Rescue Me

blond-haired and blue-eyed, and once she started putting foils in Sadie’s hair, they discovered they had something in common beyond butterscotch hair and sky-blue eyes. Lily had been raised in Lovett. She’d graduated from Lovett High five years before Sadie, and they knew some of the same people. And of course Lily knew of the JH and the Hollowells.
    “My mama worked at the Wild Coyote Diner until she retired last year,” Lily said as she painted thin strands of Sadie’s hair. “And my brother-in-law owns Parrish American Classics.”
    Sadie had certainly heard of the Parrish brothers and knew of their business. “I used to eat at the Wild Coyote all the time. Open-face sandwiches and pecan pie.” Through the salon mirror in front of her, she watched Lily wrap a foil. “What’s your mama’s name?”
    “Louella Brooks.”
    “Of course I remember her.” Louella was as big an institution as the Wild Coyote. “She always had tons of stories about everyone.” Just like everyone else in Lovett, but what made Louella a standout was her ability to stop in the middle of a story, take an order at a different table, and then return without missing a syllable.
    “Yep. That’s Mama.” The bell above the door rang and through the mirror, Lily looked up from Sadie’s hair. “Oh no.” A huge bouquet of red roses entered the business, hiding the person carrying them. “Not again.” The delivery boy set the flowers on the counter and had one of the girls at the desk sign for them.
    “Are those for you?”
    “I’m afraid so.”
    Someone had dropped several hundred dollars on those roses. “That’s sweet.”
    “No, it’s not. He’s too young for me,” she said as a blush crept up her neck.
    It was rude. She’d been raised better, but Sadie had to pry. “How old is he?”
    She sectioned off a slice of hair. “He’s thirty.”
    “That’s only eight years. Right?”
    “Yeah, but I don’t want to be a cougar.”
    “You don’t look like a cougar.”
    “Thanks.” She shoved a foil beneath the hair she’d sectioned and added, “He looks about twenty-five.”
    “I think he has to be young enough to be your son before it’s considered a cougar and cub relationship.”
    “Well, I don’t want to date a man eight years younger.” She swiped color out of one of the bowls. “But Lordy he’s hot.”
    Sadie smiled. “Just use him for his body.”
    “I tried that. He wants more.” Lily sighed. “I have a ten-year-old son, and I’m trying to run my own business. I just want a peaceful, calm life and Tucker is complicated.”
    “How?”
    “He was in the Army and he saw a lot. He says he used to be closed off but isn’t anymore.” She painted strands of Sadie’s hair. “But for a man who says he isn’t closed off anymore, he doesn’t share much about himself.”
    She thought of Vince. “And that scares you?”
    Lily shrugged. “That and his age and the drama with my ex. I don’t think I can take on more.”
    “Is your ex a real jerk?”
    Lily glanced at Sadie through the mirror. “My ex is a rat bastard.”
    Which was considerably worse than a jerk.
    After another hour of weaving color, Lily put a clear cap on Sadie’s hair and sat her under the hair dryer. Sadie checked her cell phone for texts and e-mails, but there was nothing but junk. She used to get fifty or so business-related messages mixed with a few from friends throughout the day. It was like she’d fallen off the grid. Off the planet.
    When she was done, her hair looked good. As good as in any of the salons she’d gone to in Denver or Phoenix or L.A. But Sadie was in Texas, and while Lily had managed just a slight trim to Sadie’s straight, shoulder-length hair, she hadn’t been able to control herself during the blow-out and Sadie had left with a slight pouf.
    The thought of going home with her fabulous-looking hair was depressing so she stopped by Deeann’s Duds to look at some sundresses she’d seen in the window. A bell above the door rang as she stepped inside, and she had the immediate impression of pink and gold and cowhides.
    “Look at you!” Deeann came around the counter and gave Sadie a hug. “Just as cute as a bug’s ear.”
    Sadie had never understood that expression. Since neither bugs nor ears were cute. “Thank you. I just had my roots touched up at Lily Belle Salon and Spa.”
    “Crazy Lily Darlington did it?”
    She pulled back and looked into Deeann’s brown eyes. “Lily’s crazy?” She