Page 14 of Her Paramedic (Men in Uniforms #3)

T alia was having a week from hell; things she didn’t even think could go wrong happened.

She’d ordered a shipment of color for the salon.

They’d come in the correct boxes, but they were a completely different shade when they opened them.

It wouldn’t have been so bad if it were a color they used often, but Talia could count on one hand how many times a stylist had used that shade over the last year.

If that had been the only order issue, it wouldn’t have been so bad, but forty percent of the items she’d stocked up on were incorrect.

This had never happened before, and after calling the supplier who made the mistake, she discovered they had accidentally placed the shipping label for her order on someone else’s.

They did a reorder of the products with express shipping.

Add that to one of her braider’s clients trying to fight the stylist because she hadn’t brought enough money to get her hair done, and she informed her halfway through the style, which resulted in only half of it being completed.

“Are you okay, Tal?” Kaydence asked, reaching over and taking the pickle spear off her plate.

Talia glared playfully at her little sister. “Yeah. This week has just been one for the record books.”

She gave her a rundown of what went down that week, and it was only Wednesday. If anything else happened, Talia was sure she’d be able to discover how to reset the week through sheer determination.

“Damn,” Kaydence responded. “That sounds hectic. I’m sure missing Slate doesn’t help,” she teased.

Talia picked up her iced tea and took a drink.

It wasn’t like she hadn’t spoken to him, and she had video-called him, but his last few days off had been during the week, and they weren’t consecutive.

It had been two weeks since she had last seen him in person.

So yeah, she missed him. She hadn’t said anything to anyone about it, but she wasn’t surprised her sister could tell.

Instead of answering her, Talia changed the subject.

“Have you and Axel decided what you were going to do about the house situation?”

Kaydence gave her a knowing look and a sly smile, but allowed the subject to change.

“We’ve decided to sell both of our houses and buy a new one.

It only seemed right to find a new home that we both loved, where we could begin life as husband and wife.

We have a meeting scheduled with Nova to give her our wish list and have her put our houses on the market. ”

Talia wasn’t surprised that was the route they were going. It made the most sense instead of having one move into the other’s home and feel like a constant guest.

“Do you know what you want?”

“At least three bedrooms, two bathrooms. Ideally, I’d love an enormous kitchen. Axel wants a big backyard and for it to be close to both our jobs.”

“You plan on filling those bedrooms with some niblings for me?” Talia asked with a smile.

“Oh my gosh, Tal. Don’t start getting on Dad and Courtney’s baby train,” Kaydence responded with a sigh, and Talia couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m only kidding. I can wait for you to enjoy married life for a year before you give me one.”

Her sister shook her head. “Thank you for the gracious time frame. So, for our birthdays, I thought we could have dinner. Axel wants to spend my birthday weekend away. We could do it the weekend between our birthdays. Besides, I’m sure you want to spend yours with your new beau.”

“Dinner and the weekend between work for me,” Talia responded.

They decided on a restaurant and the time, and Kaydence volunteered to send the text in their group chat. They finished their lunch, and Talia paid, hugging her sister as they headed back to work.

T alia was preparing for her two-thirty appointment, a new client who called the salon on Monday and wanted to come in as soon as possible. They wanted a relaxer, and she’d taken it because she had the only available appointment for the week.

The door opened, and she glanced in that direction as a woman and a little girl walked in. She returned her attention to the task at hand. Monique approached her a minute later.

“Your two-thirty is here.”

“Thank you,” Talia responded, following Monique back to the front desk. “Hello, I’m Talia,” she introduced herself to the woman. “Tasha, and this is my daughter Gabby. Thank you for getting us in.”

Talia smiled at the little girl. “Are you going to be my little helper while I do your mommy’s hair?”

“Oh, no,” Tasha started. “The appointment is for her.”

“I’m sorry?” Talia questioned, hoping she’d heard her wrong, but knew she hadn’t.

“The appointment is for my daughter.”

“When you called, you said it was for Tasha,” Talia responded.

“Yes, because I was the one making the appointment. Now, which station are we going to?”

