Hunter stops by with lunch every day for a week, and every day he leaves with an, ‘I love you.’ At home, he’s been giving me space. He still sits to eat dinner with us. Sage won’t let either of us flake on that, and he watches and listens when I talk about the salon but stays quiet unless he’s asked a direct question.
Every night, he sends the same text message, give or take a few words. Like the one he sent tonight.
Hunter: You’re still it for me, Megs. I’m here waiting as long as you need. I love you with my whole heart and miss you. -Hunter
He knows how to slowly chip away at a girl’s wall. Every night I read the text but don’t answer. Some nights I fall asleep staring at the text, but tonight something feels different. I can’t put my finger on it. Maybe it’s just a part of the wall he has managed to chip away.
I feel like I can’t not reply. So, that’s what I do.
Me: I miss you too, Hunter.
Short and sweet. Once I hit send, I stare at my phone. A few minutes go by and nothing back. Did I shock him or is he not going to reply? A few more minutes and still nothing. I take a deep breath and as I’m about to set my phone down, he finally messages me back.
Hunter: I’m here, Megs. Get some sleep, beautiful. Good night.
My heart tries to leap out of my chest. Part of me wants to run to his room, climb into bed with him, and feel his arms around me. The other part frantically tries to rebuild the wall to protect me when he realizes losing his family over me isn’t worth it.
I fall asleep with my phone in my hand, again.
The next day at the salon, I’m in the middle of Grace Murphey’s color touch up when Hunter’s dad walks into the salon. You could have knocked me down with a feather. When his eyes make contact with mine, he nods.
“I reckon it’s time for a haircut if you can squeeze me in Megan.”
“Sorry, I’m booked solid,” I say, turning back to Grace’s coloring, but I can still watch him in the mirror.
“That’s okay. I’ll sit here in case a spot opens up.” He sits in the waiting area and picks up a beauty magazine, crosses one ankle over his knee, and proceeds to read it. I feel like this is the start of a bad joke. A cowboy in a beauty salon, reading a hair magazine…
I look back to the mirror, and Grace’s eyes are wide as they look at me. It’s gotten around town about Hunter’s lunchtime rituals and how we barely talk. I’m sure people suspect we’re fighting and not broken up.
Then Grace does something that shouldn’t shock me, being in Rock Springs.
She says loudly, “Oh well, Anna Mae can finish my color. That opens Megan up for your cut, Hank.”
I take a deep breath and nod. I help Grace over to Anna’s chair and get her set up, then head back to my chair and clean up.
“Right this way, Mr. Norwood,” I say with a hand out to my chair.
“I think we’ve known each other long enough that you can call me Hank.”
“I don’t think we know each other at all, Mr. Norwood.” He looks hurt, and the shop quiets down quite a bit. “What kind of cut can I do for you today?”
“Just a trim and clean up the sideburns and the neck.” I nod and get to work.
“I understand you heard the conversation I had with Hunter that day at the clinic.”
“I did.”
“I’m also guessing you didn’t stick around to hear the end of it.”
“No, didn’t see the point, really.”
“I wish you had,” he says, and I stay silent. No point in saying anything because whatever he has to say, I’m not sure I want to hear it.
“See, Hunter is a lot like me. He loves fiercely, but sometimes he isn’t good at expressing his feelings. Now his mom and I’ve known how he feels about you since you two were in high school, but we weren’t sure if he knew how deeply he felt for you.”
“So, you thought he should date other people and decided to be vocal about it. Got it.”
The shop goes dead quiet; even the hair driers are silenced. There’s no way anyone who’s here will miss this prime Rock Springs gossip. I’m sure this is the exact reason most of the ladies are in here every week.
Hank chuckles. “Actually, I was pushing him to make him mad enough to admit to me how he feels about you.” This catches my attention, and I stop what I’m doing to look at him in the mirror. “He did too. He went off on me in a way I’ve never seen him tell me off. How dare I even suggest a thing, and how you’re the one. The air he breathes, and he even went as far as to say the thought of touching another woman makes him sick. He was so mad at me when I started laughing but finally, he admitted it.”
“He may not have admitted it to you, but he has said all that to me and more daily since we’ve been together.”
I see something close to regret on his face, then he nods.
“He called me later that night in tears. He’s still mad at me. He won’t talk to me unless it’s about the clinic, and he won’t come home to family dinners. My wife is even mad at me. So mad I’ve been eating TV dinners since that night.”
