The Photographer from the Estate Agency, a still wet behind the ears youngster named Neil Thomas, finished packing up his gear and then left Vivienne alone. A job that should have taken under an hour had taken three hours. For some unfathomable reason, he insisted on using a full studio flash rig even in the Bathroom where there really wasn’t the room to swing a cat let alone all the kit that he’d brought with him. From what little he’d said during the visit, he was clearly more used to taking pictures of the very large houses that only the mega rich of Hampstead could afford. Still, it was at their cost not hers. If she wasn’t happy with the promotion material she could take her business to another agency.

As she showed him out the front door, Vivienne said,
“Thanks for coming today Neil. Please tell Mr Thurston that I’ll be in the Office on Thursday to go through the photos.”

His departure left Vivienne at a bit of a loose end for the rest of the day. She knew that there was a whole heap of sorting out to be done. Although she knew that eventually, it would have to be done but it could wait for another few days.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat and drink before she made a phone call. She’d already put in motion the process of selling her home. Now it was time to start the process of changing her appearance. The old one was years past its sell by date. Her diaries contained many references to this desire over the years although, the frequency of those entries had decline in recent years.

During their time in Devon together, Maxine had mentioned the really great hairdresser that she used. After her previous negative experience with hair Salons, she needed somewhere that would look after her rather than trying to impose a totally inappropriate style on her. Maxine’s words had rekindled that desire and it was time to take her up on her offer helping her get a new hairstyle.

“Hello Maxine. This is Vivienne.”

“I’m fine. You?”

“On our journey around Devon, you talked about this super hairdresser that you used…”

“Yes, that’s her. I wondered if I could get her number?”

“Yes, I’ve finally decided on a change in style. As I told you, my last visit to the salon didn’t end very well. They botched the cut and still had the nerve to charge me for the damage. That was nearly three years ago and I’ve not been back. Your hair looked so good and… I thought?”

“You are? When?”

“Could I sort of tag along?”

“Where?”

“Sorry, I sort of assumed that you lived in London. The dealer name and phone number on your car number-plate is from Croydon.”

“Oh. I see. You never really said where you lived. Still, I’m not doing anything so it won’t be a problem.”

“No. I’ll come down. I can take the train if you can text me the address I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”

“Thanks Maxine. I owe you big time.”

“Don’t be so modest. Out little sojourn in Devon really helped me get a new focus for the next part of my life.”

Her phone bleeped. Vivienne looked at the message before speaking to Maxine again.

“Thanks Maxine, I just got your text. See you tomorrow.”

---

The following afternoon, a slightly nervous Vivienne pushed open the door to the Salon. She could not see anyone inside.

“Hello? Is there anybody there?”

“We’re in the back,” came a voice.

She went inside and closed the door behind her.

A woman whom Vivienne assumed was the owner, Bea appeared from a small office.

“You must be Vivienne. Maxine has been telling me all about you. I’m Bea, welcome to my salon.”

“All good I hope?”

“Yes. You really made an impression on her.”

“Oh dear,” said Vivienne fearing the worst.

“All good I can assure you,” came a voice from the Office. She could tell that it belonged to Maxine.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” said the voice.

Vivienne looked around at the empty Salon. Bea noticed this.

“Once a quarter on a Wednesday afternoon, Maxine comes over and we do the books. I give my girls the afternoon off so we can work in peace.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to interrupt your work.”

Bea smiled.

“Nonsense. Since Maxine took an interest in my business, the books have always been easy. She’s a real whizz with figures. Saves me a whole heap of aggro I can tell you so, giving you a new hairdo won’t be a problem.”
She smiled.

“To be honest, it is always the worst part about running a small business. Maxine sorted me out. I’d been doing so many things wrong it was rather embarrassing I can tell you. That woman is pure gold when it comes to accounts.”

Vivienne smiled. She’d been about the best in her department when it came to reading accounts and uncovering the lies and half-truths that they often held.

Just then Maxine appeared from the Office.

“That the VAT return all done and submitted. Everything is setup for next month and the Payroll is all done,” said Maxine.

“What is it that you were thinking of having done?” said Bea switching back to the reason for Vivienne’s journey to Horley.

Vivienne smiled back at Bea and reached up and unpinned her hair and shook it loose.

It was longer than she’d had it even as a girl. Now it reached almost to her waist.

“That’s quite some length,” said Bea

“Yeah. I had a bit of a disagreement with my last hairdresser over how much he wanted to cut off. They didn’t do what I wanted. They decided that I was going to have a really short style. I cottoned on to what they were doing and told them to stop. They left it in a worse state then when I went in and then even had the nerve to try to charge me. I told them that I wasn’t paying for a botch job so I walked out. That was now that I think about it, closer to four than three years ago. I just started wearing it up all the time and ignoring it. That was until I met Maxine here. She persuaded me to let my hair down for once. I rather enjoyed it but it really showed how grey I’d become and that just would not do for the long term”

Bea laughed.
“Sometimes those latest trends do more harm than good. It didn’t last very long after London Fashion Week was over if my memory serves me right. All the models ended up wearing wigs 24/7 until their hair grew out again.”

