“Did you enjoy your party? Gwen asked.

“Yes, she answered truthfully. Shed met some nice people, and despite Nick Allegrezza, shed enjoyed herself.

“Your mother was just telling me youve been busy training Henrys dogs. Max took his seat once again, and his smile seemed genuine. “Maybe youve found a new career.

“Actually, I like my old career, she said. Ever since her conversation with Louie, shed been thinking about the vacant building downtown. She hadnt wanted to discuss her ideas with her mother until she was sure she could pull it off, but the person she needed to talk to most just happened to be sitting across the table, and her mother would find out sooner or later anyway. “Who owns the building next to Allegrezza Construction? she asked Max. “Its a thin two-story with a hair salon on the bottom floor.

“I believe Henry left that block of property at First and Main to you. Why?

“I want to reopen the salon.

“I dont think thats a good idea, her mother said. “There are a lot of other things you can do.

Delaney ignored her. “How do I go about doing it?

“To get started, youll need a small business loan. The previous owner is dead, so youll need to contact the attorney representing her heirs to determine the value of the salon, he began. When he was finished half an hour later, Delaney knew exactly what she had to do. First thing Monday, shed pay a visit to the bank holding her money in trust and apply for a loan. As far as she could see, there was only one drawback to her plan. The salon was located next to Nicks construction company. “Can I raise the rent on the building next door? Maybe she could force him out.

“Not until the current lease expires.

“When is that?

“Another year I believe.

“Damn.

“Please dont swear, her mother admonished while she reached across the table and placed her hand on top of Delaneys. “If you want to open a little business, why dont you think about a gift shop?

“I dont want to open a gift shop.

“You could open up in time to sell Christmas Spode.

“I dont want to sell Spode.

“I think its a wonderful idea.

“Then you do it. Im a hairstylist, and I want to reopen the salon downtown.

Gwen sat back in her chair. “Youre just doing this to spite me.

She wasnt, but shed lived with her mother long enough to know that if she argued, shed end up looking childish. Sometimes talking to Gwen was like wrestling with flypaper. The more you fought to get free, the more you got stuck.

It took Delaney a little over three months to secure her loan and get the salon ready to open for business. While she waited, she did an unscientific study of the downtown business district, with emphasis on the number of customers who walked into Helens Hair Hut. With legal pad and pen in hand, she parked in alleys and spied on her childhood nemesis, Helen Markham. When Lisa wasnt working or busy with wedding plans, Delaney had her report any activity she might notice as well. Delaney charted demographic statistics and visually gathered bad perm versus good perm data. She even went so far as concocting a phony English accent in case Helen recognized her when she called to ask what her competition charged for a color retouch. But it wasnt until she found herself digging through Helens Dumpster one night to check out what kinds of cheap products Helen used that several thoughts struck her at the same time. As shed stood there, up to her thighs in garbage, her foot sinking into a container of spoiled cottage cheese, she realized shed gone a little overboard with her investigation. She also realized that the success of the salon had as much to do with fulfilling a dream as it did with kicking Helen to-the curb. Shed been away for ten years, only to come back and fall into the same patterns. However, this time she wasnt going to lose anything to Helen.

By the end of the unscientific study, she could see that Helen did a thriving business, but Delaney wasnt worried. Shed seen Helens hair. She could steal her old rivals clients—no problem.

Once the loan went through, Delaney put away her legal pad and got busy on the shop itself. A grimy layer of dust covered everything, from the cash register to the perming rods. Everything had to be scrubbed down and sterilized. She pored over the previous owners books, but the numbers didnt match the inventory. Either Gloria had been completely inept, or someone had come in after her death and stolen cases of hair products. Not that Delaney minded the theft all that much since she didnt have to pay Glorias heirs for the missing supplies, and everything in the shop was at least three years behind the current trends anyway. Still, it left her a little uneasy to think that someone might have access to the salon. In her mind, the prime suspect was of course Helen. Helen was a thief from way back, and who else would have use for things like cotton strips, shampoo towels, and wig pins?

Delaney had been assured that she had the only key to the front and rear entrances, as well as the only key to the apartment above. She wasnt convinced and called the sole locksmith in town, who promised hed be out in a week. But she was living in Truly, where a week could sometimes mean a month depending on hunting season.

Nine days before she opened for business, she had the old name scraped from the front window, and the words the cutting edge applied in gold. She had new products sitting in the storage room and new black lacquer chairs in the reception area. The hardwood floors were refinished and the walls painted a bright white. She hung up trade show posters and had the old mirrors replaced with bigger ones. When she was finished she was very pleased and very proud. It wasnt her dream salon. It wasnt chrome and marble and filled with the best stylists, but shed accomplished a lot in a short amount of time.

She introduced herself to the owner of Bernards Deli on the corner and the T-shirt shop next door. And on a day when she didnt see Nicks Jeep parked in the lot out back, she marched into Allegrezza construction and introduced herself to his secretary, Hilda, and office manager, Ann Marie.

Two nights before she opened, she gave a small party at the salon. She invited Lisa and Gwen and all of her mothers friends. She sent invitations to business owners in the area. She excluded Allegrezza Construction but had an invitation hand delivered to Helens Hair Hut. For two hours her salon was packed with people eating her strawberries and drinking her champagne, but Helen didnt show.

Gwen did, but after half an hour shed made up a dumb excuse about having a cold and left. It was just one more expression of her mothers disapproval. But Delaney had stopped living for her mothers approval a long time ago. She knew she would never get it anyway.

That next day, Delaney moved into the apartment above the salon. She hired a few men with trucks to haul her furniture from the storage unit to the small one-bedroom. Gwen predicted Delaney would be back in no time, but Delaney knew she wouldnt.

From a small common parking lot behind the salon, a set of old wooden stairs climbed the back of the building to the emerald green door of her new home. The apartment was run-down and needed linoleum, new curtains, and a decent stove post-Brady Bunch era. Delaney loved it. She loved the window seats in the small living room and bedroom. She loved the old clawfoot bathtub, and the huge arching window that looked down on Main. Shed certainly lived in nicer apartments, and the shabby little place couldnt begin to compete with the luxuries of her mothers house. But maybe thats why she loved it most of all. The things in it belonged to her. She hadnt even realized how much she missed having her stuff around until her own dishes filled the cupboards. She slept in her own wrought-iron bed and sat on her own cream linen sofa, with the zebra print pillows, to watch her own television. The black coffee and end tables belonged to her, as well as the pedestal table in the small dining area at the far left of the living room. The dining room and kitchen were separated by a half wall, and a person could see most of the apartment all at once. Not that there was a lot to see.