It's About Time (Hunt Family #5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

might get tired of having only one customer, day in and day out," he said.
    I wanted to say, "Not if that customer was you," but I just smiled and said, "Uh-huh," as I continued washing his hair.
    I ran conditioner through his hair, and we were both silent for a minute while I gave him the standard scalp massage that comes with all haircuts. Nothing special, nothing extra—just the standard, three-minute, scalp massage during the conditioner segment of the wash.
    "Mia said you're going back to California tomorrow," I said as I began rinsing out the conditioner.
    "Oh my gosh," Evan said in a low, growl that was a bit of a protest. "What did you just do to my head?"
    "It always feels good when someone else does it," I said, smiling as I turned off the water. I expertly wrapped a towel around his head and set his chair in the upright position.
    Evan took the towel from me and used it to dab more water out of his hair as he stood to follow me.
    "A few days after I saw you at breakfast, my agent flew in to see what my situation was," Evan said as he sat in my chair. I took the towel from him and rang out his hair again before combing it out. "He didn't seem to think the scar was a problem," Evan continued. "He took some photos while he was here, and he's already got a few jobs lined up for me when I get back to L.A. Apparently, they all know about the scar, and they're okay with it."
    "I told you it looked good," I said. "Were you thinking you'd be out of work?" I used the mirror to glance at him, and he saw me do it, but he didn't answer right away, so I went back to combing and sectioning his hair.
    He sighed before speaking. "That accident changed me in more ways than just the scar," he said. "It changed me in ways I don’t think I'm even aware of yet."
    "What do you mean?" I asked.
    "I don't know," he said. "I was at a pretty low place for a little while. I think maybe I thought I had it all figured out before that—I had planned for things to go a certain way with my life." He paused as if looking for the right words. "Everything just sort of got stripped away from me in a split second. I guess it just made me reexamine. I'm not sure I'll be satisfied with the same stuff I was satisfied with before, if that makes any sense."
    "I thought you just said you were going back to L.A. to pick up where you left off," I said as I began cutting his hair.
    "I am," he said.
    "Then nothing got stripped away," I said. "Sounds to me like you just had to put your life on pause for a couple of months."
    "Believe me," he said. "I know things could have been a lot worse. I'm thankful to be alive and to have use of my leg. I'm not trying to be dramatic about it or anything, but it is what it is. I was at a really low place for a while, and it sort of changed me from the inside. I may be going back to my job and my old life, but I don't feel like I'm quite the same person."
    "You're not," I said. "You're better. That's why there are tons of cliché's about trials making you stronger. The storms of life truly do change you. Cliché's are cliché because they're true."

 
    Chapter 5
     
     
    Thankfully, my stylist autopilot kicked in and the nerves brought on by touching Evan's hair diminished as I worked. There's a lot to be said for muscle memory, and my hands and arms sort of just took over and knew what to do to give him a good haircut in spite of myself.
    I really loved working with layers, so I had lots of tricks in my bag that helped me give him a style that matched his carefree, beach bum appearance. I loved how it came out, and I felt a genuine sense of relief as I ran my fingers through it at the end.
    He told me his hair behaved better when it dried naturally, so I applied a little bit of product and unsnapped the cape he was wearing with the intention of calling it a day.
    Up until that point, we had been regarding each other through the mirror, but as I was folding the cape, Evan swiveled in the chair so that he could look at me