Page 43 of A New Year In The Presidential Suite

Dawn indicated the man standing away from them. He was one of the most handsome black men Lori had ever seen.

“An old flame of mine is in town. He’s a former hockey player and is thinking of buying into this business.”

Lori spoke softly so the girls wouldn’t hear. “Wow! It might be time to rekindle that old flame. It could get hot.”

Dawn chuckled, adding a sparkle to her brown eyes. “We’ve been thinking of it.” She waved to her companion. “Come meet a fellow teacher at the preschool, Lori Hamlin.”

The tall man strode easily to them. “Hi, Lori. Wayne Hopkins.”

“Dawn says you might be part of this business. I hope so. We need someone to take a more active role in managing the place, offering classes and the like.”

“We’ll see what happens,” said Wayne, smiling at Dawn.

Sara tugged on Lori’s coat.

“I’m sorry. I’ve got to go,” said Lori. “I’m taking care of my nieces, Sara and Lizbeth Evans.” She turned to the girls. “Can you please say hello to my friends, Miss Dawn and Mr. Wayne?”

“Hello,” said Sara, and Lizbeth piped up, “Hi.”

Lori led the girls away, so happy for Dawn that she wanted to skip. Dawn had never looked more excited. Lori could see why. Maybe that’s how easy it was when the someone you were with was the right person for you. It had certainly felt that way with Nick.

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The next morning was a gray, cold, rainy one. Lori lay in bed, one sleepy girl on each side of her, and stared up at the ceiling.

“What are we going to do today?” asked Lizbeth.

“Can we do a spa day?” asked Sara.

“I don’t see why not,” said Lori. “I brought nail polish and my old makeup bag.”

“You’re the best,” said Sara, throwing her arms around Lori.

Lori hugged Sara and inhaled the strawberry smell of her shampoo, loving the joy that filled her. There was a time when she’d imagined what her children would look like. But after mourning the loss of Nick for a couple of years, she forced herself not to think about it.

Not to be left out, Lizbeth threw herself onto Lori and clung to her.

Lori rubbed her back and said, “Well, ladies, should we do it? Get up and face the day?”

They scrambled out of bed.

“I want pancakes,” said Lizbeth, tugging Lori onto her feet.

“Okay, but I’ll need your help. You can take turns stirring the batter, and you can both set the table while I get a cup of coffee and make things ready.”

The girls left the room and hurried down to the kitchen.

###

Later, after breakfast was cleaned up and everyone was dressed for the day, Lori set up

the kitchen for their spa day. Spa days included nail polish on hands and toes, skin cream, lipstick, mascara, and eye shadow. The kitchen bar stools proved to be very handy for all the procedures.

These events had happened often enough that Lori knew Sara would choose pink polish for her fingernails while Lizbeth would choose green. Both girls liked purple polish on their toes.

The special fun for the girls was practicing putting makeup on Lori.

Midmorning, while the polish was drying on the girls’ nails, the girls practiced applying eyeshadow and lipstick on Lori. One eye was shadowed with blue, the other, green. The bright red lipstick was applied way beyond the actual line of her lips as the girls tried to even out each side.