Secrets in a Still Life, Kari Ganske [best fiction books to read .TXT] 📗

another scene" glare from where she sat getting her nails done. I stayed put but couldn't quite fix the scowl on my face. I missed the anonymity of New York where I didn't run into someone I knew every time I blinked.

"What did you have in mind today?" Kelly asked, running her fingers through my long, thin hair.

"I guess a trim. Nothing fancy," I said. The sooner I left this chair, the better. This was the problem with small towns—everyone knew everyone and had a history with each other. So even though Kelly graduated a few years ahead of me, we crossed paths enough to make an impact. Not a good one. I willed Kelly not to bring up anything from high school.

"No color?"

I shook my head.

Kelly tsked and frowned. "Okay. It's your head."

She started combing, being none too gentle, in my opinion. The bell jingled over the door as more patrons entered.

"She just ran right into the sign! Can you imagine? Hasn't been back in years, and this is how she announces her return. So typical. One time in high school she knocked over an entire cart of beakers in science. Glass everywhere. Can you imagine?" I heard a female voice say.

"Oh, shhhh. There's her mother right there," another voice commented. I squeezed my eyes shut hoping it made me invisible.

Kelly said, "Alex is right here too, ladies. I'm sure she already heard you. We all heard you."

I peeked an eye open to give her one of Mom's death stares in the mirror, but Kelly kept her attention focused on my hair.

"Oh, hi, Alex!" the voice singsonged, coming closer.

In the mirror I caught the reflection of the face attached to the sugary-sweet voice and cringed before I could fix my face. I was looking into the face of the high school mean girl, Missy Poledark. Missy, the self-appointed leader of the "Snob Blob," as my small but close-knit group of misfit friends called them, was to Piney Ridge as Regina George was to North Shore High School in Mean Girls. Not only did Missy make my introverted, artistic life a living horror show, but she also dated Linc and pulled him even further away from me. Then subsequently rubbed it in my face every chance she got. My once close friendship with Linc didn't quite come out the other side of the "Missy months" as strong as it went in—another lesser-known reason I left Piney Ridge as soon as humanly possible.

"I heard you were back in town," Missy said with a plaster smile. Then her mean, snake eyes glinted, her lips curled into a smirk. "Actually, I read it in the paper. Front page, impressive. I guess you'll have to pay to replace that monumental sign. Are you still taking those little pictures?"

I snorted. Little did Missy know that one of those little pictures could earn me a few thousand dollars if someone bought the rights to it.

"Yes. I am," I said proudly. Using my photography career against me was the wrong move; it was one of the only things I was proud of.

Operative word being was.

I left my face blank to hide my discomfort and said, "Maybe you saw my spread in Nature magazine last month? The one about the ecosystem in the rain forests of Brazil?"

Missy's smug smile faltered, but only a little. "Can't say that I did. I'm too busy with my children and husband. Do you have kids?"

"Not unless you count my fish." I thought Rick and I were headed that way—marriage, kids, the white-picket fence—but he apparently had other plans.

Plans that didn't involve me.

Plans that did involve a big-breasted, toothy-grinned, barely legal journalist at his office.

Missy gave me a fake sympathetic look and made sure to flash her huge diamond ring in my eyeline. "That's too bad. Children really are life's greatest gift. Just look at my two precious angels."

Missy opened a gold, heart-shaped locket that hung around her neck, shoving it in my face. Since Kelly's scissors were still snip-snipping around my head, I couldn't even move away. The photo on the left, small and grainy, seemed to show two smiling children—a girl and a boy. Missy's thumb covered the other side which I assumed held a picture of her husband.

"Yup. Those are kids," I said, unable to help my snark. Thank goodness my mother was out of earshot.

Missy snapped the locket closed and harrumphed. "Better hurry and snag a husband quick. You're not getting any younger, you know."

"We're the same age, Missy," I reminded her, but she'd already moved away.

"Did I tell you Michael Junior is the starting pitcher for his little league team this year?" she asked her companion, her voice loud enough to carry through the entire salon. I thought I saw the girl beside Missy roll her eyes but couldn't be sure from the angle. I'd absolutely be rolling my eyes if I had to listen to Missy blather on all day.

"Easy to do when your father is the coach," Kelly murmured. "I don't often speak ill of children, but Missy's are as snobby and spoiled as she is. No fault of theirs; they only know what they're taught. Poor things. I can't believe I was friends with her once."

"Not anymore?" I asked, my opinion of adult Kelly improving some.

Kelly looked around to make sure Missy moved out of earshot. She dropped her voice as she said, "She and I co-own this salon. It was a mistake from day one, but she had the capital I needed to buy it from the previous owner. Unfortunately, she still thinks that makes her the boss. It's been five years, and I've more than made up for that initial contribution. But you know Missy. She works as little as possible and takes all the credit. Even tricked me into naming the