Leslie's Curl & Dye

by DL White

  “He’s going to be fine,” said Dr. Irons. “Come inside. I’ll show you where you can wait.”

  “Can I see him before he goes into surgery?”

  “Of course, my dear.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and ushered me inside the hospital.

  Dr. Irons went to scrub in, so it was his nurse that came to get me to see KC. He was prepped for surgery, his nice suit, shirt, socks and shoes in a pile on a chair. I clicked my tongue at the sight, then looked over at KC. I expected him to already be under, but his eyes were open.

  I rushed to his side and grabbed his hand. He held onto mine and squeezed. “Doc says I’ll be fine. Maybe I’ll get a bionic knee. Awesome, hunh?”

  “Yes, baby. Awesome.” I chuckled, realizing he was probably pretty high and almost ready to pass out. “I’ll be here when you get out. Your parents are on the way.”

  “Before…” He paused, swallowing. “Before I go. Tell me. One more time.”

  “I love you, KC. You’re going to be fine and I’m going to tell you that every day.”

  “Look… jacket.” He motioned toward the pile of his clothing in the chair.

  I moved a few feet away and picked up his jacket. “Am I looking for something?”

  “Pocket,” he whispered. I dipped my fingers into the inside pocket and brushed against something soft but solid. I pulled out a box. A velvet ring box.

  “Oh… baby…”

  He shook his head, and in my mind I could hear him tell me we didn’t have time for me to have an emotional breakdown. “Love you,” he mumbled. “Marry me, Les.”

  “Yes!” I wanted to scream it, cry it, shout it for the world to hear. “Yes, KC. Yes, I will marry you!”

  His eyes fluttered closed, but he forced them back open. “Put... it on.” I pulled the ring from the box and slid it onto my hand, then I grabbed his hand and put it on top of mine so he could feel it.

  “It’s on. It’s on, baby...KC?”

  “I think he’s out,” I heard Dr. Irons say behind me. “Time for me to fix him up and give him back to you.” He tipped his head to the nurse, who began to wheel him out of the room. A nurse slipped an arm around mine to gently escort me to the waiting room.

  A small crowd was waiting for me there— TC and the Cavanaugh’s, my parents and Pops, plus our usual crowd.

  “First things first.” Tamera stood, handing me her phone. It was a replay of the live broadcast from The Kit Kat, where they’d let KC’s dad stand in his place while they announced that he’d won the Mayoral election by a landslide. Kelvin looked incredibly proud, on camera. Through rapid blinking and nodding, clasping his hands together he gave a brief speech, thanking the crowd on KC’s behalf and inviting them to celebrate for the next few hours. The clip ended with a shot of him pushing Gladys’ wheelchair out the door, TC bringing up the rear.

  “I mean… I thought he would win. But this election is over and I’m so happy about that.”

  “You ain’t even lied,” grumbled Erik, slouching in his seat. His tie had been loosened and his shirt unbuttoned.

  “Listen to him, like he did any work. You did a great job on his campaign, Leslie. ” Kendrick gave me a hug, then pulled back and grabbed my hands. “Uh… somebody got some new hardware. Did he…”

  I couldn’t even try to hide my grin, but I started crying before I could say yes, so I just bobbed my head while everyone gathered around to gawk at the full carat cushion cut engagement ring that sat snugly on my finger.

  “Yep,” said Kelvin. “Told him that would be a good investment.”

  “I told him that cut would look great on her hand,” said Gladys, looking pleased.

  “I told his ass to propose a long time ago,” said my dad, leaning against a window sill at the back of the room. “But he had to wait till he broke his damn knee. Shit.”

  “He said he’s gonna be bionic, Daddy. Better than before. You wanted a bionic son in law, right?”

  “I guess,” he grumbled. “We’ll have a lot of time to watch football games on that big TV ya’ll got.”

  “Now you’re seeing the bright side.”

  My dad came forward and folded me into a hug. “You tell that young man to take care of himself alright? He’s got a piece of me, now. Can’t have him falling apart on my baby girl.”

