The Look of Love (23 page)

“Yes, we have,” Tisha said above a whisper.

The group got quiet as they stared at her.

“What?” Tisha, now in jeans and a slightly more formfitting sweater, shrugged.

“Baby, that’s the loudest I’ve ever heard you speak.” Elizabeth put her hand to her chest.

Tisha kissed Queen’s cheek. “Gunnar helped me find my voice.”

“You got a good boy there.” Monica, still sitting behind the receptionist desk, nodded toward Gunnar.

“Sounds like you’ve done a good job in my spot.” His mother patted his hand. She turned to Eboni. “See. I told you it would be good for Gunnar to be here.”

Eboni smiled and patted Queen Elizabeth on her shoulder. “Would you like some coffee?” She strolled by Gunnar to the coffee station.

“Sure, dear. Plenty of cream and sugar.”

Gunnar cleared his throat. He knew his mother had to watch her diet.

Elizabeth screwed up her lips. “Fine. Decaf. No cream. A packet of that fake sugar if you have it.”

“Sugar substitute, Mom. It’s not bad.” He kissed her forehead.

“Don’t stand here. We have a business to run. Open the door.” She pointed to the front door.

“Yes, ma’am.” Gunnar headed to the door and then stopped. “Wait. Where’s Shay?”

The group remained quiet.

“Has she called? Has anyone called her?” Gunnar scanned the group for an answer. When they remained quiet, he pressed on. “Anyone have anything to say?” He stared at Eboni, who walked toward his mother with a white Styrofoam cup filled with coffee, decaffeinated he hoped. “Eboni? Have you heard anything?”

She shook her head.

Before Gunnar could argue with his mother about getting rid of the temperamental diva, the back door slammed.

Shay, still in shades, stomped over to her station. She kept her back to the group as she stripped off her coat and purse. When she turned around she glanced at each of them.

“What?” she asked.

“You’re late.” Gunnar glanced at his watch.

“Honey, let it go and open the door.” His mother pointed to the door, which held back about four waiting customers.

“No, Ma. She needs to learn respect. You pay her to be here on time.”

“Please. Open the door and let me work.” Shay got her station ready while keeping her back to the group. “I promise to be a good girl and eat my vegetables and behave all day.”

Gunnar looked to his mother. She gave him a simple nod, which let him know he needed to drop this subject now and open the door.

Gunnar blew out an exasperated breath. “Whatever.” He unlocked the door and ushered in a string of customers. “Welcome to Press ’N Curl.”

Each customer went to their stylist, avoiding the front desk. Gunnar started to go toward Shay to continue their conversation, but stopped when he heard his mother’s voice.

“Gunnar, will you help me into the office?” Elizabeth stood and headed to her office.

By the time Gunnar reached her to assist her inside she’d already made it. He watched her glance around the space, probably looking for where he’d made changes. Wisely, as Eboni had suggested, he’d returned everything to its rightful place.

Queen Elizabeth took up residence behind the desk. In her gold suit, she looked more regal than an entrepreneur.

“Close the door and have a seat.” His mother pointed to the door and then the chair in front of her desk.

Gunnar did as instructed. As soon as his backside hit the seat, his mother spoke.

“Did you take my advice and try to get to know these people?” She took a sip of her coffee in a method that didn’t ruin her perfectly painted red lips.

“Yes. I took Tillman to breakfast so that we could talk.”

Queen raised her eyebrows. “He must have
really
liked that.”

Gunnar stared at his mother suspiciously. “You knew? You could have said something to me.”

After placing her cup down, a frown settled into her features. “Tell you what? I don’t define my employees by their sexuality in the same way I don’t define our relationship on race. I taught you that. You don’t go around saying you have a black mama just like I don’t say I have white sons. Tillman is a really good employee.”

Gunnar nodded, feeling stupid with the way he had previously thought about Tillman. “Yes, he is. The best. Very solid. He wants to do what you do. He wants his own shop.”

His mother smiled. “Good to see he has ambition. And Tisha?”

“She’s an excellent stylist. Quiet but so, so good. I’ve registered for the Atlanta hair show. I want her to present there.”

This time, his mother blinked. “Are you serious? What did she think?”

“She said she loved the idea. She’s coming out of her shell.” Gunnar relaxed back in his chair.

