"Okay, I'll see you in a little while," she said to the other woman.
"I'm bringing back a piece of that chocolate cake for Evie. Do you want one?"
Savannah nodded. "Yes, I do actually. I'll Venmo you when I'm done here. Or I have cash too, if you need it now."
"Venmo's fine," the girl said. "Evie and Bree are both staying here for lunch."
"Okay, thanks, Alice."
Savannah didn't skip a beat before going right back to cutting his hair.
"Must be some chocolate cake," EJ said.
"It is. It's from Café Eight. Have you been there? It's three layers, and the slices are huge. I keep it in the fridge and eat off of it for days. I would have mentioned it to you, but she takes a couple of hours for lunch, so I knew you wouldn't be here. Have you been to Café Eight?"
"No," he said.
"You should go there sometime. They have good food, too."
"I'll have to check it out," he said. "Eight's my number, so that'll be easy for me to remember."
"Eight's your favorite number? My favorite number is three."
"Three's cool," he said.
"It's just like eight with the side of it erased."
She made the statement so casually that it took EJ a second to realize that he had no idea what she was saying. "What do you mean?"
"Three," she said. "It's an eight with the edge of it erased." She motioned like she was swiping a chalkboard with an eraser. "You know, like if you take away the whole front edge of an eight… then it's a three."
EJ let out a little laugh. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he said.
"Three's cool for other reasons, too, though," she said.
"Yeah, it is," he agreed with a smile.
He sat in the chair, talking to her and trying not to notice the fact that she was touching him the whole time. He wanted to ask if she was married. He was attracted to her, and she seemed completely oblivious to him. He knew this woman. He knew her as a girl, but he had known her well, and it felt so odd to sit there with his heart pounding and his blood rushing and say nothing about it.
"Do you have any hobbies?" he asked, even though it was not what he wanted to say.
"I do, I make mosaics—sculptures. I made that fountain in the foyer… and the lady over there."
"Youmadethose?" he asked, sounding as surprised as he felt. He had already noticed the pieces she was talking about. He knew they were mosaic, but he never thought that's what she was talking about when she brought it up. This salon had a lot of art, and those were some of the coolest pieces in there. They were gorgeous and striking. The woman she was talking about was a full-size human woman, sprawled in a casual seated position. She was covered in small, shimmering mosaic tiles. Her face was nondetailed and mostly brownish tile, and she was beautiful. She was in a sitting position, gazing out of the window in the corner of the room. EJ could see it from where he was sitting, and he could not believe she made it. The colors faded and transitioned into each other in stripes and patterns, and she was just gorgeous. It was a fine art piece.
"That's beautiful," he said. "I thought you bought those."
"Well, I bought the stuff to make it," she said humbly, laughing a little. "I really just buy the sculptures and make mosaics over them. I didn't sculpt anything. The fountain was from a garden store, and the lady was made of foam, actually. I found her at a flea market with clothes on like a mannequin. She's stuck in that one position. Her legs don’t straighten or anything. We thought she'd look good sitting on a chair."
"Do you have a partner? Someone you work with? You said 'we'."
"Oh, no. I was just talking about everyone up here. No, no partners. I have a big, glorious mess in my living room, and I work alone."
"When did you start doing mosaics?"
"Only in like the last eight months or so."
"What? How are you so good already?"
