Do You Hear What I Hear?

“Now, don’t you worry. I’ve got a couple great lists that should prove very helpful. And it just so happens that I suddenly have the perfect idea for a co-chair for you.”

“Who?” Libby tried to think of anyone in their group who was crazy enough to let Mabel rope them in. She couldn’t think of a soul…other than herself.

“I don’t want to say until I’m sure.” Mabel’s hand was on the doorknob.

“Mabel, you’re making me nervous.”

Mabel turned around and faced Libby with a look of confusion on her face. “You know, people say I make them nervous all the time and I’m not sure why.”

“Maybe it has to do with your coming at them with needles, or maybe you just have one of those personalities that makes people nervous.” Realizing that Mabel had managed to get her off the subject of the Christmas party, Libby added, “About this party—”

“Gotta go,” said the neighborhood needle-pushing acupuncturist and busybody as she raced out the door.

Libby watched helplessly as Mabel disappeared from the front of the store. Plan a Christmas party? What had she been thinking?

She’d have to worry about it later, because she had a full day’s schedule waiting for her. But worry about it she would.

There was just no way she could plan a party for two hundred in just a few weeks. The shop would be a madhouse between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Most of the time Libby looked forward to the holidays. But suddenly she was feeling decidedly Grinchy about this Christmas party.

Grinchy wasn’t the word to describe how Libby felt as she waited for her four-thirty appointment later that day.

“What do you want now?” she barked when parking-space-hogging Dr. Gardner waltzed into the shop and took a seat in front of her.

“Just a quick trim.”

Realization hit her. “I saw J. Gardner in the appointment book, but I didn’t realize it was you.” The name had been in Josie’s handwriting. Libby should have asked who the customer was when she didn’t recognize the name.

If Pearly and Josie weren’t in the back room, she’d be giving them the evil eye, hoping to make them worry about a lecture when this new customer left.

“Believe it or not, Doctor isn’t my first name. Most of my friends call me Joshua, or Josh even.”

“Then I think I’ll stick to Dr. Gardner, if you don’t mind.”

He was watching her reflection in the mirror, Libby realized. His dark brown eyes studied her, making her feel like a hare being stalked by a hawk.

“And if I said I did mind, Libby?” he asked softly.

“Then I’d say, so sorry, Dr. Gardner, I prefer we keep things formal.” She whipped the cape around his neck, and pulled it closed with a little more force than required. “And the name’s Ms. McGuiness.”

He sighed. “You’re still miffed about the parking space.”

“Miffed?” She reached for a comb, tapping the excess sterilizer solution against the side of the soaking jar.

“The flowers as an apology didn’t help? In my experience, women love that kind of thing. Plus, I had to go to the effort of looking up your address in the phone book.”

“I realize that alphabetical order might cause you some difficulty, so I’ll give you credit for having to figure out just where McGuiness might be in the phone book. And I might admit I love flowers, though I hate to be a generalization, but your card just added insult to injury.”

From anyone else she might have found the card humorous, even cute, but from Dr. My-smile-gets-me-out-of-trouble Gardner, she was simply even more put out.

Libby stared at his hair a moment, strangely reluctant to touch him. Why was that? Of course he was good-looking, but she cut a lot of good-looking men’s hair and never felt this unreasonable need to keep as much distance as possible between herself and them. Men didn’t affect her—not anymore. She was totally immune to the whole species.

“An apology added insult to injury?” He craned his head so he could look her in the eye. “How?”

“Dr. Gardner, if I’d seen an apology, I’d have accepted it.” Forcing herself to shake the crazy urge to run as far away as she could get, Libby reached out and turned Dr. Gardner’s head so he was facing forward. “The card was just another slap in the face.”

“You don’t have much of a sense of humor, do you, Ms. McGuiness?”

“Sure I do, when I see something humorous.”

The only funny thing she saw right now was the strange emotions Dr. Gardner seemed to be evoking in her. She wasn’t the type to start fights on the street, and she wasn’t the type to hold a grudge, and yet holding one she was—holding on to it as tightly as she possibly could.

“Are you saying I’m not funny?” he asked.

“I’m saying you’re certainly funny, just not in a humorous sense of the word.”

“I’ll have you know that plenty of women find me humorous.”

Libby realized that Josie and Pearly were probably in the back room hanging on every word of her conversation with the irritating Dr. Gardner. Determined not to give them anything else worth listening to, she finished the absurd argument. “I’m sure they do, Dr. Gardner. I’m sure they do. But the big laughs you give other women don’t interest me at all. What kind of cut you want does.”

“Like I said before, just a trim.” The humor in his voice had faded, replaced by a clipped annoyance.

“You’re sure you’re comfortable trusting me with a sharp implement at your neck?” Libby was sure she wouldn’t trust the good doctor. His frustration was evident by his expression.

“I’m sure you’re much too professional to maim a paying customer.”

“Fine.” Finally the man shut up. Libby spritzed his hair with her water bottle, then snipped in blessed silence.

Joshua Gardner might not be as humorous as he liked to think, but Libby would admit the man had a fine head of hair. Thick, with a slight tendency to curl. Running her fingers through it would be a pure sensual delight if she was the kind of woman who paid attention to those kind of things. But Libby didn’t pay attention to the way the ends of his hair curled around her fingers. No, not one bit of attention.

No wonder he kept his hair well trimmed. Otherwise it would rapidly get out of control, just as her strange thoughts were out of control.

She toyed with the hair, just making sure she’d cut it evenly, she assured herself. That was the only reason her fingers were lingering in his hair. It had nothing to do with the pleasure of running her fingers through his dark locks. Not a thing.

“Are you done fondling me?” Joshua finally asked, pulling Libby from her hair-induced daze.

“If you didn’t want me to touch you, why on earth did you make an appointment to have me cut your hair?” She spun the chair so it faced her rather than the mirror.

“I made the appointment because I thought I could kill two birds with one stone. Get a much-needed trim and discuss what we’re going to do about the party.”

“What party?”

Joshua stuck out his hand. “Hi. Joshua Gardner, cochairman of the PSBA Christmas party.”

Libby ignored the hand. “I’ll kill her.”

“I could ask her who, but I’m going to assume you mean Mabel. And I’m going to assume the fact you want to kill her indicates you’re less than enthused at the prospect of working with me. Since planning a Christmas party requires very little parallel parking, I think we should be safe.” He shot her a smile, one that had probably gotten him out of countless sticky situations.

Despite the fact that a smiling, newly trimmed Joshua Gardner was a sight to behold, Libby frowned. “I quit.”