The Look of Love (12 page)

“He’s done your hair before?” Eboni knew Gunnar had worked in the salon as a teenager. She didn’t remember him doing hair.

“Long, long time ago. I didn’t recognize him until you mentioned he’s Queen’s son. She taught you well.”

“Of course. I always listen to my mama.” He smiled as he ushered her to the front desk.

“Next time, don’t be so heavy-handed with the oil-sheen spray.”

“Just tell me I’m good at what I do.”

The woman they had dubbed as the devil’s sister laughed. “You know you are. Will I see you here next week?”

Eboni held her breath until he answered.

“I’ll be here for as long as my mother needs me.”

That answer must have pleased the client, who smiled even wider. She paid for her services and left.

“What the hell just happened? Am I dreaming?” Tillman curled his client’s hair with a curling iron as he stared at Gunnar. “For as long as I’ve been here, that woman has never been nice. Shay is the only one who can put up with her ornery ass.”

“Watch your language. There are ladies present.” Gunnar stared at his mother’s employee until Tillman broke the stare first to concentrate on his client.

To see Gunnar take control gave Eboni hope that he had changed. If she could only know the reason why he’d left her, left their life, she might be able to fully forgive him.

“My mom has done Mrs. Pratt’s hair ever since her shop opened.” Gunnar went to Monica. “The first hair I did was Mrs. Pratt’s.”

Tisha gasped.

“Yeah, talk about trial by fire. She was rough on me as a kid. Yelled at me. I learned that if you treat people the way you want to be treated, they’ll meet you halfway.” He addressed Monica. “Any money I earn doing hair will go to Eboni for the center.”

“What?” Eboni wanted to move closer to Gunnar but her feet remained cemented to the ground.

Gunnar strolled over to her. She noticed his confident gait. Her heart pounded out of control.

“I don’t want to be a distraction. I really want to help.” He took her hand and pressed Mrs. Pratt’s tip into it. “You won’t take my personal money. You can at least take the money I earn here as a stylist. Deal?”

Eboni couldn’t move. She could barely blink. In that moment, everything changed on its head.

The front door crashed open. Gunnar blocked Eboni’s body as he faced the door. That move garnered him more cool points in her book.

She peered around him and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Ant at the door.

“What are you doing here?” Eboni made her way around her protector.

“I heard Guns was here.” He stared at Gunnar and hopped around like a lovesick teenager. “Man, I thought you were lying.” He pointed to Tillman. “I love you, man.” He ran up to Gunnar and pulled him in for a half hug. Then he scanned the place. “This is a beauty salon.”

“You’re quick.” Eboni laughed and got the others to do the same.

“I thought with you being here and running things and with a name like Press ’N Curl, you’d turned the place into a gym.”

This time, Gunnar laughed. “This is my mom’s spot. I’m just helping her out.” He approached the short man with the wild Afro. “If you want, I can hook you up.” He touched Ant’s hair. “Maybe some braids. Or I can shape up your ’fro or just cut it down all together.”

Ant ducked away from him. “Are you crazy?” He patted his hair like a beloved pet. “I’m not getting you to touch my hair. Maybe Tillman.”

“I don’t know, man. He does good work.” Tillman shrugged as he put on the finishing touches to his client’s hair.

As much as she didn’t want to admit it to herself, Eboni started to get that same feeling.

“That’s all right.” He headed to the door. “Good to see you here.”

She liked having Gunnar at the shop. She couldn’t let him back into her life that easily.

* * * *

Gunnar found himself developing a rhythm at the salon. He stayed out of the stylists’ way unless they needed something. Then he became Johnny-on-the-spot. He even noticed Eboni staring at him a bit more.

Styling Mrs. Pratt’s hair had gotten him noticed. He still felt Eboni remained guarded around him. By giving Eboni some space while being available to her, her walls started coming down. Gunnar would have to thank his mother for the advice. He wanted to get closer to Eboni, and her plan had worked.

Shortly after lunch, a young white man walked into the salon carrying an African-American toddler on his hip.

“I don’t have an appointment.” The slim man waved his hand in the air. Both he and the little girl wore the same style fur-lined coat. “I need help.” He sat the child on the reception desk counter.

“Don’t set that baby up here.” Monica pointed to the customer who’d styled his hair to mimic a rollercoaster ride. He had it stiffened with enough hairspray and mousse to withstand any hurricane or tornado.