There’s a collective gasp in the room. In the South, if your woman is pissed off at you, she won’t cook for you. She’ll warm you up a TV dinner in the microwave, toss it down in front of you, and walk away. Well, that’s how we do it here in Rock Springs anyway. It makes me feel better in a way. I continue with his hair, and he continues to speak.
“I know I deserve it. I went about it the wrong way, but it’s what my Daddy did to me when I was serious about my wife. It worked and a week later, we were engaged. That’s all I was pushing for with Hunter. We’ve always thought of you like family and honestly, if Hunter had agreed and said he was breaking up with you to date someone else, I’d have given him a good ole ass whooping with my belt right there in the middle of the clinic.”
I give him a half-smile at that. Trying to picture him getting one up on Hunter long enough to give him a beating is a funny picture. Hunter is bigger than his dad and a bit faster.
I finish his hair and hand him the mirror.
“You always do an amazing job, Megan. I hope you both figure this out, and I see you and my son for dinner soon. I’m not sure what’s holding you back, but I wanted you to know the full story, and I wanted to apologize for the role I played in this. That wasn’t my intention in any way. I think you two are perfect for each other, and my wife keeps telling me to fix this because she needs grandbabies.”
He pays and tips twenty dollars on a bill less than that. Then he tips his hat and heads out. The door closes, and the shop slowly buzzes back to life. I barely make it back to my office before I burst into tears. I don’t have any more appointments until after lunch, so I try to get some bookkeeping done, but my thoughts keep going back to what Hunter's dad said.
It seems my breaking up with Hunter has done exactly what I didn’t want to happen. I didn’t want to drive him and his parents apart, but he isn’t even talking to them. There’s a light knock on my door.
“Hunter’s here,” Jill says.
I stand and check my makeup and hair before heading out. I decide to extend an olive branch. I’m not ready to jump back into a relationship, but I do know I want my best friend back. He’s been right there in the wings, waiting for me. It’s time to take a step.
He looks at me with a sad smile. I know he can tell something is wrong but doesn’t think we’re at a point where he can ask. He holds up lunch, and I smile at him.
“Do you have time to eat with me?” I ask and watch as surprise crosses his face before he nods.
I head out the back door to my truck in the parking lot and pull the tailgate down. I hop up then look back at Hunter. I can tell it’s hard for him to keep his hands to himself. He’s so used to always being near me and close to me. He normally would have helped me on to the tailgate without even thinking about it. Even before we started dating.
I smile at him as he sits next to me.
“Did you eat already?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he says. I nod and pull out the BLT sandwich from the café, no tomato of course, and take a bite.
We just sit there in silence for a few minutes before I say, “So, your dad came in to get a haircut today. Grace gave up her spot and had Anna Mae finish her color just so I could give him his haircut.”
Hunter looks over at me. I can tell he’s studying me, but I stare straight ahead at the salon’s back door.
“He told me about the full conversation and apologized. Told me you haven’t been home for family dinner. He’s been eating TV dinners every night since. Your mom is pissed.”
Hunter lets out a sarcastic laugh. “Yeah, I don’t see the point of going over for dinner just to sit there and stare at each other in silence or fight.”
“Have you talked to your mom at least?”
“No, you know how she is, a true Southern lady. She backs her husband up even if she doesn’t agree.”
I nod. I’ve seen it countless times with Mom and Dad. Dad will say or do something, and Mom is sweet as pie until they get home, and she goes off. Yelling, slamming doors. Once, she threw a loaf of bread at Dad.
“Remember that time Dad made a few jokes about Mom’s cooking at the Cattleman’s Association Gala? The moment we all got back to the house, she went off.” I ask.
“Oh my God, yes. That was when she threatened to put locks on the pantry and the fridge so he couldn’t touch her food.”
“Yes, she wouldn’t even make his TV dinners. All he was allowed was toast because that’s what Mom thought they got in prison.”
“Yes! That was the time she threw the loaf of bread at him.”
“Yep, she did it in front of you. That was the moment we knew you were part of the family when she didn’t wait for you to go home.”
He sobers back up and nods but stares straight ahead. I bump my shoulder into his.
“You’re still family, and we’ll get through this. I got the full story, but I still need time.”
“I’ll be here waiting. Take all the time you need, Megan.”
I smile at him. “I’m still here if you need me to. You’re still my best friend.”
“And the same goes for me. I’ll always be here for you, Megs.”
“Maybe tomorrow you bring your lunch and eat with me?” I ask as I take another bite of my sandwich.
He smiles. “I’ll be here.”