Eboni smiled and nodded, unable to speak after that show. He ushered her out of the office and closed the door behind himself.
"As I was saying, I wanted to thank you all for working so hard for my mother while she's recovering. In case you hadn't heard, she was supposed to have a stent installed yesterday, but they found additional blockage in another artery."
"So what does that mean?" Shay asked.
"They're going to do bypass surgery. Double for sure, but may be triple if they find more problem spots."
Shay and Tillman covered their mouths in horror. Tisha barely lifted her head to look at him.
"I'm going to assume my mother's duties while she's gone. So look to me as you would look to her."
"You going to get your nails painted like Queen?" Shay laughed so loud Tisha jumped at the sound.
Gunnar smiled. "Funny. I also wanted to propose something." He glanced at Eboni before continuing.
Eboni felt her eyebrows draw together at his unexpected announcement. The brief stare started her heart. She put her hand to her chest and looked at the other employees to ground herself.
"The Oceanfront Community Center is in need of some money to make necessary repairs. What do you all think about opening the salon on Mondays and have all the money made on that day go to the center? Are you all in?"
The room fell quiet. Gunnar hadn't mentioned this plan to her before springing it on the group. Unexpected anger bubbled in her gut. Then Shay broke the silence with her cackling laughter.
"You are too funny. Open up the salon so that we can make some money. I have a client coming in a few minutes." She scratched the inside of her Afro with her pinkie nail.
"So you don't want to do it?" Gunnar crossed his arms.
"If it's not paying my bills, I'm not paying no mind." Shay shook her head. "I'm not coming here on my day off to work for free. Are you crazy?"
"Yeah, man. Sundays and Mondays are our weekends. We work here Tuesdays through Saturday. I like my weekends." Tillman shrugged.
Tisha glanced up, mumbled something and turned around.
When Gunnar brought his attention to Eboni, she hoped he caught her genuine surprise. "I'm going to unlock the door, and then you and I need to talk." She walked to the door. "Let's open."
Once Eboni unlocked the door, she stormed to the office and waited for Gunnar. He followed right behind her, closing the door for privacy.
"What was that out there?" Eboni asked.
"What? Didn't you want some support for the center?" Gunnar felt an intense headache stabbing the middle of his forehead.
"Yes. Support. What you did was so halfhearted, you practically dared them to accept it. You might as well have laughed with them." Eboni crossed her arms over her chest.
"I need some air." Gunnar grabbed his coat and swung the office door open. He stomped outside.
"Where is he going?" Monica asked.
"He needs some space." Eboni strolled out of the office.
"Damn, the first customer hasn't even come in yet and he's already bailing." Shay shook her head. "Didn't think he would last. No one can fill Miss Queen's shoes. No one."
Eboni felt no need to go after him. She'd made the center her baby. He didn't care about itor her.
Her sensible side whispered in her ear that his plan had been solid. Had the employees been on board, they could have raised a lot of money.
As she started to walk by Shay, the woman grabbed her arm and pulled her close to her.
"So what's the story?" Shay asked under her breath.
"What do you mean?" Eboni shrugged out of her boney grip.
"Are you and Gunnar hitting it?" Shay punctuated her question with an obscene thrust.
"No." Eboni shook her head. "We did date when we were in high school. Then he left."
"Without you?"
Eboni nodded, feeling no need to rehash that old story.
"Honey, he's got to be a millionaire now. Are you going to go after him again?"
Eboni shook her head. "Too much drama from our pasts. Too much for me to get over."
"So you wouldn't be upset if I went after him, right?"
Eboni regarded Shay for a moment. She imagined Shay and Gunnar together and her stomach compressed. Why would she even care if Gunnar dated someone else? She assumed he'd done that and more in the ten years since he'd left.
"Be my guest."
Shay smiled as a customer walked into the salon. "I'm going to have that man wrapped around my finger, toe, and eyelash before I'm through. I can't believe you're willing to let him go. White or black, he's fine. He needs to get rid of that ponytail, but other than that, he's hot. He's got a great body. And, again, he's probably rich. What else do you need?"
Eboni didn't tell her misguided coworker that commitment meant everything above all of the superficial items she'd mentioned. Instead, she took a step to the side to let her customer get to her. "I thought you were seeing someone else?"
Shay waved her hand at her. "I can handle more than one man. Don't worry about Miss Shay. Or is that jealousy I hear?"
Eboni shook her head. "Whatever."
Gunnar Wells had his own agenda. Eboni wouldn't get fooled again.
Gunnar had managed to walk down the street about half of a mile to a corner store he used to go to when he was a teenager. Except for being dirtier and smaller than he remembered, the convenience store looked the same.
He took a deep breath as he thought about the fact that not everything had changed. This store still had its candy aisle in the middle. Then and now, Gunnar figured out that they situated the candy that way so that little kids wouldn't be tempted to steallike he had.
Gunnar walked into the store, thankful for the lack of customers inside. He poured himself a cup of coffee for the long walk back to the salon. He paid for the drink with a twenty-dollar bill. When the cashier tried giving Gunnar his change, he walked away.
"Keep it. I owe you." He walked out and headed toward the salon.
The employees at Press 'N Curl, including Eboni, had given him the cold shoulder. Shay had been the most obvious and vocal about her feelings toward him. Tillman had remained polite but still came off as unsure. Tishahe couldn't figure her out. Monica looked like she wanted to do her job and go home.
