Single Dad’s Plaything: A Single Dad First Time Billionaire Romance

by Natasha Spencer

  “I don’t know, she seemed like a bitch,” Deborah said. She stood at the front desk and locked the door. “I don’t want anyone else coming in here.”

  “You mean you don’t want the business saved,” Mel said spitting out the words.

  “It’s not that. I’m just not sure that she’s the right one for this place.”

  “The right one is whoever can keep us employed and you’re not able to do that right now,” Mel said.

  “Mel might be being a bit aggressive but it is worth thinking about Deborah. You said yourself this morning that things were looking dire. We all have bills to pay, including you. How can we afford the bay without money for rent, groceries, without jobs,” Kalyn said.

  “Okay. Fine. I don’t like it though. We’ll see what happens. I think a woman like that won’t do much,” Deborah said.

  “I have to go home and think about her,” Mel said.

  “Think about her,” Kalyn said arching an eyebrow.

  “I’m gonna do more than think about her if she comes back.”

  “Keep it in the pants you pussy hound for fuck’s sake,” Deborah said. “She might not even come back.”

  The three parted ways. As Kalyn walked to her car she looked back. Deborah was standing at the store front looking at the sign. She’d put a lot into the shop but Mel was right they couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Kalyn got to her car and sat in the front seat. The key slid into the ignition and the car started with a rumble. She kept the car parked and plugged in her phone putting on her favorite song.

  Stephen Patrick Morrissey’s voice rang out filling the small car with his voice.

  “Can you squeeze me into an empty page of your diary,” the voice sang out. “And psychologically save me? I’ve got faith in you, I sense the power within the fingers.”

  Kalyn took a deep breath and waited for the chorus of the song to begin before she turned on uber. No ride turned up right away so she started to make her way home hoping that someone would want her services soon before rent was due.

  Chapter 4

  “She called! She called,” Mel said screaming into her phone. “Oh my gawd! We are gonna have a new boss.”

  “What,” Kalyn replied. It was ten o’clock in the morning and the salon didn’t open until noon. Kalyn had spent hours driving her car around picking up passengers. As the night wore on so did her patience with her passengers. At two in the morning she was driving a couple tech workers home from the bar. They were bragging about the size of their wallet. One of them had opened the door while they were driving north on Telegraph avenue close to a Taco Bell and had vomited. The car wreaked of his spew. They then demanded she stop by the Taco Bell or a taco truck for late night food. She kicked them out of the car. The men had given her a one star rating and called her a “cunt.” When she’d gotten home she cried for thirty minutes before showering and going to bed.

  Kaboose snuggled up next to her on the bed. He licked at her face, obviously hungry and or wanting to go out for a walk. More likely than not he wanted to do both.

  “Joy called. It’s true. She bought the building and she made an offer to Deborah already. They are signing the papers this afternoon. She said she’s going to keep everything the way that it is and put more money into advertising so that we get more clients.”

  “Uh huh,” Kalyn said. She still wasn’t awake enough for Mel’s high level of enthusiasm. Usually Mel was reserved and when she wasn’t reserved she was angry. This was a different Mel though one that had never listened to the dark, moody music of Depeche Mode and The Cure but had instead been raised on bubble gum pop and optimism.

  “I did a little research,” Mel said.

  “Right.”

  “And she’s the wife of Gary Duplan. Do you know him? He’s this tech guy that made billions, I mean absolute billions during the first tech boom in the 90’s. He invested in a couple startups in the mid aughts and now has more money than the Tenderloin has crackheads.”

  “Isn’t the Tenderloin being gentrified,” Kalyn said.

  “That’s not the point.”

  “What is the point,” Kalyn said. She finally sat up in bed. The morning sun shot into her eyes and she yawned. Kaboose started to do a series of figure eights at the edge of the bed chasing his tail a sure sign that he needed to use the bathroom.

  “The point is that we are saved. I can fix my oven. We’re going to be rich, filthy rich,” Mel said into the fun.

