Chapter Text
8:30 am was too early when you spent all night at your sisters 21st birthday party. The same sister that would not be coming into work that day.
Marianne Summers sighed as she unlocked her salon, The Color Pallet. Almost two years ago, her mother died and left her the salon. She was only 22 when she took over, but damn, she made a fine business owner at such a young age.
There were four hair cutting stations, two pedicure chairs, two manicure desks, and only a small room in the back that served as the office. They got plenty of business for being a small salon, but that still didn't change the fact that Marianne wanted more for her business. She had been saving as much as she could to buy the building attached to hers so she could expand and hopefully hire more stylists. If she didn't have her wedding coming up, she'd have about half of the expenses she'd need for the expansion.
As she made her way to the tiny office, her cell phone buzzed with a text from Dawn.
>I'm dying
Marianne's response had been at the tips of her fingers since she left that morning.
>lol you aren't dying. Your hungover. Some of us had to be responsible and work today. There's Advil and a bottle of water in the bathroom.
She opened the office and set down her purse and coffee cup from the coffee shop across the street, Sunny's Hideout. The place was owned by a short African American man about her age who made coffee blessed by the gods. Unfortunately he wasn't working this morning since he too had been invited to Dawn's birthday.
Marianne knew Sunny had a crush on her sister ever since he first opened the place a couple years ago. The two hit it off right away and were now best friends.
Another text. This one from Plum, one of her part timers.
>Hey Marianne! My sister is in town. Is it okay if I don't come in today?
Marianne groaned. She liked Plum, and the woman hardly ever asked to not work, but it was still frustrating! She grabbed the schedule book and was relieved to see that there were not many appointments for the day, just two haircuts at 9 and 9:30.
"Maybe I'll just take the day off as well," she mumbled to herself.
<sure that's fine. you better have a fun time though.
With that, another idea popped into her mind. She could work on payroll, then do the cuts, and then head over to her fiancé's house when she was done. She hadn't seen him for almost a week and missed him terribly. Roland was a businessman, a young entrepreneur, who had to travel often for work, sometimes days to weeks. They had separate places for this reason. He texted her late last night that he was home and tired from his trip so not to come over. Well, she'd just have to surprise him this morning with a lovely visit!
As Marianne pulled onto the curb by Roland's house, she noticed a blue BMW parked out front. Roland's car was a dark green mustang with gold racing stripes.
Hmm. Weird. Marianne thought nothing of it as she pulled out her key to his house and unlocked the door.
The sight that greeted her was not a pleasant one. For in the kitchen stood a half naked brunette woman wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. The two women stared at each other.
"Hey Buttercup, is that bacon I smell cooking?" Roland walked out of the bathroom with a towel tied around his waist. His chiseled chest glistened with droplets from his morning shower.
"Rosi-- M-Marianne!!" The blonde male stood frozen in place.
"Roland, who zis woman?" The other woman would have had a nice accent had it not been for the fact that she was naked in her fiancé's house.
The couple stared at each other.
Marianne could feel her heart breaking and her perfect mask starting to crumble and fall apart. She couldn't breath. She had to get out. As quick as she could she turned around and ran straight for her car, tears already running down her face.
She hadn't even gotten halfway down the block when her phone started buzzing and "I can't help falling in love with you" started playing. Roland was calling. She hit ignore. He had called her ten times by the time she made it home. He texted her about fifteen times as well.
>Marianne it's not what it looks like!
>pick up your phone.
>answer me, buttercup!
>please
>don't be that way
>she's just my cousin from Brazil
>answer the damn phone Marianne!
She couldn't take it anymore. She didn't even bother reading the rest of them before deleting them and hitting block caller.
"Marianne? What's wrong?" Dawn came out of the house to see what happened to her sister. She wore a pink fluffy bathrobe and had slipped on a pair of black winter boots since there was still slush on the ground.
Marianne stared dead-eyed through the window of her car. How could she tell her sweet innocent sister about what she had seen? About what he did to her?
"Marianne? Come on; I'm freezing." The petite blonde urged.
Like a zombie, Marianne got out of her car and let her little sister lead her inside. Once her boots and jacket had been stripped off, her eyes started leaking tears again.
"He-he cheated on me." Was all she said before being wrapped up in her sisters embrace.
Marianne hadn't been to work in almost a week and half since catching Roland cheating. She stared at the wedding gown that hung on the back of her bedroom door then down to her engagement ring still on her finger. An angry fire welled up inside her, awakening her from this funk she fell into.
Who cares about love? Who cares that she wasted a year and a half on this creep who did nothing to support her? She didn't need love. She would never be a fool again.
Marianne uncrossed her legs and stood up from her bed. The little black box that her ring came in sat on her bedside table. She snatched it up and twisted the ring off her finger, slamming it into the slot in the box. She pocketed it before marching out of her room.
"Dawn, grab your coat. We're going out." The older sister pulled on her faded winter boots.
"What do you mean?" Dawn was sitting on the couch watching a soap opera and eating a bag of Cheetos.
"I want to see how much I can get for my...ring." On went the purple hoody and black vest over it.
"Why? It's so beautiful!" Dawn had licked the orange dust off her fingers and rolled up the bag. Her big blue eyes watched her sister carefully.