“I’m proud of you, son. You did so well with those two. I need you to do the same with Shay.”

Gunnar snickered and shook his head. “I’ve tried. Unless she’s asking me out for drinks and, uh, more, she doesn’t want anything to do with me. She didn’t want me here. She undermines me every chance she gets. She’s unpredictable.”

His mother smiled.

“Care to let me in on the joke?”

“She sounds a lot like a young man I used to know. I would tell him to be home at a certain time, and he would stay out later. I’d tell him to clean his room, and he’d purposely trash it. He hated everything I cooked.”

“Are you talking about your ex?” Gunnar spoke the words faster than he thought about how they may hurt his mother.

Her stoic expression let him know his dig hit its intended target, her heart.

“I apologize. You didn’t deserve that. But if you’re trying to say that Shay is anything like I was, you’re mistaken. She’s nothing like me.” He sat up and braced his elbows on his knees.

“How do you know?” Elizabeth put her hands on top of her desk, which showed off her red nails.

“Because I was hurting when I acted out. I had a biological mother who’d abused me. I had been moved from foster home to foster home. I didn’t think anyone loved me.” He stared at his mother. “Until I got to your home.”

“If you haven’t talked to Shay, how do you know she’s not hurting in the same way? It may not be foster care, but something else.” His mother took another delicate sip from her coffee.

“Do you know what it is?” Gunnar asked.

“What I know I had to find out from her. If you want to gain her trust, I suggest you do the same thing. What do I always tell you?”

“I don’t know. You say a lot of things.” He smiled.

“You catch more flies with honey.” She finished off her coffee. “Speaking of honey, how are you and Eboni?”

Gunnar stood. “I think I’m needed out in the salon.”

“Excuse me. I didn’t say you could leave.” She motioned for him to take his seat again. “What’s going on with you and Eboni?”

Gunnar slumped down into his chair again. “Nothing.” He shrugged. “We’re friends. That’s it.”

“No more?”

He shook his head.

“But you want more.”

Gunnar could never lie to his mother. He paused thoughtfully before answering. “What I want and what’s going to happen are two different things. We’re living in two separate worlds. You’re the only thing holding us together. Once you’re better, I’ll go back to my home and my job in Nevada.” If he still had a job, he wanted to add. “She’ll stay here. Her aunt, this salon, and the community center keeps her here.”

Queen Elizabeth took a deep breath. “If you want to make it work, you can. Don’t deny your heart, baby. I think you’ve done that for far too long.”

Gunnar considered his mother’s words carefully. “She doesn’t want me solving her problems.”

“So don’t. But be there for her. And tell her how you really feel before it’s too late.”

Gunnar started to stand again but stopped. “May I be excused now?”

His mother smiled. “Yes. Go do what you normally do when I’m not here.”

“I’m the shampoo boy.” He held his hands up and wiggled his fingers.

“You’re not styling?” Elizabeth cocked her head. “You do such great hair.”

“I style if there’s an empty chair. I’m a little rusty.”

“You think you would have had enough practice with your own hair. When are you going to cut that stuff off?”

On instinct, Gunnar ran his hand over his head. “It’s my look. I think the ladies like it.”

He wouldn’t tell her the real reason to keep his scalp covered. His mother had enough of her own issues. Gunnar didn’t need to test her heart with revealing this bit of news.

She shook her head. “Kids. Thank you for the help, sweetie. I’m going to look around my office and see how you’ve improved it.”

With that, he walked out without a word. He hoped he’d put everything back in its original spot. Knowing Queen Elizabeth, she would find something out of place.

Gunnar scanned the salon. Everyone had someone in their chairs and a couple of customers sat in the waiting area. He decided to address his easier targets before getting with his more difficult ones. He asked Tillman and Tisha if either of them needed help. When they both said no, Gunnar moved over to Eboni.

Eboni wouldn’t be a pushover.

“You need help? I’m free. I can help shampoo or something.” To illustrate his point, he pushed up the sleeves of his knit shirt.

“No. I’m okay.” She flashed him a smile. “Thank you.”

Gunnar started to walk away.

“It’s great having Queen Elizabeth back here. I’ve missed her in the salon.”

Unable to look at her expression, he moved over to Shay. “You need help?”

