoey had spent days getting ready—buying the sexiest lingerie, finding the perfect bottle of wine to go with the chocolate-covered strawberries she’d purchased, and even going so far as getting a Brazilian. She’d left an hour after he did and headed to the hotel he was supposed to be staying at in Vegas. Arriving about an hour after he would have reached the hotel, she asked them to ring his room.

The manager had pulled up the rooms to discover Mark wasn’t registered. Shocked, Zoey didn’t know what had happened. Had he switched hotels and not told her? She’d called several hotels on the strip looking for him only to find none of them had him registered. Unable to figure out what was going on, she’d called him. Not wanting to ruin the surprise despite the confusion, she’d asked if he’d made it to the hotel. He’d said he was already checked in, leaving her even more confused. Zoey had asked him what hotel he was staying at again, thinking perhaps he had said the wrong name when he’d first told her where he was staying. He’d repeated the name for the hotel she was still at before giving her a room number. Mark had then rushed her off the phone by stating he had to go because he had a meeting to attend. Zoey had charged up to the desk asking them to ring the room number he’d given. Only when she’d rang, it wasn’t his voice she heard on the line it was another mans, who insisted he didn’t know Mark. Unable to figure out what was going on, Zoey had come home.

Zoey waited until he went on another trip and followed him. He’d driven to a little blue house about two towns away from the apartment they shared. There she’d seen something she’d never expected. Mark pulled up and three kids came running out to greet him, they’d jumped up and down calling him daddy. Zoey had watched a woman—who’d turned out to be his wife—smiling at their antics from the doorway. To say Zoey was heartbroken was an understatement. In typical Zoey fashion, she walked up and asked him to introduce her to his wife and kids. Mark had stuttered that he could explain, but Zoey hadn’t wanted to hear it. She’d made sure his wife knew about what he had been doing with her for four years while he was working in the city and left. She’d walked away with them still arguing on their front doorstep and never looked back. Margo knew that the experience had left Zoey scarred and she’d never trusted another man since Mark.

Margo didn’t think that Gunner was cheating on her and she was a damned good judge of character most of the time, but she wasn’t stupid either and his trips were starting to worry her. What was he up to that he couldn’t tell her about it? Why was he gone for days at a time? It wasn’t the same with Gunner as it had been with Mark and Zoey because Gunner called her every day while he was away—sometimes twice a day. He made her laugh and they were connected in ways she wasn’t sure she understood. The way they seemed to mesh without even trying, seemed odd, but felt great. Gunner stayed at her place most nights and they’d found a sort of rhythm that worked for them—and the sex was amazing. Gunner could make her come like nobody’s business and he had, repeatedly.

Margo let out another little sigh as she closed her eyes, listening to the two women talk about Gunner. She tried to figure out how she felt about his frequent business trips, without Zoey’s mistrust or Lisa’s insistence that maybe they didn’t know the whole story, realizing she didn’t feel comfortable with them. 

“I’m just saying that if he isn’t willing to talk about where he’s going, then it’s likely it involves another woman. Men are assholes and they almost always fuck around,” Zoey insisted, glaring at Lisa, who sat Margo up after wrapping a towel around her head.

“And I’m telling you maybe it’s not about another woman at all. It might be that he’s just not able to talk about what he’s doing,” Lisa muttered, rolling her eyes as she led Margo to the salon chair a few steps away.

“Yeah right, likely that he’s fucking around on her, which is why he can’t talk about it,” Zoey said, grabbing another magazine and flipping angrily through it.

“No, that’s not necessarily what it is. I know you had something horrible happen to you Zoey, but not every man is like your ex,” Lisa stated, earning a huffy grunt from Zoey.

Lisa didn’t know what had happened between Mark and Zoey. She knew that Zoey’s boyfriend had cheated on her, but she didn’t know that he’d been married with kids throughout their entire relationship. It was understandable that Zoey would be hurt and unable to look beyond that pain to see Gunner’s actions objectively. Margo was almost a hundred percent sure Gunner wasn’t cheating on her. He contacted her too regularly when he was on his trips and she’d never heard another woman with him. She knew there was always a chance, but she didn’t really believe that.

