The Look of Love by Crystal B. Bright Page A

him without a shirt. He had his back to her. The muscular expanse of flesh had her imagining her fingernails clawing it. She chewed on her lower lip as she continued watching him get dressed.
    He slipped on a black T-shirt and tossed his other one into a gym bag. “Had some dust on the other one.”
    Eboni smiled and nodded, unable to speak after that show. He ushered her out of the office and closed the door behind himself.
    “As I was saying, I wanted to thank you all for working so hard for my mother while she’s recovering. In case you hadn’t heard, she was supposed to have a stent installed yesterday, but they found additional blockage in another artery.”
    “So what does that mean?” Shay asked.
    “They’re going to do bypass surgery. Double for sure, but may be triple if they find more problem spots.”
    Shay and Tillman covered their mouths in horror. Tisha barely lifted her head to look at him.
    “I’m going to assume my mother’s duties while she’s gone. So look to me as you would look to her.”
    “You going to get your nails painted like Queen?” Shay laughed so loud Tisha jumped at the sound.
    Gunnar smiled. “Funny. I also wanted to propose something.” He glanced at Eboni before continuing.
    Eboni felt her eyebrows draw together at his unexpected announcement. The brief stare started her heart. She put her hand to her chest and looked at the other employees to ground herself.
    “The Oceanfront Community Center is in need of some money to make necessary repairs. What do you all think about opening the salon on Mondays and have all the money made on that day go to the center? Are you all in?”
    The room fell quiet. Gunnar hadn’t mentioned this plan to her before springing it on the group. Unexpected anger bubbled in her gut. Then Shay broke the silence with her cackling laughter.
    “You are too funny. Open up the salon so that we can make some money. I have a client coming in a few minutes.” She scratched the inside of her Afro with her pinkie nail.
    “So you don’t want to do it?” Gunnar crossed his arms.
    “If it’s not paying my bills, I’m not paying no mind.” Shay shook her head. “I’m not coming here on my day off to work for free . Are you crazy?”
    “Yeah, man. Sundays and Mondays are our weekends. We work here Tuesdays through Saturday. I like my weekends.” Tillman shrugged.
    Tisha glanced up, mumbled something and turned around.
    When Gunnar brought his attention to Eboni, she hoped he caught her genuine surprise. “I’m going to unlock the door, and then you and I need to talk.” She walked to the door. “Let’s open.”
    Once Eboni unlocked the door, she stormed to the office and waited for Gunnar. He followed right behind her, closing the door for privacy.
    “What was that out there?” Eboni asked.
    “What? Didn’t you want some support for the center?” Gunnar felt an intense headache stabbing the middle of his forehead.
    “Yes. Support. What you did was so halfhearted, you practically dared them to accept it. You might as well have laughed with them.” Eboni crossed her arms over her chest.
    “I need some air.” Gunnar grabbed his coat and swung the office door open. He stomped outside.
    “Where is he going?” Monica asked.
    “He needs some space.” Eboni strolled out of the office.
    “Damn, the first customer hasn’t even come in yet and he’s already bailing.” Shay shook her head. “Didn’t think he would last. No one can fill Miss Queen’s shoes. No one.”
    Eboni felt no need to go after him. She’d made the center her baby. He didn’t care about it…or her.
    Her sensible side whispered in her ear that his plan had been solid. Had the employees been on board, they could have raised a lot of money.
    As she started to walk by Shay, the woman grabbed her arm and pulled her close to her.
    “So what’s the story?” Shay asked under her breath.
    “What do you mean?” Eboni shrugged out of her boney grip.
    “Are you and Gunnar