Without hesitating, I sink down into the chair. Izzy has been cutting my hair since kindergarten, and she knows how to work with it. Plus, I know I’m about to get the best therapy session of my life and hear all the good gossip before she’s done. She shakes out a cape, wrapping it over my clothes.
“Let me call the diner, have Tim run some coffees over,” she says.
“And pie. Do they have apple pie?” I ask.
“They did yesterday. Let me check.”
She steps into the back room for a second and returns with her scissors and a comb. “Tim’s gonna walk everything over. And they had that pie.”
“You’re amazing, thank you,” I say, settling back.
She starts wetting down my hair. “Did you hear Deacon Ryder’s getting hitched?”
“Yeah, I’ve been back since he met Freya,” I say. “She’s sweet. I hope she’s down for anything, if he’s still as wild as I remember him being.”
“She is real sweet. Works down at the cafe,” she says, running the comb through my hair. “Now, how short do we want?”
“Give me…almost to my shoulder, but not quite,” I say confidently.
She tilts her head, studying me in the mirror. “You could do that, with how light your hair is. We just add a few layers on the bottom, give it some dimension.”
“I’m ready for it.”
She starts pinning and clipping. “You broke up with your boyfriend, didn’t you?”
I sigh. “Yeah, and here I am, doing a breakup cut. But it’s fine. I need a fresh start.”
“I never liked him.”
“Nobody did, it turns out.”
She laughs, turning me to face the window. I can see Tim, the owner of the diner, walking over through the wavy glass. The second he walks in, the familiar, slightly burnt scent of their coffee and the sweet cinnamon of apple pie fills the building. He stops with an exaggerated gasp when he sees me, his brows shooting up over bright blue eyes.
“Gotdamn, it’s little Janie,” he rasps, years of cigarettes echoing in his voice.
“I’m back,” I say, smiling. “Just for your apple pie.”
“Oh please,” he says, setting the food and drinks down. “You just down for a visit?”
“Just for the weekend,” I say.
“She broke up with the boyfriend,” Izzy volunteers.
Great, that’s about to be all over town. Tim puts his hands on his hips, grizzled head nodding approval.
“Yeah, I didn't like that one,” he says.
“Tim, you never met him,” I say.
“Well, Andy don’t like him, and that’s enough for me,” he says, shrugging. “Listen, I gotta get back, but you come down for breakfast before you head home, alright?”
I nod, smiling as he leaves. The coffee is good—a little burnt, but it tastes like home. Izzy gets back to chattering and snipping at my hair, but I’m a million miles away right now. There’s a tiny hollow beneath my ribs, right below my heart. There’s nothing I love more than this place. When I left, it was the most violent homesickness I’ve ever experienced. But I didn’t know what else to do; there wasn’t a clear place for me on Ryder Ranch. I had an obvious future elsewhere.
I thought I knew what I wanted, but every time I go home, there’s this little ache inside I can’t fix.
CHAPTER FIVE
BITTERN
