Generation Next (MxM MxMxF Polyfidelity - Book Seven)

Chapter Five

Five Years Ago

"Sarah, honey, what are you still doing here? Don't your folks need you this afternoon?" her Aunt Lori asked her.

Sarah looked up from the salon floor and the growing pile of hair she had been sweeping. Her eyes automatically went to her Aunt's superior gaze but didn't miss the fact that; while her mother's sister was watching her intently. She was waiting for a response but kept working on the client seated in front of her.

Sarah's stomach did a little summersault under the weight of the question. Try as she might, She could only hold eye contact for a brief moment before looking away guiltily.

She focused now upon the hairdresser's expert fingers that hadn't stopped moving. They seemed almost to blur with their pace; expertly folding a section of hair into a foil.

This sudden fascination with her Aunt's skills only bought her about half a minute before Aunt Lori cleared her throat impatiently.

The client seated in the chair heard the prompt and looked up from her magazine curiously. Sarah looked away from the wall-mounted mirror, back down to the pile of hair at her feet.

Sarah found her Aunt's furrowed brow again and grimaced.

There was no point denying it, she'd been sprung.

"Is that the time?" She lied poorly anyway. She didn't even look at the antique clock positioned perfectly on the wall opposing the mirrors, with the specific purpose of being visible from anywhere on the salon floor.

In truth, Sarah hadn't forgotten about her parents, and yes she knew what time it was. She was just avoiding reality, and she could tell by the look on her Aunts face, that they both knew it.

"Don't you think your parents could really do with your support today, of all days?" Aunt Lori suggested, turning back to the client as she asked it.

There was no point keeping the conversation quiet, everyone from three towns over knew what was going down at King's Hill today.

All Sarah wanted to do was pretend she didn't know anything about it.

"Um... well, yeah, but, not really." Sarah leant on the broom. It had been her constant companion in the last year since she'd started working in the salon in the afternoons. Right now, it was sort of holding her up while she stood fast against her Aunt's scrutiny. "They don't need me there."

"That's not what your mother said when she called me this morning with the sole purpose of ensuring that I understood that you were not to hang around this afternoon," her Aunt announced. The general audience now craned in their seats; barely pretending not to be eavesdropping.

"Well, they might have considered that before pushing me into a job straight after getting my licence," Sarah muttered unapologetically.

"As I recall; it was you who was the pushy one when it came to working here," Aunt Lori retorted with a snort that the other hairdressers chuckled along with.

"You know what I meant," Sarah responded with a tiny smile that was entirely unapologetic. "They wanted me off the farm, so here I am."

This was there dynamic. Aunt Lori teased her and called her on her bullshit simply because that's what Aunts did. In return, Sarah could be honest and upfront with her, in a way she could never be with her own parents because they simply had that relationship.

Aunt Lori, the other hairdressers, and all of their recurring clients knew Sarah loved everything about hairdressing. There were small things like the smell and sounds of the salon, the clients, and their gossip. Sarah loved working for her Aunt and with the other ladies. Sure they were country, like Sarah. But they were something else too. Every one of these ladies was unashamedly bold. Sarah loved that they each came with a range of eccentricities she hadn't thought to find in Lake Crane.