Loving Her Nemesis

by Zoe Ann Wood

  She picked up her purse from the counter and threw in her phone.

  “So, I have to run out,” she called, edging toward the front door. “I have a…”

  Argh. Why didn’t she think this through? She could have at least come up with a decent cover story. The hairdryer turned off, and suddenly, Ben was right there, at the bathroom door, while she was trying to sneak past him.

  “A hair appointment at the salon,” she finished lamely. “Right now.”

  “Okay.”

  Ben crossed his arms over his chest. Jade tried not to stare at how his t-shirt hugged his shoulders and biceps. Did he believe her, or did she just make this even more awkward than before?

  “I’ll leave the key in the door. Just lock up after you’re done and put it under the doormat,” she instructed him.

  For a moment, Ben looked as though he wanted to say something but thought better of it. Instead, he dipped his head in a quick nod, and Jade escaped, leaving him alone in the house. If he thought that was weird, so be it. It was better in the long run. Ben didn’t even hint that he thought of her as anything more than an old acquaintance, and neither of them would be staying in Hidden Hollows if things went according to plan. He’d renovate the house and move on, and she would take that job in Asheville and sell her grandparents’ house.

  Running out to her car, Jade was off and driving down the road before she realized that she had no idea where she was heading. But she’d told Ben she was going to the hair salon, so he might notice that her hair looked exactly the same as before. Then he’d know she’d been lying to him.

  It might not be a bad idea to have a quick trim—since she was going in for that meeting with the theater director soon.

  With a sigh, Jade turned in the direction of the town center and parked across the street from Hailey’s Hair Hut, the only salon in town. It had recently been renovated by the owner, Hailey Rhodes, who’d modernized the look and offer of the old establishment. Jade had been a customer here since she’d moved to Hidden Hollows.

  Now, she was hoping Hailey had time to squeeze her in at this hour. The sky was already glowing bright orange with a late September sunset, bathing the town square and all the buildings in that perfect golden light. It was a pretty sight, and Jade thought for the first time that she might miss the little town when she moved away.

  The bell above the door tinkled merrily, announcing her presence as Jade entered the salon. Hailey looked up from where she was blow-drying an older woman’s hair. Jade knew the lady by sight—she was a member of the quilting club and a notorious meddler.

  “Jade,” Hailey yelled over the noise of the dryer. “Hi, what can I do for you today?”

  Jade fiddled with the strap of her purse, trying to ignore the older woman’s curious glance. “I was wondering if you had time to squeeze me in tonight. Just a wash and trim,” she said. “I know I usually call, but…” She shrugged, unwilling to explain why exactly she’d ended up there.

  “Sure.” Hailey imperiously pointed at an armchair with a round hairbrush. “Sit tight, and I’ll be right with you.”

  Jade was both relieved and uncomfortable: now her lie to Ben was a lie no longer, but she’d have to sit through a session with Hailey. It wasn’t that she didn’t like the woman. The opposite was true. Hailey was such a sunny, uncomplicated person, and Jade felt like a Grinch every time she visited the salon. This was gossip central, she knew, a place where the ladies getting their perms done exchanged the juiciest news.

  Okay, maybe that was stereotypical and harsh. And she’d never actually heard Hailey gossip—she simply chatted with her customers who were often happy to monologue while the hairstylist merely nodded and murmured along, encouraging them to spill whatever was in their hearts. Jade supposed it was part of Hailey’s job to give these women a new look and sometimes even serve as a therapist of sorts, listening to their confessions.

  Perhaps she could confess her own sins and troubles. It would be nice to have someone to talk to. But that would mean opening up, letting Hailey in. Jade didn’t know if she had it in her to trust a stranger.

  “There we go.”

  Hailey’s voice brought Jade from her thoughts. She watched as the hairstylist charged her client, her good cheer prompting the woman to smile right back. Hailey was good at her job, and her customers loved her for it.

  Finally, she turned to Jade. “All right! What did you have in mind for today? Your usual?”

