Point of Attraction by Margaret Van Der Wolf Page A

But...” He
pointed. “I want you to know I could have.”
    “Problem is, now I’m
wondering who did put it there, and why?”
    “What about Mr. Sanders?”
    She shook her head, not really sure at
first, then decided, “Nnnno.”
    “Obviously whoever it was has good
taste.” He smiled and led her toward the door. “Listen, are you
going to be home tonight?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’d like to come by. It’ll be after
seven, if it’s okay.”
    Georgie swallowed that tightness in her
throat and said, “Sure,” as they left.
    Emmee and Brandy came up to
her as the squad car drove off with its lights flashing with a
quick blast of the siren as it entered traffic. For the first time,
Georgie could not bring herself to repeat what she often told her
kids when they saw police lights flashing along the roadside,
“ Oh, oh, Christmas
lights .” The lights looked nothing like
that now.
    “Damn, but that man looks good in that
uniform,” Emmee said with a sigh. “So now we’re having morning
coffee with him? Making progress here.”
    But Georgie didn’t take the bait. All
she could think of was Mason going out on a call, something he did,
day in day out, and any one of those calls could be the one to go
bad. No, they’re nothing like Christmas lights. The lights went off
and no siren came on. The theft was last night. No need to hurry,
she thought.
    “Hey, Boss Lady. You there?”
    “Yeah, I’m here,” she murmured and led
the way to the salon.
    “You guys going to open up this shop or
not?” Brandy’s first customer asked, leaning on the
door.
    “The day awaits,” Georgie
told the girls while motioning Edward out of the way so she could
officially open Dare To Care Salon. “Ed, we have to have our
coffee, or we make mean hairstylists. Trust me, you don’t want
that. Besides, it’s only a quarter of. We don’t officially open ‘til
nine.”
    “But you’re always here at
eight-thirty,” he said. “Everyone knows that.”
    Maybe she was too predictable,
Georgie thought, and followed them in after looking up the street
where the police car had already turned the corner and disappeared
behind a building.
    Well, she certainly ventured an
unexpected step into unpredictability, and took another sip of
Parker’s special to settle the little flip in her tummy. Whatever
possessed her to say yes to Mason coming over?
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

Chapter nine
     
    As the hands on the clock neared
five-thirty, Georgie had trouble concentrating on her work. It
would be six-thirty before she was done with Adrian’s color weave.
Then came the cut and blow dry. After seating Adrian in one of the
waiting chairs to let the color process, Georgie went to the supply
room to wash out the bowls. She glanced at the clock, saw only ten
minutes had passed, and pushed up the faucet handle. Water came out
full force, struck the two bowls and sent their contents
everywhere.
    “Dammit!”
    “What’s up?” Emmee asked, popping her
head through the doorway of the supply room as she walked behind
her client to the shampoo bowls.
    Georgie turned slightly to show her.
There was bleach and color on her face, cobbler apron, and all over
the wall.
    “Don’t touch me,” Emmee laughed,
backing away.
    By the time Georgie finished cleaning
up, grateful the bleach and color had missed her eyes, the timer
for her weave pinged loudly. She refused to look at the clock. Did
she want the time to go fast, or not? She wanted to throw up,
that’s what she wanted. Why had she said yes to Mason? It was a bad
idea. Yet she could not deny the up beat of her heart and flush of
heat each time she thought of it.
    She finally finished Adrian’s color,
cut and blow-dry, and stood behind the front desk while Adrian dug
through her wallet when the phone rang.
    “Dare To Care Salon. This is Georgie.
May I help you? Hello? Hello?” With vacuum silence being her only
answer, she hung up.
    “Don’t