At the end of the day, I could make it anywhere.  It had nothing to do with drugs, or money, or comfort zones, or any of that bullshit people would lay on you.  I had survived the streets of one city, I could do it again anywhere.  Shit, this time I actually had some education and a trade to work with too.  Its not like cutting hair could only be done in one place…  but for the first time in my life, I had something to go back to.  Yeah, all their phone messages hit home for me, but Bette pulling the family dinner card was all it took for me to realise that…  I downed the rest of the bad coffee, threw a tip on the table, and went to the bar, asking for directions to the freeway that would head to LA.

I still took my time getting back, winding roads, smoke brakes on the side of the road rather than through the slit window as I drove down the road.  It was three days later when I rolled back into West Hollywood.  There were several occasions in those three days when I almost turned the truck a different direction.  I had never gone back to a place that I ran from.  I mean, the closest I came was when I went to San Diego with Clive, later returning to LA by myself.  But otherwise, I had never gone back, saw what happened when you left somewhere.  Would the girls hate me for leaving without saying anything?  Would I have finally disappointed them enough that they wouldn’t want me back?  I mean, there were the voicemails that told me otherwise, but still…  that lingering doubt…  I will bless the day that lingering doubt finally goes away.

It was just before lunch when I pulled back into WeHo.  I knew at least some of the girls would be at The Planet, so I took the other roads to pull up to work.  I walked into The Edge to a shocked looking Sandra.  The shock quickly turned to a look of guilty disappointment, and without needing to hear her out, I knew my job was gone, replaced.  She explained that she held out for me, but by the end of the third week, she needed to face facts, she had a business to run.  But she did tell me about one of her former business partners, John, and his new salon, Lather.  They were hiring and she would be happy to give me a glowing recommendation.  I thanked her, told her I understood her decision, and started to walk out.