  Jade almost nodded, but the question was such a close echo of her conversation with Millie the other day, the words froze in her throat. Had she really become so predictable that everyone knew her choices? When had she allowed that to happen?

  Instead, she said, “I think it’s time for a change. But I haven’t really thought this through, so I didn’t look at any specific hairstyles or anything.”

  Hailey’s eyes twinkled at her words. “I have an idea or two.”

  Jade hesitated, then added, “Nothing too radical, though, okay? I mean…” She fingered her long ponytail. “I like it like this.”

  Hailey gently guided her toward the sink. “Do you trust me?”

  Jade looked at her, feeling oddly vulnerable. She knew that Hailey was asking her about the haircut, but there was something more implied. “Yes,” she said finally, and the word came out solemn, like a promise.

  “Good.” Hailey’s gaze was nothing but kind. “Thank you.”

  They didn’t speak again as Hailey washed Jade’s hair, massaging her scalp so that she could barely hold back a happy moan. She relaxed under Hailey’s skilled hands, letting her eyes drift shut. After the stress of Ben’s presence in her house and the news the principal had brought her, she’d needed this badly.

  Hailey must have sensed that Jade preferred a quiet session because she didn’t speak to her, apart from telling her that she had beautiful hair. Jade watched anxiously as the stylist snipped off an inch here and there, combing her hair back, pinning it up and letting it down again. It curled slightly as it dried, just as it always did, and she wondered what Hailey was doing to it. It was hard to tell at this point.

  The moment Hailey turned on the dryer, Jade closed her eyes. She preferred not to watch as her hairdo took shape around her face, and since she’d told Hailey that she trusted her, she didn’t feel so awkward with her eyes shut. Soft tendrils of hair teased her face, and she rubbed her nose to keep from sneezing.

  At last, the noise from the dryer stopped, and Hailey said, “Wow.”

  Jade opened her eyes and blinked in the sudden glare of the lights that surrounded the mirror. Then her gaze focused on her reflection, and she stared at herself.

  She was the same—but different. Hailey hadn’t straightened her hair but instead worked with its natural texture so that soft curls framed her face, accentuating her features. The differences were minimal: Hailey had created layers and brought her part more to the side, but her hair was still long enough that the change didn’t cause her anxiety. The effect was fantastic.

  “Thank you,” Jade breathed, tugging at one long curl. “I’m not sure I’ll be able to reproduce this at home, but at least I’ll look great for another day or two.”

  Hailey laughed. “It’s not difficult to maintain, I promise.” She paused and studied Jade in the mirror. “Listen, what are your plans for tonight?”

  Jade pursed her lips. The honest answer would be that she was going to watch Netflix alone and avoid Ben, but she couldn’t say that out loud. The second part was especially mortifying.

  “I don’t have plans,” she said instead. It was true to an extent, though she had a sudden urge to tell Hailey all about her troubles.

  “Millie and I are going out.” Hailey put away her tools, cleaning the combs and brushes. “We’d both be super happy if you joined us.”

  She moved on to sweeping the floor, then vacuumed it quickly with practiced, efficient moves.

  Jade wanted to say yes. She did. But she looked down at herself and realized she�
��d escaped from the house in her I’m-staying-at-home-all-evening clothes. She’d put them on after showering earlier in an effort to appear as normal as possible for Ben. She didn’t want him to think she’d put any special thought to her looks. Then she’d ruined it anyway because she ran out of the house like it was on fire.

  “I can’t,” she replied, real regret flowing through her. She swiveled around in her chair to face the stylist. “I’m wearing leggings.”

  Hailey undid her apron and pointed at her legs. “So am I!” She chucked the apron into the towel bin and added, “We’re only going to Miller’s. It’s not fancy, and you won’t stand out at all.”

  Jade bit her lip, debating with herself. This was an opportunity to change up her life a little, and Hailey and Millie had been so kind to her these past months.

