A Summer to Remember(47)
“Interesting because I will be there too. One of my friends knows Seth, the lead singer of Winter’s Regret, and managed to get us tickets. That is actually where I am spending my vacation time in August. Miami Beach. I guess we’ll have to do Las Vegas another time though I was really looking forward to it,” I explained as I flipped through the latest issue of Society Magazine.
“And whose bright idea was it to spend August in Vegas? You do know how hot it is there that particular month, don’t you?”
“Um, yes, I do research when I plan trips. Or what, do you think it’s going to be absolutely frigid in Miami Beach in August?”
We laughed and joked the whole time until he’d finished my hair and then turned me around to face the vanity mirror.
“Voila, what do you think?” he exclaimed in true queen fashion.
I stared at myself in the mirror and couldn’t believe how great I looked. I looked like my old self but absolutely more beautiful. The hair color, a lush brown with golden auburn highlights, complimented my sun-kissed skin and brought out my blue-gray eyes.
My features were softened by the color and I was actually more stunning as a brunette than I had ever been as a fake blonde. I couldn’t believe the night and day changes and I just knew Paul would love it too when he saw it.
“I love it. I look like another person,” I responded to Gavin finally after admiring myself in the mirror.
He rolled his hazel eyes. “Let me guess: this is all for some terrific guy you have met and fallen in love with because you are absolutely glowing. I was going to ask but I knew if you wanted to tell me, you would when you were ready.”
I turned toward Gavin and smiled churlishly at him. “I will tell you all about him next time.”
He shook his head before he rolled his eyes. “You are such a tease, girl.”
I left the salon after I paid him along with leaving a well-deserved and extremely hefty tip. It didn’t take long to arrive home since I had great luck with finding a cab. I unlocked the door to the loft and was actually quite shocked when I found Jude and Savannah together on the sofa.
They weren’t exactly cuddled up but they looked quite intimate as they held glasses of Pinot Grigio and two bottles of wine—one completely empty and the other, half-way empty—on the magazine table.
“My God, your hair! What have you done? It’s beautiful!” Savannah greeted before she set her glass of wine down and walked over to embrace me.
I hugged her back before I held her out at arm’s length. “Thanks. Hello to the both of you. What’s going on here?”
Jude avoided my gaze as he said, “Your hair is beautiful. You were always a better looking brunette than a blonde. Paul is going to love it.”
“I didn’t change my hair color for Paul, Jude. I needed a change and I’m sorry about interrupting you two.” I walked out before either one of them could say anything further and went straight to my spacious bedroom.
Moments later, there was a knock on the door before Savannah entered and she closed the door behind her.
“I hope I’m not out of line being here…I mean, with Jude. It was just a friendly conversation that started out at his office and we decided to bring it back here to the loft. He’s my financial advisor and after talk moved from stocks and bonds to petty gossip, we just thought it would be more appropriate to be here instead of his office.”
I turned toward my best friend as I pretended to busy myself by placing the hair products I would have to use on my bureau before they’d be transferred directly to my private bathroom. I had bought two sets: one for my home and another for when I was staying over at Paul’s.
“It’s not my business who Jude does and doesn’t date, Savannah. I just don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all. I’ve never known him to be serious about any woman and if he did anything to make you suffer emotionally, let’s just say it would take me a very long time to forgive him,” I explained in a business-like tone.
“I’m a grown woman, Jerrica, I can take care of myself.” She sighed and her cerulean eyes sparkled as she continued, “I know all of you always thought I was the innocent one of the group because I didn’t date and I was pretty much an ugly duckling at Vassar. I wore really crappy clothes and had that awful hair style but I’ve grown up, just like you and Autumn and Talia.
“I have needs like any other woman and I am certainly no saint or vestal virgin. There is nothing Jude can do to me that I wouldn’t allow him to do. I hope you understand that. He can’t hurt me because I won’t allow him to and for you to think anything different is sheer lunacy.”