Chapter 2: A Dollar and a Quarter
The old man stood inside the door, hat in both hands, as if afraid to take up room.
Tessa watched Regina take him in, from scuffed shoes to frayed tweed overcoat, and knew how this would go. The salon smelled of citrus shampoo and hot irons. A man like that matched none of it, and Regina cared about matching.
"Can I help you?" Regina asked coldly.
"Yes, ma'am," he said. "I hope so. I would like a trim, please."
His voice was soft and clear. His hands trembled around his hat, but his gray eyes were steady.
Regina did not reach for the appointment book. "Our basic clipper cut is sixty dollars."
"I know the price is more than I have," he said. "I saw it in the window."
"Then you saw that we do not offer discounts."
Behind the desk, Blair leaned on the marble and smiled. Chase turned at his station to watch.
The old man nodded, as if Regina had been reasonable. He set his hat down, then took out a fold of money with both hands, because his fingers would not hurry.
"May I show you?" he asked.
Regina sighed. "Sir, this is not that kind of place."
"It is all I have to show," he said, and laid it down one piece at a time. "One dollar, and one quarter."
The bill was crumpled soft as cloth. The quarter shone beside it. A dollar and a quarter, on the marble desk of Velour.
Blair gave a small, bright laugh and covered it with her nails. "Oh, that is sweet."
"Blair," Tessa said quietly.
"What? I said sweet."
Chase said, "At that rate, we could do one sideburn."
"Chase," Tessa said.
He grinned, easy and entirely unbothered. "Just doing the math for him, Tess."
The old man did not flinch. He looked at the money, and Tessa felt heat crawl up her neck on his behalf.
"My name is George," he said. "I am sorry to make a fuss. I would not ask if it were only vanity."
"It is not a fuss," Tessa said.
Regina turned to warn her. "Tessa. Do not."
George went on, polite as a man at a church door. "I have an interview this afternoon, across the street at the Beacon Grand. For a night porter position. Steady work, and I need to look trustworthy with keys and luggage. Hair matters. You notice a man who has let himself go."
"You can notice it here, too," Blair murmured.
"What time is your interview?" Regina asked, and Tessa heard the trap in it.
"Three o'clock," George said. "Mr. Mensah was kind enough to give me the hour himself."
"Then you have time to find a barbershop in your range," Regina said.
"This was my first choice," he said.
Something in how he said it made Tessa look at Chair One by the window, empty in pale October light. He was looking at the room like a man lost on his way back somewhere.
Regina folded her arms. "We cannot help you."
"You mean you will not," Tessa said before she could stop herself.
The salon went quiet. A dryer clicked off.
Regina's voice dropped. "I mean we have standards, and clients who pay full price to not be part of a charity project."
"I am not asking for charity," George said, and there was iron under the softness. "I am asking to pay what I have today, and the rest from my first paycheck, on my honor. If I get the job, I will settle it. If I do not, I will settle it slower. I keep my word. It is my only capital."
"On your honor," Chase repeated, amused. "They stopped taking that at the bank, friend."
"I am not your friend yet," George said mildly, "but I am not your fool either."
That landed. Chase's smile thinned.
Tessa thought of her rent notice in her apron pocket. She understood counting out the last of something in front of people who would never have to. She thought of her mother in Cleveland, cutting neighbors' hair at her kitchen table: nobody leaves my chair looking like life beat them.
Regina saw her thinking. "Do not be stupid, Tessa. You are already on thin ice here. This is not your call."
"Whose call is it?" Tessa asked.
"Mine," Regina said. "And I said no. Sir, I am going to ask you to take your money and go."
George picked up the quarter, then the dollar, as if refusing them had not made them worth less. He put his hat on. "I understand," he said. "Thank you for your time."
He turned toward the door, and Tessa stepped from behind her station so fast her scissors rattled.
"Wait," she said. "I'll take him."