“Same as before?” Lisa asked, meeting her eyes in the mirror.

“Yes, but a little shorter this time, maybe just above my shoulders,” Margo suggested.

“You sure?” Lisa asked, Margo nodded and Lisa began to cut her hair after pumping the chair up.

“Just because you found a great guy, doesn’t mean Margo should allow a loser to take advantage of her, Lisa. If it acts like a rat and it smells like a rat, then it’s a rat, and Gunner is a rat.”

“My God, would you two stop arguing? I don’t think Gunner’s cheating on me Zoey, so just stop. He calls me too much while he’s away and we both know Mark always tried to rush you off the phone and only called you once or twice while he was away. Gunner calls me once or twice a day, it’s different. Is it worrisome, sure, but it’s not him cheating. I’m almost a hundred percent sure of that, but if it makes you feel better I will talk to him about where he goes again.” Margo was losing patience with their argument over her love life and what she should think. She wasn’t going to allow either of them to dictate her relationship with Gunner.

Zoey sighed huffily and sent a glare her way gritting her teeth, trying not to say anything else. Margo didn’t care, she loved Zoey, but she didn’t need her to run her relationship. She had that covered just fine.

“Have you told your mom you’re dating someone?” Lisa asked, changing the subject as she continued to cut Margo’s hair.

“Ha! Nope, even I can answer that one, Lisa. You know her mother is a terror,” Zoey said, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“She’s right. I haven’t talked to her at all since about two weeks after the picnic. Thankfully, she’s been all wrapped up in some charity event they’re planning this month and hasn’t called or tried to get me involved. I figure she will be calling me any day now to rope me into going to the event.” Margo watched Lisa work, feeling her tense muscles begin to relax.

“Oh right, the annual feed the hungry drive. Mom’s been trying to get me to come help with the dinner. I can’t believe your mom hasn’t been doing the same with you.”

“Yeah—that’s because she can’t cook for shit,” Zoey said, unable to contain her laughter as she almost fell off her chair trying to avoid the magazine Margo had tossed at her.

“Hey, if you don’t want a huge chunk missing from your hair you’ll stop that,” Lisa said laughing.

“Yeah and if that witch, who’s supposed to be my best friend doesn’t stop making fun of my lack of culinary skills, I’m going to beat her over the head with your flat iron. I can’t help that I never figured out how to cook. I tried, I really did, it’s just hard.” Margo sat back down with her arms crossed over her chest feeling a little saddened by her inability to cook anything more than a TV dinner.

Cooking was something you either had the knack for or you didn’t, and she definitely didn’t have it. She could somehow manage to burn toast on the lowest setting. How bad she was at cooking was really sad actually, and even she knew it. It was why she stuck to TV dinners, canned soups, and take out. Gunner didn’t seem to mind. He owned a restaurant and for the last month—even on the nights when he wasn’t in town—someone from the restaurant brought over a full meal twice a day. It had only taken him a week to catch on that she couldn’t cook. It was likely the burnt nuggets that had clued him in.

Yeah, it was definitely those chicken nuggets. She could remember the smoke coming from the oven as Gunner used a towel to try and keep the smoke alarm from screaming as she’d mourned the smoky blackened mess that had been her dinner. He’d waited till the smoke was gone, then called someone to have them bring over a few steaks from the restaurant he owned. His only question as he’d ordered had been if she wanted fries or a baked potato. One of the things she loved about Gunner was that he rarely reacted badly to stressful situations, which was good because Margo seemed prone to finding those without effort.

