BLURB:
Unbeknownst to her
boyfriend, Sassy South Carolina hairstylist, Rainey Brown, is headed to
Missoula, dead set on giving her minor league baseball player boyfriend of four
years an ultimatum. Either put a ring on it or let her go, preferably not the
latter.
When Rainey's piece of crap car dies in the middle
of Nowhere, Montana, she's sure she's a gonner, until gorgeous restaurateur
Beck Hartnett stops to help. Beck falls hard for Rainey, and knows she would
admit she's fallen for him too, if she wasn't too stubborn to admit it. Beck
has five days before the car is repaired to steal Rainey away from a boyfriend
who doesn't deserve her. Five days before she's gone for good.
EXCERPT:
My
last client of the day meticulously inspected her razor-sharp bob, trying to
find a reason to stay in my chair. This was a language I knew well, usually a
sign that something was going on in a client’s life, something they would never
tell their sister or their mother or even their therapist. They tell me because
I’m a hair stylist. For most women, that trumps everything, but for God’s sake,
why did Katie Mills have to wait until now to start her therapy session?
She
handed the mirror back to me and looked into the big round one on my station.
“Jackson’s cheating. Again.” This was something Katie couldn’t tell anyone, or
at least that’s what she swore to me. She attributed it to the fact that she
was one of my first clients when I got out of beauty school six years ago and
we were friends. And we are, but that wasn’t it. There’s some kind of transfer
of trust that takes place when you snap a cape on a client, when you stand over
them with a pair of scissors and their wet hair, either giving them what they
want or saving them from making a huge mistake.
I
looked at her, knowing if things went the way they normally did when her
husband couldn’t keep his pants zipped, we’d end up getting coffee or tapas at
the bar two doors down, drinking wine and talking for hours. No wonder she’d
asked for the last appointment of the day. I glanced at the clock. Adam would
be landing any minute, waiting for me at baggage claim with that tall delicious
body, that beautiful smile. Then he’d spend the rest of the weekend making me
forget how tired and frustrated I’d been lately with our relationship.
Katie
knew as well as anyone that I hardly ever got to see Adam. I’d met him four
years ago when he was playing minor league baseball for the Tampa Yankees and
instantly knew he was the one. Since then he’s lived with me here, in Columbia,
South Carolina, when he wasn’t bouncing around from farm system to farm system,
trying to make it to the major leagues. But moving up the baseball ladder is
the equivalent of winning the lottery, and as much as I loved Adam… since I met
him, he’d been steadily moving down the ladder. “Katie, I’m sorry, really I
am—.”
“I’m
just so sick of Jackson’s shit, Rainey. I know it’s some girl in the athletic
department. She’s probably twenty something with tits up to here.” If they were
up to her neck, the girl must look like an alien. “Wanna grab a coffee?”
Jackson
was a serial cheater, but as athletic director at the University of South
Carolina, he made a lot of money. Katie liked the money so much she had put up
with his antics at three different universities. She’d had babies thinking that
would keep him home and monogamous, but all she had to show for her efforts
were three towheaded little boys and a chronically broken heart.
“I
can’t, Katie, I have to pick Adam up.” She looked like I’d stuck a knife in her
back. “We haven’t seen each other in three months.”
Katie’s
chin quivered as she held my gaze in the mirror, tears pooled in her chocolate
brown eyes. She was still a beautiful woman, a Mississippi belle who’d somehow
lost herself along the way. I could have told her she was still gorgeous, that
she was bright and funny, and sexy when she turned on her Ole Miss charm.
But
the look in her eyes reminded me of myself lately. I thought I was used to
loving Adam Harper any way I could get him. Lately, I’ve wanted more. Needed
more. “I’m sorry, Katie.” I couldn’t
look at her when I unsnapped the cape. “I can meet you for coffee Sunday
afternoon after I drop Adam off at the airport.”
“What
am I going to do now?”
What
you always do. You go back to Jackson. I wish you wouldn’t, but you do the
insanity dance over and over again, losing weight, shopping, Botox, trying to
change yourself in hopes that your husband will change, but he can’t or he
won’t. I put my hands on her slender shoulders and said the words I’d wanted to
say to her since I met her, the words I thought were too pushy or too
dangerous.
“Katie,
you are beautiful. You are valuable. And if that bastard can’t see that, to
hell with him.”
“Are
you saying I should leave my husband?”
Yes.
No. These are the moments when I feel the truth, that I’m a hair stylist and
not a trained therapist. I don’t want to be responsible for a broken
marriage—hell, broken marriages— because Katie isn’t the only client who has a
spouse like Jackson, but I had to leave. Now.
I
rifled through my station and found the business cards Ruthie Cox gave me. She
was a therapist and said I’d probably never need to pass out her cards because
in many ways, Ruthie felt I was better equipped to help clients than she was.
It took several visits, sometimes months, for Ruthie’s clients to trust her
enough to tell her their problems, and yet those same people could sit in the
chair of a hairstylist they hardly knew and bare their souls.
“Call
Ruthie. She’s a wonderful therapist. She’ll help you sort this out. I love you
Katie, I do.” The tears were coming. Again. I’d cried a lot lately missing Adam
so much, wishing just once that he’d pick me over baseball. “It’s just been so
long since I’ve seen him, and I only have thirty-six hours before he flies out
again.” I choked out the last words, grabbed my purse, and left without looking
back.
AUTHOR Bio and
Links:
Kim
Boykin is a women's fiction author with a sassy Southern streak. She is the
author of The Wisdom of Hair, Steal Me, Cowboy, and Palmetto Moon (Summer
2014.) While her heart is always in South Carolina, she lives in Charlotte,
North Carolina, with her husband, 3 dogs, and 126 rose bushes.
The author and publisher will be awarding a $15 Starbucks card, Valentine mug, and yummy candies to a randomly drawn commenter during the tour (US only).
The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.
Love this excerpt. Kim you have pegged the relationship I have with my stylist to the "T".
ReplyDeleteGoing to the same person for 12 years now and you have it right you tell them things you wouldn't tell other people. Must be some sort of code amongst hair dressers. The more I read about Steal Me, Cowboy the more i know I will love this story. It sounds like fun and to be a heart touching story.
Nice excerpt
ReplyDeletebn100candg at hotmail dot com
Sounds like a great fun read!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chance to win!
natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com
This sounds like a good 'read in one day' book. Can't wait for mine to arrive. Thanks for giving us a chance to win such great goodies.
ReplyDelete