had more piercings than she did and he had a Mohawk. Beneath the smock, Katie squeezed her hands together.
“I want it to look natural, so maybe some lowlights for winter? And fix the roots, too, so they blend.”
Rachel nodded into the mirror. “Do you want it about the same color? Or darker or lighter? Not the lowlights, I mean.”
“About the same.”
“Foil okay?”
“Yes,” Katie answered.
“Easy as pie,” Rachel said. “Just give me a couple of minutes to get things ready and I’ll be back, okay?”
Katie nodded. Off to the side, she saw a woman leaning back at the sink, another stylist beside her. She could hear the water as it was turned on and the hum of conversation from the other stations. Music played faintly over the speakers.
Rachel returned with the foil and the color. Near the chair, she stirred the color, making sure the consistency was right.
“How long have you lived in Dorchester?”
“Four years.”
“Where’d you grow up?”
“Pennsylvania,” Katie said. “I lived in Atlantic City before I moved here.”
“Was that your husband who dropped you off?”
“Yes.”
“He’s got a nice car. I saw it when you were waving. What is it? A Mustang?”
Katie nodded again but didn’t answer. Rachel worked for a little while in silence, applying color and wrapping the foil.
“How long have you been married?” Rachel asked as she coated and wrapped a particularly tricky strand of hair.
“Four years.”
“That’s why you moved to Dorchester, huh?”
“Yes.”
Rachel kept up her patter. “So what do you do?”
Katie stared straight ahead, trying not to see herself. Wishing that she were someone else. She could be here for an hour and a half before Kevin came back and she prayed he wouldn’t arrive early.
“I don’t have a job,” Katie answered.
“I’d go crazy if I didn’t work. Not that it’s always easy. What did you do before you were married?”
“I was a cocktail waitress.”
“In one of the casinos?”
Katie nodded.
“Is that where you met your husband?”
“Yes,” Katie said.
“So what’s he doing now? While you’re getting your hair done?”
He’s probably at a bar, Katie thought. “I don’t know.”
“Why didn’t you drive, then? Like I said, it’s kind of out of the way.”
“I don’t drive. My husband drives me when I need to go somewhere.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without a car. I mean, it’s not much but it gets me to where I need to go. I’d hate to have to depend on someone else like that.”
Katie could smell perfume in the air. The radiator below the counter had begun to click. “I never learned to drive.”
Rachel shrugged as she worked another piece of foil into Katie’s hair. “It’s not hard. Practice a little, take the test, and you’re good to go.”
Katie stared at Rachel in the mirror. Rachel seemed to know what she was doing, but she was young and starting out and Katie still wished she were older and more experienced. Which was odd, because she was probably only a couple of years older than Rachel. Maybe less than that. But Katie felt old.
“Do you have kids?”
“No.”
Perhaps the girl sensed that she’d said something wrong, because she worked in silence for the next few minutes, the foils making Katie look like she had alien antennae, before finally leading Katie to another seat. Rachel turned on a heat lamp.
“I’ll be back to check in a few minutes, okay?”
Rachel wandered off, toward another stylist. They were talking but the chatter in the salon made it impossible to overhear them. Katie glanced at the clock. Kevin would be back in less than an hour. Time was going fast, too fast.
Rachel came back and checked on her hair. “A little while longer,” she chirped, and resumed her conversation with her colleague, gesturing with her hands. Animated. Young and carefree. Happy.
More minutes passed. Then, a dozen. Katie tried not to stare at the clock. Finally, it was time, and Rachel removed the foil before leading Katie to the sink. Katie sat and leaned back, resting her neck against the towel. Rachel turned the water on and Katie felt a splash of cool water against her cheek. Rachel massaged the shampoo in her hair and scalp and rinsed, then added conditioner and rinsed again.
“Now let’s trim you up, okay?”
Back at the station, Katie thought her hair looked okay, but it was hard to tell when it was wet. It had to be right or Kevin would notice. Rachel combed Katie’s hair straight, getting out the tangles. There were forty minutes left.
Rachel stared into the mirror at Katie’s reflection. “How much do