by Allie Gail
Lisa laughed too, then paused as they both heard a faint noise from upstairs. “Sounds like Sleeping Beauty has awakened. Looks like your days as a swinging bachelor are now officially over, huh, Papa Bear?”
****
Anna awoke feeling refreshed, renewed and ready to begin the first day in her new home. After hastily brushing her teeth and hair and washing her face, she dressed in jeans and her least-scruffy blouse and hurried downstairs, humming to herself. What a great night’s sleep! That bed was like sleeping on a cloud of marshmallows. She stopped short upon bursting into the kitchen, surprised to see a striking blonde woman at the table with Uncle Phil. “Good morning,” she said shyly.
“Good morning, Sunshine!” Phil said with a smile. “Did you sleep well?”
“Very well, yes, thank you.”
“Great! You look a hundred times better than you did. Anna, this is Lisa Hamilton. Lisa, meet the new woman in my life, Anna.”
This introduction made Anna and Lisa both laugh. “It’s nice to meet you,” was all Anna could come up with. She always felt awkward around new people.
“So nice to meet you too, Anna,” Lisa replied. “I guess we’ll be getting to know each other pretty well, since we’ll be spending most of today and tomorrow together.” At Anna’s puzzled expression, she explained, “We’re getting your hair done today, among other things. I hope you like shopping too, because we’re about to hit the stores hard.”
“That . . . sounds great.” Actually, it sounded freaking unbelievable! Nobody had ever made a fuss over Anna before. Maybe with a decent haircut and new clothes, she wouldn’t look like a bum at school. What a nice change of pace that would be.
Lisa pushed her chair back and stood up. “How about a sandwich? I don’t want to rush you, but your appointment is at one and you need to eat something before we go.”
“Oh. Okay.”
Philip leaned forward and said conspiratorially, “One thing you’ll learn about Lisa is she’s the most well-organized person you’ll ever meet. I guarantee she has the next two days mapped out to a tee.”
“Ham or turkey?” Lisa was rummaging through the refrigerator, pulling items out and setting them on the counter. She seemed perfectly at home here.
“Doesn’t matter. Um . . . I can do that if you want.”
“I don’t mind. I already made one for Phil. Mayonnaise and lettuce?”
“Sure.”
Lisa put a paper plate containing the sandwich and some chips in front of her, along with a glass of iced tea. Anna thanked her politely.
“You’re very welcome. Philly, you want some more tea while I’m up?”
Philly??
“No, I’m good,” he said. She returned to her place next to Phil and took a sip from her own glass of iced tea. Then she started talking to him about some completely unreasonable woman she was trying to sell a house for.
Anna ate quickly while studying Lisa. She certainly was very well put together, from her creased slacks to her blue silk blouse to her gold jewelry. Her shoulder-length straight hair was an enviable shade of blonde that looked natural, not dyed, and her makeup was flawless. She wore diamond earrings that looked real as well. She seemed unaffected, too, as if she didn’t know or care how attractive she was. No wonder Uncle Phil was dating her. Spending the afternoon with her should be interesting.
Phil was rifling through his wallet looking for something. He pulled out a credit card and handed it to Lisa, saying, “Get her whatever she needs.”
“What’s the limit?” Lisa asked.
“No limit,” Phil said, winking at Anna. “Spoil her. If she’s not the prettiest, most well-dressed girl at school come Monday, I’m holding you accountable!”
****
Anna twirled in front of the dressing room’s three-way mirror, still unable to process what she saw. The girl looking back at her was nearly unrecognizable. I can’t believe that’s me! I’m actually kind of pretty! Who knew?
Lisa had taken her first to a hair salon, where Anna watched her light brown strands fall to the floor until she began to worry that she might have none left. The stylist knew what she was doing, though, and the results were amazing. Once she was done, she showed Anna how to style it and which products she should use. Lisa couldn’t help but laugh at her as she constantly shook her head back and forth just to feel her hair move. It felt so light and bouncy now! Soft as silk, too. She couldn’t believe what a difference a simple haircut could make.
