“Yes. That’s what all the kids are saying now, right?”

Lily shook her head. “Fine, you win. But, Mom?”

“Yeah.”

“Stop streaming MTV.”

Lily was smiling when she disconnected and still smiling when a candy bar got waved beneath her nose.

Jonathan dropped it into her lap. “Nice to see you looking happy.”

Lily picked up the candy bar and felt her mouth water. “A bribe?”

“You know me so well.” Jonathan jerked his chin to the reception area. “Passing off another client to you.”

“No problem.” She took a bite of the candy bar. “Omigod, so good. You know, at my old job these were considered the work of the devil and were banned. I’ve been making up for lost time so much my dress was tight this morning.”

“Your old job sucked and so did your boss,” Jonathan said.

True enough.

“And Lily Pad?”

“Yeah?”

“You look like hot stuff in that dress.”

She finished her candy bar and hit the reception area. Waiting there were Danielle and Chelsea, two sixteen-year-old BFFs. They wanted matching updos for a rec center teen summer dance, so she took one and Rosa took the other.

“The dance sounds like fun,” Lily said to the girls after they’d each been washed. They were sitting side by side at the stations. “Are you going with anyone?”

“It’s stag,” Chelsea said, the taller, more outspoken one of the two. “But I’m meeting someone there.”

“Me too,” Danielle said smugly as Lily began to do her hair. The girl had a smile that revealed dimples and more than a little trouble.

Over at Rosa’s station, Chelsea’s eyes narrowed in the mirror at Danielle. “Who? Who are you meeting there?”

“I promised not to tell.”

“Why?” Chelsea demanded. “I’m your BFF. You have to tell me. It’s in the manual.”

“Can’t,” Danielle said. “Trevor doesn’t want me to tell anyone so no one gets jealous.” She slapped her hand over her own mouth at the inadvertent slip.

Chelsea pushed Rosa’s hands out of her hair and stood up, hands on hips. “Trevor? You’re meeting Trevor? You?”

Now Danielle’s eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean? You think I’m not good enough for him?”

“Not even close,” Chelsea said. “And he’s my date tonight. So back off, heifer. And you might want to back off the cheeseburgers too. Just sayin’.”

Danielle leapt to her feet as well. “Who’s going to make me, you skinny, skank cow?”

That’s when they dove at each other and wrestled around on the floor, fighting like two cats.

Rosa stood there gaping. Jonathan ran in from the private client room, skidded to a halt, and looked horrified. Then he pointed at Lily.

Lily got the message. Deal with this. She pulled the handheld faucet from the hair-washing station and squirted both teens. Worked like a charm.