Chapter 3

Edward had been born in Sutter’s Bay, but his family had eventually moved south to Los Angeles. Yet when things had gone sour in LA, Edward’s mind had turned to Sutter’s Bay. Not that he’d lived here long enough to have any sort of lasting affinity for it. But it was somewhere he had been before, a place he knew other than Southern California.

Finding the HELP WANTED sign at Heloise’s had been fortuitous. He didn’t have any formal training in hair, and he’d started at the salon sweeping floors and bringing the old dears coffee. But then one day, Heloise had let him mess with her hair, and the rest was history, so it seemed. Not that he had ever raked in the dough. But he’d done all right. But then came the fire.

“Okay.” Edward nodded and began to turn away. What else could he do? “Thank you for your time.”

“Wait,” Ryan spoke up. He glanced toward Mabry, then back to Edward. He smiled. “You’re hired.”

“What?”

“What?” Mabry demanded.