She was then whisked next door and given a makeover, with instructions on how to apply the makeup so that it looked fresh and natural. Makeup had always been a luxury she couldn’t afford, so it was a new and interesting experience.
While trying on clothes, it didn’t take her long to discover that Lisa had impeccable taste. She let Anna pick out things she liked, but Anna found that the items Lisa suggested inevitably wound up suiting her the best. The woman definitely had a flair for fashion. And Uncle Phil wasn’t kidding about her being organized. She had come armed with a well-planned list of items to purchase.
After pulling on her old jeans and blouse for about the ten trillionth time that day, she was relieved when Lisa suggested they wrap things up since they were supposed to meet Phil for dinner at seven. Shopping was fun, sure, but she was tired of getting dressed and undressed over and over. Besides, her stomach was growling. That ham sandwich and chips had long since worn off.
Exiting the dressing room once more, she found Lisa paying a saleslady for the items. She entertained herself by sniffing perfume sample bottles while waiting. One of them had a delicious scent that reminded her of the beach and she sprayed some on her wrists.
“I actually have some of that at home,” Lisa told her as she joined her by the cosmetics counter. “It smells heavenly. You want to get some?”
She did, more than anything, but already felt guilty about all the money being spent on her. Before she answered, however, Lisa motioned to a saleslady and requested a bottle. They wound up not only purchasing the perfume, but the dusting powder and body lotion as well. Anna had never known such bliss.
Twenty minutes later, the car loaded with bags, they met Phil in the parking lot of a seafood restaurant. When he caught sight of Anna, his mouth fell open. “Well, paint my toenails and call me Mabel! You don’t even look like the same person. Wow!”
Lisa beamed. “I think we got a lot accomplished today, Mabel. We should be able to finish up tomorrow with no problem.”
Anna threw her arms around Phil’s waist and hugged him. “Thank you, thank you so much! I hope we didn’t max out your card or anything.”
He squeezed her back and told her not to worry about it, that he was by no means hurting for money. Anna couldn’t even imagine having so much money that you never had to worry. It was a novel idea, that was for sure.
The three of them enjoyed a pleasant meal of grilled seafood and afterward, they went back to Phil’s house. He helped them unload all the bags from Lisa’s car and carried them upstairs to Anna’s room for her. Then they relaxed in the living room, with Phil and Lisa on the couch and Anna curled up in the recliner.
Lisa was examining her list. “Okay, we got most of your wardrobe taken care of today. Tomorrow we need to focus on lingerie, shoes and school supplies. And some accessories.”
“Sounds a lot easier than trying on clothes all day,” Anna commented. Then she quickly amended, “Not that I’m complaining. I really appreciate all your help today. I know you probably had better things to do.”
“I’m a shopaholic, so trust me, it was fun,” Lisa said, stifling a yawn. “I am pretty tired, though. I think I’m going to head home. See you guys tomorrow, say, sometime after lunch?” Standing, she dropped a light kiss on Phil’s head.
“That’ll be fine,” he agreed. “Thanks again, honey. See you tomorrow.”
After Lisa was gone, Phil and Anna chatted and watched TV for a while until she began to yawn and decided it was time to go to bed. Not before anot
her nice long soak in the tub, though. As she lowered her tired body into the hot water, pleasantly fatigued by her busy day, Anna had only one thought.
This is the life!
4
Saturday’s shopping trip proved to be less strenuous than the previous day’s excursion. To Anna’s relief, the only items she had to try on were bras and shoes. They were done by four o’clock, and this time they weren’t completely wiped out when they arrived home. They walked in to find Phil marinating meat in the kitchen.
“Thought we’d grill steaks,” he said, rinsing his hands off in the sink. “It’s so nice out today.”
“Sounds great,” Lisa agreed. “Do you have stuff for salad?” Without waiting for a reply, she began to forage through the contents of the refrigerator. “Didn’t you get any Italian dressing? Please tell me this isn’t all you have.” She held up a half-empty bottle of Ranch dressing that looked questionable at best.
“Want any help?” Anna offered.
