The Man Ban - Nicola Marsh Page 0,34

crystal clear waters of Waikato River, New Zealand’s longest, didn’t have the desired effect. As relaxing as the hot thermal pools were, they allowed his mind to drift, right back to Harper.

He’d had it all planned out. A picnic on the shores of Lake Taupo at dusk tonight, followed by exploring Huka Falls tomorrow. Nice, friendly activities designed to get to know her better. Dating. A different experience for him, but she deserved it, considering they’d moved past his usual favored quickie the moment he’d offered to come to her rescue.

But all he could think about as he toweled off and got dressed was how fast they could eat the gourmet picnic he’d ordered before making it back to the hotel.

If they made it out of the foyer, that is.

27

Harper’s phone call with Manny had left her hot and bothered, so after showering, dressing, and having a croissant and coffee brought to her room, she did the one thing guaranteed to take her mind off the hot doc until their date.

She Skyped her mom.

No surprise that when Lydia Ryland’s face appeared on the screen, her mom was perfectly made-up, from her poppy-red lips to her mascaraed lashes, her sleek blond bob shiny beneath the lights in the dining room of her childhood home. Having a hairdresser for a mom had been fantastic growing up and her friends at school would often pop around so Lydia could fix their hair too. Those had been good times, their house filled with laughter and the smell of hair spray, and when her dad invariably came home with pizza for the lot of them, Harper had thought herself the luckiest girl in the world.

These days, not so much. Her parents were bugging the crap out of her, her diagnosis required ongoing treatment, and while she’d nailed this Storr job, she could be back to watching cents if no other work came of it.

“What’s wrong?”

Trust her mom to take one look at her and figure she was in a funk.

“Nothing, Mom, just tired after finishing this big job.”

Lydia leaned closer to the screen, as if trying to peer through it and figure out if Harper had lied or not. “How did it go?”

“Good. I met Jock McKell.”

Lydia’s eyes widened. “No way.”

“I know, surreal, right?”

Lydia fanned her face. “Is he as hot in person as he is on TV?”

Harper could think of other words to describe Jock—creep, sleaze, jerk—but she settled for, “He’s very dynamic, and his food is superb.”

“You got to taste it?”

She nodded. “I always get to eat after a shoot is finished.” She wanted to add, You know that, but her mom had lost interest in her job a while ago, around the time Lydia had dumped Alec and started focusing on herself.

“It all sounds very glamorous, flying to New Zealand, staying in the new Storr Hotels, meeting Jock McKell.” Lydia let out a soft, wistful sigh. “My biggest claim to fame is doing a fancy updo for a third cousin twice removed of the lead singer from Human Nature.”

Harper laughed. “You’re making that up.”

“What gave it away? The convoluted family tree?” Lydia smiled, alleviating some of the tension bracketing her mom’s mouth.

“My job’s not that glamorous, Mom. It’s mostly a lot of hard work, long hours standing on my feet and stressing over whether a dish is perfect.”

“I miss running the salon,” Lydia blurted, crimson flushing her cheeks.

Surprised by her mom’s admission, it was Harper’s turn to lean closer to the screen. She vaguely remembered her mom working when she was younger, but she didn’t know she’d run a salon, let alone heard her lament the loss of it.

“Did you own a salon?”

Lydia nodded, biting down on her bottom lip. “Your father helped me purchase it before you were born. I ran it for about five years before you came along, then I sold it.”

“Why?”

“Because your father’s business was struggling, I was taking time off for maternity leave, and we could barely make mortgage payments.” She sounded bitter, and her lips thinned. “I thought about going back to hairdressing when you were older, but it never seemed like the right time.”

Stunned by her mom’s admissions, Harper said, “You could go back to it now?”

Lydia snorted. “Who’d want to hire a sixty-year-old hairdresser who hasn’t worked in three decades?”

“It’s never too late to upskill, Mom, and if it’s something you really want, why not give it a go?”

Lydia’s eyes flashed fire. “What I want is for your father to—” She stopped abruptly, the