Her last boyfriend had freaked every time something like the chicken nugget incident had happened. She couldn’t seem to remember how many times he’d given her a lecture about her lack of attention when she was painting or drawing. She’d start a meal, get distracted and before she’d even realized it was overdone, the fire alarm was telling her it was burnt. It wasn’t like she tried to lose track of the time, it just happened when she was working. That was the other issue she had with Trey, her last boyfriend. He’d never understood her art and had always called it a hobby. Art to Margo wasn’t a hobby, it was a calling. Trey never seemed to understand that, but somehow Gunner did. It was odd the way he understood her better than anyone else ever had, especially after only four months. Well, other than Zoey.

“Yeah, it’s hard because it involves more than two minutes of your time, dummy. If you would give it your attention for more than the few minutes it takes to nuke a TV dinner, you might be able to learn,” Zoey muttered, shaking her head and grinning. Margo stuck her tongue out at her, making a face.

“You guys are a hoot but stop picking on her because I can’t cut straight while laughing,” Lisa said, turning towards the door when they all heard the jingle that the door played when it was opened. A tall, handsome man with thick brown hair that hung to his broad muscular shoulders and tanned skin walked in, his gaze focused intently on Lisa. Margo knew he was Lisa’s boyfriend, a bad boy turned good. He’d been quite the womanizer before he’d met Lisa a few years ago, but now he barely noticed anyone but her. It was a look she’d become familiar with if she was honest. Gunner seemed to look at her just as intently as Tim looked at Lisa.

“Hi, Cherry Top,” Tim murmured as he pulled Lisa into his arms looking down at her while he held her hips. Lisa blushed at the nickname, making Margo wonder what it was referring to because Lisa wasn’t easy to embarrass.

“Don’t call me that, I told you to stop when you came up with it.,” Lisa muttered, her arms circling his neck with her scissors and comb still in hand.

“And I told you to get used to it, Cherry Top,” Tim whispered against her lips before he kissed her long and hard, without any concern that they had an audience.

Margo glanced at Zoey and fanned herself because the man was almost as hot as Gunner. Zoey grinned and pretended to swoon. Laughing, they waited till the couple acknowledged their presence again. It took a while before Lisa could drag herself away from his deep kisses.

“Damn it. You do that just to make me blush, don’t you?” she asked as she stepped back from him, avoiding his seeking hands as they tried to catch her hips and pull her back into his arms.

“You already know the answer to that one. I love it when you blush, it’s gotten harder to do since I’ve managed to corrupt you,” Tim said grinning.

“True. You’ve met Margo and Zoey before so stop trying to be annoying and say hello.” Lisa shook her head as she stepped back up to finish Margo’s haircut.

“Hello.” Tim parroted earning a glare from Lisa in the mirror before he laughed and smacked her ass. He thankfully waited till she wasn’t cutting to do it because Lisa jumped and smacked his hands away. “Stop glaring at me or I will have to take you to task later. Just came in to ask what time you’re getting off today. I know someone comes in at two but didn’t know if you were getting off then or not.”

“Yeah, I’m leaving at two. Sundays are usually slow, that’s why Betty only has me working now and Tammy coming in at two. Margo and Zoey are the only people who’ve even come in today. Guess it’s the rain, because I expected at least a few walk ins.” Lisa was back to cutting Margo’s hair as she talked.

“Okay, you want to go to dinner before the set tonight?” Tim asked, leaning against the wall behind Lisa. He watched her every move meeting her eyes in the mirror when she looked up from cutting to glance at him.

“Sure, pick me up at two fifteen. Is Brett coming?” She asked, her eyes clouding a bit when she said the other man’s name, making Margo wonder about him.

“No,” Tim said, his voice ringing with finality.

“Okay,” Lisa said turning to look at him. “Are you ever going to forgive him?”

“No.”

Margo felt her curiosity stir over the dark look that covered his face, making her wonder what he wouldn’t forgive Brett for. Zoey raised a brow as she glanced at her. Margo knew she was wondering the same thing Margo was. Tim chatted with Lisa for a few more minutes before he kissed her one more time and with a—have a good day, ladies—to them, he was out the door.

After that, Lisa finished their cuts and they paid as they headed out to have lunch after promising Lisa that they would get together soon.