Sera frowned at her in the mirror. “You don’t need a trim. You need to let it grow out. It barely brushes your shoulders. I think you need to let it get about halfway down your back and then we can do the most gorgeous updos. I was first in my class in updos.”
“She recently did a wedding for a bride two towns over and all anyone could talk about was the bride’s hair.” Lisa gave her a thumbs-up.
She was not getting married, and big hair had no place in a medical clinic.
“I need a no-nonsense cut. I don’t spend a lot of time on my hair.” Most mornings she washed it, dried it, shoved it in a scrunchie. “I won’t need much. I color the grays once every six weeks or so. I promise I’ll be very low maintenance.”
“There’s no such thing,” Sera declared. “Not here. Beauty takes work, and you’re a beautiful woman. We need to find your style.”
“What if my style is scrubs and scrunchies?”
“It kind of is, most of the time,” Lisa interjected. “But when she goes out, I like to call her style modern stick up the ass.”
Lila rolled her eyes. “It’s understated elegance.”
“I like my version better,” Lisa quipped.
Sera giggled. “Don’t be silly. Let me grab the biggest barrel curling iron I can find and we’ll have so much fun. How do you feel about a total makeover?”
Terrified. Completely terrified.
“Non, non, ma fille.” Marcelle Martine was a stately looking woman. At least five foot ten, she towered over Seraphina, but the differences didn’t stop there. Miss Marcelle, as they called her, despite her marital status, was one of those women who didn’t look her age. Oh, she’d read the woman’s file and knew she was sixty-two, but Marcelle could have been in her forties for that barely lined face. Her hair was up in a turban and she wore a brilliantly colored caftan that contrasted her dark skin. “You work on Lisa’s hair. I will deal with the town heroine myself. Girl, everyone is talking about you.”
If only they would come into her clinic. It was a little better than it had been before the accident. She’d had a follow-up with Hallie Rayburn, who’d promised to bring her baby back for a full well check soon. A local teenager had decided making videos of himself doing skateboarding tricks was a good idea. He’d discovered the joys of getting a cast.
Lisa was sitting in the chair beside her and gave Marcelle a smile that came nowhere near her eyes. Not even close. “Really? Because I was thinking it would be a fun way for Sera to get to know my sister.”
Ah. She knew all her sister’s tricks. “I think I have to go with Miss Marcelle. Everyone says she’s the finest hairdresser in town, and obviously Sera would know exactly how you like your hair done since you’re so close.”
Sera practically vibrated with enthusiasm. “Oh, I’ve actually been dying to get my hands on your hair, Lis. It’s so thick. I can make it go a mile high. You’re going to love it.”
Sera clapped her hands and ran toward the back of the salon.
Marcelle shook her head Lisa’s way. “You should be ashamed, trying to sic that puppy on your poor sister. You know she’s going to try to talk you into highlights. Unless you want to leave this salon looking like a broke-down disco ball, you will hold that line.”
“You hired her,” Lisa said, the words coming out in a whisper as she made sure Sera wasn’t around.
Marcelle shrugged. “She’ll be good one day. It’s not like I have a lot of options since Francine took off for Florida to live out her dream of working at a retirement home. I’ve never known a woman so focused on the elderly. I miss her. Sera finally finished cosmetology school and she’s willing to do ten perms a day on some of the oldest, orneriest clients you’ve ever met, and I include your mother-in-law in that group.”
“You are my mother-in-law’s best friend,” Lisa pointed out. “And her partner in crime.”
Marcelle waved that off. “I don’t consider it a crime. I put the hex on the tourist. Delphine takes it off.”
“For forty bucks,” Lisa explained.
Marcelle put her hands in Lila’s hair, getting a feel for the texture. “And the tourist gets an authentic bayou experience. We all win. And the fact that Delphine and I have been through all sorts of ups and downs over the years is another reason why I had to hire Sera. Like I said, she’ll be good in a year or two. Until then there’s going to be some awfully big hair for you white girls in the parish. You’re welcome. I’ll be right back, Miss Lila. You remember this when my next checkup comes ’round. I’m the reason you won’t walk out of here looking like a pageant reject.”