There were smiles all around.

“I need to get something a little easier to handle. I’ve not really had a change of style for nearly twenty years.”

Bea grinned.

“Then we shall have to create the new you then.”

“Where’s Betty? You didn’t leave her at home, did you?” asked Maxine.

“I’m afraid that she died this time last week.”

“Oh, you poor thing, I know how attached to her you were. What happened?”

“She passed away in her sleep.”

“At least she didn’t suffer then?”

“A small mercy. But… I was thinking of changing my hair colour,” said Vivienne changing the subject

“What did you have in mind?”

“This,” she said getting her phone out.

The picture she pulled up showed an image of Betty.

“I have always loved the colour. I also want a more manageable style.”

“But your hair is so long?” said Bea.

“And I’m not a ten-year old girl. Something like a page-boy bob if that is possible but with a fringe. Like those silent movie stars wore.”

Bea who had been gently brushing Vivienne’s hair out stepped back. Then she came to face her.

“Are you sure? It is a big step?”

“I’m starting a new episode in my life. I want to look my best for going forward.”

“And she has a man to impress,” added Maxine with an evil grin on her face.

“Really? Well then we’d better make you look your best.”

“What Maxine says is perfectly correct but he does not know anything about it.”

Bea stopped her searching for the right colour in an instant.

“Ooohhh! Please tell all?” she said grinning from ear to ear.

“There is nothing to tell,” Vivienne said slightly indignantly.

Maxine laughed.

“Maxine! Don’t you dare!” said Vivienne.

Then the absurdity of it all sank home.

They all had a good laugh.

---

A little over two hours later, and after what Vivienne called, ‘the dirty deed’ her new look was finished. She’d lost over a foot of hair. The grey was gone and she had a not only a new hairstyle but a colour that was very close to the colour of Betty’s coat. Bea also now knew all about Jacques and his slightly eccentric lifestyle.

“Well? What do you think?” asked Bea.

Vivienne did a bit of preening as she viewed herself in the mirror.

“Pretty good. No, make that very good. Thank you, Bea. Everything that Maxine said about you is true. You are a wizard.”

“Is someone taking my name in vain?” came Maxine’s voice from the Office.

“Far from it,” she said.
“This woman is a genius with hair.”

Then Vivienne sighed.

“What’s up?” asked Maxine who had emerged from the office.

“Just my nails and lashes.”

All three of them started to laugh.

“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” said Bea when we’d calmed down.
“There must be dozens of places in London who can sort you out?”

“Yeah but… I’ve never had them done before.”

There was an agonising silence in the salon before Maxine said.

“Then Bea will just have to fit you in tomorrow morning… Won’t you Bea?”

An expression of panic appeared momentarily on her face. Then slowly, a smile replaced the fear.

“As long as we start early. I mean at eight sharp! I have a load of regulars coming in from just after nine.”

It was Vivienne’s turn to show some anxiety.

“I don’t know if I can get here that early?”

“Then you will just have to stay the night at my place,” said Maxine.

“I couldn’t possibly impose on you like that.”

“Nonsense. Besides, I want to know what you are going to do about Jacques?”

“Me?”

“Yes, you Vivienne. Don’t tell me that you haven’t thought about him even once since you returned from Devon?”

The smile on Maxine’s face told Vivienne that she was rather enjoying this.

“Well… Yes, I have but…”

“But nothing. I want to know how you plan to get him.”

“Get him? I’m going to do nothing of the sort. Besides, there is a lot of things to do and sort out before I could even think of going to visit him. If I move to Devon that it. Who knows… I might even go to Norfolk.”

Maxine laughed.

“I know someone in Norfolk who would be only too happy to have you working for them even if it is part time.”

“Is there anywhere that you don’t have contacts?”

Maxine smiled back at me.

“Scotland is a bit light. But seriously, Vivienne, if you went to Norfolk, just give me a bell and I’ll provide you with an introduction to a good friend of mine. He’s setting up a charitable foundation. You might have heard of him, Garth Sampson.”

Vivienne had indeed heard of the American Billionaire.

“You can’t be serious?”

“She’s very serious,” piped up Bea.
“I did the works for the new Mrs Sampson the day before their recent wedding. She was like you in many respects, devoted to her job and getting a haircut was of secondary importance.”

It was then that Vivienne realised just how fortunate she’d been to run into Maxine when she did.

“I was only saying Norfolk as somewhere that is not Devon.”

“I know you were but our time together in Devon gave me an insight into what you were thinking and if there is anything I can do to make your divorce from London easier then all you need to do is ask. Who knows eh? I might just follow you down there…”

She didn’t know what to say. Maxine had left her stumped yet again.

“Why don’t you take Vivienne to the Fox? It is Curry Night tonight,” said Bea.

