The barber had gone, and Annie looked closely in the mirror. Her haircut looked suitable for some important dinner or even someone's wedding. Elegantly curled hair formed a crown on her head. Magnificent!
The dress was matching the haircut, too. Miss Brighton had bought it to go to the theatre, so that Archie could see her in the light of hundreds of candles, but…
But today he would see her like this –shining and bright… but not for him.
Oh yes, one more thing. A bouquet of red roses, that she herself had bought. Where should she put it? In a vase, or maybe just leave it on a table? Yeah, she would leave it on a cupboard in the hall – carelessly, unpacked. So that it would seem that the person who had given the flowers had just been around.
A knock at the door. Yes, it was him – Archie… They had arranged to go to the cinema today. But it was before that scene in Candy's apartment. And still, he was there…
Annie had to play her role.
"Archie!" Annie smiled, maybe even too broadly. "You know, I wanted to send a note to you, but I never got the chance…" she hanged her head. "I'm sorry, but I can't go today… I…" Now she must feign confusion, uncertainty so that he knew she was lying. "I have to go with my Mom to her friend… He– I mean, she is really waiting for us. Maybe we'll meet the day after tomorrow, okay?"
The girl touched the door with her hands, as if trying to send her ex-fiancé off, but in a way that he could see the bouquet of flowers lying on the cupboard.
"All right," Archibald said quietly, slowly estimating miss Brighton's haircut and her dress, which were certainly inappropriate for a casual tea-party. "See you then!"
Who is she waiting for? Who is she going to? What's all this about? Why didn't he notice?
The young man was standing in the street, clenching his fists.
…Candy and Neil were going to Pony's Home. The girl put her face out of the window, enjoying the fresh wind.
The whole week in a calm atmosphere among loving people! She was missing the kids from Pony's Home so much! The Tree… And, of course, her moms – Miss Pony and Sister Lane!
Candy stood up impatiently, holding the car's window to see home as soon as possible, and only Neil's alarmed shout made her sit down.
"–dangerous!" he ended his speech, but miss White laughed joyfully in response.
She had never felt so free and easy. The day before, Candy had finally called the necessary sum of money, and Neil, having thought a little, multiplied it by two, thus guessing the real amount of debt, and handed the money to the girl. Remorse that she hadn't been able to do it by herself was still haunting miss White a little bit, but she waved it aside. Pony's Home!
There it was… Father Tree!
"Could you stop the car, please?" Candy cried excitedly.
Neil obeyed, but looked back in surprise.
"What's wrong?"
The girl took his hand and pulled him out of the car.
"This is Father Tree! I want to greet it!"
Legan suppressed a laugh – obviously, this tree meant a lot to Candy, and he should be careful.
The girl ran in excitement to the hill where the huge tree was growing, and Neil ran with her, too, holding her hand.
"Father Tree…" Candy looked up, and Neil thought he noticed tears in her eyes. "It used to greet me, all the time, from my childhood, and now… Now it knows everything about me."
Legan didn't know what to answer and said nothing.
"I want to climb it!"
The new idea of his love found no enthusiasm in response.
"Are you mad? Cut it out, you're gonna fall down!"
Miss White stood with her arms akimbo.
"I used to climb it when I was a teeny tiny girl, and I was all right! Let's climb it together!"
"No way!"
They argued for a while until they finally came to a conclusion that Candy would climb it, and Neil would stay on the ground.
What happened next was something incredible.
Legan, of course, had realized how hard it would be for him to be with Candy alone, outside of theatre, cinema or café… He restrained himself, perhaps, more than any monk restrained himself in the desperation of fleshly lust.
No monk had probably felt such temptation.
His beloved girl reached out and raised her arms, grabbing the twig, so that the thin fabric of her dress stretched on her body, explicitly marking her small but firm breasts; then she pulled herself up, climbing another twig, so that Neil could see her slim back, sexy hips and thin calves… Oh heavens, he could see the laces on her bloomers! He only had a glimpse of it, but it heated his imagination so much that the blood boiled in his veins. And again, these pull-ups, naked legs, these bloomers and the stretched dress on her breast…
With great effort Neil turned away and stared at the road, breathing heavily.