  Finally, she nodded. “Okay.”

  11

  Jade

  “Yay!” Hailey did a happy little jig, then grabbed her purse and keys. “I’ll follow you home so you can leave your car there. I can drive you home again later. That way, you can have a drink or two without worrying about driving.”

  Jade grinned at her. “That’s nice of you,” she said as Hailey locked up the front door. “But won’t you be drinking, too?”

  At that, Hailey paused. A soft smile lit up her face. “Actually, we’re trying to get pregnant. I’m staying off alcohol for the time being.”

  Jade touched her arm. “That’s wonderful!”

  Hailey lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I’m excited about it. But we’re not telling people yet, so…”

  “I won’t tell anyone,” Jade assured her, very serious. “I don’t gossip.”

  It seemed for a moment that Hailey would ask her about her statement, but she pointed at a bulky SUV. “This is me,” she said. “I’ll follow you, okay?”

  Jade hurried to her car and drove home with Hailey tailing her. She’d been gone from home for more than an hour, so it was safe to assume that Ben had already left. Her insides still flipped at the thought of him in her house, in her bathroom, but she stamped those feelings down hard. Their agreement—exchanging showers for a fence—was a business transaction, and emotions had no place in it.

  She refused to even look at Ben’s trailer to see if he was there. The Williams house was dark and empty, a looming presence at the end of the road. Jade jumped out of her car and hurried to Hailey’s, slamming the door a little too hard.

  “Let’s go,” she said, feeling as though she was a participant in a money heist.

  If Hailey thought her behavior was weird, she didn’t comment on it. Instead, she chatted about her work, Millie and the bakery, and told Jade all about her husband’s work at the high school. Jade knew Rhett from work and cooperated with him whenever the marching band was needed for games and other sporting events.

  It was nice, just chatting with someone. She’d missed having girlfriends, meeting them for coffee or drinks, and being able to unload her problems on someone else. It wasn’t that she expected help or advice from Hailey, but talking had her feeling as though she wasn’t all alone in this world.

  They met Millie at the tavern, and the hostess showed them to an empty booth in the back of the room. The place was crowded enough for a weeknight, with locals having dinner and talking loudly to make themselves heard. Millie greeted an older woman with frizzy white-blonde hair sitting in the next booth, and the woman glared at them all in response.

  Jade’s stomach rumbled. She hadn’t eaten since before her run, and now the mouth-watering aroma of burgers and fries convinced her to follow along with Millie and Hailey’s evening plans.

  They ordered cheesy fries to share, and Millie assured Jade that the special was worth trying at least once. That decision resulted in a massive burger that Jade couldn’t finish on her own. She and Millie ordered beer to go with the burgers while Hailey stuck to sparkling water.

  The best part of the evening was that Jade didn’t feel pressure to be anyone other than herself. Millie and Hailey didn’t pry into her personal life, they sympathized with her news on the budget cuts for the arts departments, and offered her a little glimpse inside their own lives that she appreciated so much.

  I can do this. It was a powerful realization that her fear of gossiping and small-town busybodies didn’t prevent her from enjoying human interaction. Why she’d kept herself from it was an issue for a different day, but right now, she was here, doing her best to make friends. And she was so grateful to these two lovely women for doing their best to include her in their small circle.

  She looked up then, to the long oak bar and the row of tall chairs along it. At first, she didn’t focus on anything in particular, but she had the strangest sensation of being watched. Then her gaze collided with Ben’s, and he lifted his beer glass in a silent salute. Thirty feet of space separated them, so she wouldn’t have been able to hear him even if he’d spoken, but his expression was so closed, she had no idea what he was thinking.

  Jade gave him a curt nod in return, then looked down at her plate. Her appetite was gone in a blink—and a wave of embarrassment washed over her. She’d behaved like a complete lunatic back at her house, running away from a man who’d been nothing but kind to her in the past weeks. He’d lent her his protective earmuffs and made every effort to keep the noise from disrupting her life. And she’d repaid him by running away.

