A shiver went down my spine as the anger I thought I had gotten over surfaced. “With all due respect, he left me too. I doubt he’d care if he saw me.”
She hesitated. “You don’t know why he left, Evelyn. Give him a chance to explain, if he will.”
I pressed my lips together. Quite frankly, I didn’t care if he had a good reason. He left me, breaking my heart in the process. I’m still not over him, and it made me madder than a hornet. I should’ve been over him, but I just couldn’t push him out of my heart or my head.
I cleared my throat. “Your hair looks beautiful.”
Her eyes widened as she turned to look at the mirror. “Oh, thank you! I’m so sorry. Guess we got caught up in talkin’.”
I shook my head. “It’s fine.”
Only it wasn’t fine. I’d been doing better at keeping thoughts of Flynn to a minimum, but now he was the only thing on my mind.
I got her checked out and cleaned my station before I collapsed in my chair.
“I gotta ask.” Autumn came over and leaned on my station. “Who’s Flynn?”
She was a sweet girl I’d just hired who moved to Violet Ridge last month. She married some guy I went to high school with. I admired her mousy brown hair with soft layers and big blue eyes.
I sighed. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”
“Flynn was her first love. Sore subject,” Randal answered from his spot in the back.
I shot daggers at him. “Yes, and I’m not talking about this right now. I need time to…”
“Process?” Autumn asked.
I nodded, and she gave me an understanding smile before walking back toward her station.
Flynn was back, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do.
The pipes moaned as the water beat down on me. My mind faded into dullness. The sensation of the hot water and steam calmed my racing mind. There were days my head didn’t work. I figured it was nature’s anesthetic. It helped numb the pain and wipe out the trauma from overseas. Today was one of those days. I went out on the farm and helped the boys my mother hired, but it was useless when I couldn’t fucking think.
Not every day was like that. There were days of clarity, sudden moments where I could pinpoint every detail. Other days, I got flashbacks of shit I wished I could erase from my memory. My buddy, King, said one day in the field that we would have a future worth living for. He’d been so optimistic. That damn fool. He didn’t get to see that future, and that kept me breathing for him. I walked, thanks to the below-the-knee-prosthetic, and each passing day was another step onward. I wanted a future King would be proud of.
I turned the old dial, shutting the water off. I hobbled out and got dressed, fussing with my prosthetic. Taking showers with one leg wasn’t fucking easy, but I’d learned.
My leg had a sleeve suspension system. I grabbed a silicone liner and slid it on my nub before putting three thick socks on top of it. I placed my padded stump into a different liner to put in the socket and yanked up the sleeve mid-thigh. It was a bitch to do this every time I wanted to walk with two legs.
Raking my fingers through my wet hair, I walked to the mirror. Walking with this damn thing was difficult to get used to. I've had it for six months, but it was weird to walk without actually feeling the limb. The stump itself would get sore every now and then and I’d take it off for a day until the swelling went down. The doctors said it’d be like that for at least another year.
I sneered at my reflection. I’d changed more than I thought from the boy I was when I lived here. My ash-brown hair had grown to shoulder length, and my silver hooded eyes were dull, fringed with dark lashes. I had a chiseled jawline with a few days worth of a beard. From the years of military training, I had broad shoulders and a toned body. Even without half my leg, I made time to work out. It eased the frustrations and made life a little more bearable.
What would Evelyn think if she saw me now? I quivered with indignation at the thought. I had no business thinking of her. I didn’t know how many times I’ve had to remind myself of that fact. I grabbed my shit and headed upstairs to my room. The door was open, and the light was on. When I walked in, my mother was cleaning.
“Ma, what’re you doing?” I tossed the clothes in the corner of the room.
“I’m just cleaning your room, son. Did you notice my hair?” She fluffed the newly-dyed blonde hair up. “Evelyn did it for me.”
Heat trickled down my spine at her name, and I tensed. “Evelyn? My Evelyn?”
The corners of her lips quirked up. “Yes, your Evelyn.”
My ears grew hot. How could I have said that in front of her? Evelyn wasn’t even mine, not anymore. I fucked that up almost a decade ago. “Uh, so, she’s a hairdresser?”
She nodded. “She’s the hairdresser. She owns the only salon in Violet Ridge and works there. It’s a beautiful place to be. She worked her derrière off for that place.”
Pain gripped at my chest. I wasn’t here to watch her achieve her dream, but I was so proud of her for doing it. “What’d she name it?”
“Cut from the Heart. You’ll have to go there sometime. Get yourself a trim.” She winked, lugging up a stack of letters that were banded together from under the bed.
I zeroed in on what she held in her hands before anger thundered through me. A scream from deep within forced its