“We aren’t.”

“Excuse me?” Tasha asked.

“How old is she?” Talia inquired. She was asking, hoping that once the woman revealed the little girl’s age, she would see how ridiculous her request was.

“She’s three.”

“Okay, well, putting chemicals on her hair isn’t advised at such a young age. We could do something else. A protective style to last the week, so you don’t have to worry about doing it in the mornings for a bit if that’s the issue.”

“No. I made the appointment for a relaxer, and that’s what we’re going to get. I’m tired of dealing with it.”

“Not here, you aren’t. However, you are more than welcome to take her somewhere else and see if you can find a stylist with no morals or proper training who is willing to ruin that baby’s hair, or you can do it yourself that way when you realize the mistake you’ve made; it’s no one’s fault but your own. ”

Tasha stared at her for a moment as if she couldn’t believe that someone had told her no or called her out on the bullshit she was trying to pull.

“You are rude. I want to talk to the owner.”

Talia smiled at her, holding her hand out. “Hi, I’m Talia. A pleasure to meet you.”

She knew the other woman had caught the sarcasm in her voice from the scoff she let out. “You and your establishment are unprofessional.”

“I will be unprofessional any day of the week if it keeps from damaging that child’s hair.

She doesn’t need a relaxer because you may be tired of dealing with it.

You can give her plenty of styles on Sunday that will last her through the week.

But as I stated, you’re welcome to leave because you will not receive that service here. ”

Tasha glared at her. “It’s your loss. I will not be revisiting your salon.”

“Your choice. Have a good day,” Talia responded, walking away from the woman.

She sat in her chair and watched Tasha contemplate whether she was serious.

She must have surmised that Talia was because she huffed before turning to leave, bumping into a delivery person on her way.

Monique took the delivery, and once the man left, she approached Talia with the items, a teasing smile on her face as she handed her the bouquet of assorted purple flowers, her favorite color, in a clear vase and box with a purple ribbon.

“I wonder who these are from,” Monique teased.

She took them from Monique, bringing the flowers to her nose briefly, then looked for a card but didn’t see one. Talia placed them at her station. She untied the bow and opened the box. There was a card on top of parchment paper.

I hope this makes your week a little better. - Slate

She smiled at the card as she moved the parchment paper and found white chocolate-covered strawberries.

“Ooh, what’s the occasion?” Maya asked.

“I told him last night that the week already felt long, but other than that, there isn’t one.”

“Yeah, I need to know where that man was made because I want one,” Nesha said, and the salon laughed.

Talia took out her phone and texted him. She knew he was likely just waking up since he had worked last night. She would call him and thank him again when she left for the day.

A few minutes after getting home, she had another reason to thank him when a knock came on her door. It was another delivery. When she opened the box, she found a bottle of wine, chocolate truffles, a mini chocolate swirl cake, candy-coated cherries, and another note.

In case today was like the others or worsened after my first delivery. Maybe wine will make it better. - Slate

Talia couldn’t help but smile to herself. What am I going to do with this man?

She’d just cut a slice of the cake and poured a glass of wine when a second knock came on her door. She thought it was another delivery and opened the door without looking through the peephole, but wished she had when she saw the person on the other side.

“Charlie, what are you doing here?” she asked, leaning against the door frame.

“I missed you, baby, and wanted to stop by.” He held up a bag. “I brought dinner and thought we could watch a movie and see where the rest of the night takes us,” he smiled.

She and Charlie had been dating when Slate originally asked for her number, but a couple weeks after that, they went their separate ways. Mainly because she found she’d fallen into that terrible habit she had, and they hadn’t wanted the same things.

“One, you know I never liked it when you showed up at my house unannounced when we dated, so I damn sure don’t like it now. Second, the night will take you home because I don’t want to have dinner with you or watch a movie.”

“You don’t have to be like that. You know we have fun together.”

“Fun, which was all you wanted. We weren’t on the same page then; now, we’re in different books. Get off my doorstep and go home.”

Talia closed and locked the door. Her cake and wine were now well deserved.

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