Jelana and Glorina return
from shopping trip.
Jelana
I drove back into the alleyway, and parked the bike. Glorina jumped off, and took off her helmet, grinning from ear to ear. Then her smile faded as she looked up at the building.
"Do you think he'll like it?" she said, touching her hair.
"It doesn't matter whether Tolly likes it or not," I told her forcefully once again. "You did what you wanted."
"I'm not sure I like it either," she said under her breath.
"That's all right. Lots of people have regrets with their hair. That's why we picked something temporary."
She nodded, and picked up the one bag we had brought with us. The rest would be arriving in the next few days. "Let's get this over with."
Tolly was up in the sitting room outside his apartment, reading on a high stool. He looked up as we entered.
"Jelana! Glorina!" He sounded glad, and relieved, to see us. "Did you enjoy Sandy Beach?"
"How . . . How did you know?" Glorina said.
"The banker called," I said, matter-of-factly. "To verify that the check was real, right?"
"Right."
Glorina looked slightly mollified.
Tolly nodded at the bag. "Is that all?" he asked.
"No, but it's pretty much all we could carry," I said.
"May I see?" Tolly asked. Then he frowned as he looked at Glorina. "Have you done something different with your hair?"
"You don't like it," she said.
"I didn't say that." But his expression didn't clear. "Is it . . . purple?"
"Purple highlights," I said. "Hardly noticeable with her black hair. Do you know that she has never picked her own hairstyle? Not just color, but how it's cut?"
"You have lovely hair," Tolly told her. "And black is so unusual, at least in Tel." He continued frowning as he looked at her. "Though purple is even more unusual, I suppose."
"It's just temporary," Glorina said in a small voice. "It will wash out in a couple of weeks. Though I could go back and make them change it if you don't like it."
I caught Tolly's eye, and glared at him, while shaking my head.
"No," he said, doubtfully, then more strongly. "No. Don't you go and change it. Or only to please yourself."
"But you don't like it."
"It took me by surprise, Glorina. That's all. I've no cause to judge any woman's hair. Nor anything else."
"But you paid for it."
"Not by choice," he muttered.
When I cleared my throat and glared at him, he added hastily, "That money was a gift to you, Glorina. To do whatever you want. If you chose to get as far away from here as possible, I would do naught to prevent it." Then he smiled. "But I'm glad you didn't."
"I'm not going to show you what I bought yet, Tolly."
"I'll try to contain my curiosity," he said dryly, while his eyes darted again to the bag. "Whatever you purchased is your own, Glorina." A pause. "You didn't spend it all, did you?"
"No. Most of it . . . Well, Jelana gave me some advice on how to invest it."
"Really?" He looked at me with his eyebrows raised. I looked back at him blandly. "Did she? What did she advise?"
"I'm . . . not sure, exactly," she said. "Everything's been happening so fast." She sounded confused. "I . . . I can show you the receipts."
"Later," Tolly said, waving it off. He gave me another glance. "Jelana gave her advice," he muttered under his breath.
I just kept smiling blandly at him. He knew that all the lectures he had given me about investing had gone over my head. I'd just picked out a few names that I knew he was partial owner in, and hoped for the best. I had little need for money. And what little I did need, I had no problem going to him directly for it.
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