Phil wiped his hands on a dishtowel, pulled an unopened bottle of Italian dressing out of a grocery bag on the counter, and handed it to Lisa. “No thanks, honey. Why don’t you go put your things away and come back down and we’ll go out on the patio.”
Anna scurried upstairs, taking the steps two at a time, and deposited the handfuls of bags onto her bed, then ran back downstairs for the rest. It was a lot of stuff. She had shoes, socks, underwear, bras, nightwear, fashion jewelry to match some of the outfits they’d already purchased, and two additional brands of perfume. She was on cloud nine. There were also school supplies and a cute canvas backpack to put them in. Maybe school here would be different, after all. It just had to be!
Back in the kitchen, Lisa was busy washing lettuce. “Phil’s out back. Why don’t you go join him?”
Already, as Anna pulled the sliding glass door open, she could hear the sounds of people playing basketball, presumably next door. Mingled with the thump of the bouncing ball was the laughter and banter of the boys playing, the trilling of a robin somewhere, and a scrumptious aroma coming from the grill. The sky was a flawless sapphire blue. Even above the tops of the trees at the edge of the back yard, she could see in the distance the breathtaking, hazy Blue Ridge Mountains. Norman Rockwell, you must have lived someplace like this. My gosh, it’s too perfect to be real. Have people always lived in neighborhoods like this one? I can’t believe what I was missing. If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up. Not ever.
She pulled out a metal patio chair and settled herself on it, blissfully taking in her surroundings. Phil, standing in front of the gas grill, turned to look at her and smiled. “What do you think of the mountains?”
“The view is incredible! You are the luckiest person in the world. I never saw a place so beautiful in my life!”
Once she had her fill of staring starry-eyed at the mountains, Anna turned her attention to the activities next door. Two boys, by appearances probably close to her own age, were engaged in a spirited game of basketball, and they heckled one another good-naturedly. They were just far enough away that she couldn’t get a thorough look at them, but she could see that one of the boys had black hair and a muscular build, while the other had more of a sable-brown hair and was very slender. They were both around the same height, fairly tall. It was interesting to watch them, shooting hoops while laughing and occasionally shoving one another. Boys bond in such strange ways.
Lisa materialized through the sliding glass door and caught Anna’s gaze. Joining her at the patio table, she offered, “Those are the Somerville boys. I sold their mother that house when they moved here about, oh, I’d say nearly two years ago. She’s a public defender. Smart as a whip. Nice family.”
“Cool. What's her husband do?” She didn’t really care. It was just something to say, something to delay asking what she really wanted to know, so she didn’t seem too obvious.
“She's divorced.”
“Oh.”
“I never met him. They had already divorced when she moved here.”
“Mm-hm.” Anna hesitated. She didn’t want to appear overly interested or anything, but her curiosity won out. “How old are her sons?”
Lisa laughed. “I thought you’d ask me that. I’m not sure exactly, but I know they both go to your school. I think Creed – that’s him with the dark hair – is the oldest.”
“Creed?”
“Short for Creedence. Unusual name, huh?”
“I like it. It’s unique. What about the other one?”
“That’s Alex. Definitely a more conventional name. And . . . speak of the devil.” Before Anna knew what was happening, Lisa had her arm up in the air and was calling out, “Hey, Charlotte!”
The tall redhead who had just emerged from the house next door shielded her eyes from the sun, and catching sight of Lisa, waved back and called, “Hey! Come on over for a minute. I want you to see my new bedroom furniture.”
Lisa stood up. “Steaks almost done, Philly?”
“Will be in a couple of minutes.” He was flipping them over with a pair of tongs.
“We’ll make it quick.” Lisa grabbed Anna’s arm and gently tugged.
“We?” Anna protested. “Oh, no! I’m not going over there. I'll wait here.”
“Oh, come on. They won’t bite, I promise. Anyway, they’re your neighbors. You’ll have to meet them at some point, right?”
How could you argue with logic like that? Anna braced herself and followed behind Lisa. As they approached the house, the boys caught sight of her and stopped their game.