  “Oh finally,” Kalyn said. She put on a hoody and slipped into some sweat pants. “Kaboose where are my shoes?”

  “What sort of of shoes are you going to wear,” Mel said. “What are you doing? When you come to work you better bring your A game. This could be a good day for us.”

  “I’m sure it will be. Kaboose where is your leash,” Kalyn said still holding the phone to her ear. She opened her front door to the apartment and took Kaboose for a walk.

  The two made their way down to the waterfront. Kalyn liked to watch the large cranes along the docks load and unload the oversized shipping containers. She imagined what was inside sometimes but it always remained a mystery. The two made their way back to her apartment and passed by the oversized post office. The large building was built in a decrepit brutalist style that always made Kalyn’s nose scrunch up.

  Kaboose looked up at her and yipped when they stood by her front door.

  “I know. I’m sorry that you have to be locked up all day. Things will get better I promise.”

  Kaboose barked again.

  “Well what do you want me to do? Do you want to move somewhere else where I can’t even afford your dog food because there are no jobs?”

  Kaboose barked twice.

  “Alright, alright, I’ll figure things out. I promise things will get better. I’m a woman of my word.”

  The two went inside and Kalyn showered and did her make up. The water was hot on her skin and the vibration woke her up. She stepped out and thought for a moment about what she would wear for the day. Mel was putting a lot emphasis on the meeting this afternoon. She thought for a while about dressing up or putting on something special. She decided she would wear jeans and a girl’s Fred Perry polo. The shirt had been a present to herself when she’d graduated from beauty school. She sat in front of her mirror and did her make-up, putting on basic foundation and then she arched her eyebrows up and applied a dark red lipstick.

  “You’re no beauty school dropout,” Kalyn said to her reflection. “You can do this.”

  She made a quick breakfast of toast and an avocado and made a cup of coffee. The hot liquid burned on her mouth making her taste buds go numb for a moment. They came back to life as the taste of roasted caramel washed over her tongue. The coffee had a considerable amount of caffeine and she’d bought the bag of beans from a hip coffee shop on Claremont street called Timely.

  Kaboose barked at her one last time before she left the apartment. He sounded frustrated.

  “I know, I know. Maybe I can ask if you can come into the shop. I promise I won’t leave you alone much longer,” Kalyn told Kaboose.

  It was drizzling out when she left. The early afternoon was still gray and dark. Usually the sun had burnt out the morning clouds but nothing had happened yet. Kalyn worried that it would be a dark day.

  Joy was there when Kalyn arrived. Kalyn could see her from outside the doors and took a deep breath and walked in.

  “Listen I know how things were run before, but this will be how things are run now.”

  “I’m just not sure that’s a good way of dealing with things. We already have a system,” Deborah said.

  The two were standing by the front desk. Joy had on a new outfit, a fashionable pant suit with, as Mel was happy to see, heels. Deborah was put together well but didn’t have the same presence and style as Joy and when Kalyn looked at her friend her shoulders were slumped in defeat.

  “If you are unhappy with how things are looking,” Joy said.

  “I’m not sure it s
hould come to that,” Deborah replied.

  “Well I want you to know that it’s an option.”

  “I think things sound good,” Mel interjected. She was seated in one of the empty chairs looking at the two women as they talked. Kalyn could tell that her eyes were on Joy and that she wasn’t really listening at all.

  “I’ll let you all have the run of things over the day or two to get used to the new system and I’ll be back tomorrow,” Joy said.

  “Okay. We’ll see you tomorrow then,” Deborah said.

  “Yes. Hope to see you soon Joy,” Mel said.

  Joy walked out the door and Mel’s eyes followed her along.

  “You are like a teenage boy. You’re just trying to hump her.”

  “What she’s fucking hot,” Mel said.

  Kalyn rolled her eyes at the same time as Deborah.

  “Well you don’t have to be such a fucking kiss ass.”

  “And you don’t have to be so ungrateful,” Mel shot back.

