Miss Lola.

Chapter 8.

"Oh, honey. I don't think I'll ever be ready to discuss this with anybody." I said, fanning myself and dramatically rolling my eyes.

"Well, just as long as you know that I'm here when you are ready to talk about it." Hollis said.

Oh my goodness..he's such a nice man but it'll be a cold day in Hades before I'd tell him or anyone else that my daughter is going around here shaking her half naked behind at a sleazy strip club and probably doing something strange for a piece of change.

Oh, Hell no.

Hollis' eyes turn all dreamy and there's a defined moment, a breathless second when I'm sure that he's going to kiss me and I unconsciously puckered up my lips in anticipation as all thoughts of my wayward daughter scattered from my mind.

He leaned forward, my eyes closed, and then I felt his warm lips brush my forehead.

My eyes flew opened in disappointment as I complained, "Is that it?"

The corner of his scrumptious lips twitched and he lightly strokes the side of my cheek, there was a mischievous twinkle in his amber brown eyes.

"I don't think you're ready for a real kiss yet." He said, chuckling when I playfully punched his arm.

"That's what you think, buster." I huffed, swiftly turning away from him to chirp the alarm on my car.

"I'll call you later." Hollis said, still grinning. "And I'd like to see you again. Real soon."

"I'd like that too, Hollis." I said smiling a little. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, pretty lady."

He moved out of the way so that I could back up without accidentally running him over, and tooting my horn, I zoomed off into the night.

Bright and early the next morning, I was at my shop, "Hair So Lovely," which is a red brick building on Kennedy Street.

I'd decorated the interior myself and personally painted the walls a light, lilac which is my favorite color and spent one entire day buffing the hardwood floors.

The furniture and fixings are black with chrome accents and I always light lavender scented candles because I read somewhere that lavender is a soothing aroma and I'd wanted to create a relaxing, comfortable atmosphere for my clients.

So anyway, I was working on my first customer, a good friend of mine named Avis Stanley who is a pretty, cocoa brown woman who had managed to defy the laws of gravity by keeping her girlish figure despite having given birth to five kids.

She'd also been my very first paying customer when I'd opened "Hair so Lovely" way back in the Summer of 1996 so we have a special bond.

"Lola? Can you cut it again?" She asked.

"I only just trimmed it last week, Avis."

"Yeah, but it wasn't short enough." She complained.

"That's because I only trimmed your ends before. Now a cut is something else entirely." I said, expertly running my fingers through her freshly washed and blow dried natural hair testing the coarse texture and judging it's length.

Avis has beautiful salt and pepper hair which she usually likes flat ironed and gently curled at the ends and I don't know why she wants to switch her routine up today.

Something is definitely up.

"Why do you want it cut anyway? It just started to fill in." I reminded her.

"Girl, I just want to try something different. Can you give me a high top fade like them young kids be wearing now?"

"Say..what?"

"A fade. I saw a young girl rocking one the other day and I liked it so..."

I had to stand back and check on my  friend to make sure that this was still the same person who'd sat herself down in my chair ten minutes ago because this does not sound like the  Avis whom I've known for the past fifteen years.

She's what I like to call an emotional water bag which simply means that Avis will burst into tears at the drop of a hat and lately it's gotten so bad until I can't even take her to the movies without her bawling during every sad scene.

I'd started wondering if she was going through a mid-life crisis or just plain losing her marbles like the rest of us.

"Avis, girl are you okay?" I ask and for no reason her big, soft brown eyes instantly fill up with tears and concerned, I quickly hand her a box of Kleenex.

"No,I'm not okay. Ronald moved out last night." She wailed.

"Wait a minute. Are you saying that your husband left you?"

Sniffing and using a handful of tissues to wipe at her eyes, Avis miserably nodded her head.

"Ye..yes. He just packed up most of his clothes and walked out the house without saying boo, loo or goodbye.."

"Aww..Hell." I didn't know what else to say because Ronald had seemed like such a stand up guy and they'd been together for close to thirty years. I guess it just goes to show that you can't judge a book by it's cover but Ronald sure had me fooled.

"I didn't even know that you guys were having problems..." I said and went over and locked the front door and pulled a chair over to where Avis was seated and sat myself down.

"What happened?"

"He..he seemed to change when he leased that new Firebird and let his beard grow in. Then he started buying younger clothes.." Avis pressed a wad of soggy tissues to her nose.

"I thought he was only trying to jazz our love life up, you know, because lately things had gotten a little stale in that area."

I wanted to ask her where Ronald had found the money to lease a car because the last I checked his hours at the textile mill had been cut and they were living on a fixed income.

"Did he find a part time job or something?" I asked and Avis nodded.

"He claims they're letting him pick up a few extra hours at the mill but I never see the money."

"Have mercy." I softly exclaimed.

We both looked up at the sound of fists pounding against the glass door which signaled the arrival of my three employees however I'd locked them out.

Todd Jenkins, the only male in the bunch and the one doing all the banging on my expensive glass door, cupped both hands around his cheeks and pressed his long, pale face against the glass.

"Let me go and let these fools in before they break my doggone door down." I said.

10/24/21.