Still in her large, bug-eyed sunglasses, she turned to him. “You can buy a sistagirl a meal once in a while since it looks like drinking is off the table.”

Gunnar crossed his arms over his chest. “Fine. You free for lunch?”

Shay’s mouth hung open as she pumped up the chair holding her client. When she didn’t answer, Gunnar turned to Monica.

“Monica, does Shay have any bookings for lunch?” he asked.

Monica scanned the computer screen. “Nope.”

“Good. We’ll go at noon.” He smiled.

Shay didn’t share in his happiness. She turned from him. In that motion, Gunnar thought he caught something. He hoped he didn’t see what appeared to be a swollen bruise around her eye.

An immediate feeling of anger surged through his body. Gunnar gritted his teeth hard enough for a sharp pain to stab his head. He turned away and caught his mother standing in her office doorway.

To act as though he hadn’t seen it, Gunnar smiled and continued to the back area. He braced his hands on the dryer and took a couple of deep breaths. If what he suspected had occurred, no way could he stand by and do nothing.

* * * *

Eboni kept her attention split between her clients and Gunnar’s whereabouts. When he’d asked Shay out to lunch, she couldn’t deny that a pang of jealousy had riddled her thoughts. Had he asked Shay out because she’d left him at two in the morning?

When she’d gotten home, as she’d suspected, everyone had been in bed sleeping. That didn’t mean she needed to get too comfortable. Doing that in the past had gotten her hurt. Now that she knew the score, she wouldn’t be blindsided.

Eboni put her client under a hairdryer. “I’ll leave you for about thirty minutes.”

Her client nodded. When Eboni turned around to clean up her station, she saw Queen Elizabeth standing in her office doorway.

“Darling, will you come here, please?” Elizabeth motioned to her office.

Eboni nodded and walked into the room.

“Close the door, please.” Elizabeth sat behind her desk.

Eboni closed the office door and sat down. “What’s going on?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing.”

Eboni swallowed, unable and unwilling to talk about Gunnar to his mother. “What do you mean?”

“Your hair.”

Eboni quickly put her hand to her head, although a small part of her had been relieved that Queen didn’t want to talk about Gunnar. “What are you talking about?”

“I must admit. When you first had me put the weave in, I thought it was something you wanted to try. I didn’t know you were going to keep getting it redone. I like your hair. Don’t you?” Elizabeth looked at her with such warmth and concern in her eyes.

“I thought it looked nice. Is this your way of telling me I need a touchup?” Eboni smiled to lighten the mood in the office.

“It’s my way of telling you I know you’re hiding something.” Queen chuckled. “I swear you and Gunnar are so alike. Both of you are just fighting it though.”

“When you’re all better, he’s going to be gone. Where does that leave me?” Eboni felt her throat getting scratchy, but she refused to cry in front of this man’s mother.

“Are you sure that he really wants to go back to fighting?” Elizabeth asked. “And are you sure you want to stay here doing hair, taking care of a relative who doesn’t need caring and a place you’re giving your full devotion to while cutting yourself out of the equation?”

“Queen, I--”

Elizabeth held up her hand. “No. Hear me out. I’ve sat back and watched you and I’ve seen you try so hard to cling to something after Gunnar left. Trust me. I didn’t like that he left, especially with what was going on with you. But you two are adults. I thought by now you would have figured it out.” She clasped her hands together and rested them on her stomach. “I’m kind of glad to have had this health scare if it’s brought you and Gunnar together to figure out how to do it right. I will get better or die.”

“Queen!”

“Stop. I can’t live forever. Life is short. You remember that. Do you want to live that life authentically or with fake hair and lying to yourself that if that man walks out of your life again you’ll be okay?”

This time, Eboni couldn’t hide her feelings. She sniffed and wiped her eyes.

“I don’t mean to hurt you. But someone has to be honest with you and Gunnar. Don’t think he got away easy either. I love both of you. It hurts me to see you two so content to see the other go. You two belong together. Don’t you see that?”

See it? Eboni saw it, felt it, dreamed it, and wanted it. Wishing for a relationship didn’t mean she would get it.

Eboni stood. “I have to get back to my client.”

“It hasn’t been thirty minutes.”

Ignoring Elizabeth’s astute assessment, Eboni continued. “Thanks for the talk. Glad you’re here.”