“Easy, Monica.” Gunnar walked up to the customer. “How can we help you?”

The customer grabbed his child and took a couple of steps back from Gunnar. “Look, I’m not here to be ridiculed.”

Gunnar scanned the area around him. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ve encountered guys like you before. Big, tough guys. Think it’s funny calling me names like fag or gay boy or wanting to talk about me having a black daughter.”

Gunnar raised his hands in the air. “Sir, I’ve never met you. I would never be disrespectful to you or your child. I’m here to help.”

“I don’t want
your
help.” When the little girl wiggled too much in his arms, he placed her on the floor to run around. “Terral is so much better with this than me.” The man covered his eyes with his hand.

Gunnar thought he heard him sobbing.

The girl walked up to him and patted him on the leg. “No cry, Dada.” Her hair had been styled in two disheveled Afro puffs.

Yes, this man definitely needed help. Gunnar could tell that guys that looked like him had picked on this man for his lifestyle. To Gunnar, it didn’t make a difference.

Eboni brought over a cup of water to the customer. “How can we help?”

He dabbed under his eyes and brought his child over to him. “My husband’s is out of town. He normally does Alicia’s hair. That’s her name. Alicia after Alicia Keys.”

“Very pretty name for a very pretty girl.” Eboni crouched down to get eye level with the child.

“Thank you. I’m Marc, with a C.”

“Nice to meet you, Marc. You need us to do her hair?”

The customer nodded. “She won’t sit still for me. She won’t let me wash it. She won’t let me comb it. Her hair is a little, um, challenging.”

Monica squeezed out an, “uh-huh,” through her nose.

“Monica.” Gunnar shook his head at her.

“Let me give her a try.” Eboni opened her arms up to see if the child would let her pick her up.

“No!” Alicia ran to the other side of her father.

“Maybe it would be best if you held her while I did her hair?” Eboni stood.

“Come on, baby. Come to Daddy.”

The child, in her pink tights with matching white dress with pink flowers over it, jumped into her father’s arms. He walked her over to Eboni’s station.

Gunnar strolled over to the cart with the hair curlers and searched the bottom shelf for his mother’s secret box. She kept it for children like Alicia.

He watched Eboni attempt to remove the hair ties from the child’s jet-black hair. Alicia twisted and turned her head so much that watching her could make a person seasick.

While Marc attempted to hold Alicia on his lap, Eboni managed to remove one rubber band from her hair.

“Oh, not good. Shouldn’t use rubber bands on her hair.” Eboni threw it away.

“I didn’t know. Like I said, Terral normally does this.” Marc reached up to remove the other rubber band.

As soon as it was removed, Alicia’s wild hair made a halo around her face.

“Okay, let’s get started.” Eboni pulled out a wide-tooth comb.

As soon as Alicia saw it, she started crying and hugged her father around his neck.

“She does the same thing with me.” Marc patted his daughter on the back. He looked like he wanted to shed some tears himself.

Gunnar had to help them out without pushing himself on them. Marc had made it clear that he didn’t like Gunnar’s kind.

In an exaggerated fashion, Gunnar plopped down in one of the chairs that sat under the hair dryer. Alicia, Marc, and Eboni turned to him.

Gunnar carried his mother’s box in his hand. He backed his head up and bumped it against the hairdryer bonnet. He pretended the intentional ding hurt him so much that he had to rub the back of his head.

Alicia giggled and pointed to Gunnar.

Gunnar rubbed his head and then opened the box, being sure to keep the contents hidden from Alicia’s prying brown eyes. He removed a pink plastic hair barrette shaped like a bow from the box and slipped it into the side of his hair.

Again, Alicia giggled. She wriggled off Marc’s lap and padded over to Gunnar, being sure to stay a couple of feet from him.

Gunnar pulled a long yellow ribbon from the box and wrapped it around his ponytail holder. Then he retrieved a hair band with pink butterflies on it and put it at the front of his head. He realized that he’d made a fool of himself. In doing so, Alicia approached him.

He finally turned the box around so that she could see the contents. The dark-skinned beauty reached into the box and pulled out a white barrette. Gunnar turned his head for her and she attached it to the end of his ponytail.

“Pretty?” he asked her.

She nodded. Then she pointed to her hair.

“I could do that to you if you want. Can I try?”

Alicia nodded.

