“Yeah no problem.”

“Thanks.” Shane stood in front of the mirror deep in thought for a minute and then took out her phone. She sent a text to Carmen. It read: Hey baby I’m going to be home later than I thought. Don’t want you to worry. Then she turned it off and focused on her work for the day.

At 3:15 Shane saw Cherie saunter in the salon. She led her last client to the counter to check out and nodded towards Cherie. Cherie flashed her a smile and went in for a hug.

“Long time no see! My hair has been a mess and your incapable little runt of an assistant wouldn’t let me in to see you.”

“Hey, Cherie,” Shane said as she tried to avoid a full-on hug.

“What’s with the cold shoulder, Shane?” She said as the lanky woman led her into a back room.

Shane shut the door behind Cherie and caught her between the door and herself. Shane was furious—how dare this woman come back into her life after everything that went on between them? But then Cherie leaned in to kiss her and it suddenly got very hard to think straight. The image of Carmen flashed through her head and she immediately pulled away.

“No!” She screamed. “No, I’m not doing this.”

“Oh Shane—”

“No, Cherie. I’m not doing this. You treated me like shit. I have a girlfriend and a kid at home who I love more than anything. I’m not throwing that away because of some washed up housewife who lives to manipulate me!”

Cherie and Shane both stared at each other as Shane started to tear up. Cherie reached out to put a hand on the other woman’s check but it got slapped away.

“Leave.”

Cherie turned to go and Shane sat down on the floor and rocked back and forth with her head in her hands.

An hour later Carmen was sitting at her desk working on some mixes when Shane burst through the door. Carmen took her headphones off and looked up to see Shane running through the house.

“Where’s Shay?” Shane said.

“He is in his room playing, why?”