Besides, I'm a sucker for redheads.Besides, I'm a sucker for redheads. "I beg your pardon, Miss. Do I still get a hug?" I gave her my most winning smile and was rewarded with a much more tidy kiss on the other cheek. Instead of flinging her arms around my neck, Rebecca set her hands carefully on my shoulders. Then she seemed to realize that this ladylike approach didn't qualify as a "hug" and clasped her hands at the back of my neck. She gave me a grave smile, friendly but solemn. Her precocious self-possession was a bit unsettling. I hugged her anyway, just as I had her sister, and stood as Janet caught up to her daughters and greeted me with a dazzling smile. My first impression was that she had gotten younger in the past few years. She had never been anything but slim, though two pregnancies had left her unavoidably thickened in places. But now she seemed as slender and as fresh as when she was twenty. For years, she had worn her hair short for convenience; now it hung in waves to her shoulderblades, a shimmering chestnut brown in the Georgia sun. She wore a shining white scoop-necked spandex body suit under an old pair of jeans that hung on her hips as if they were a size too large. She was also rather red in the face; it appeared my sister-in-law had taken up aerobics. We hugged and patted each other's backs, but when I went to kiss her on the cheek she startled me by preemptively kissing me solidly on the lips. I enjoyed it, of course, but still,... it was unexpected. |