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‘THANKS FOR SQUEEZING me in.’ Veronica flopped down in the chair, Avery, her designated stylist had ushered her over to. She’d made an appointment at lunchtime. Now she was grateful to take a load off having read somewhere she was a prime candidate for varicose veins thanks to what sometimes felt like a lifetime of standing behind the perfume counter at Blakeley’s. It had been a long day which had involved meeting several reps from the different perfume houses and lots of sniffing at fragrance cards. Her day had peaked early with Suit-man’s pre-lunch appearance at her counter.
She loved perfume, she adored it in fact, because she believed wholeheartedly in scent having the power to conjure emotion. To change sadness to joy. But some days when she left the department store, she could almost taste sandalwood, rose and musk lodged in the back of her throat ready to taint anything she tried to eat. On days like that, all she wanted was go home to her perfume-free zone where she didn’t have to be chatty and friendly with anyone. The boys didn’t appreciate chatty and friendly these days, interpreting it as nosy and needy, and as for their particular scent, smelly socks and sweaty armpits hardly counted as perfume.
Avery looked like she’d rather be at home with her tea on her lap watching the tele than about to transform a middle-aged woman. Nevertheless, she mustered a smile as she flapped the cape out around her new client. Veronica had come straight from work, texting the boys to tell them she’d be home later than normal and to sort themselves out something to eat if they didn’t want to wait for her. She planned on whipping up a shepherd’s pie and if they weren’t hungry then she could freeze what was left for another night. Right this minute they were probably microwaving spaghetti noodles.
She caught Avery’s quizzical gaze in the reflection of the mirror she was plonked in front of. ‘You’re booked in for a colour and cut right?’
‘Yes, and just a trim off the ends, thanks.’
‘Is this natural?’ She picked up a clump of mouse brown hair and rubbed it between her fingers. ‘It’s in good condition.’
‘Erm, thanks, and yes I’m au naturel at the moment.’ She knew if the boys were listening in they’d be muttering on about her being cringe. She could see several silver threads in amongst the brown, and squinting into the mirror, saw they were more like silver ropes. How had she not noticed them? It was pretty amazing the boys had refrained from pointing them out. She knew allowing one’s hair to silver naturally was a big trend at the moment but she was away off allowing that to happen and she didn’t want to be a mottled mix of grey and brown like a tabby cat either, thank you. She was too young in her opinion to start resembling Scruffy-bum. ‘I’d like something different, please, Avery. Something that makes me standout.’
Avery pursed her sticky, glossed lips. Her hair was a white, bleached, chin-length bob and she was obviously a self-tanning devotee because the expanse of skin on display was a tell-tale orange, brown. She had several piercings in her nose which made Veronica clench her bottom cheeks at the thought of having something like that done. Avery was also wearing a black skirt that would ensure she was hard to miss even without the peroxide blonde hair and piercing. It was a skirt her nana would have called a belt and she found herself adding, ‘But not in a ridiculous way because I am in my forties.’
Avery gave her a withering look, suggesting this was going to be a tough call. She moved from one cherry red Doc Marten booted foot to the other and appeared to be in pain as she pondered what to do. Veronica was almost ready to apologise for being such a difficult client when she piped up with, ‘What about azure?’
Veronica blinked. Azure brought to mind the Greek Islands and swimming in the Med not hair. ‘As in blue?’
‘Yes, the blue shades are hot right now thanks to Kylie Jenner.’
Veronica was more au fait with Kylie Minogue having spun around to the Australian’s hot-pants hit when she and Jason had whiled away Saturday nights clubbing, than Kylie Jenner but she was listening.
‘Your eyes are a bluish-green and with your fairish colouring I think you could rock it.’
She could rock blue hair? Avery thought she could rock something. Veronica liked that idea and the younger woman’s faith in her. She’d wanted something different so, why not? She decided to throw caution to the wind. ‘Go for it, Avery!’
Poor Avery took a step back at the vigour with which Veronica gave her the green light. Even Veronica had to admit it was cringe, but she was too excited to be contrite.
The young woman gathered herself and was about to disappear out the back to mix her potion when she paused. ‘Do you mind me asking what perfume you’re wearing? It’s lovely. It makes me think of Starbuck’s Vanilla Bean Cream Frappuccino. I lived on them when I went to Orlando last year. They were delish.’