  “I’ll tell him. Thanks dad.”

  Tamera pulled me toward a chair and I sat, heaving a sigh of relief.

  “Hope you don’t mind,” TC said, pulling a bag off of her shoulder. “I figured KC would need some clothes to come home in and you would want to change. Grabbed some stuff for y’all.”

  The relief must have been evident on my face. I had been so worried about KC, I hadn’t even realized that my feet were killing me and my dress was too tight. All I wanted was to put on one of KC’s t-shirts and a pair of leggings.

  I looked inside the bag and almost cried, pulling out the exact outfit I’d just wished for. “Excuse me. I gotta get out of this getup.”

  A few hours later, Dr Irons came through the doors, pulling off a pair of gloves and removing his mask. We all stood and crowded around him.

  “Everything went just fine,” he began. “There was a tear to the anterior cruciate ligament. There was also severe degeneration of cartilage. I repaired the ligament and replaced the cartilage in his knee with tissue from a cadaver. Recovery will take some time, but he should recover, nonetheless if he follows my instruction and continues cryotherapy.”

  He paused, hands clasped and looked directly at me. “Leslie, Mr. Cavanaugh is awake and asking for you.”

  I opened the door to KC’s room slowly, peeking my head in. The overhead light was off. Only the light above the bed was lit. His leg was propped up and wrapped tightly. He had a cannula under his nose for oxygen but for the most part he looked like my handsome KC.

  “I had them do that low light thing you love,” he said. His voice was raspy, as if his throat was dry. I stepped closer, reaching for the pitcher of water and the disposable cups that had been placed near his bed.

  “You sound like you need this.”

  He took it and gulped it down. Then crushed the cup in his hand, which made me laugh. I lowered myself to the edge of the bed and lifted my feet up, careful not to bump his knee.

  “Why are you like this, Kade Cavanaugh?”

  “No idea. I’m just Kade. That okay with you?”

  I smiled, tipping my head up. His lips brushed against mine a few times before his head dropped back against the pillow. “I’m sleepy,” he mumbled. “But I wanted to see you. Are you wearing it?”

  I pulled my hand out from where it was wedged between us and showed him. The diamonds glittered in the low light.

  “My mom was right. It looks great.” He yawned and closed his eyes. “Can I tell you something?”

  “Depends. Are you gonna fuck with me?”

  He chuckled, just once. “I had big plans for proposing to you during my speech tonight. Flowers and music and champagne toast with everybody there. The best laid plans, right?”

  “And I had to go and ruin it.”

  “Don’t blame yourself, babe. Was an accident. But the other thing is… surgery scares the shit out of me. I'm scared I won’t wake up. So in case… just in case, I wanted to make sure you had the ring. That you knew I wanted to marry you.”

  “I have the ring. And I know you want to marry me. I want to marry you, too.”

  “And you’ll help me with this Mayor thing? And you’ll be my business partner? We could be Guys and...Curls. Or Curl and… something. TC is ready to take over operations for both shops.”

  I giggled. “KC, are you still high from anesthesia?”

  He opened his eyes, though only half way. “I’m saying, I want us to run everything together, Les. We combine businesses and run them as a joint unit. No competition, just me and you. You in?”

  I nodded and bent to kiss him before he passed out again. “I’m in, baby. I’m so in.”

  Epilogu
e

  One Year later

  KC

  “Alright. Give me the baby.”

  Leslie stood next to me where I had stretched out on the bed, her arms open and waiting for me to just hand my son over to her. I wasn’t ready, though. I stroked the fine hairs on his tiny head and kissed his crown.

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re just staring at him while he sleeps.”

  “So?”

  “So you have an exam in your business class, a meeting with the city planner that I bet you haven’t prepared any notes for and a council meeting tomorrow night.”

  Leslie plucked KJ, or Kade Junior from my arms like a ninja and cradled him to her chest. He was such a little bitty thing; I liked laying him on my chest while he slept.

