“So you’re in town for a meeting tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“And you’re staying at the Graff?”

“It’s a nice hotel.”

“I’ve never actually stayed there, but it’s fun to go for drinks or their Sunday brunch.”

“Do you go often?”

“A couple times a year. Just for special occasions. Most of the time my sister and friends head to Grey’s. More our style, as well as a lot less spendy.”

Tyler James Justice had expected Amanda Wright to be polished and stylish—she did hair for a living, after all—but he hadn’t expected her to be quite so pretty.

Or kind.

Or appealing.

But she was pretty, strikingly pretty, and disarmingly sweet. Make that charming. For a moment he’d wondered if she’d had work done, and then he spotted the photo of three gorgeous blonde women tucked into her mirror, their faces close, arms wrapped around each other, and they were all beautiful. “Girlfriends or sisters?” he asked, nodding to the photo.

She steadied his head, preventing him from moving again. “Sisters. I’m the baby.”

“When was this picture taken?”

“My sister’s wedding a couple years ago.”

“Do your sisters live here in Marietta, too?”

“Charity does. Jenny and her husband have a ranch in Colorado.”

“What does Charity do?”

Mandy didn’t answer immediately, her elegantly arched brows flattening as she concentrated on trimming the hair close to the tip of his right ear. On one hand he was impatient for her to answer, but on the other he appreciated her attention to detail and not nicking his ear.

“She works as the receptionist for a Realtor on Main Street,” Amanda finally said, before tipping his head forward and taking a razor to his nape, cleaning up the back of his neck. “I’m hoping, though, to eventually bring her here to help me manage the salon.”

“It wouldn’t be hard working with her?”

“Not at all. Charity is my best friend. We’re two peas in a pod. Mom used to say we were more like twins than twins. What about you?” she asked. “Do you have brothers or sisters?”

He hesitated. “I had a brother. He died serving the country.”

Her hand went to his shoulder, her touch firm, warm. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

He swallowed around the unexpected lump in his throat. He rarely talked about Coby, and he never got emotional when he did, and he wasn’t at all sure why he’d mentioned his brother to her, and he certainly didn’t want to continue with such a personal conversation. He hadn’t come here to Marietta to be anyone’s friend. He was worried about his grandmother, and in particular, this young woman’s influence over his grandmother. It was a difficult time to be away from work, too, but when he’d heard his grandmother was considering amending her will to leave her house to Amanda ‘Mandy’ Wright, he knew he had to come and sort things out.

“I couldn’t imagine losing one of my sisters,” Amanda said after a moment. “It must have devastated your parents.”

He nodded, unable to say more, because it had devastated them, and Coby’s death had changed the dynamics of the family, not that their family had ever been the perfect family. His father and grandfather had no relationship, which meant Tyler really never knew his grandfather, either. His grandmother, Bette, was another matter. His grandmother was sweetness and light… the kind of grandmother that deserved those silly mugs that read World’s Best Grandmother.

“You said you were here for business,” the stylist added, thankfully changing the subject. “You must be in the ranching business then.”

“No. I’m in tech.”

Her full lips pursed.