Chasing Love

by Natalie Ann

  Brian snorted, then said, “His chest is as bare as a baby’s bottom. That’s why he drinks his coffee that way.”

  “Ass,” Troy said, following Brian to the cellar door.

  She let the two of them go and got the hell out of there, thankful it was February and the blast of cold air that hit her cooled down her body that overheated at the thought of seeing any part of Troy naked.

  2

  Hurry to Leave

  Troy followed Brian down the stairs thinking of Meena and glad she was running out right now and not distracting him.

  He hadn’t seen her in almost two years. Not since she showed up for his father’s funeral. He shouldn’t have been surprised to see her there, but was.

  She’d come in dressed all in black that day. The only other time he’d ever seen her in black was when she was going through her Goth stage.

  It didn’t last long and he imagined it had more to do with her parents throwing their hands up in the air rather than telling her she couldn’t. Meena always liked to rebel.

  She still stood out at the funeral that day though. Her long hair was a mixture of blues and greens and pulled back in some complicated braid. He remembered thinking it looked like a mermaid’s tail.

  He’d been devastated the day they put his father in the ground. The man that taught him everything he knew. With his father’s death came a huge responsibility he just wasn’t ready for.

  He never went to college. Just went and got all his certifications for heating, cooling, and plumbing. He’d never wanted to do anything other than work alongside his father. Dreams of college and frat parties that Brian had were nothing that Troy wanted any part of.

  Meena had called Brian and him boring for years. Brian really couldn’t be considered that as much now, but Troy still was.

  He wore his Levi’s and work boots every day with a shirt that said Walker HCP on it. When he wasn’t working, he still had his jeans on, just with a different cotton shirt and sneakers.

  He loved his routine in life and planned on keeping it the way it was. His father’s death had knocked him out of that work comfort zone, but he was slowly getting back in it now. Or at least developing a new one all by himself. The days he’d walk in and sit with his father and have coffee before the rest of the staff showed up were long gone and could never be replaced.

  The same as the days his father would have some funny saying that meant something only to his father. Troy and his mother would laugh, but then shake their heads trying to figure out what he meant.

  Now it all fell on Troy to figure everything out. His personal life included.

  Which didn’t explain why when Brian texted him this morning to say he might be late because Meena was having heating issues, like an idiot, he volunteered to meet him there. Talk about being out of any comfort zone.

  He was still stunned that Meena even moved back to this area. Up until eight months ago when Brian had told him Meena had been searching for a building for almost a year and finally found one locally, he’d thought she was doing well for herself in the Big Apple styling the rich and famous.

  Why the hell would she want to come back home when she’d been in such a hurry to leave?

  He had no clue what to expect when he saw her today either. As a kid, she had blonde hair until she shocked her parents one day in her teens and dyed it purple. From there on it was nonstop. Her hair started to match her funky style in clothing.

  There had never been any outrunning or hiding from Meena. Probably because you could see her a mile away.

  He knew—he’d watched her enough when he was younger, then felt guilty because she was his best friend’s younger sister.

  Now she was an adult. She still had long thin legs. A willowy type body was what always came to his mind. She had a few extra piercings in her ears and not just in her lobes. She even had a tiny diamond on the side of her nose. He wondered if he was supposed to find that sexy or not. Either way, those piercings didn’t stand out as much. Or he was just immune to it all now since they seemed to be tasteful diamonds.

  Her hair was no longer blonde and probably hadn’t been in years. Titanium, Brian said. That might have been the closest it’d been to her natural color if his mother could be believed. Since his mother and Brian’s mother still talked now and again, he’d heard bits and pieces about Meena over the years, but tried to push them away.

  He knew there would be no pushing her away now though. Not with her bright red hair the color of hearts at Valentine’s Day. Her clear blue eyes sending something his way that seemed more than friendship. Or maybe he was just thinking that.

  She wasn’t dressed as crazy as she’d been when she was younger, but she still looked plenty bold to him. Bright blue jeans that looked painted on her like leggings might be with a multi-colored long sweater resting on her hips and cinching her tiny waist. He would have figured her hair would clash, but surprisingly it didn’t.

  Meena and he were polar opposites. Brian was the only thing they had in common and it was the one thing that kept him from ever considering anything with Meena other than friendship.

  Well, that and the fact that Meena and every other woman he’d ever dated thought he was dull and boring and couldn’t seem to do much more than work and go home to watch sports.

  He’d bet Meena partied like that song about 1999. She probably did it every day of the week.

  “So what do you think the problem is?” Brian asked. They’d been looking things over and he was testing and checking gauges, plugs, and bolts while he thought about Meena.

  “The thermostat looks toast to me,” Troy said.

  “Easy fix, right? I’d hate to have Meena lose some business over this. She’s worked so hard.”

  Troy nodded his head. He’d heard that over the years too. That Meena was a hard worker and this place was a testimony to it. He was impressed and proud of her for accomplishing this at just twenty-six years old.