‘Oh.’ Veronica wasn’t sure that was the analogy the nose at the YSL headquarters in Paris would’ve had in mind but it was an interesting one. ‘It’s Black Opium by Yves Saint Laurent. I manage the perfume counter at Blakeley’s. The fragrance’s keywords are floral, energetic, coffee accord and white flowers.’ She wasn’t sure if she had them in the right order but was certain the company would be proud of her recall, nonetheless. She’d definitely be on their goody bag Christmas list. ‘So, I can see where you got the whole frappe connection from.’ Avery, she knew from her chats with the rep, was the reinvented fragrance’s target market for the perfume. When she’d been her age, she’d splashed Opium everywhere knocking everyone out with her overtly sexual muskiness, convinced it turned her into a goddess especially after a few pints. Jason had asked her to stop dabbing it between her boobs because he didn’t need an invitation to visit and it took forever to the get the taste of the stuff off his tongue.
Avery’s eyes had already glazed over and she thudded off to the potion room leaving Veronica to relax into the seat.
‘Would you like a tea or a coffee? I can make cappuccino.’ A young girl with a broom, still in her school uniform, appeared alongside Veronica. She looked eager for an excuse to stop sweeping the hair off the salon floor.
‘I’d love a cappuccino. Thank you.’ She put the magazine she’d been aimlessly flicking through down and smiled at her.
The teenager puffed up importantly and then she too disappeared behind the dividing wall leaving Veronica alone with her thoughts.
Veronica was about to mull over today’s visit to her counter. Relive the moment when she’d turned around to see Suit-man once again but she didn’t have time to dwell on their conversation because she was being presented with a cappuccino. Avery picked that moment to reappear with a brush in hand ready to begin the bleaching process.
One and a half hours later, Veronica was angled uncomfortably over the sink while Avery washed the last of the colour out. She was fed up. There were only so many women’s magazines to be flicked through and she was more up to date with the seedy goings on of the celebrity world than she’d been in years. She was also fed up with looking at herself in the mirror. She was hungry and her stomach was beginning to make itself heard, loudly. There were one hundred and one other things she could be doing instead of getting a numb bum at the hairdressers. If she’d had an inkling as to what a palaver this new-look business was going to be, she’d have gone for boring old highlights. It was too late now though, she thought, following Avery’s direction and sitting up as she towel-dried her hair off.
‘It’s come up well,’ the stylist said, dropping the towel into the sink and inspecting her handiwork. That was something, Veronica thought, following her lead obediently back to her chair in front of the mirror. ‘What do you think?’ Avery demanded before she even had her bum on the chair.
Veronica sat down and with trepidation met her gaze in the mirror. She blinked rapidly at the initial shock of change and then her mouth twitched with the beginnings of a smile. If she were to see herself as a stranger would, she’d think she looked good. The colour gave her a whimsical look and she liked it. She remembered the long-ago sunshine holiday when her parents had been happy and she and Abi had whiled away their days playing mermaids in the clear blue water. It looks great. Thank you, Avery.’
Avery gave a pleased nod. ‘Right then, I’ll dry you off and then you can be on your, way.’ She picked up a barrel brush and the hairdryer and began to dry her hair with those practiced strokes she knew she’d never be able to emulate at home. By the time she’d finished, Veronica’s hair hung in a blue sheet grazing her shoulders. She wanted to swing her head from side to side like the models did on shampoo ads but she’d been here long enough and there’d be time enough for that in the privacy of her own bathroom later.
She gathered her bag up and tried not to show the horror she felt when Avery informed her how much the last three and a half hours had cost her. It was the most money she’d spent on herself in a very long while and guilt stabbed as she remembered the consent form the boys had brought home a few nights ago along with the request for a ridiculous sum so they could go on a science field trip. They needed new summer uniforms too. She’d have to talk to Jason. Her temples began to throb and a rattling anxiety at having to go cap in hand to her ex coursed through her system. She hated asking him for extra money. It made her feel like a failure who couldn’t manage her finances. She did her best but it was hard. This one was on her though because nobody had twisted her arm to go and spend a small fortune at the hairdressers. Vanity and a need to be seen were what had motivated her.
Ah well, she’d cross the bridge of field trips and uniforms when she came to it. For now, her immediate concern was what her sons would say to their mother’s new do. Would they ban her from the upcoming parent teacher evening? That might not be such a bad thing given how the last one had gone, she thought, digging deep once more in her bag for her keys.