“That’s a good idea,” replied Maxine.

Maxine turned to me.
“Well Vivienne? Are you game?”

She really didn’t have an alternative.
“Ok, if it isn’t too much trouble.”

“That’s settled then,” said Maxine.

---

Over an excellent Curry that evening at the pub, Maxine probed Vivienne gently about her intentions towards Jacques.

“But I know nothing about him at all. He’s very reticent about sharing his past,” she remarked.

“He is that,” said Maxine.
“That probably means that there is something not good in it. Don’t try to pry it out of him. Men are infamous for clamming up when put on the spot. They keep things bottled up far too much.”

“I know. My ex… Well the less said about that the better.”

“Then don’t confront him until you are best friends.”
Then she grinned.

“That won’t stop you from doing a little research about him before you go down to Devon.”

“I haven’t said that I am going to move to Devon.”

“Yet!” grinned Maxine.

That didn’t stop Vivienne.
“But someone like you has all sorts of contacts. Why not see what you can find out eh? To me, there is something in his past that he wants to stay buried. If it is horrible then isn’t it better to know now rather than later? Ask yourself, why didn’t he go back to France when he left London? I’d want to know before I entered into anything more than ‘hello and how are you’. If you get my meaning?”

She was right of course.

“Most of what you say would be illegal even for the Police unless they had warrants and the like.”

“But there is this wonderful thing out there called the Internet. Pretty well everyone has some sort of footprint there for everyone to see.”

“Well, I don’t. As you know, I don’t do Social Media. In my job it was considered unethical.”

“You aren’t in a job now remember?”

“Even so, I would not know where to start without using my contacts as you put them. I have to admit that I had people working for me that did all that stuff.”

“Then it is a good time to learn isn’t it?” grinned Maxine.

“It is all well and good for you to sit here and say that. You grew up with computers. Until ten years ago I never used one outside of the office. I only got one at home then because I found that I could get discounts by doing stuff online. Most of the time its sits there in the corner gathering dust. Most weeks, I don’t use it at all but I have to admit that I have given it a good deal of use these past few weeks.”

Maxine smiled at Vivienne.

“I sort of gathered that from our little trip together. Isn’t now a good time to learn? Now that you have an objective… there is a purpose for you to make the thing work for you.”

Vivienne still wasn’t convinced so she decided to change the subject.

“About tomorrow?”

She smiled back at her again.

“All setup. I’ll drop you at Bea’s place and you can get to the station from there when you are done.”

“I’ve been thinking. Could you call Bea and tell her that I’ve changed my mind. I think I need to get used to this hair first.”

Maxine laughed.

“That won’t be a problem. Bea will understand. Whenever you decide to go forward, just call Bea and she’ll take care of you.”

“About that and today?”

“Yes, what?”

“Bea said that ‘it was all taken care of’. I can’t take freebies from you two. The two of you are in business, together aren’t you?”

“We are in business. I invested some money in her business. In fact, I’m her landlord. Anything she does to my hair, lashes or nails just gets deducted from the amount she owes me. The same goes for you. It really is nothing in the grand scheme of things.”

She let out a small laugh.

“And before the Taxman in you takes over, it is nothing different to me paying her for say a set of nails and then she giving me the money straight back and I deducting it from her loan balance. We record every transaction. There is nothing underhand about it. At least that’s what my accountant and the Tax Inspector who looked at the books nine months ago said. At long at it is recorded there is no benefit in kind which is impossible as I’m not an employee of hers.”

“But???”

“No buts Vivienne. Can’t a friend do a good turn to another friend without making an issue of it?”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I’d better call Bea and then I can take you to the station,” said Maxine changing the subject.

---

It was quite late when Vivienne arrived home that evening. She was both surprised and pleased to see a ‘For Sale’ board up outside her front gate. It was a reminder that she needed to go into the agents to approved the photos the next day.

Getting to sleep was difficult that night. For one thing, she no longer had the nightly ritual of brushing out her very long hair to perform. That had been part of her nightly routine for years. Twenty minutes sitting calmly and brushing her hair had been all part of her relaxing her body and preparing her mind for sleep. That was not needed any longer just like taking Betty for a walk before bedtime. Things were really changing in Vivienne’s little world.

Her new much shorter hair style needed little more than two to three minutes brushing before bed, and she was done. Then there was what Maxine had said about Jacques rattling around in her head. Vivienne knew exactly what she needed to do but she was very reluctant to start something off that might lead to problems for Jacques.

Living totally off the grid like he’d chosen was hard for Vivienne to really grasp. She soon reasoned that no one did it without good reason. She wondered if his reason was money and if she went and made some inquiries, she could end up stirring up a hornets nest for no good reason.

Vivienne tried to put him out of her mind and think of the good times she’d had with Betty.

She fell asleep but it didn’t last. Vivienne came around at a little after 03:00. All she could think of was Jacques. It was no good. She had to do something but what that something was, was something she really, really didn’t want to do.

[to be continued]