  “Okay well it’s a light day here. Although you have a late client Kalyn. I hope you don’t mind closing up,” Deborah said.

  “No. It’s not a big deal.”

  “Great. Well we have to get used to the new system that Joy is putting into place.”

  “What is it exactly?”

  “It’s basically the same as the last one but with a new hot owner,” Mel said.

  “You’re making me feel bad about myself,” Deborah said.

  “It’s not my fault that a living goddess just walked into the shop and bought you out. I’m sure someone will try to sweep you off your feet at some point. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but soon.”

  “You two are awful,” Kalyn said. She walked over to her chair and began to set things up. The first hour or two of work would be slow and so but she wanted things ready. As she finished setting things up she noticed a few things missing.

  “Are we running low on stock? I know it’s only been a day since our new ownership but I’m out of hairspray. Are you going to be taking care of it, Deborah?”

  “Well under the new system with the new management I won’t be. I’ll just be a normal stylist here. Everything is up to Joy,” Deborah looked away from Kalyn and then walked out the door. Kalyn watched as her friend lit up a cigarette.

  “What’s wrong with her,” Kalyn asked Mel who was still lounging in her chair.

  “I think she’s mad that she couldn’t save the shop herself. But I mean come on she didn’t ever even do the books.”

  “Yeah. I mean I guess it really hurt her pride but there are things more important than pride.”

  “Yeah like money.”

  “Yes, like money. Well what should I do about the supplies,” Kalyn asked.

  “You can borrow some of mine. I also hid some extra stuff in the backroom.”

  Kalyn got the bottles of shampoo from the back room and brought it to her station. She watched as her friend outside smoked a cigarette. Deborah threw the butt on the ground and lit up another one. She always chain smoked when she was angry. The nicotine made her more angry and then she’d be in withdrawals for several days adding to her grumpiness. Things did not look like they were going to be smooth at the salon, Kalyn thought.

  The day crawled by with Deborah repeatedly going out for cigarettes. She even walked to the corner store to buy an extra pack. She didn’t ask anyone if they wanted anything but came back with two boxes of cigarettes and a few red bulls. She slammed the sugary drink and went out for another smoke.

  “She’s got a real bug up her ass,” Mel said as she finished up a dye job on a hipster.

  It wasn’t that Joy had made that many changes, it’d only been a day. Deborah was mainly nursing an injured sense of pride. She’d tried to pull the company together herself and had failed. The failure smarted on it. By the end of the day she’d gone through two packs of cigarettes and she reeked like smoke. Even one of her customers complained about it. After the complaint, Deborah stormed out of the shop. Luckily Kalyn wasn’t busy and was able to finish things off for the client, a young man who’d walked in for a high and tight.

  “Sorry about that,” Kalyn said to the young man. He had a big nose and looked a bit like broken down Ryan Gosling.

  “No problem. She just smelled like my dad,” the young man said with a laugh that was a bit too loud. He looked over at the hipster girl that Mel was working on. The girl was busy playing with her phone and didn’t notice his comment.

  When the man was all set and down he paid, and walked out of the door backwards looking at the girl in Mel’s chair the entire time.

  “Nice moonwalk,” Mel yelled at the man when he exited.

  “You’re really helping out our repeat business,” Kalyn said to Mel.

  “We don’t need bros who harass our customers, do we sweetie,” Mel said to the girl in her chair. She squeezed the girl’s shoulders. “This haircut is looking really good. I foresee a ten percent increase in your Instagram following.”

  “I don’t use Instagram. I use Snapchat,” the girl replied.

  “Ah…”

  Kalyn smiled to herself and cleaned up. Mel finished with the girl who politely paid and left, hardly looking up from her phone the entire time.

  “That’s it for me today. I’ve booked a repair man to come in this evening.”

  “You got money already,” Kalyn asked.

  “I got a loan from a friend. I think that the future is looking bright,” Mel said with a rare smile.”

  “Maybe. I don’t know though Deborah seems pretty upset.”

