Page 21 of Wish I Might
“And he just walked out?”
“Yep.”Scissors in hand, Bailey deftly snipped at the section of Chloe’s hair she held between two fingers, then ran her comb through it.She’d already done the bulk of the cut and had blown Chloe’s silky blond hair dry, and was now on touch ups.“And I had to go over to my mom’s for dinner, so I didn’t see him the rest of the night.”
“Hmm.”
Drawing up another section of hair, Bailey paused to meet Chloe’s eyes in the mirror.“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”Chloe blinked wide, guileless eyes.“I just think it’s interesting that he’s being so cautious.”
“I don’t think it’s interesting.”Bailey went back to snipping, the sound loud in the nearly empty salon.It was after six, and all the other stylists had gone home.“I think it’s weird.And annoying.”
“Maybe that’s why he’s doing it.To piss you off.”
Bailey considered that for a second, then shook her head.“That’s never been Nash’s style.He’s too straightforward.”
“So then he needed time to think.”
“Why?”Snip, comb, snip.“I’m offering him sex.Why can’t he just take it like a normal guy?”
“Did you offer him sex?”
“Yes.”
“I mean, explicitly and specifically.”
“Oh.”Bailey paused.“No, I guess not.”
“Maybe he thought you just wanted him to, like, direct the action,” Chloe ventured.“Like an intimacy coordinator on a movie set.You’re cutting more than we agreed on.”
“No, I’m not.You sure I can’t talk you into some color?”
“No, and stop trying to distract me.”
“It was worth a shot.Hold still, I’m almost done.”
Expression pained, Chloe closed her eyes.“So?”
Bailey worked fast, racing against the ticking clock of Chloe’s haircut anxiety.“So, what?”
“Intimacy coordinator or full participant?”
She hadn’t considered just having him there in a strictly supervisory capacity.“I don’t know.I guess there are pros and cons to both.”
“Want my opinion?”
She didn’t, but as long as Chloe was focused on the Nash problem, she wasn’t paying attention to what Bailey was doing to her hair.“Sure.”
“Don’t sleep with him.There’s too much history between you, too much baggage.”
Bailey shoved irritation aside to focus on the sharp points coming down in front of Chloe’s ears.“The history is why I want him there,” she reminded her friend as she snipped and shaped.“He knows me, knows what I want.”
“I don’t think you know what you want,” Chloe muttered.
“What was that?”Bailey asked sweetly, though she’d heard perfectly.
“Nothing.”Chloe popped one eye open.“He can be there without fucking you.”
“Yeah, but I think that would make it weird,” Bailey said, and leaned back to eye her work.A little more off the left side, she decided, and raised the scissors.“Keep your eyes closed.”
