The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 49: Chapter 49

“That’s the last one!” Gretchen shouted, stretching her sore back.
“Ohmygawd, Gretch! I don’t know what you were worried about,” Elissa huffed, sitting down on a plastic covered chair, and rubbing her protruding belly.
The shipment of bright orange, faux leather chairs had only just been delivered, and Gretchen had yet to unwrap them all.
“Do you need a bottle of water?” Gretchen asked her bestie. She hardly recognized Lissa these days.
Her former roommate was practically glowing. The pRegnant blonde was radiant. So much so, she was practically bursting with happiness, and Gretchen was truly glad for her. If only she wasn’t so dang lonely herself, she thought sadly, reaching into the off-white, antique fridge for a cold water.
“Oh yes, please,” Elissa gasped, chugging from the proffered bottle greedily.
Gretchen sighed and shook her head, looking over the chairs and the small magazine table that had just been delivered. They were arranged in an L shape, nine in total, and were perfect for the waiting area at the front of the salon.
Colors were her jam, the brighter and happier the better. And not just as far as interior design went. Heck no! That included hair, nails, tattoos, and makeup too. So far, her salon had been repainted with new lighting installed, and she’d ordered the orange, well more like tangerine colored chairs almost immediately. The walls were a creamy white for the most part, to make the most of the space since mirrors abounded anyway. But all the accents were tangerine or pink, including the moldings.
Cut It Out was truly taking shape and Gretchen could scarcely believe it was hers. Back home in Iowa she’d been a chubby little nobody living with her elderly uncle and mean spirited cousins. The Kaepernick’s weren’t known for having much in the way of compassion, but they’d taken her in when her parents had died tragically in an automobile accident.
Iowa was as far away now as she wanted it to be. Her memories were nothing good. No, life had only truly started for her when she’d arrived in the garden State after being certified as a stylist. She’d found an apartment to rent with Elissa and had managed to save enough to complete her business degree through online courses.
She did not want to spend her life working for peanuts for other people. Whoever said hard work paid off was not lying, she thought and looked around at the space she was already starting to love.
"It wooks gweat, Gwech,” her bestie said with a mouthful of chocolate chunk cookie.
Gretchen understood and beamed at her bestie’s praise. She sat down next to Lissa and hugged her around the shoulders, the two of them squealing like they did when they lived together and something good happened to either of them. She had to be careful though because of Elissa’s condition.
Gretchen just could not believe it. Elissa was having a baby! Her rounded belly was peaking slightly over the tie-dyed waistband of her yoga pants, but Gretchen’s BFF was rocking that bump. The smoldering looks Elissa got from her total hottie of a hubby the last few days she’d been around them were proof of that.
Yowza!
It was enough to make a girl blush. Well, a girl who hadn’t seen anything resembling a penis in far too long. She was not promiscuous by any means, but Gretchen had always had a healthy appreciation for sex.
Not that she’d had any kind of sex in a long, long, very long time. Anyway, wasn’t Hunter a doll to have his buddy Trigger drive Elissa over to see her? The cute guy had even offered to go out and grab them all some lunch.
“You sure trigger’s got a girlfriend, Jessica?” Gretchen asked Elissa’s sister-in-law who’d come by to help along with her pal, Kylie.
The big man in question had just gotten out of his truck and was heading for the door with a sack of sandwiches for the women.
“Yep. Going on five years,” Elissa answered for her, and turned her head with a wide smile for the man himself. “Thanks, Trigger. I’m starved.”
“Always a pleasure, Nari,” he replied, using some strange nickname for Lissa that had her blushing before he headed back outside.
“You know, he doesn’t have to wait out there,” Gretchen began, but Lissa was already shaking her head.
“He’s fine, really, he, um, has a podcast he listens to. It’s all good. Here, want half of mine and I’ll take half of yours?”
“Sure,” Gretchen said, shaking her head.
Same old Lissa. Sigh.
She was getting pretty fed up with herself and that certain little green-eyed monster that kept popping up. She couldn’t help it. She was not jealous in a bad way of her friend’s happiness. She just wanted a little somethin’ for herself. Was that too much to ask?
Elissa had hit the equivalent of the romantic mega million in lottery terminology. Gretchen was in awe. She still couldn’t believe her former roomie was having a baby this soon after meeting, and marrying the insanely hot, sexy as sin, construction mogul that was Hunter Maverick.
“What?” Elissa asked.
“I was just wondering when you were gonna teach me your secrets to living a wildly passionate and successful lifestyle,” she replied deadpan.
“Gretchen! Stahp it,” she replied, blushing furiously.
Her Hudson County accent always came out more pronounced when she was excited or emotional, something Gretchen thought was ridiculously cute.
