Chapter 16

Now

“Morning, Amanda,” Annie sang out a greeting as she walked into the salon, her four-inch heels making a satisfying click against the black-and-white marble tiles as she walked.

Amanda was her new receptionist—the last, a girl by the name of Tori, had failed to live up to her customer service standards and had been let go only two weeks after she started.

The new girl was only a week in but doing pretty well.

#GlamSquad was now one of Crumlin’s most popular hair salons. Annie had done exactly what she’d promised Felicity all those years before. A little while after her jaunt to Italy, she’d taken the money the older woman had gifted her and set up a small one-person enterprise in a dingy unit not far from her flat.

Eventually she did well enough at that to afford not only a better place to live but much bigger premises, and was now in a current state-of-the-art salon in a busy shopping center filled with all the best equipment and modern furnishings.

Since then, she’d flourished even more.

She’d taken on staff so she no longer had to style everyone who came through the doors herself, with a complement of four stylists and a (brand-new) receptionist. The place had a string of regulars and plenty of passing trade from the center. In truth, every time she set foot in this snazzy spot, Annie still couldn’t quite believe her luck that this trendy salon was really hers.

Her dark hair was twisted into a messy bun atop her head, and her makeup was flawless. Her bag was Kate Spade, her leopard-print dress was from Whistles and her shoes Kurt Geiger. It was a far cry from her TopShop sale-rail younger days.

Now Annie had a glamorous reputation and image to uphold.

She stalked across the salon floor to her office, a small room down the back, close to the washbasins.

Inside, a plethora of photographs lined the walls of her workspace: images of her favorite people and her favorite places—some of which she’d actually visited, like Positano, and others she hoped to travel to in times to come, like Paris and Australia.

She kept those there for inspiration.

Her desk was a minimalist IKEA affair with a comfortable executive chair behind it. Annie settled in that chair now to get started on the latest stock inventory and purchase sheets.

It hadn’t been easy building a business on top of all her commitments, and she’d had to learn how to do much of the admin and accountancy stuff herself in between salon appointments and trying to drum up new customers.

She no longer counted stock but she checked the sheets, made the orders, and ensured her business had everything it needed.