Page 1

1

MAGNOLIA

I steppedover a box in the kitchen to get to the coffee pot, already full of golden-brown liquid. “Cam, you are a lifesaver,” I said to my best friend, who was already sitting at the table and eating breakfast in her scrubs.

She sent a cheeky wink my way. “Knew you’d need it for your first day at work!”

“And every other day too,” I said, pouring myself a cup. “I don’t understand you early birds, but my inner night owl salutes you.” I held up the mug in cheers to her before bringing it to my lips. The aromatic liquid burned and brought me to life simultaneously.

“How’d you sleep?” she asked as I rummaged through the fridge for some yogurt and then dug through a cardboard box to find a spoon.

“Like shit,” I admitted. With a clatter of stainless steel, I finally found a spoon and sat across from her. “I’m so nervous.”

She brushed aside her blond fringe and looked up at me. “Don’t be.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Right. Because I didn’t just quit my job and move back to my hometown for achanceto prove I’m worthy of owning the salon.”

“You know Rhonda. She never had kids. That place is like her baby. A baby we both know you’re going to take amazing care of.” Cam was so confident in me. Until she frowned. “Do you think you’ll see him today?”

“Who?” I asked, even though we both knew who she was talking about.

She gave me a look.

I let out a sigh and set my spoon in the yogurt container. “I’m sure he cuts his own hair, and I have no plans to visit the diner until news of us moving back has died down. I swear, everywhere I go it’s like a family reunion with all my long-lost relatives dying to tell me how happy they are I’m home. And asking why I’m still single.”

Cam winked. “I don’t mind the attention.”

Of course she didn’t. She had been the one always getting me out of the house when we moved to Austin after graduation. She made tons of friends in nursing school while I was more focused on work and tending to my broken heart. “You can have all the attention,” I said, finishing my yogurt and getting up from the table. “Don’t want to be late.”

“I’ll see you after my shift,” she said. “Remember, your dad’s coming over to help us put the furniture together and my mom’s helping us decorate after.”

“Please be careful with my—”

“Precious metal art,” she finished with a smile. “I know; we will.”

I put my hands together and shook them in the air. “Thank you.”

I started walking toward the door, and Cam said, “Keys!” She lifted a flap of a box near the table and pulled out my key chain with the wire art sunflower.

“How did they get in there?” I asked.

She shrugged, tossing them my way.

“The retirement home is lucky to have you,” I said with a grin.

“Don’t I know it. Good luck today!”

With a wave, I was out the door, driving from our little rental house to Rhonda’s, the only salon in Cottonwood Falls. It was a cute brick building on Main Street with painted teal trim and a sign overhead with swirling cursive font.

Rhonda’s Salon

My heart swelled at the sight, realizing I could be mere months away from reaching my dream of owning my own salon. After a dozen years working in the city but getting nowhere with my ultimate goal, Rhonda called like an answered prayer. She said she wanted to retire, but she wouldn’t be letting go of her salon unless she could pass it to someone she trusted to take care of this town’s needs. If I could work there for six months and treat her clients well, I could buy it for myself. Make my own stamp on this town.

The place that built me.

The place where I’d first fallen in love.

And the place where my heart had been so broken, I never thought I’d recover or even want to come back.