"No secrets, honest. Look, you are going to find someone who loves you for you, I just know it. Now, first things first, when will you be ready to take on clients? I seriously need a pedicure,” Elissa said sticking her swollen feet out.
“Dayum girl! Put those crusty things away! I am trying to eat,” Gretchen teased.
“Seriously, I got a ick thing about feet,” Jessica seconded.
“You two are nuts,” Kylie chimed in, grabbing her turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, and mayo from the sack.
Gretchen smiled at their playful shenanigans as she passed around sodas and waters to Elissa, Jessica, and Kylie. The four women had spent nearly all of that morning getting Gretchen’s salon ready for her big opening day.
Cut It Out was her first solo business venture, and nerves abounded. She had been in the hair biz for over a decade, but that was not the same as running a salon.
True, Gretchen had worked for various bosses, doing hair and nails, and even provided in-home services for a while, but this was her ultimate professional dream. She was finally going to be in charge of her own business.
Of course, Gretchen was still a bit nervous, but she was hoping with all her might that it would all work out. All her business classes really helped her create a marketing plan, and she was almost positive it was going to work. Maverick Point had been sans beauty salon for months now and Cut It Out was going to fill a void in the New Jersey town.
It just has to be successful.
She’d sunk every last dime she had into this venture. Including taking out a small loan to pay for a few new necessities, like the chairs, updated appliances, various hair care products, aprons, brooms, lights, marketing materials, a few small advertisements placed strategically on the internet, and in the local paper, and other odds and ends.
“Well, I can’t wait to sit down in one of these for some highlights,” Kylie said. “Maybe I’ll get some like yours,” the pixie-cut blonde mused, looking at the chunky purple and royal blue locks that Gretchen had added to her newly dark locks earlier that week.
“Maybe, but I think maybe you should be scheduling a pedi appointment too,” she teased her new friend who wiggled her unpolished toes.
“What? They have character!”
“Yeah, right? And you teased me,” Lissa said, stealing a chip from Jess.
“I can’t help going barefoot, it feels too nice,” Kylie explained.
The woman really did not like shoes. Gretchen shook her head and laughed. It was the first time she’d ever seen anyone move furniture without anything to cover what was probably the easiest to bruise part of any person. Her toes. But she had to admit, Kylie proved remarkably agile on her feet.
“Okay, for all of your efforts on my behalf, I announce you shall get your first pedicure on the house. And that goes for all of you ladies!”
All three women clapped, and Gretchen giggled, so happy she was liable to bust. She had two hairstylists coming to work, and more lined up for interviews the following week. She was going to need a lot of help. At least, she would soon once she built a steady clientele.
All that took was some time, some good quality output, and the trust of the community. Cut It Out was going to be amazing. She was going to show the Maverick Point community that this was the place for all their hair care and beauty needs.
“Don’t you go getting worried on me now,” Elissa said. “I told you, Hunter is going to tell all of the Pri-, I mean, all of his employees about this place. You’ll be fine, Gretch. Better than fine.”
“I sure hope so,” she said, biting her lip nervously.
Speak of the devil, Hunter just arrived with Brayden, Jessica’s boyfriend. The women insisted their significant others join them for lunch.
“There is more than enough,” Gretchen said handing out some of the extra subs Trigger had bought.
Seriously, he’d gotten like ten for the four of them. Gretchen was a big girl, but she couldn’t put away more than one-foot-long sandwich on her best day. Even if the other women had managed to polish off two each.
“Thank you, Gretchen,” Hunter replied, his eyes on his wife as he sat beside her.
Brayden had the same besotted look as he snuggled close to Jess feeding her bites of his sandwich, even though she’d eaten. Gretchen had never seen anything like it.
There must be something in the Maverick Point water, she mused. Or maybe it was the mountain air? Hell, they’d even cleaned up.
What prizes, she thought, and tried not to watch as each man held hands with their women and cuddled them close after cleaning the remnants of their mini feast. When Elissa began to yawn, Hunter moved.
"I’m fine,” she argued.
“She’s tired,” Gretchen said right to Hunter who seemed to growl and nod.
“Better get you to bed,” he told Elissa who’s face had gone bright pink.
“Whoooo! It’s getting’ hot in here,” Kylie replied loudly, and everyone laughed.
Except Hunter. His teal eyes seemed to glow as he gazed at the love of his life. There was no doubt about it. He was crazy about her, and she really deserved to have someone like that. Perfect husband that he was, he scooped her up and brought her to the car despite her protests.
Gretchen’s heart squeezed as she watched them. It was a helluva thing being happy on one hand and desperately lonely on the other. Maybe someday, she thought, just maybe.
“I’ll drop by tomorrow,” Elissa shouted as Hunter buckled her in and nodded his goodbyes to Gretchen.