by Lisa Ricco

Created on: July 16, 2010

It was a Friday afternoon and Stephanie was at the salon dying Mrs. Flannery’s grey hair blonde. Mrs. Flannery had been coming to Stephanie for years. So long that Stephanie had been through the death of Mr. Flannery and the birth of two grandchildren.

“Now Stephanie, dear, you have to make me look extra special today. I’ll be at my daughter’s house this weekend for a party and a certain gentleman will be there.”

“Well, good for you,” Stephanie said.

“That’s what my daughter says. I have plenty of friends, but sometimes you just need a male companion. Do you know what I mean?”

“Yes, I do,” Stephanie softly replied. She really wished that she didn’t, but the truth was that Brian had been gone for a month and she missed having a man in her life.

Forty five minutes later Stephanie found herself sitting behind the counter and looking at Viviane & Allison, the two young girls who worked for her.

As Stephanie listened to them talk about a concert Allison had been to she thought back to when she was like them. Stephanie used to be a free spirit, taking things as they came. A “live for the moment” type of girl. She wanted to be the person she once was, grabbing life by the horns. The bottom line was that she wanted to have fun again. She wanted to have a life of her own.

“You ok, Steph?” Viviane asked. “You’ve seemed a little out of it all day.”

Anticipating a conversation Viviane and Allison moved over to the small couch by the counter and sat down.

“You can talk to us, Steph. We’re here.” Allison spoke sensing Stephanie’s apprehension about opening up.

“I’m ok. It’s just that today is exactly a month since Brian has been gone, and, I don’t know, I guess I’m just feeling sorry for myself. It’s Friday, the weekend is here, and I’m dreading it. The first couple of weeks were ok, but now it’s just getting kind of lonely. I mean, Jesus Christ, even Mrs. Flannery has plans.”

“Well, why don’t you come out with us?” Viviane asked.

“Yeah,” Allison chimed in.

“Please, you don’t want this old woman crashing your plans.”

“You’re not much older than us. Me and Allison take Salsa lessons every Friday night. Then on most Saturdays we go out dancing to try our new moves. We have a few drinks, a couple of laughs,

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