  “I need to run to my office and grab one. It’s common enough and we’ve got it in stock. I hope to have it running before nine. I’ll be back.”

  The two of them made their way to the door just as Meena walked back in, a bag in one hand and a tray of three cups in the other. “Where are you going?” she asked him.

  “To get your part at my shop. I’ll be back in twenty minutes. It’s not far from here.”

  She nodded to the cup closest to him. “I know where your business is. Grab your coffee for the drive. It’s brutal out there.”

  “Thanks,” he said, pulling it out of the tray. “I’ll get food when I come back.”

  She smiled at him and he felt himself getting sucked in again, then hightailed it out of there before he did or said something stupid.

  “Did he say what the problem was?” she asked Brian when she handed him the coffee and then pulled out the assorted baked goods she’d bought. Since she was there, she also grabbed a couple dozen things she’d put in the break room for the girls.

  “Your thermostat died. He said it was an easy fix and he’d have it running before you opened.”

  “Thank God,” she said. “Aren’t you going to wait for him to get back?” she asked when Brian started to walk toward the front door with his coffee and a Danish.

  “No need. I did my big brother duty for the day.”

  She laughed. “What’s that? Brought his best friend over to fix my plumbing problem?”

  “Exactly. I need to go home and change. Just tell Troy to stop over whenever he has time this morning.”

  She watched Brian leave and thought to herself that she’d be in the building alone with Troy. Was it the time to broach things with him? Flirt a little? See where his mind was at?

  When he came back twenty minutes later, though, he seemed like a man on a mission, so she let him go. He went back to the cellar and did whatever he had to, then came back up around eight-thirty.

  “The power and water are back on.”

  “I didn’t know they were off,”
she said. She really was clueless when it came to building maintenance. Maybe she shouldn’t have bought this building.

  “Just to the section I was working in. The water is filling back up in the tank now and it should be heating. You’ve got a good-sized tank but it’s old.”

  “And now you’re going to tell me I should replace it, huh?”

  “Not just yet. The thermostat is just the beginning of parts that are going to start to break though. When the time comes I recommend a tankless water heater.”

  “What? I don’t have a clue what that is or how it works.” She’d never felt stupid a day in her life, but right now she did.

  He just smiled at her, all full of patience. She’d liked that about him when she was a kid. When Brian was pushing her away, Troy was fine with her hanging around for short periods of time. “The water passes through and heats, but doesn’t store in it. You’ll never run out of hot water that way.”

  “Really? I need one of them in my house for when I want to fill my big tub. I always empty the tank and have to wait for it to heat a second time.”

  “We can take care of that for you too.”

  “When I own my own house someday I’ll think about it. Right now though, I’m thrilled I’ll have hot water when everyone starts to show up.” She pushed the platter of goodies toward him. “Help yourself.”

  He reached a hand toward the platter. A nice clean one. For someone that worked with his hands, he never had dirt on him at all. She guessed he made use of the sink in the basement.

  “Thanks. Anyway. You should be all set. No need to cancel any appointments today.”

  “I appreciate it. Just the thought of trying to contact all my girls at once, and then them having to call all their appointments. What a nightmare.”

  “You don’t have some scheduling software or something here that the girl up front can work from?”

  She was surprised he was asking details like that. Like he wanted to chat with her. “Half of my chairs are rented out so the stylists make their own appointments and keep those details. The other half are my employees, so yes, we could handle dealing with those.”

  “Why the difference between the two?”

  “That’s how it was set up when I bought the existing business. I rented a booth before I moved back here. It gave me freedom to set my own schedule. There’s more money to be had when it’s my employee, but I like having the steady rental income too.”

  “Do they get to set their own prices?” he asked.

  “No. I’ve got a scale. If you rent from me, the prices—or the base prices—are the same as what my staff charges. They have the freedom to charge more if a process takes longer, but there is a minimum.”

  She saw him looking around the room and then turning back to her. “There are no prices up anywhere.”

  “No, there aren’t. Most places of this scale don’t do that. They’re on the website though, just not here.”

  He nodded. When she heard voices coming through the front door, she realized she’d lost her window of opportunity to do much of anything other than thank him.

  “I really appreciate you coming over here this morning. I’m sure you’re busy. I guess I could have called your service first thing.”

  “You could have, but you would have been charged a rush and after hours rate if you did.”

  “I expect to be charged that still,” she said. She’d love to get a friends and family discount, but would never consider asking for it, nor did she expect it.

  “I’ll have a bill generated when I get in the office,” he said, winking at her. She wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Can I get an email address to send it to? Normally the guys carry tablets with them and take payment on site, but I don’t have any of that with me.”

  “You don’t do much hands-on work anymore, do you?”

  “Not as much as I wish.”

  “Hang on. I’ll get my card quick.” She walked over to her station and then came back. “My contact information is there. Email address and shop phone number. My cell is on the back.”

