“If we’re starting at the beginning, I suppose that’s on my side of the fence,” says Andy Nault, with a chuckle.

Andy grew up in Scituate, went to the University of Rhode Island and then to law school at the University of North Carolina. At 25, Andy came home and lived with his parents, in North Smithfield, while he studied for the bar exam.

“My mom started going to the salon in Woonsocket where Carey worked.”

“I was a new hairdresser and did pedicures as I was building my clientele,” says Carena.

“Because I had been away for so long, I didn’t have a girlfriend. So Mom, being the way moms are, decided, ‘Gee, you’re in your mid-20s now. You should think about forming a serious relationship. I’ve been going to this salon and there’s a very cute young girl there. You should go in and meet her.’ ”

“One Saturday morning, as usual, my mom went to get a pedicure. She came home and a short while later said, ‘Andy, I left my anklet over at the salon. Will you go get it?’ ”

Carena Capp was at the front desk when Andy arrived to fetch the anklet.

“I said, ‘I’m Andy Nault, June Brown’s son. My mother has us already married with children so I figured I should come over and introduce myself.’ ”

“Actually, it was ‘make your acquaintance.’ He was just coming out of law school so he had to sound polished. I think I kind of giggled and said, ‘Oh, OK.’ But he didn’t ask me out. He was really just there to get the anklet.”

Shortly after that exchange, Andy scheduled a massage at the salon, then a couple more. He would arrive early for his massages. “We would chitchat in a typical salon fashion,” says Carena. He finally made an appointment to have his hair cut – by Carena.

“Every two weeks he came in to have his hair cut. He’s also in the Reserves, so he has to keep his hair short. I remember on Mother’s Day I went out to breakfast with my parents at Castle Hill. They asked, ‘What’s going on in your life?’ and I said, ‘Well, there is a guy that if he asks me out, I would say yes.’ He had been flirting, but I wasn’t sure he was going to ask me out. ”

The next day was men’s night. Andy went in, but not for a haircut.

“He said, ‘Would you like to go out to Hemenways and maybe for a long walk?’ I liked that he had a plan. Most guys would just say, ‘Hey, you wanna go out?’ ”

“We ended up going to Camille’s instead,” says Andy. “We were having a lively conversation. At one point Carena excused herself to go to the restroom. There was a couple a little older –– and he leaned over and said, ‘First date?’ I nodded and he said, ‘You’re doing good.’ ”

“It was good chemistry,” says Carena. “We had a lot to talk about.”

“I didn’t think I was going to have very much in common with someone who worked in a salon, but I was pleasantly surprised.”

Andy and Carena spent every day that summer together until Andy went to Kentucky for Army Reserve training. He was gone from August until December.

“When I came back and still wanted to be with her, it was an indication that this was it.”

“I think we both knew early on that we were serious.”

“I had a lot of faith as a Christian and was so positive, so different from the way he thought about things.”

One year after that first date, they were married. That was 12 years ago.

Today, Andy, 39, is a partner in a law firm. His office is five minutes from their home in Lincoln, so he comes home for lunch every day. He’s still in the Army Reserve, a major, serving as an emergency preparedness liaison officer. Carena, 34, is a stay-at-home mother, taking care of their two children, Myranda, 11, and Derrick, 7. “I’m the home organizer. I run to Lowe’s. I do the designing and legwork. I help out in the school. I still do his mom’s hair, but I don’t do feet anymore!”

“When I was younger, I thought I would never get married, would never have kids. The military and my career: those were the two things I had planned for and built my life around.”

“He was going to sleep on the sofa at the office –– that’s how he saw his life.”

“Here I am married, two kids, church, coaching soccer. I’m having fun doing a lot of things that I never imagined I would have fun doing!”

cgrosch@projo.com