“Well, hello,” the dark-haired one said in a flirtatious manner. Anna smiled self-consciously.
“Charlotte,” Lisa was saying, “I want you to meet Philip’s niece, Anna. She’s just moved in with him and is going to be attending school with your boys.”
Ms. Somerville turned her attention to Anna. “Oh really? Well, welcome to the Hollow. What grade are you in?”
“Tenth.”
“Same grade as Alex. These two barbarians here are my sons, Alex and Creed.”
“Hi,” Anna said.
Alex mumbled some sort of unintelligible greeting while Creed grinned broadly, his dark eyes twinkling devilishly. Watch out for that one, Anna thought. Bet he breaks a lot of hearts.
“You just let us know if there’s anything at all you need,” Ms. Somerville continued. “I know Philip travels out of town sometimes, so if you ever need a ride to school, please don’t hesitate to ask. Good luck with your first day!”
“Thank you.”
“Come inside, Lisa, I want your opinion. I’m wondering if I need to change the color of my curtains.” As Lisa stepped inside with her, Ms. Somerville called over her shoulder, “You boys behave!”
Creed rolled his eyes. “Mom apparently doesn’t trust us not to hit you in the head with a basketball or something. So are you going to be living here permanently or what?”
“Yeah, looks that way.”
“Awesome. Too bad you aren’t a senior. We probably won’t have any classes together.”
“No, I guess not.”
“Hm. I didn’t even know Mr. Moore had a niece. I definitely would have remembered seeing you before.”
“I didn’t get a chance to visit much.” Especially in the last ten years.
“That’s a shame. Well, now that you’re here, maybe sometime we could . . .”
From inside, his mother’s voice yelled, “Creed! Jennifer’s on the phone.”
“Yeah, Jennifer’s on the phone,” Alex repeated sarcastically.
“Crap. I forgot to charge my cell again.” Creed tossed the basketball he was holding to his brother. “Hope I see you around soon, pretty girl.”
Nobody had ever called Anna “pretty girl” before. She knew he was just teasing, but it still felt nice. Now alone together, she and Alex stood in awkward silence until a black cat with white paws suddenly appeared from nowhere and began rubbing against Anna’s leg, purring loudly. She stooped to scratch his head. “Hi
, kitty.”
Alex laid the basketball on a bench. “That’s Sylvester. Pet him and he’ll love you forever.” He had a pleasant voice, with the same vague accent his mother and brother had and that Anna couldn’t place. She gave Sylvester a few more strokes, then straightened up.
“Where are you from, originally? You kinda have a different accent.”
“Canada, originally. Toronto. We moved here from Indiana, though. Lived there for about a year.”
Now that she had a clear look at him, Anna saw that his hair was a soft brown, as she’d thought, but in the sunlight it probably appeared lighter than it really was. He had, in her opinion, the gorgeous profile of a Greek god, and his startlingly light blue eyes were favored with long lashes. She wondered enviously why it always seemed that boys were the ones blessed with beautiful eyelashes. It didn't seem fair.
“So where are you from?” he wanted to know.
“Florida.” Among other places. Anna searched her mind for a way to change the subject, afraid he’d ask her why she’d moved in with her uncle. How could she divulge her humiliating past? She made a mental note to think of a lie before school started on Monday. No doubt that question was going to come up at some point. “So . . . you’re a sophomore, too? Do you like the school here?”
“Yeah, it’s not bad actually. You missed spring break, though. That was week before last. It was early this year.” He picked up Sylvester, who was underfoot meowing for attention.
“Is he yours?”
“Mine and Creed’s. We’ve had him since he was a kitten. He’s really spoiled. I guess you can tell that, though.” Alex’s eyes settled on Anna. She found it hard to look away from them. They held her in, gentle and friendly, seductive somehow in their mere warmth.
He’s not like his brother, she decided. He's more genuine. Without stopping to think, she reached over and rubbed Sylvester’s ears as Alex held him. She could feel his blue eyes studying her and her stomach fluttered nervously.
“Do you have your schedule yet?”