She rolled up the paper and swatted him with it. “Fine. I’ll take forty.” She gave Lily a hug. “And you! How lovely to see you again!” She turned to Jonathan. “So … you can make me look forty, right?”

“How about gorgeous?” Jonathan asked his mom. “Does gorgeous work for you?”

“Aw.” She grinned at him. “Always can count on you. Love you, baby.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “That won’t get you out of leaving a tip.” He nodded at Lily. “You want my specialist to do this. She’s the best woman for the job. Plus, I hate giving facials.”

Lily loved skin care. Actually, she loved all the different aspects of what she did: cutting and coloring hair, skin care, all of it. There was just something about making people feel good that made her feel good. She loved the easy, fast people connections, too, especially since in her everyday personal life she didn’t tend to make such easy, fast connections at all.

She never had.

She gave Jonathan’s mom a facial that did indeed make her look gorgeous. Then she did an eyebrow wax for a woman who’d worked for Lily’s dad years ago.

“Such a shame how he went,” the woman said, her eyes closed while Lily worked. “That heart attack. So sudden. And in his prime too.”

Lily stilled. “Yes,” she managed. “A shame.”

“He was a good man,” the woman said, not noting Lily’s discomfort since her eyes were still closed. “And your sister too,” she went on. “Such a tragedy. You okay with being back, honey?”

Lily was still having trouble finding her words. But her client had opened her eyes now and was looking at her expectantly, so she put on her best “I’m good” expression and nodded. She even added a smile, which she thought was a good touch.

“Are you?” Jonathan asked quietly after the woman had left. “Good with being back?”

“Don’t start,” she said.

“So you’re not. Damn, I knew it.” He slid an arm around her and pulled her in for a hug. “What can I do, Lily Pad? Anything for you, you know that, right?”

“Yeah.” She hugged him back, drawing on some deeply needed strength. “I’m working on being okay, I promise. I think I just need some more time to adjust.”

A truck drove up. The man driving it parked right out front in the no-parking zone like he owned the place and ambled into the shop.

Aidan. The only man she didn’t want to see, wearing sexy jeans faded in all the stress spots that she absolutely wasn’t noticing and a T-shirt that said KEEP CALM AND SKI ON.