Sliced Trees and Dead Words

6 - All man, and almost unbearably sexy. Almost.

- LUNA -

Siella convinced me to call in sick to work, but once she left in the morning after cooking me French toast, I finally hauled my fat ass out of bed, had a shower, got dressed, did my makeup, and walked down to the salon.

Being here and having something to do is better than lingering around at home on my own, wallowing in my sadness and eating enough popcorn and chocolate ice cream to add another few unwanted dress sizes to my wardrobe.

The girls tried to lock me out and refuse to let me in when they saw me walking up to the shop front, but when I started crying they eventually opened up and came out in droves, carrying a box of tissues each and surrounding me in hugs.

The girls of Moonlight Hair and Beauty are my dream team. They work hard and they're incredibly talented, not just at cutting hair and applying makeup. They're good listeners, as most hairdressers need to be, and they go above and beyond for our clients and for each other.

When Nella's IVF didn't take a few months ago, we did face masks, coloured all our hair a different pastel colour like her standard pink, and had a dance party in the shop.

When Lily left her emotionally abusive husband a couple years ago and filed for divorce, we baked her the biggest chocolate cake, closed the shop early and sat around in a circle on the floor drinking champagne and guzzling down sugar.

When Abila's father passed away just after that, we made her and her mother the biggest care package we could, complete with bath bombs, candles, flowers and enough chocolate to carry them through the next couple weeks.

Even Misako, our newest and youngest apprentice, has seen her fair share of support from my girls, with her douchey boyfriend dumping her the day before her Debutante Ball, and all my girls glamming up and taking her out to the most expensive restaurant in town, just so she could have an excuse to dress up in her white gown when she couldn't bear to show up to Deb without a partner.

They all assumed I wasn't coming in because Siella had called ahead and told them as much, but that didn't stop them from already ordering the biggest bouquet they could find and having it delivered to the shop, ready to drop off at my house when they closed up for the day. The overzealous display of native proteas, sugarbushes, everlasting daisies, banksias, leucadendrons, and gum leaves took up the entirely of my station in the salon, meaning I'd have to maneuver around the masterpiece whenever I had a client come in.

"We're all so sorry, babe," offered Nella, bringing me a chai latte she picked up for me between clients from the café next door. Nella and I have been best friends since high school. Like Siella, she's known me from the very beginning of my friendship with Dalen, so understands how big a loss this is for me. "Do you need me to help you with anything? Organise for his things? A service?"

I wanted to be able to give her an answer because I know how much she likes to be useful, but I really don't know what I need, apart from it not being true. "I don't really know right now, Nell," I said, sipping my warm, spicy latte, which spread the first ounce of warmth through me since I received Wolfe's first message. "Maybe a constant supply of these, actually," I said, holding up my well-worn travel cup, indicating the magic beverage within.

"Done. I can make that happen," she smiled softly at me, brushing her pastel pink, shoulder-length hair behind her ears, her sign that this conversation is about to get more serious. "Why don't you take a few days off, Luna? You know I'll take care of things while you take some time to wrap your head around this."

Nella and I had gone into business together as soon as we'd saved up enough money for the deposit on our very own piece of Byron Bay real estate. We both entered into our hairdressing apprenticeships at the age of sixteen, qualified when we were eighteen, and had been working for another seven years before we were able to save up enough money for the property and the costs to fund the renovations. Even with Nella and I, along with her husband Mason and brother-in-law Chase, doing the majority of the work, we spent the first year working independently in our new shop because we couldn't afford to employ anyone else.