As Gunnar got closer to the salon, he hurried his steps. He hadn't given up on a fight in the past. These folks would not break him either.
Gunnar walked in the front door of the salon to the surprise of the two customers that sat in Shay and Tisha's chairs. The chatter that he'd heard from outside stopped when he crossed the threshold.
A young African-American woman sat in Shay's chair. She scanned Gunnar from head to toe and pursed her lips as he passed her. An older African-American woman sat in Tisha's chair. Her bottom lip hung down as she watched him.
After hanging up his jacket, he went back out to the front desk where Eboni sat with Monica. "May I have a word with you, please?"
Eboni wouldn't even look at him. "Not right now. I'm working. I have to refill some supply orders." She glared at him. "Queen normally does that, but I wasn't sure when you would be coming back."
That dig cut him to his core. Gunnar opened his mouth to insist that she talk to him in private when she picked up the phone receiver and began dialing.
Gunnar released a long, exasperated sigh through his nose. Eboni would not be making this easy on him.
The front door opened with a slam and a teenage boy strolled inside. "Ladies, ladies, ladies!"
Tillman cleared his throat.
"Oh, and my man right here." The young man held up a bag. "I'm a high school student and I'm selling chocolate to raise money to go to band camp. Anyone want to buy some Snickers or Kit Kats?"
Gunnar walked up to him. "What's your name?"
The boy looked at him for a split second before his eyes went wide. "Oh, shit! You're Guns!"
"Watch your language. There are ladies present." Gunnar blocked the teenager from moving any farther into the salon. "Your name?"
"My friends call me T-Lite." The white boy did a single stiff-legged strut toward Gunnar.
He tried pulling Gunnar into a half hug but Gunnar didn't budge.
"You come into this establishment, I expect you to remove your hat." Gunnar pulled at T-Lite's black wool cap.
"Hey. Don't touch." T-Lite adjusted his hat low over his eyes.
"Wear clothes that are your size, not ten times too big." Gunnar tugged at the young man's oversize camouflage jacket. "And you cannot have your pants down around your hind parts."
"Dude, am I in the Twilight Zone? Some fighter is telling me how to dress?"
"No, I'm telling you what I expect of people in my establishment."
Eboni walked up behind him. "Gunnar--"
He held his hand up to her. "No. I've seen your kind before. I saw you outside of the community center during the day. Why aren't you in school?"
"Damn, man. I'm just trying to sell some candy."
Gunnar felt flames engulfing his head. He grabbed the young man by his collar. "I asked you to watch your language. Now you need to go." He pushed him out of the door. "Don't come back until you learn some manners."
"Fuck you!"
Gunnar pulled the door closed. He didn't expect to run into Eboni.
"You were rude to that kid." She pushed against his chest.
"What? That boy came here with baggy jeans and a disrespectful mouth. I'm not having that here in my shop."
"This is not your shop. Get that straight now."
The movement in the salon stilled at Eboni's blunt words. Gunnar stared at Eboni for a moment to see if he could find the woman who had captured his heart so many years ago. She no longer existed.
He shook his head. "I'm going to go check out some things and I'll be right back."
Gunnar needed air and space before he could sit Eboni down to talk to her. Eboni couldn't stay busy for long. Whether at the salon or after work, he would get to talk to her.
Gunnar decided to run over to the flower shop. He found it open and his mother's long-time employee, Victor Dabu, working hard as usual. Sharing the news with the man he saw as an uncle hurt him when he saw Victor's worried expression.
"You know my mother," Gunnar began. "She's strong."
Victor nodded and seemed relieved, especially after Gunnar shared that after the Super Bowl, Gideon would be coming back home to help run the shop.
Gunnar hit the clothing boutique as his next stop. In the door read a sign that said that the shop would be closed until the beginning of March. That would buy him some time to track down Thane to help run that business.
Since he had time on his hands, Gunnar continued his drive and headed back to the hospital. Even though he'd seen his mother earlier that morning, Gunnar felt the need to visit her again. He knocked on her partially closed door.
"Enter," his mother said regally.
Gunnar smiled at her response as he entered the room. As soon as she saw him, Elizabeth's face lit up like a Christmas tree. When he thought that he may not see that smile again if something went wrong with the surgery, he pushed the idea out of his head.
"You're back." She opened her arms to hug him as he planted a kiss on her cheek.
"How are you doing?"
She scanned her area. Magazines now covered her bed and tray. Eboni must have brought them for her.
She sighed. "Okay. I would love to go home."
"I came to give you some updates. The flower shop is going well." Gunnar sat in a chair next to her bed. "Victor sends his love and will be up to visit when the shop closes."
Elizabeth nodded. "He's always been a good man." She pushed her magazines off to the side and removed her reading glasses. "How's the salon?"
Gunnar gazed down before answering. "I'm sure Eboni has it all under control without my help."
He hated that Eboni couldn't let the past go. He had returned for a reason. Moreover, he'd tried to help her.
"What happened?"
Before Gunnar could spout any lies about everything going okay, he made the mistake of looking his mother in her eyes. Ever since that one fateful day she'd put her life on the line for him, he could never lie to her.
"Ma, I'm trying to help. I swear. I straightened up the shop." He saw his mother's eyes get wide. He continued talking. "I reorganized your office." Gunnar winced as soon as he used the word reorganized.