Banana Muffins & Mayhem by Janel Gradowski Page A

hook with the others that the studio provided to customers. She returned to the table and gathered up the wads of paper towels she had scattered around her work space. Geri wiped off the area with a wet cloth. When the task was done, she turned to Amy. "I know I'm giving you zero notice, but do you have a bit of spare time to come up to my apartment right now? I was wondering if you could do a quick hairstyle consultation."
    All of Amy's friends knew that she still loved doing hair, even though she no longer worked as a professional hair stylist. "I have nothing going on this evening, so I would love to."
    After she had gathered her purse and jacket, Amy took a moment to text Alex to let him know her plans. He was still at his office, a block away, working on some kind of urgent project. So he was fine with her hanging out with the woman she had come to think of as a surrogate mom. Geri was far more motherly than Amy's true mother, who lived in Florida. The separation was actually a relief, but Amy never realized how much she missed having a mother around until she began hanging out with her best friend's mom.
    Geri punched out for the day. A door in the backroom led to the stairwell that the upstairs tenants used to reach their apartments. As they began to climb the wooden treads, Amy asked, "So is there a special occasion that you need the new hairstyle for?"
    "Don't tell my worrywart daughter." Geri looked over her shoulder and grinned. "But I have a lunch date on Monday."
    "How exciting! And don't worry. I know how Carla can be, so I won't say anything unless you want me to." Carla's analytical side tended to put a damper on freestyle thinking and activities. While Amy romped around outside the box, Carla drew the lines again. It wasn't a bad thing, but it did sometimes prevent the no-nonsense nurse from truly going with the flow and enjoying herself. Amy knew as well as Geri did that her daughter would worry more about what could go wrong with the date than be happy that her mother was moving on in her personal life. That's just the way she was. Like shortbread cookies always had a crumbly texture, Carla always coolly analyzed every aspect of every situation. That's what made her a good emergency room nurse.
    "Thank you," Geri said as she unlocked her apartment door. "My hair has looked pretty much the same for four years. Now that I'm going on a date, I'm suddenly getting an urge to change it. I realize it's just nerves, so I thought maybe you could come up with a different way for me to style it. So I won't flip out, run to the salon across the street, and end up with a buzz cut like Tommy."
    Inside the cozy apartment, Amy hung her purse and jacket on the tree-shaped coatrack. "I used to work at Elegance Salon. In my biased opinion, it's the best salon in Kellerton. I still know many of the people who are stylists there, and I'm sure they would all try to talk you out of making such a drastic change."
    "Good to know." Geri brushed past Amy on her way into the galley kitchen. "Would you like some herbal tea or wine?"
    "Tea would be nice."
    Soon they were settled into the makeshift salon setup with Geri sitting cross-legged on one of the floor cushions while Amy perched on the edge of the couch behind her. Mugs of steaming hot orange cardamom tea sat on the end table beside them. At Geri's request, Amy helped unravel all of the tiny braids mixed in with her long pewter-gray hair. Thankfully, the purple dreadlocks were synthetic hair clips. No scissors required to remove the felted cords. Amy slipped off the tiny rubber band at the bottom of a braid. A question had settled into her mind when she sat down to do the hair makeover.
    "Did you always want to have children before you had Carla?"
    Geri pulled one of the purple silk ribbons she had removed from her hair through her fingers. "Yes, I suppose so. But to be honest, I can't completely remember if I truly wanted to be a mother or if I thought it was what I was supposed