Chapter 25: Chapter 25: Quincy, Part 1

"I'm so glad I got my flu shot," Geni says over the sound of her clippers. "You looked terrible."

"Uh-huh." I pretend to ignore her and sweep the hair from my last client into a pile on the floor. Geni's been making it a point to lecture me all week about how dumb it was not to get vaccinated. Never mind that it's the only time I've been sick the entire five years I've known and worked with her.

"I'm serious," she says. "I've never seen you look so bad. You're lucky Daniel was there to - "

Her voice is drowned out when I start up the vacuum to get rid of the hair. The timing doesn't go unnoticed by her, and she glares at me. I glare right back.

"I'm just saying," she says as soon as the noise dies down, making me huff in annoyance. She's not going to let this go. "It's a good thing Daniel was there to take care of you. I don't know how I would have been able to do it without him. Don't you think it was dumb for her not to get her flu shot?" she asks her client, Mike.