A Second Glance

17

"Really!" Hallie squealed, as she hugged Papa Colt's leg. It was Saturday morning, and he'd found out how much Hallie loved Lisser's Candy Corner. Of course, she did. Which kid in town didn't?

"Yes, darling. Go get dressed, will yah?" Raven rubbed his eyes with the balls of his fists, as he walked out of his room. Usually, he'd already be at the pub, but he was having a lazy day.

"Paps, I'm heading out," he yawned, as he checked the time. Papa Colt shook his head disapprovingly, knowing that Raven was out late the night before, and with some girl.

"Be safe, lad," it was already 8:00 in the morning, and customers were probably wondering why the pub was still closed.

"I will."

Hallie ran into Lorelei's room, hoping to find her sister. But Lorelei was in the kitchen making breakfast.

"Lory!" Hallie called, searching the room, "Lory!" She skipped out of the room and into the kitchen, "there you are!" She giggled.

"Breakfast will be ready soon," Lorelei wiped her forehead, and looked at the simmering soup.

"Are you coming too?" Hallie lifted herself onto the stool next to the stove, "Paps is taking me to Lisser's."

Lorelei already knew, but had so much work to do that day, that she just couldn't tag along.

"I'm staying at home today to catch up on some cleaning. I'm sorry," maintaining two jobs was hard. Even though Raven helped out in some ways, he didn't know how to dust or sweep, or even wipe the walls properly, so the pressure was on her.

"Okay," Hallie sulked, "I guess I'll bring you back something," she stood and headed into her room to get ready.

Lorelei hated when Hallie fretted, but she know that the little girl would be fine accompanied by Papa Colt. She couldn't say that she trusted him completely, but knew that his intentions were pure.

When they left, Lorelei had the house to herself. She moved around briskly, trying to get as much done as possible.

"You're hard at work," Lorelei became startled, and almost fell off of the stool. She was determined to make the walls spotless. But when she saw Savannah, she almost forgot what her task was.

"Yeah. Busy, busy," Savannah looked at Lorelei, as she hopped off of the stool, and dusted the skirt of her dress with her palms.

"Anything I can help with?" The last time Savannah cleaned was when the housekeeper took two days off because of illness, and never wished for that to happen again.

"No, I'm fine. You okay?" Lorelei headed into the kitchen to wash her hands. She felt so sticky and dirty, knowing that she was in need of a long shower.

"I wrote a poem about you. Do you want to read it?" Savannah held out a piece of paper, with a sparkle in her eyes. Lorelei was more than a surprised, and very curious.

"Yeah, uh, of course."

"Let's sit at the table, shall we?" Lorelei just nodded and followed the redhead to sit. As she looked at the words written on the lines, she held in her breath.

It really is about me... about my hair...

"This is, this is, uh," Lorelei wasn't sure what to say. It was a beautiful poem, but not something that she expected a woman to write for her.

"Do you like it?" Savannah held up her chin with the palms of her hands, "it's something I'd been working on for a few days. I'm thinking of adding it to my collection for publishing."

"You're a writer?" Savannah shrugged.

"It's more of a hobby. I wish I was good enough to be recognized."

"It's good," Lorelei commented and placed the paper flat on the table's surface. Looking at Savannah, her heart began to thump.

"Thank you," the redhead blushed, and pressed her lips together. Maybe I shouldn't have let her read that, "no one else is at home, huh?" Savannah's hands dropped from her face, and she reached for Lorelei's cheek with her thumb.

"Yeah. Raven's at work, and Hallie and Paps went out to..." as Savannah's thumb brushed across her cheek, she shivered.

"I actually have to go, but you should keep it," Savannah leaned in, "I wrote another copy."

Lorelei swallowed and leaned backward. Her heart began to race, and she decided to stand.

"I'll see you around then," Savannah stood too, with a smile on her face.

"Yes you will, Lory. You can count on it."