  “I’m going to lay him down. Did you do your therapy yet?”

  I shook my head, getting back to my Business Strategy textbook. After my first six months as Mayor of Potter Lake, I had to agree with Leslie that having a degree would be a benefit in my position. Running a city was nothing like running a business, but the people I was working would approach everything from a business perspective. It would be my job to fold in the concerns of the people of Potter Lake.

  Kendrick was enjoying his new job as Director of Media and Publicity and he’d been on me about finishing up my degree, too. So, I re-enrolled at Healy, except I was taking courses online and very, very slowly.

  It was like riding a bike. Sort of. I was doing well and the material was actually interesting to me; just not more interesting than my wife and our newborn son.

  Leslie didn’t want a fancy wedding and that was fine with me. She wanted everyone she loved in the same room, so we got married on New Year’s Eve, at the stroke of midnight at the Kit Kat Lounge. We figured we’d never forget our anniversary, and we were overdue for a celebration since I’d injured my knee the last time we were there.

  But about a month before our wedding, KJ stole our thunder by showing up on a sonogram. He was… unexpected. But happily and highly anticipated.

  Leslie came back from the baby’s room and disappeared into the bathroom. I tried to dig into my text book, reviewing my notes from the last few weeks. Unless the professor threw a curveball, this exam was going to be a piece of cake.

  Leslie came out of the bathroom...which normally wouldn’t be an event, but she caught my attention by wearing my favorite thing to see her in— one of my t-shirts and boy shorts.

  She pulled my machine from under the bed and was bent over, setting it up next to me.

  “So I’m supposed to study for this exam while you’re looking all thick snackish over there? Is that… is that the deal?”

  She laughed, looking back at me. “Looking what?”

  “Monica said women’s hips spread when they have babies. And baby…” I licked my lips and moaned. “Yours have spread thick snackishly.”

  Leslie smirked, handing me the sleeve to wrap around my leg, then left to grab ice and water to fill the reservoirs in the machine. When she came back, I was ready for her to plug it in and turn it on. I credited cryotherapy and Dr. Irons strict rehab to my knee feeling the best it had felt in a long time. I could walk with no cane and my limp was barely noticeable.

  “So, come talk to me, pretty girl.” I gave a pat-pat to the bed next to me. “I might have some stuff to stay to you.”

  Leslie climbed up onto the bed next to me with the latest issue of Cosmetology Today, smelling like she’d just stepped out of a cocoa butter rainforest. Her breasts bounced freely under the t-shirt, reminding me that we'd been “active” but hadn't had sex since the baby was born.

  “You’re not studying tonight, is what you’re trying to say.”

  “Not if you’re gonna be teasing me, all thick snackishly, with your legs out and your titties bouncing around over there.”

  “I’m not teasing you, babe. I’m right here; you can seduce me whenever you want.”

  “So you’re trying to tell me that you’re ready for some... conversation?”

  “Maybe,” she teased, though she said she wasn’t, rolling her eyes up to mine. “I thought you might wanna watch movies and make me mad by eating all the Jujubees.”

  I slammed my textbook closed and tossed it onto the nightstand next to me. Leslie leaned over to open the drawer next to her, pulling out our stash of favorites and dumping them in my lap, then settled back against the pillows and snuggled up close to me. I dropped my arm around her and kissed her temple.

  She hummed, smiling as she tipped her head up to press her lips to my chin. “Love you, Kade.”

  That right there… I’d been hearing it every day for the last year. I never got tired of it. I never got tired of saying it back.

  “Love you too, baby. But don’t be slick; I know what you’re doing. Hand over those Jujubees and start the movie.”

  Also by DL White

  Thank you for reading this novel and I hope you enjoyed it! If you’re interested in other books I’ve written, you can find links below:

  Brunch at Ruby’s

  Dinner at Sam’s: A Ruby’s Novel (Ruby’s 2)

  Same Time Next Week

  A Thin Line

  Beach Thing

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