  “She also got us into this mess. Don’t forget you have another client coming in, in fifteen.”

  Kalyn nodded and watched Mel tidy up and walk out the door.

  The last client of the day was an older white lady from Walnut Creek. She was a bit like Kelly but more finicky and prone to complaining.

  “I have so many greys now,” the woman complained right away.

  “It happens but you can still look quite youthful with greys,” Kalyn replied. She draped a cape around the woman and gently ran her fingers through the woman’s hair. “We can do something with lots of texture to make it look modern. Maybe style it with a side parting.”

  “Hmmm...,” the woman said.

  The two went back and forth for several minutes before deciding to go ahead with Kalyn’s idea. The cut took quite some time because the woman constantly had to check her phone, her hair, and was constantly double guessing what Kalyn was doing. By the time that Kalyn was done two hours had passed. The woman paid and left happily. Kalyn sat down in her chair with a sigh.

  “That was a good job,” a voice said. It was a man’s voice. Deep and low. Kalyn sat up in her chair, she hadn’t seen anyone come in and the door would have chimed. She whipped her head around to see who was speaking and saw Gary.

  He was wearing a tie that was loose around his neck. The silk piece of cloth was black and skinny while his shirt was starched white. It was ironed but had a softness to it and appeared to be Egyptian cotton. He wore navy blue slacks but his shoes were basic converse. Kalyn appreciated the fade of his hair cut and his dark brown eyes. His skin was a warm brown and his lips were plump.

  Kalyn’s eyes widened when she saw him, the orbs growing large and then contracting. She got up off the chair and stood to her feet.

  “Can I help you,” Kalyn said.

  “I’m Gary,” he said. He outstretched his hand.

  “I’m Kalyn,” she replied cautiously taking his hand.

  “I’m Joy’s husband.”

  “Oh…”

  “I came in to look at the books. Joy rushed into things and didn’t really figure out the financial side of things. I wanted to take a look.”

  “Okay…”

  “So I’ll just be doing that,” he replied.

  “Right.”

  “Joy didn’t call and said I would stop by?”

  “No. No one said anything about you.”

  �
�Oh. I’m terribly sorry. Well I’ll just look through the computer and the office.”

  “You have a key,” Kalyn said.

  “Yeah. I came in the back. That’s probably why I surprised you.”

  Kalyn nodded. She was slowly letting her guard down. It helped that Gary was attractive in a ruggish sort of way. He was polite. He wasn’t pushing her too hard for anything. The whole buy of the salon was rather quick so while Kalyn wasn’t surprised by the turn of events but it had cut her off guard. She began to tidy up her work station and get ready to go home. She did her bit of paperwork and was getting ready to go out the door when Gary came to the front from the office.

  “So how’s it looking,” Kalyn asked.

  “Things are a mess.”

  “Yeah. That’s what I gathered from Deborah.”

  “It shouldn’t be anything too hard though. Just a bit of elbow grease and a bit more structure and the ship should be sailing smooth.”

  “And you’re going to do that?”

  “I suppose. Joy isn’t it. I told her she needed something to do but she’ll probably just go and start exercising again or go to LA for more Botox or go to NYC for a purse or something.”

  “If you’re so rich why are you here? Why aren’t you jet setting around as well?”

  “I miss it. I miss the passion and having something to do every day. Being rich is pretty great but it can also be painfully boring.”

  “I imagine all the bottles of champagne and the vacations can be so utterly dull. I can’t remember the last time I had any free time was.”

  “Really? Well let me take you out. My treat,” Gary said. “I should be happy that one of Joy’s employees is sticking around and you did stay late. I thought no one would be here when I got here.”

  “Umm…” Kalyn hummed aloud. She wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate if she went out with her boss’ husband the first time she met him, and alone but he was handsome and she hadn’t had a drink out in ages. She nodded her head. What could it hurt she said to herself.

  “Did you drive,” Gary asked.

  “I did.”

  “Well why don’t we drop off your car and I can take us downtown.”