Chapter9
Jace was already gone when Cindy got up to get ready for work after their first night as roommates. She wondered where he’d gone so early, but then she remembered he attended an AA meeting every morning. As she did first thing every day, she took the pill that helped to prevent migraines and then showered. She did her hair and makeup, always determined to look like she belonged in the beauty business.
Ms. Laverne in Dallas had hammered home that point time and again, a memory that made Cindy smile as she always did when she thought of the years she’d spent at that eclectic salon full of wise women and salty customers. Cindy had learned more about life there than in any classroom, and she’d carried those lessons with her when she came to Gansett.
The one downside to working alone on the island was that she missed the camaraderie she’d had with her coworkers. She kept in touch with many of them by email and text and was always happy to hear the latest news.
On Gansett, she heard the latest news from her customers rather than her coworkers. She was never lonely at work with a steady stream of delightful people coming in for haircuts and color. Cindy’s workday began with Abby McCarthy, who was round with pregnancy and moving slowly as she came up the stairs into the salon.
“Morning,” Cindy said.
“Morning.” Abby’s face was flushed, and she was breathing hard. “I thought it would be a good idea to walk over from the Surf. It wasn’t.”
Cindy grinned at the face Abby made.
“Quadruplets are no joke.”
“I can’t even.”
Abby sat in the chair and exhaled a deep breath. “I was worried I wouldn’t fit in the chair anymore.”
Cindy choked back a laugh as she covered Abby with a cape. “Stop! You’re nowhere near not fitting.”
“Yet. Talk to me in a month or two.”
“I’ll come to the house so you don’t have to worry about fitting in the chair.”
Abby’s eyes immediately filled with tears. “You’d do that?”
“Of course I would. Any time.”
“Everyone is so nice,” she said softly. “Whenever I start to panic about having five babies under the age of two, I remember how lucky I am to live here.”
“You’ll have more help than you know what to do with.”
“I’ll need it all.”
Cindy rested her hands on Abby’s shoulders and met her gaze in the mirror. “What’re we doing today?”
“A few inches off the back and clean up my layers?”
“You got it.”
Forty-five minutes later, Cindy held the door for Abby as she went down the stairs to the sidewalk where her husband, Adam, was parked in a white BMW SUV, waiting for her. Cindy had suggested that Abby text him for a ride, so she didn’t have to exert herself walking back to her shop at the Surf.
As Cindy swept Abby’s dark hair off the floor, she thought about what it must be like to be expecting quadruplets. Abby had shared her fertility struggles, so Cindy had initially assumed the babies had been conceived via IVF or some other treatment, but Abby had said they’d been a total surprise.
Five children under age two.
Cindy shuddered at the thought of how intense that would be, but with the McCarthy and Callahan families nearby to help, they’d get through it.
Hope Martinez came in a few minutes later, bringing news from Martinez Lawn & Garden and an update on her mother-in-law, Marion Martinez, who’d been the inspiration for the island’s elderly care center that was now named for her. Hope was married to Marion’s son Paul.
“Marion is recovering from a bout of pneumonia. We thought we were going to lose her, but she rallied three days ago and is doing much better now, thankfully.”
“I’m so glad to hear that.”
“It was a rough couple of weeks. I feel so sorry for the guys,” she said of Paul and his brother, Alex. “They’ve been through so much since she developed dementia.”