Why was she?”
Maxie rolled her eyes heavenward. Because she lied to you, you twit. You wouldn’t leave her alone when she told you the truth, so she lied. I don’t blame her. Aloud, she said, “Maybe her date was canceled, Graham. Anyway, she’s better, so relax, okay?”
“I can’t help it.” Now who was whining? “We had a fight the other day and all I could think of when I heard about this rotten business was that I might not get the chance to make up with her, tell her I was sorry.”
She almost felt sorry for Graham. If only he’d take the hint and buzz off. Disappear. But he was clinging to Candie like fungus, just like she’d said.
“Maybe you should play hard to get, Graham,” she offered, taking pity on him.
“What?”
“Never mind.” The concept was probably foreign to him. “Like I said, Candie’s fine. Gotta go, Graham. Bye.”
Well, at least she’d saved Candie a conversation Candie didn’t want to have.
She was just about to switch on the hairdryer when the doorbell rang.
What now?
Ignore it, she told herself, whoever it is will go away.
Then she remembered that Mildred had informed them that morning that the university was planning to have the house painted, now that the weather had warmed up. Maxie had initially objected, feeling that this wasn’t a good time for such activity around the house. But she had quickly realized, on second thought, that having a crew of painters stationed outside might not be such a bad idea.
“Every member of the crew,” Mildred told the girls, “will, of course, be thoroughly checked out by the administration and probably by the police, as well. So having them around might actually make us all feel just a tiny bit safer. And, of course,” she had added cheerfully, “our lovely house will soon be wearing a fresh new coat of paint.”
Maybe the person ringing the front doorbell was here about the painting job.
Brring, brring, brring.
The noise was driving Maxie nuts. Whoever it was wasn’t going to go away. Besides, it could be someone who lived in the house and had forgotten their key. The door was kept locked at all times now.
Wrapping her white terrycloth robe tightly around her, she ran down the stairs. She had the peephole and the chain lock. It wasn’t as if she was about to let anyone in. If it wasn’t someone who belonged at Omega house, she’d just get rid of them.
She peered through the peephole. Her eyes widened in disbelief, and her mouth dropped open.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Leaving the chain lock on, she pulled the door open a few inches.
Chapter 14
S TANDING ON THE PORCH was one of the strangest-looking people Maxie had ever seen. She was a tall, heavyset woman with an unbelievable amount of cranberry-colored hair piled high on her head and hanging loose, in tight Shirley Temple curls, around her face. The eyes, behind Coke-bottle-thick eyeglasses, were heavily made-up with false eyelashes and several shades of fluorescent shadow that hurt Maxie’s eyes. Her wide, generous mouth was outlined with dark brown liner and filled in with several layers of glossy, bright pink lipstick.
“Yes?” Maxie asked when the initial shock had passed. She bit her lower lip to keep from smiling at the garish lime-green wide-legged pants and the hot-pink and lime-green flowered sweatshirt spilling out from beneath the woman’s open denim jacket. “Can I help you?”
“Well, sweetie,” the woman boomed in a loud, brassy voice, “you sure can. You can deliver me, posthaste, to Mrs. Allison Barre’s baby daughter, Candace. I’m Tia Maria, the one and only, and I’m here to make little Candie the work of art that nature intended her to be. I’m here on her mama’s say-so, so you’d best let me in, hon. Allie, I mean Mrs. Barre, will not be in a generous mood if I don’t transform her precious darlin’. And if Mrs. Barre isn’t feeling generous, this sorority doesn’t get its semi-annual whopping,
Maxie rolled her eyes heavenward. Because she lied to you, you twit. You wouldn’t leave her alone when she told you the truth, so she lied. I don’t blame her. Aloud, she said, “Maybe her date was canceled, Graham. Anyway, she’s better, so relax, okay?”
“I can’t help it.” Now who was whining? “We had a fight the other day and all I could think of when I heard about this rotten business was that I might not get the chance to make up with her, tell her I was sorry.”
She almost felt sorry for Graham. If only he’d take the hint and buzz off. Disappear. But he was clinging to Candie like fungus, just like she’d said.
“Maybe you should play hard to get, Graham,” she offered, taking pity on him.
“What?”
“Never mind.” The concept was probably foreign to him. “Like I said, Candie’s fine. Gotta go, Graham. Bye.”
Well, at least she’d saved Candie a conversation Candie didn’t want to have.
She was just about to switch on the hairdryer when the doorbell rang.
What now?
Ignore it, she told herself, whoever it is will go away.
Then she remembered that Mildred had informed them that morning that the university was planning to have the house painted, now that the weather had warmed up. Maxie had initially objected, feeling that this wasn’t a good time for such activity around the house. But she had quickly realized, on second thought, that having a crew of painters stationed outside might not be such a bad idea.
“Every member of the crew,” Mildred told the girls, “will, of course, be thoroughly checked out by the administration and probably by the police, as well. So having them around might actually make us all feel just a tiny bit safer. And, of course,” she had added cheerfully, “our lovely house will soon be wearing a fresh new coat of paint.”
Maybe the person ringing the front doorbell was here about the painting job.
Brring, brring, brring.
The noise was driving Maxie nuts. Whoever it was wasn’t going to go away. Besides, it could be someone who lived in the house and had forgotten their key. The door was kept locked at all times now.
Wrapping her white terrycloth robe tightly around her, she ran down the stairs. She had the peephole and the chain lock. It wasn’t as if she was about to let anyone in. If it wasn’t someone who belonged at Omega house, she’d just get rid of them.
She peered through the peephole. Her eyes widened in disbelief, and her mouth dropped open.
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Leaving the chain lock on, she pulled the door open a few inches.
Chapter 14
S TANDING ON THE PORCH was one of the strangest-looking people Maxie had ever seen. She was a tall, heavyset woman with an unbelievable amount of cranberry-colored hair piled high on her head and hanging loose, in tight Shirley Temple curls, around her face. The eyes, behind Coke-bottle-thick eyeglasses, were heavily made-up with false eyelashes and several shades of fluorescent shadow that hurt Maxie’s eyes. Her wide, generous mouth was outlined with dark brown liner and filled in with several layers of glossy, bright pink lipstick.
“Yes?” Maxie asked when the initial shock had passed. She bit her lower lip to keep from smiling at the garish lime-green wide-legged pants and the hot-pink and lime-green flowered sweatshirt spilling out from beneath the woman’s open denim jacket. “Can I help you?”
“Well, sweetie,” the woman boomed in a loud, brassy voice, “you sure can. You can deliver me, posthaste, to Mrs. Allison Barre’s baby daughter, Candace. I’m Tia Maria, the one and only, and I’m here to make little Candie the work of art that nature intended her to be. I’m here on her mama’s say-so, so you’d best let me in, hon. Allie, I mean Mrs. Barre, will not be in a generous mood if I don’t transform her precious darlin’. And if Mrs. Barre isn’t feeling generous, this sorority doesn’t get its semi-annual whopping,
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