“Good. I’ll do you like my mama used to do her clients.” Gunnar slid down to the floor and rested his back against the chair.

The child, as though she’d done it before, sat on his lap as she busied herself playing with another barrette from his box.

Gunnar turned to Marc. “Are you okay with this?”

Marc, with his mouth agape, could only look at Eboni, who also looked as shocked. Then the customer finally nodded.

“Good.” Gunnar pulled out a paddle brush and started brushing Alicia’s hair.

The entire time he styled her hair, Gunnar told her stories and kept the child talking. By the time he finished, Gunnar had put eight cornrows in her hair and secured the end with a hair clip that Alicia had chosen. As long as he talked to her, she stayed still for him.

“All done, baby girl.” Gunnar lifted the child to her feet and stood up himself.

Alicia ran to Marc and held her arms up to him. Marc admired the work and then looked over at Gunnar.

Before Marc could say anything, Gunnar said, “Wrap her head at night. She should be good with this style for a few days. If you need help with her hair, don’t hesitate to come by the shop.”

“Thank you so much. And I’m sorry for what I said to you before. It’s just--”

“I know.” Gunnar held his hand up. “I did the same thing to a kid who came in here.” He glanced at Eboni, hoping she had caught his remorse. “I’m not one of those guys.”

Marc nodded. “What do I owe you?”

“I didn’t do a perfect job on her hair. Her parts are not straight. I could have made the rows a little tighter. No charge for this one as long as you spread the word to your friends to bring business here.”

Marc helped his child on with her coat. “Done.” He shook Gunnar’s hand. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Keep your business with us.” Gunnar looked down at Alicia. “Bye, Princess Alicia.” He gave her a courtly bow.

“Bye-bye, Gun-Gun.” She laughed at him as she walked out with her father.

Gunnar turned around and saw a sea of stunned faces staring back at him. “What?”

“How did you do that?” Monica asked first. “I have five daughters. I’ve never gotten them to be as good as that girl was for you.”

“My mom taught me the secret.” He pulled out the hair accessories he’d used to lure the child in to trust him. “Get down to their level. Make them laugh. Make them be a part of their hairstyle choices. Doesn’t always work. For her, it did.”

Gunnar walked by Eboni who stepped into his path. She stared at him but didn’t say a word.

She cleared her throat. “Um, forgot one.” She unclipped the white barrette Alicia had put in his ponytail. “Here.” She handed it to him.

“Thanks.” He hoped with the child and everything he’d done today that Eboni saw him as a different man.

When he gazed back at her and she smiled at him, he had a feeling he had begun to win her over. Getting to know Eboni again went beyond his mother’s advice of sitting down with each employee and talking to them. Eboni started to look at him the way she used to when they’d first dated. Those stares alone ignited the smoldering flame that existed in him, the fire for her that had never been extinguished.

At the end of the day, Gunnar helped clean up the salon until only he and Eboni remained. He had a feeling from the way she dragged out folding the clean towels that she’d planned it that way. When he thought about being alone with her, he felt like a teenager again and his stomach fluttered. He wondered what kind of damage they could do in her Smart Car.

As soon as Tillman walked out, she eased over to him in Elizabeth’s office.

“Did I thank you for donating your money to me, I mean, the center?” She sat on the edge of the desk as he sat behind it watching the security monitors.

“It wasn’t my money. I told you I would do what I could while I was here.” He turned in the chair to face her. “Guess I’m not as cruel and heartless as you think.”

“I deserved that.”

Even with her working hard all day, Eboni glowed. Her golden skin tone brightened the dim office.

“Why?” Eboni started to chew on her thumbnail, a habit he hadn’t seen her do since her junior high days. “Why was it so easy for you to come back for your mom?”

Gunnar stared at her for a moment, considering the ramifications of letting her get that close to him, that close to the truth, the ugly truth.

“My birth mother was a really bad drug addict and alcoholic.” He spoke slowly and evenly so that she could absorb his words. “Gideon was too young to remember a lot of what she did. She used to beat us for no reason. Some boyfriend left her, she would hit me. She couldn’t get her beer or wine for the night, she’d smack Gid.” He raised his arm and showed her a small circular patch of discolored and rippled skin near his inner elbow. “See that?” He glanced up at her. “That’s where she put out her cigarette on me because the store wouldn’t sell me beer for her and they called social services. I was only eight.”