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30. What Makes Us Happy

30

WHAT MAKES US HAPPY

" T hank you for fitting me in last minute," Kylie said. "My friends andme,weflew into Boston a few days ago. We heard about Amore Island and last minute decided to come here and spend Valentine's Day in the casino. Good thing we got a room for the night with the snow that they are predicting for later."

"Not a problem," Andi said. "I'm glad I could accommodate you."

Jarrett had texted and said he was held up on a case in Boston right now but would be home before dinner. She hoped he made it before the snow. She'd been told being on the water during a storm wasn't the best thing, but they were calling for the snow later tonight.

"We aren't used to snow or cold," Kylie said. "We are from Atlanta."

They were in the washroom and she was just going to give Kylie a blowout. The young woman said she and her friends wanted to party tonight. Her other two friends managed to snag appointments in the casino salon.

She remembered a time when she could just pick up and do those things. Not have a care in the world of costs or timelines or if anyone recognized her out having a great time and being silly.

It felt like a lifetime ago and yet wasn't more than two years.

"What brought you here in the winter?" she asked.

"Something to do," Kylie said. "Weactuallyplanned on the trip to Boston. Angiehad to come here for work and flew in last weekend. She's done with her conference but rather than fly home yesterday, Taylor and I decided to come to town. It's the first all three of us were single on Valentine's Day. This is a girls' party."

"Sounds like a lot of fun," she said. She didn't even have friends anymore she could call up for a night out. This innocent last minute appointment was depressing her when she hadn't felt this way in a long time.

"We are getting dressed up and having dinner and then hitting the casino. We figured it'd be better than a nightclub. I could only imagine the type of guys hitting on us tonight if we did that."

Andi laughed. "I'd say tonight might not be the best night to go out and be single."

"No," Kylie said. "I'm just lucky you were available. Maybe that will roll over to my luck in the casino."

"I had atwo-hourwindow between clients," she said. "If you hadn't called the salon when you did, you might not have gotten anyone here."

"I'm glad it worked out," Kylie said. "My friends are getting theirs done too and then we've got the afternoon before our dinner reservations. We got one of those private rooms."

Seemed to her this young woman, and maybe her friends, had some money. She knew what those rooms were like.

"That sounds like fun," she said. "So what do you do in Atlanta? You said your friend Angie was here for a conference."

"I'm an influencer," Kylie said. "Well, that is my main source of income. But I workpart timein my father's law office. He's pretty flexible with my time but says I have to work now."

"Parents are like that," she said.Her father always wanted to know her life plans too and there was a time she just wished she could have blown off being responsible. No more now.

"I know," Kylie said. "I just don't know what to do right yet. I turned twenty-one over the summer. I want to get out and enjoy life."

She rinsed out the conditioner from Kylie's hair and then had her sit up and wrap a towel around it.

The woman was younger than she thought. "We will all be working for a long time," she said.

"Exactly. You didn't go to college, right?"

"I went for two years," she said. "Just for business management in case I decided to open myownsalon. I was doing hairpart timeon the side while I was in school."

"My father wants me to go to law school. At this point, no way. I did two years too and then dropped out. I'm making more with my sponsors than I would have afour-yeardegree."

But that wouldn't always last. Not that Andi would voice that and sound old.

Someone new and popular, younger and prettier, would pop up tomorrow. It was like anything else in life. Like having to change your name and move away from everything you've ever known.

"I say we all have to do what makes us happy," she said softly. She hoped it came off as convincing because she wasn't so sure how happy she was feeling thinking of all the changes in her life.

"Exactly. Angie is my cousin. She's two years older than me. She went for social work and puts in a crazy amount of hours and gets paid crap. But she likes what she does and we got this trip out of it. Taylor, she's a senior in college. Her parents said they'd make Taylor pay back all the tuition to them if she didn't graduate."

"I'm sure they are only thinking of their daughter's future. Did she want to drop out?"

"She did," Kylie said. "When I did. We both have our channels and followers. Lots of our posts are of us together too. We kind of feed off each other. Tonight will be great in the casino. We'll get a bunch of videos and pictures while we're getting ready. We have a lot of beauty sponsors. Don't suppose I could get you to use one of these gels they sent me as samples?"

"Let me see it," she said. "If I think it will work, sure."

Kylie pulled it out of her big bag and handed it over. It was a lightweight gel that would offer movement. "I haven't tried it yet. I packed it to use and forgot about it. I'm not someone that puts a heavy gel in my hair."

"I think it will work well," Andi said and then explained why.

"Great," Kylie said. "I'll take a few pictures of my hair before I leave our room. I'll get some when we are done too and then I'll give you a shout out here."

"You don't need to do that," she said. Andi hated when this came up. She'd make sure she was out of the way of the pictures. Always this fear in her mind that someone might see her and remember Colleen.

"Of course I do. Do you have any social media pages?"

"I do," she said. Her picture wasn't on them. Or it was more of an animated picture with sunglasses on. It worked and kept it somewhat personal.

"We'll make sure we share that before I'm done and I'll just tag you and the salon."

She wouldn't say no to that and Amanda and the rest of the girls would love it too.

"That works," Andi said. "Thanks."

"This is great," Kylie said when she was checking her hair out. "I'm going to snap a few pictures if you don't mind. And maybe you can use my camera to get some of the back."

"Sure," she said. She calmed her heart down and moved out of the way for Kylie to take her pictures and went to the side to put her stuff away.

"Did I hear her right?" Callie asked. Callie was packed back to back with appointments and normally only worked a few days a week like Amanda. "She's one of those internet influencers and whined a bit about having to workpart timefor her daddy's law firm?"

Andi laughed. "Something like that," she said. "To each their own. I got a good tip out of it and it made up for being a slow week. I still have ninety minutes to run to the store and grab some food for dinner tonight."

She'd just bring it back with her here and keep the cold stuff in the fridge.

"Are you cooking for your man?" Callie asked. "Bob and I gave up years ago doing anything on this day."

"I am," she said. "Jarrett wanted to go out to dinner, but I said no. I'm not in the mood to deal with the crowds. Sometimes it's better to just be home and relax."

She didn't have to be entertained much and told Jarrett that. She'd have to say she was the leasthigh maintenanceperson she knew.

Nothing like Kylie who had to take what seemed like a hundred different pictures and angles. She must have taken ten of the back of Kylie's head alone.

"That's how I like to spend my night too," Callie's client said from the chair where she was sitting with foils in her hair.

"There isn't anything wrong with that," she said. "Does anyone need anything while I'm out? I'll grab a sandwich or salad from the cafe section to eat quickly."

"Actually," Callie said. "Would you get me a ham and cheese sandwich?"

Callie handed her some cash and she left.

All normal things and normal days like the kind she'd had in her life two years ago and was happy to feel as if maybe she was getting back to it. The reminders a few minutes ago hurt some, but she had to move on.

With the addition of a hot boyfriend.

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