Hippy, Hippy, (hair) Do!

Today, we’re celebrating Chautona Havig’s new contribution to the Suamalie Islands series, Trust Fall.

According to Chautona: Life is full of hairy experiences, and then you have just “hair” ones. In Trust Fall, Kensi ends up cutting her hair in a rash move and regrets it… at first. (Considering what Kensi went through, I don’t blame her for cutting off all her hair!) Chautona asked fellow contributors to share a story about a hair mishap or how a hairy experience turned out good in the end.

A “Hairy” Experience

Back in the early 1970s, you know, in the dark ages when hippies roamed the earth, I was too “mature” to be an actual hippy. I had graduated from college, had a steady job, and a new boyfriend.

The hippiest I got was bell bottoms and long hair. But not real hair. In those days, there was something called a “fall” that you attached to your crown and it looked like you had long hair. Now days they are called extensions or hair pieces. My hair color wasn’t real either. I’d been coloring it auburn for several years. My mom had naturally red hair, so I thought I could get away with it.

Back to the new boyfriend. He thought I wore too much make up. (Can you believe I actually married this guy? Well, I probably did wear too much.) He also wanted to see me in my natural brown hair color. So, one evening after a date, I colored my hair brown. Of course, when you do it yourself it doesn’t always turn out all that great; it was a much darker brown than my actual hair. (At least, I think so. It had been several years since I’d seen the real color.)

Went into work the next day—oh, forgot to mention, we worked for the same company—and blew his mind.

Funny thing, my co-workers said they liked my new hair color, but preferred my natural red. <snicker> <snicker> Of course, I could no longer wear the hair piece.

A year later, we were married. Me in my by-now natural brown hair. And less make up. Oh, the things we do for love.

I kept my hair natural for a couple of decades, but one day I saw a photo of me with gray, lots of gray, at my temples. That was it. I went back to coloring my hair auburn. I admire those who allow their hair to go naturally gray, but I just can’t do it.

Oh, and by the way, my husband and I celebrate our 50th Wedding Anniversary this July. And he doesn’t mind whether I have red, brown, or grey hair, make up or no makeup. He’s a keeper.

Book Synopsis:

Protecting her without her knowledge might get them both killed.

Grief has held Eve “Kensi” Kensington captive long enough. Determined to move on after the death of her fiancé six years ago, Kensi moves to St. Alyn to help Ezra with the new boat book business. That there’s a great therapist on the island is just a bonus.

When the West Coast Agency learns that the former fiancée of a deceased informant is under the radar, Simon Garver is tasked to protect her—without her knowledge, if possible. Great. Listening in on her therapy sessions might be the worst thing he’s ever had to do as an agent.

Nope… scrap that. Falling for his client takes the cake.

When Kensi learns Simon has been keeping secrets from her, she’s done. Too bad the arrival of a guy sent to “take care of her” means she needs him. She’ll cooperate until she’s safe, toss the trust exercises her therapist has insisted on in the trash, and get back to her job on Ezra’s boat.

If only her heart would listen to the plan…

Take a trip to the Suamalie Islands where palm trees sway, the sand and sea pulse with life, and the people will steal your heart.

More from Chautona

Sometimes life doesn’t go as you’d planned. Like at all. You think you’re going to have a great wedding, an idyllic honeymoon, followed by the perfect, picket-fence existence with the love of your life.

Then some crazy author comes along and rips it all away. Fiancé? Dead. Honeymoon? Not hardly. And by the time she’s done, that fence feels like someone rammed those pickets into her heart. All in a day’s work, and all before the first word of the story.

It’s a wonder that characters don’t revolt or something.

Look, here’s the deal. I just thought it would be cool to bring my Agency Files to Suamalie. And for that, we needed a tough background, because The Agency doesn’t get involved in disputes over spa appointments or boat rental rescues (most of the time).

So, after many hours of plotting and planning, I finally figured out how to torture my Kensi—I mean, give her an interesting backstory—while not tormenting readers. Too much. It’s been a couple of years (okay, it’s been six!), she’s having trouble coping, and…. Then what? How does The Agency fit in?

That started off as a conundrum that got really cool the more I thought about it. I mean, here’s the thing. The Agency is a protective entity. They swoop in and protect people from imminent danger while law enforcement does their job to remove that threat. Sometimes, as in Justified Means, this involves “involuntary” protection where they extract someone from his or her life until it’s safe to return—whether that person wants to be extracted or not.

I didn’t want that this time, but I also didn’t want Kensi to know she was in danger. So, off she goes to visit her friend Ezra in the Suamalie Islands and there she meets Ezra’s therapist fiancé. This much was easy to figure out.

And then it hit me. What if the agent was secretly protecting her? She doesn’t know it… but it’s happening.

Now I feel like Kronk from The Emperor’s New Groove. “Oh, yeah. It’s all coming together.”

Sometimes, I feel like Trust Fall is more romcom suspense than straight-up romantic suspense, but that’s okay, right?

Author Bio:

Chautona Havig lives in an oxymoron, escapes into imaginary worlds that look startlingly similar to ours and writes the stories that emerge. An irrepressible optimist, Chautona sees everything through a kaleidoscope of It’s a Wonderful Life sprinkled with fairy tales. Find her at Chautona.com and say howdy—if you can remember how to spell her name.

Don’t have your copy yet? Purchase link: https://amzn.to/3Ogh6bU