“Four years.”
“That’s why you moved to Dorchester, huh?”
“Yes.”
Rachel kept up her patter. “So what do you do?”
Katie stared straight ahead, trying not to see herself. Wishing that she were someone else. She could be here for an hour and a half before Kevin came back and she prayed he wouldn’t arrive early.
“I don’t have a job,” Katie answered.
“I’d go crazy if I didn’t work. Not that it’s always easy. What did you do before you were married?”
“I was a cocktail waitress.”
“In one of the casinos?”
Katie nodded.
“Is that where you met your husband?”
“Yes,” Katie said.
“So what’s he doing now? While you’re getting your hair done?”
He’s probably at a bar, Katie thought. “I don’t know.”
“Why didn’t you drive, then? Like I said, it’s kind of out of the way.”
“I don’t drive. My husband drives me when I need to go somewhere.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without a car. I mean, it’s not much but it gets me to where I need to go. I’d hate to have to depend on someone else like that.”
Katie could smell perfume in the air. The radiator below the counter had begun to click. “I never learned to drive.”
Rachel shrugged as she worked another piece of foil into Katie’s hair. “It’s not hard. Practice a little, take the test, and you’re good to go.”
Katie stared at Rachel in the mirror. Rachel seemed to know what she was doing, but she was young and starting out and Katie still wished she were older and more experienced. Which was odd, because she was probably only a couple of years older than Rachel. Maybe less than that. But Katie felt old.
“Do you have kids?”
“No.”
Perhaps the girl sensed that she’d said something wrong, because she worked in silence for the next few minutes, the foils making Katie look like she had alien antennae, before finally leading Katie to another seat. Rachel turned on a heat lamp.
“I’ll be back to check in a few minutes, okay?”
Rachel wandered off, toward another stylist. They were talking but the chatter in the salon made it impossible to overhear them. Katie glanced at the clock. Kevin would be back in less than an hour. Time was going fast, too fast.
Rachel came back and checked on her hair. “A little while longer,” she chirped, and resumed her conversation with her colleague, gesturing with her hands. Animated. Young and carefree. Happy.
More minutes passed. Then, a dozen. Katie tried not to stare at the clock. Finally, it was time, and Rachel removed the foil before leading Katie to the sink. Katie sat and leaned back, resting her neck against the towel. Rachel turned the water on and Katie felt a splash of cool water against her cheek. Rachel massaged the shampoo in her hair and scalp and rinsed, then added conditioner and rinsed again.
“Now let’s trim you up, okay?”
Back at the station, Katie thought her hair looked okay, but it was hard to tell when it was wet. It had to be right or Kevin would notice. Rachel combed Katie’s hair straight, getting out the tangles. There were forty minutes left.
Rachel stared into the mirror at Katie’s reflection. “How much do you want taken off?”
“Not too much,” Katie said. “Just enough to clean it up. My husband likes it long.”
“How do you want it styled? I’ve got a book over there if you want something new.”
“How I had it when I came in is fine.”
“Will do,” Rachel said.
Katie watched as Rachel used a comb, running her hair through her fingers, then snipped it with the scissors. First the back, then the sides. And finally the top. Somewhere, Rachel had found a piece of gum and she chewed, her jaw moving up and down as she worked.
“Okay so far?”
“Yes. I think that’s enough.”
Rachel reached for the hair dryer and a circular brush. She ran the brush slowly through Katie’s hair, the noise of the dryer loud in her ear.
“How often do you get your hair done?” Rachel asked, making small talk.
“Once a month,” Katie answered. “But sometimes I just get it cut.”
“You have beautiful hair, by the way.”
“Thank you.”
Rachel continued to work. Katie asked for some light curls and Rachel brought out the curling iron. It took a couple of minutes to heat up. There were still twenty minutes left.
Rachel curled and brushed until she was finally satisfied and studied Katie in the mirror.
“How’s that?”
Katie examined the color and the style. “That’s perfect,” she said.
“Let me show you the back,” Rachael said. She spun Katie’s chair around and handed her a mirror. Katie stared into the double reflection and nodded.
“Okay, that’s it, then,” Rachel said.
“How much is it?”