I didn’t miss Austin. Not at all. I just missed being younger.
“Mom asked me to come,” he replied evenly. “She deserves a traditional Christmas after the year that they’ve had.”
“Is she aware that you hate it here?” I asked as I met his gaze in the mirror. His expression told me I was right. Eventually, Austin shrugged.
“I don’t come right out and say it, no. I’m sure she knows that, though.” His voice was low. He looked around the room. “It’s just so small here. There aren’t the opportunities there are in New York.” Austin had talked about New York ad nauseam in school, and I rolled my eyes. “I made my life work there.”
“I think there is opportunity everywhere,” I argued, still chopping at his hair. I was ready for this to be done already. “Lots of people are happy here with what they have. I guess you never were, so you can’t see that. You haven’t changed, Austin. I am amazed that we had anything at all in common in school.”
Everything I used to think was good between us, that I’d missed until this day, faded away. I was just a girl who went to his school that he dumped when he left this horrible place, making me regret the fact that I fell for him in the first place.
“Oh, I’ve changed, Rebecca. I’ve changed in at least a billion ways.” Austin chuckled obnoxiously. I shot him a dark look in the mirror.
“Your money might impress the people in New York, or all over the world, but it doesn’t impress me. I think it’s made you a worse person than before, and I hope you hide this side of you from your mother.” I finished the cut in record time, feeling unsettled as he silently watched me in the mirror.
It looked as though he was trying to figure me out.
I finished and asked in as few words as possible if he was satisfied with the cut. Austin seemed to sit there forever. He ran a hand through his gorgeous hair before nodding. I brushed off the cape before taking it off. I led the way to the register to tell him how much the haircut was.
A few people seemed to recognize him now, but I only saw the fifty that he tipped me with. Granted, it would get me a few extra groceries this week, but screw him for being so uppity and rich.
“I might see you around,” he said. “Although I am trying to lay low, so the media doesn’t get the tip that I’m here.” Austin looked at me. “Thanks for the cut, Rebecca. It was nice seeing you.”
I nodded curtly at him.
Austin walked out of the door, and I tucked the money into the pocket of my jeans, vowing to use it for something good. I couldn’t help but frown at the shiny, fancy car he got into.
Austin didn’t get what life was all about. Looking back, he never really did.
Chapter Three
Austin
Once I was at my parents’ modest home and relatively unpacked, Mom insisted on an early supper. She’d made a chicken casserole with rice and broccoli that could feed a damn army, along with rolls and salad.
This meal used to be my favorite when I was a kid. I appreciated that she tried to make me happy, but I ate a lot of different things now with the hours I kept in the city. I smiled as I spooned some onto my plate and looked at my parents. “Thanks, Mom. This looks great.”
The rice appeared to be brown. I glanced at Dad. Mom would go to the ends of the earth to keep him healthy. I figured she was trying to be healthy where she could.
That was the only change that I could see. The house, the dishes, and their lives were exactly the same.
I thought back to the salon. Damn it. I couldn’t stop thinking about Rebecca. I spooned some food into my mouth, lost in my own thoughts. She’d stirred up things inside of me earlier that I hadn’t thought about for years. Rebecca was as beautiful as before, if not more so. I’d been so eager to get the hell out of here that I thought little of ending it with her eleven years ago.
Today, she looked gorgeous with those striking hazel eyes. The specks of green glimmered in the sun shining through the windows of the salon. Her skin was still pale and her hair long and curly. She looked so small town, but gorgeous. I sipped my water, trying to sort through my thoughts.
I’d dated some of the most beautiful women in the world, according to the media. I had a slew of actresses and models that left their notch on my proverbial bedpost. They were coveted by all, and friends envied me, asking for details of the nights spent with them. I was a hero in the eyes of some, though a man whore in the eyes of others. I looked at Mom with a slightly apologetic look as she searched my face worriedly.
Why was Rebecca still inside of my head? We dated in high school, and I didn’t think about her too much once I left. Sure, we’d slept together a few times, but it wasn’t overlooking the places where I had women now. I woke up to some of the most gorgeous views in the world and to women eager to please me, the billionaire.
Fuck this.
“Everything looked the same when I got back here. Grayson’s hasn’t changed a bit.” I stabbed some lettuce with my fork.
“They update when they need to, but you’re right,” Mom agreed. She scooped up some of the casserole with her fork, smiling gently. “People here like that, Austin. It’s the small-town life.”
I scowled, hating this life right now. “I guess. Even your house hasn’t changed at all.”
Dad gave me a look that suggested I shut up. I’d offered them money for anything they needed since falling into such wealth, but they insisted they had everything they needed. Sure, they took out equity loans to do the bigger repairs on the forty-year-old house, but Mom insisted that’s what it was for.