"Did you see that? She just walked on by." Three times was enough times for Hairdresser Jen Davies. With Kay in the chair, Rae in the other, and Mae in curlers, it was time someone said it. "I'll bet she's 40, acting like 25, moving to town with her stolen man."

"Who stole a man?" Mae was nearly shouting, and Kay, who hadn't seen the woman, and didn't know what anyone was talking about, smiled.

"The woman who just walked by here." Rae, had seen her before. She was new in town. A month since the moving van was parked in front of the Rollins house. "Why do you say she's stolen her man?"

Jen put out her cigarette. She tamped it down, again and again, until the butt curled into a question mark. "She's 40 and new in town. Why would he be moving at his age? Somewhere there's a woman wondering what she did to lose him. They're starting over, bringing all that mess here." Jen's man, Larry, would never leave her. She told him he couldn't. God says it's a sin. Jen knew how it worked. Find a man looking to wander, get him to run away with you, move somewhere you think no one will notice you.

Kay loved the Beauty Shop. Watching Jen in the mirror. She loved the gossip, if only for the two hours she visited once a month. "I don't know who you're talking about, so I can't say...but isn't that terrible?"

"It certainly is." Jen lit another.