***

“So what did you think of Leigh’s exhibit?”

“I don’t know that much about art, but her stuff looked pretty cool. It was interesting hearing how she created the pieces. I don’t think I could work on one thing for almost a year without giving up.”

“Yeah. It does take a lot of discipline, but it helps if you love doing it and if you have a passion for it. Is there anything that you love doing like that?”

“I don’t know anything I love doing or have a passion for except the girlies.”

Shane laughs this off but she has a feeling Bette wants to talk seriously. No doubt Leigh has said something to her while they were in Carmel and Monterey.

“I’m serious Shane. Are you happy doing hair? Do you see yourself maybe having your own salon someday?”

“It’s funny you should ask that because I recently came very close to having that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well you know that guy Harry, the rich guy that let us use his yacht for Mother’s Day? Well he has a business partner Sal, and they are both so rich that they don’t even know what to do with all the money. Anyway for some reason Harry takes a liking to me, and he introduces me to his rich friends. Many of them married women who are bored with their husbands and have too much time and too much money. I start out doing hair and next thing you know I’m doing them. I wasn’t exactly prostituting myself, but let’s just say they were very generous with the tips. I was having a blast and just didn’t care much about what I was doing.

I had all this extra cash. I started doing more drugs and drinking and playing hard. These women were practically throwing themselves at me and I didn’t resist them. Then I met Sal’s wife Jessica and she was different. I actually stopped seeing the other women and started an affair with her. You know I don’t do exclusive but she really woke something up inside of me Bette. I guess it’s as close to falling in love as I’ve come. Long story short Harry and Sal have some buildings that they are renovating and Jess talks them into investing in a hair salon for me. The space was already a salon so the location was good and the plumbing and sinks and chairs and stuff were already set up. I just had to clean it up, paint and add a few touches and I could open for business.”