Page 64 of Pierced Pages
Danielle looked down at her daughter with amazement. She was growing up so fast. Especially in these last couple of years. Danielle could see glimpses of the teen she was becoming. In a blink, she would be doing her own hair and going to school dances and driving and thinking about college. Pretty soon, her daughter wouldn’t need Danielle so much. It was already happening, she guessed.
She wasn’t sure what scared her more, that or the driving.
“So are you going to kiss her again?”
Danielle felt her cheeks warm as her brain pulled up the feeling of Morgan against her lips the night before. She could only hope Lila didn’t notice.
A knock at the door saved her.
She opened the door to let Melanie in. Melanie had offered to pick up Lila to stay at their house so Danielle didn’t have to traipse all over town in her dress and heels. It was bad enough she had to drive in those shoes to the wedding, so she’d agreed to the help.
“You look stunning,” Melanie said as she looked over Danielle’s outfit. “Just stunning.”
“Thank you.” Danielle looked down at herself and absently swirled the skirt of the dress a little again. “I’m really glad I picked this one. And I’m grateful to Morgan.”
There was no way she’d have been able to afford the dress on her own. She couldn’t believe she had actually let Morgan buy it, but Morgan had insisted so strongly as a thank you that Danielle had given in.
“I was just asking Mom if she was going to kiss Morgan again.”
There was that flush in her cheeks again.
“Is that right?” Melanie turned to face Lila, who was standing behind Danielle with a mischievous grin. “And what was the answer?”
“We didn’t get to that yet.”
Melanie turned back to Danielle. “So what’s the answer?”
“The answer is that it’s not a conversation to be had with my daughter.”
Lila smiled. “That means yes.”
Melanie gave a conspiratorial nod. “I agree.”
She wasn’t going to tell them they were right, so she just kept quiet.
And she certainly wasn’t going to tell them she had already kissed Morgan again. That would have to wait until she had Melanie alone. No matter how curious Lila was or how grown up she was becoming, Danielle just wasn’t comfortable having this conversation with her.
“I’m going to finish my makeup,” she said, making a swift exit from the room and ducking into her main bathroom.
She eyed herself in the mirror and turned her head from side to side, making sure everything was placed and blended properly. It all looked good so far. She just needed to do her brows and mascara now.
She’d meant to finish up before putting on her dress, but her brain wasn’t following the proper order of operations that day. The distraction of her thoughts wasn’t a match even for her organized brain.
She dashed on her eyebrows then brushed them into place. Next, she carefully swiped eyeliner and mascara along her upper lids, deciding it was too risky for her shaky hands to attempt the lower lids that day.
After she put a layer of nude lipstick and pinkish gloss on her lips, she reached for the little black box sitting on top of her small jewelry case. She opened it carefully. Inside was a pair of earrings.
Theearrings.
The ones Morgan had given her to match her dress.
She lifted one from the box, held the fishhook in one hand, and traced another finger over the gorgeous silver scrollwork at the top. Then she held it up to one ear, letting the delicate-looking brown and rose-colored stones gently dangle.
They were a near-perfect match. She couldn’t believe Morgan had matched the colors so well from memory.
It had been such a thoughtful gift. Unexpected. Perfect.
For someone with such a sharp-looking exterior, Morgan had proved to be soft and warm to her core.