  “Jade?”

  She lifted her head to find Millie and Hailey watching her from the other side of the table.

  “Sorry?” she said, aware that she’d missed a part of their conversation.

  “What were you looking at?” Hailey asked, turning on the vinyl seat to glance behind her.

  Jade grabbed her hand, nearly knocking over the ketchup bottle. “No, don’t look now.”

  If she could duck under the table and disappear, she would have. How was she going to explain Ben to these two women?

  Millie’s blue eyes went round. “What’s going on? Who are we avoiding?”

  Jade groaned and dropped Hailey’s hand to cover her own face. “It’s a long story.”

  Her words met with silence, and she lowered her hands to see both women grinning at her with expectant expressions.

  “Come on,” Millie said. “You have to share.”

  For once, this demand didn’t put Jade’s back up. It wasn’t malicious greed for gossip but rather a friendly request to share an interesting part of her life.

  With a sigh, she leaned closer. “If you look now, I’m leaving, okay?”

  Millie and Hailey both nodded.

  “Fine.” Jade took a deep breath and said, “That guy, the one in a green sweater, is Ben Charles. He bought the old Williams house recently and is renovating it.”

  Millie’s expression went blank—Jade remembered she’d moved to Hidden Hollows only recently—but Hailey lifted her eyebrows. “Isn’t that place haunted?”

  Jade snorted. “Not anymore. He’s ripping it apart, so even the ghosts don’t stand a chance.”

  Millie laughed at that. “How do you know this?”

  “I live next door,” Jade said.

  “Ooh, I get it now,” Hailey whispered. “You’re hot for your new neighbor!”

  “No,” Jade shot back, too quickly.

  The two women both sent her equally unimpressed looks. Jade half wished she had her phone handy to snap a photo of them.

  “Okay, fine, he’s attractive.” They’d see for themselves the moment they came face to face with him anyway, so there was no point in denying it. “But that’s not the issue.”

  “Oh?” Millie put her elbows on the table and leaned in. “There’s more?”

  Jade paused, gathering her courage. This was a story she hadn’t shared with anyone. Not with friends in high school, not with her mom, and certainly not with the few boyfriends she’d had in college and the years since. It had been too humiliating.

  “We went to school together,” she blurted out. “He transferred from another
school in the middle of our junior year. He became a wide receiver for the football team our senior year, and everyone liked him.”

  Completely disregarding Jade’s orders, Hailey turned around and squinted at Ben. Then she faced Jade again. Luckily, Ben was now working through a burger of his own, so he didn’t notice this.

  “I think I remember him,” Hailey said. “He was cute.”

  “Yeah,” Jade said. “We were two years ahead of you, right?”

  “I think so,” Hailey agreed. “But honestly, I had a massive crush on Rhett back then, so I didn’t even notice other boys.”

  “Aw,” Millie said, patting her friend’s arm. “How cute!”

  “Trust me,” Hailey grumbled. “There was nothing cute about having an unrequited crush in high school.”

  “Exactly,” Jade exclaimed. “It was horrible.”

  Every time she would see Ben in the hallway, her stomach did a double backflip. In history class, she sat one row behind him, wishing he’d turn around and ask for a pencil or something equally silly. She’d been lucky that her grades hadn’t suffered from it.

  “So I take it he didn’t return your feelings?” Millie asked sympathetically.

  Jade dropped her voice even further. “That’s just it. I was sure it was all one-sided, but one day, he asked me to prom.”

  Hailey gasped. “This is getting better and better.”

  Jade grinned at her. “I’m glad you find my emotional pain entertaining.”

  The other woman nudged her hand playfully. “Go on.”

  “Okay, so it was a month until our senior prom, and I was sitting in our history classroom, waiting for the professor to arrive. Ben sat in front of me, like always, but this time, he turned around to face me, and just asked point-blank, ‘Want to go to prom with me, Marshall?’”