in his early thirties. He was bald with dark black eyebrows and a beard that went to his chest. The guys always teased him for not being able to grow hair on his head but only on his face. He didn’t care though. He rocked that beard and nothing held the guy back. He was also an Assassins’ season-ticket holder, and everyone went to Billy Ray. He was a good dude and cut hair to perfection.
Wrapping him up in a manly hug, he squeezed Jordie tightly before they parted. “Where ya been? No calls? No flowers? Do I mean nothing to ya?”
Jordie grinned. “Busted leg and then a stint in rehab, hence why I look like Jesus on the cross, as my buddy’s wife said,” he admitted. And unlike everyone else, Billy Ray wasn’t the least bit surprised. He didn’t laugh or give him a look of disappointment. He just nodded.
“I always knew you’d end up there. You just had to realize you needed help.”
“Wasn’t me. Elli made me.”
“Or she’d make you,” he said with a grin before tapping the seat in front of him. “Ya look like hell.”
“True, but I feel good,” Jordie said, sitting down. “But yeah, I look like hell ’cause I won’t let anyone touch me but you.”
“So attached,” Billy teased, putting the towel around Jordie’s neck. “So ya glad you went?”
“Very much so.”
“Good boy, I’m proud of you,” he said, running a comb through Jordie’s hair. “So tell me everything; I have a lot of hair to cut and shape up.”
He then went to work as Jordie told him about his leg, getting healthy, Mena Jane, and moving back home. He left out Louisiana, mainly because he was embarrassed by it. Like the amazing barber he was, Billy Ray commented on some things and just listened to others. As time passed, Jordie watched as the old Jordie soon looked back at him. The only differences were his eyes were brighter, he didn’t look like death, and he didn’t feel like it either. He was feeling like the person he wanted to be.
Now, he just needed the love of a good woman.
“Just a regular clean hairstyle? Or you feeling frisky?”
Jordie grinned. “Let’s do a Mohawk this time.”
“Frisky it is,” Billy Ray agreed before going to work. “How’s that girlie girl of yours?”
Karson made a face. “I told you about Kacey?”
“Um, yeah,” he said, looking back at him in the mirror. “Man, were you drunk all the time?”
“Basically,” Jordie said with a laugh. “But things are a little up in the air.”
“Really? You seemed pretty smitten with her.”
“I was, but I lied to myself and pushed her away,” he said, closing his eyes. He then explained the whole thing, thankful that the shop was completely empty. It was embarrassing enough to think about his mistakes; admitting them was much worse. When he finished, Billy Ray was standing there, the clipper by Jordie’s head as he stared at him in the mirror.
“So you knocked her up and then ignored her?”
Jordie nodded.
“Man, you did mess up,” he said, simply shaking his head. “I wouldn’t take you back.”
“Me either,” Jordie agreed and Billy Ray laughed.
“But if she’s anything like my Sarah, she’ll forgive you and take ya back.”
He grinned as he met the old man’s wrinkled eyes. “Oh, yeah?”
“Oh, yeah,” he agreed. “Sarah, man, she forgave me for the shittiest things. I was a bad guy when I was younger, into those drugs and drinking, bad. I never cheated, but there were a few times where she could have assumed I did. But still, she loved me. Never gave up on me. As soon as our little Amy came into the world, I cleaned up and then loved her extra hard for dealing with me for so long. Now, she says she has the best husband, and in return, I say I’ve always had the best wife,” he said with a little grin that brightened his eyes.
“Sounds like a real strong, good woman you got there.”
“The strongest. I asked once what made her stay, and she told me that you never give up on the person you can’t go a day without thinking about.”
“Wow,” Jordie said, a little bit in awe. He wanted that. The undying, stay together through thick and thin kind of love. If he wanted that with Kacey, he had to fight for her. Or woo her, as Lacey said.