Pippa hastily pulled her phone from her pocket. ‘Shoot. What’s the time? I need to call the applicant back about the job.’
Chapter nine
Pippa didn’t get thehour of peaceful reading she hoped for. She’d forgotten she’d booked an early morning appointment to get her hair trimmed, washed, and blow-dried. She hastily made her way to the little hairdresser shop that had been the first place she’d ever gotten her hair cut by a professional.
She smiled to herself as she remembered the fringe her mother had tried unsuccessfully to give her with a pair of kitchen scissors after telling Pippa she had always dreamed of being a famous stylist for the stars.
Pippa had willingly sat there in their kitchen as her mother promised to make her look likeBaby Spicefrom theSpice Girls, a pop band she’d adored growing up. A small chuckle escaped her lips as she remembered the ragged edge of the freshly cut fringe her mother had given her, making her hair look more like the edging bricks of a turret, and not the slick and sharp edge she’d hoped for.
She’d bawled her eyes out. Oh, how she remembered the look of devastation on her mother’s face at her own mess-up. Thankfully Christine, the only hairdresser in the small town-village, had been able to immediately fit her in with an appointment to rectify her mother’s good-intentioned mistake.
Her grin from the memory was still tugging up the corners of her mouth as she walked into the hairdressers, tinkling the same bell above the door that had notified Christine of her arrival all those years earlier.
Christine came out from the back with a beaming smile. ‘Pippa. It’s so lovely to see you again. How long has it been since you were last in here?’
‘Too long, Christine. Look at the state of me. I’ve found a lovely little hairdressers close to my home in Ireland, but it’s been closed for a few weeks due to a bereavement. They are good, but they are not a patch on you, Chrissy.’
Christine laughed and patted a seat by the washbasin. ‘Bless you. Hang your coat up and come and sit here. I’ll wash it first and put the kettle on, and then you can explain to me what you want doing this time.’
Pippa laughed. ‘What do you mean this time?’
‘You always seem to be sporting a new hairstyle each time I see you.’
Pippa grinned. ‘I suppose I do.’
‘I’m not complaining. I wished more people were like you. It would keep me constantly busy instead of the sporadic days I’m seeing lately. Some days I’m busy from opening to closing time. Other days, I barely have enough customers to pay for the electricity I use.’
Pippa felt sad for Christine. ‘Have you ever thought of a side-line business venture? Dog grooming maybe?’
Christine laughed. ‘That is actually a really good idea, Pippa. I’m not laughing at the idea of it, more at the thought of me doing the grooming. I wouldn’t have a clue. I’m more of a cat person. I’ve never owned a dog in my life. Not that I don’t like dogs, I just love kitties more. There is a room at the back I could use, which at the moment is just a storeroom. Maybe I could convert it.’
‘Or you could hire it out.’ Pippa suggested as she settled in front of the washbasin, holding her arms out in front of her for Christine to slip a gown on, before draping a towel around her shoulders, too.
Christine looked thoughtful. ‘You might be onto something there, Pippa. There are lots of families living around here with dogs. They must go into one of the bigger towns to get their pooches groomed. You know, Tom will be here shortly to fix a leak. I’ll ask him to take a look at the storeroom to see if it’s a big job to get plumbed.’
Pippa grinned widely and winked at Christine as she lay back with her head over the washbasin. ‘I’m not just a pretty face you know.’