"I don't want any reminder of him. Screw him. Screw marriage! Screw love!" The broken-hearted brunette tugged a hat over her long hair and picked up her car keys. "Are you coming or not?" She asked sternly.
"Y-yes! Let me change first!" Dawn scrambled off the couch and ran to her bedroom up the stairs. She returned about 30 seconds later wearing the same pink leggings, but put on a matching top and scarf. Unlike her sister, Dawn had blonde hair, cut in a short pixie style. She hid it beneath a pink hat with cat ears.
"You're so cute I want to puke," Marianne sneered in the only way a sister could.
"Aw, thanks sis!" Dawn wasn't fazed in the slightest. She patted Marianne's cheek as she glided past. "Hey! Let's stop at the coffee shop and say hi to Sunny!"
Marianne grumbled her approval, but only because the man was a coffee GOD!
"Hmm... I don't know if we'd take a wedding dress, Miss Summers," Greg, the man at the pawn shop, looked at the picture of the wedding dress Marianne had on her phone.
"What do you suggest I do with it then? I don't ever plan on getting married." She leaned on the counter, trying to make him see her point. By now, everyone in the town had heard she called off the wedding.
"Well..." the man rubbed the back of his head as he looked at the picture again.
"It was a $1,500 dress. I'd take less for it. I just want it gone..." her voice cracked at just the right moment.
"Hhh, alright. $500?"
"$1,000."
"C'mon, you said less."
"True, but I wont be swindled either, Greg." The feisty young woman tossed her head and squared her shoulders. Where did this confidence come from?
"Fine, fine. $750?" His old brown eyes bore into her shining honey colored ones.
"$900." She quirked.
Greg looked at the picture again and sighed. He'd sold dresses before and knew he could sell this one quickly enough, though it'd be hard finding someone of her size.
"$900 then," he stuck out his hand for her to shake.
"Great! I'll bring it by later today!" Marianne said excitedly as she shook the old mans hand.
"Okay...now let me get the receipt paper so I can write it up."
"Wait...I have one more thing I'd like to sell..." a small, velvet black box weighed heavily in her hand. "It's...my ring..."
She opened the box and placed it on the counter between them. The ring was rather lovely, if not big and gaudy. There was a large oval in the center with many smaller diamonds twisting around the gold band. The sight of it nearly made her gag.
"Whew... I'll need to test to make sure it's real," Greg whistled and reached under the counter for the correct tools to use. He gauged the metal and diamonds and determined them to be very real and of very high quality. "I...I can give you $4,000 for the ring."
Marianne nearly fainted! She did not expect that! The ring itself was probably $5,000 itself at a jewelers!
"Greg that's so much! Why would--"
"Because I know how much you want to expand that salon of yours." The old man said with a wink. He suddenly found himself being pulled across the counter into the arms of the stylist.
"Thank you. Thank you so much..." she tried not to cry. She really did, but the tears couldn't be held back any longer. She'd known this man her whole life, and for him to do this for her, it was too much.
"You deserve it. Your momma would be proud of how far you've come, and what you want to accomplish." He gave her a final squeeze and pulled back from her. "Now, how about you let me write up these receipts, eh?"
As the sisters made there way back from their second trip to the pawn shop to drop off the dress, they decided to stop once more at Sunny's.
"Hey guys! Back again?" Sunny greeted them happily from behind the counter. Surprisingly he wasn't busy for a Saturday, even though he closed in an hour.
"Hi Sunny!" Dawn chirped as she practically flitted to the counter. She beamed when he held out a giant blueberry muffin for her. "Ooh yummy! How much?"
"For you? Just a smile."
"Aw, Sunny!" The blonde giggled, but smiled her brightest smile at him. How could she be so oblivious to the fact that he was in love with her?
"You two are gross. Got any more muffins?" Marianne mumbled. She hated being around people who were happy all the time like these two. Well, it's not that she hated being around them, it's just that they reminded her of how lonely and broken she felt.
"The only kind I have left is cinnamon chip. Sorry, Marianne," Sunny frowned.
"Ugh, no thanks. I'll just take a vanilla chai latte then," she said, reaching for her wallet.
"Hey, you don't have to pay Marianne." Sunny placed his hand on hers and pushed her hand off her purse.
"Nonsense, Sunny. Your coffee if totally worth the price."
"I insist."
"Fine then." She dropped the $4 in the tip jar instead.
Sunny glowered--if that was even possible for the generally happy man--at her, but turned around to make her latte.
"I can't believe you were able to get that much money for your dress. Hey! Do you have enough to expand the salon now?" Dawn asked through a giant bite of muffin.
"I think so..." After checking her savings and adding the total of the check she received from the pawn shop, she had just enough to purchase the attached building and expand. "I'll still have to take a loan out for furnishings and stuff, but if we get started right away, the renovations should be done by the end of summer."
"Eeeee! That's so exciting! But, shoot. We have to wait till Monday to get a hold of the bank..." Dawn pouted and leaned on the counter.
"Here's the latte, Marianne. And, a small pumpkin spice for you, Dawn," Sunny placed the two cups on the counter in front of the sisters.
"Oh Sunny! I thought you stopped selling pumpkin spice after thanksgiving!" Dawn cried happily.
"Heh, it's nothing. I found a packet mixed in with the vanilla chai. I know it's your favorite."
God, this woman is blind... Marianne thought almost sourly as she sipped on her heavenly caffeine.