  He didn’t question why she put that there. She wasn’t sure what she would have said if he did. But he reached for the card, nodded and took that sexy walk of his in nicely fitted Levi’s out her front door.

  “Who was that?” Angela, one of the stylists, asked. “I want to run my fingers around his head.”

  Meena snorted. Angela always made comments with double meanings. “That’s Troy. He just fixed the water heater.”

  “Is he going to fix more of your plumbing for you? Because if not, I think my furnace might be on the fritz...”

  Meena laughed and walked away. No reason to say anything and start the gossip train rolling.

  She’d just have to figure out another way to get Troy alone.

  3

  Might Be a Mistake

  Three hours later, Meena walked up front when her sixteen-year-old client showed up with her mother. “Hi, Maddie. Are you all ready for this?”

  “I am,” Maddie said, bouncing on her toes. “Thank you for fitting us in so fast.”

  “Not a problem. I had a cancellation and your half day of school worked in well with it. Mom,” Meena said, “are you ready for this?”

  “I am,” Maddie’s mother said. “I read everything you gave and it’s nothing like bleaching and dying hair back in my day. This is much safer.”

  “It is. And because Maddie has a beautiful dirty blonde color, it won’t take much at all to get her lightened up for the new color. Did you decide on what color you wanted?” she asked the teen.

  “Can I do more than one?” Maddie asked.

  Meena smiled. The girl was right after her own heart. Her first time making a change and diving in—literally—head first. “That would be a question for your mother,” she said.

  She’d been there as a rebellious teen. She’d wished her mother had allowed her to have some freedoms with her hair back then. Maybe she wouldn’t have damaged her hair laying boxed colors over boxed colors then trying to bleach it out herself if her mother had taken her to someone to have it done.

  That was in the past though. She did her darnedest to make sure everyone was well informed now.

  “I thought you wanted blue,” her mother said, narrowing her eyes.

  “How about purple with it?”

  Meena could see the start of a little war going and thought maybe she could find a compromise. “Or, we could add some dimension with the blues. I could give you a few different shades of blue and with them blending into your blonde as a balayage it will look stunning. Would you like to see a picture of what I’m talking about?”

  “Please,” her mother said.

  Meena pulled her phone out and did a quick search and then brought up several different versions. “Oh wow,” Maddie said. “Mom, that is so cool. Please, can I do that?”

  “I guess. This is by far your most expensive birthday gift yet. Remember, you’re paying for the maintenance of this going forward if you want to keep it.”

  Maddie hugged her mother, then turned to Meena. “I’m ready to go.”

  If Meena was jealous of the closeness between mother and daughter she didn’t let it show. Her mother loved her, but she didn’t understand her. Then again, not many did.

  “You said a few hours,” Maddie’s mother said.

  “At least four. If you’ve got things you want to do, Maddie will be in excellent hands here.”

  “Sounds good.”

  When Maddie’s mom left, Meena brought the teen over to the chair and said, “You’re going to love it.”

  “How much will it cost to maintain it, I couldn’t remember?”

  “Touch ups will probably run between one fifty to two hundred, depending on the amount of product needed.”

  “It’s not all the time though, right?” Maddie asked.

  Meena could see her calculating it in her head. This type of hairstyle wasn’t for the weak wallet. Her mother was going to be droppin
g over five hundred for it today, easily.

  “Every eight to ten weeks if you take care of it properly. If you use the right shampoos that I told you about and you don’t wash your hair daily, and when you wash it, only use cold water.”

  “I can do it,” Maddie said. “The cold water part might suck this time of year, but I’m determined.”

  “That’s good to hear. If you don’t, the color won’t last as long,” Meena explained. She’d always over explained that how they cared for their hair would determine the length of time it lasted. She wasn’t out to make money by having them come back more often, but rather by them referring her on for a job well done.

  An hour later, Maddie’s hair was lightened to the brightness that Meena was looking for. The bleach was washed out and she was ready to paint in the shades of blue. “How are you holding up?” Meena asked. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “I’m good. Can I take a few more selfies and post them? Do you mind being in them?”

  “Not a problem. I’ll take a few pictures when we are done. If you follow my social media accounts, you’ll see your pictures up there later too.”

  “Awesome,” Maddie said, then quietly went back to her phone while Meena layered shades of blue in her hair.

  A little over four hours later, Maddie was walking out the door almost squealing in her excitement. It did come out pretty damn nice, but if she didn’t think it was going to, she would have discouraged the colors.

  She went back to the break room and grabbed one of the remaining donuts and a bottle of water. Not the healthiest of things to eat, but she’d eaten her peanut butter sandwich right before Maddie showed up, and even between the times the bleach and colors were setting Meena was either running around doing shop owner things or entertaining Maddie.

  With her donut in her hand, she walked back to her office and sat at the computer to check emails. The girls at the reception desk answered scheduling questions when needed via the website, but Meena always got emails sent to her personally.