Chapter Three
“Oh, Hannah! You look absolutely lovely,” Lynne complimented her as Hannah came down the stairs.
Hannah remembered what her mother had taught her about accepting compliments and gave Lynne a big smile. “Thanks, Lynne,” she accepted the compliment gracefully. “Mother gave this to me for my birthday.”
“It’s perfect for you.” Lynne took the cookie tin that Hannah handed to her. “Cookies?”
“No, I made Chocolate Peanut Butter Toffee for you.”
A broad smile spread over Lynne’s face as she pried off the lid and looked inside the round tin. “This is my very favorite candy! You used to make this for me every Christmas when we were in college.”
“It’s a little different this year because I couldn’t find Nabisco Chocolate Wafers.”
“But it looks like there’s chocolate on top.”
“There is. I melted chocolate and drizzled it on the top.”
“It’s pretty.” Lynne took a small piece of toffee and bit into it. “It’s just as good without the chocolate wafers, Hannah. Actually, it may be better. It tastes like there’s more chocolate.”
“That’s because there is more chocolate. I used a layer of chocolate chips on top of the crackers.”
“There’s more salt, too. And I like it.”
“I used Club Crackers and they’re salted. The salt side is up and that adds more flavor to the chocolate.”
“You’re right. It’s just wonderful!” Lynne reached for another piece and stopped herself just in time. “I’d better save this for later or I won’t be hungry when we get to the restaurant.”
Hannah motioned to the staircase as she spotted her mother. “There’s Mother. It looks like she did something to her hair.”
“My guess is Maria had something to do with that,” Lynne told her. “She was a beautician before she married Robby.”
Hannah didn’t comment aloud, but she wondered if Maria could do something to improve her hairstyle. She’d often joked that she should start using a curry comb on her hair. Unlike Delores with her dark hair, her younger, light blond sister Andrea, and Michele, the youngest of the Swensen sisters, whose nickname had been Jeanie with the light brown hair, Hannah had inherited her father’s almost unmanageable curly red hair, along with his physique. Lars Swensen had been tall and burly with a tendency to put on weight. Hannah, unlike her mother and sisters, was quite tall and what her mother politely called substantial. Delores had declared once that Hannah could put on several pounds just walking past the candy store at the mall and staring at the display in the window.
“Am I late?” Delores asked, crossing the room to join them.
“Not at all,” Lynne assured her.
“I’m here, Mrs. Larchmont.” Robby appeared in the hallway. “I have the car out front if you ladies are ready to go.”
“We are,” Lynne said. “Perfect timing, Robby. I know that Hannah and Delores must be starving after having nothing but airplane food all day.”
* * *
“Good heavens!” Delores gasped, catching sight of the woman who’d just walked into the French Room. “Is that . . .”
“Leslie Towers?” Lynne guessed.
“Yes! I saw her in Peachtree Forever and she was just wonderful! It’s not polite to ask for an autograph, is it?”
Lynne shook her head. “No, but that’s not Leslie Towers. Everyone always thinks that, but her name is Gloria Denning and she’s my neighbor.”
Delores looked disappointed, but then her expression changed to one Hannah could only classify as cagey. “I don’t suppose she’d pose for a photo with me, would she?”
Lynne laughed. “Only if you promise to tell people she’s Leslie Towers. Gloria loves to do that, but she draws the line at signing Leslie’s name if people ask her for an autograph. Shall I ask her if she’d like to have lunch with us so that we can take a few photos?”
“That would be wonderful!”
Delores answered immediately and Hannah began to grin. Doc had been right. It was clear that her mother was starstruck.
“I’ll be right back,” Lynne said, rising from the table and hurrying to intercept her neighbor. After a short conversation, Gloria came back to the table with Lynne.
“Gloria won’t be joining us for lunch,” Lynne told them after she’d introduced them.
“It would have been fun, but I’m meeting someone in a few minutes,” Gloria explained. “I’ll be happy to pose for photos, though. It’s fun to pretend to be someone famous.”
Hannah watched as Lynne posed Gloria and her mother, and took the photos. She could tell that her mother was having the time of her life, and she wouldn’t be surprised if Delores went straight down to Rod at the Lake Eden Journal when she got home and asked Rod Metcalf to put one of the photos in their hometown newspaper.
“How about you, Hannah?” Gloria asked when the photos with Delores had been taken. “Would you like to pose with me?”
For a moment, Hannah wasn’t sure what to say. Would Gloria be insulted if she said that she really wasn’t interested in having her photo taken with famous people, either lookalikes or real celebrities? Luckily, the perfect answer occurred to her.
“Thanks so much for offering, but I wouldn’t want to spoil my mother’s exciting moment. I’ll be happy to let her have all the celebrity photo-ops for today.”
* * *
Lunch had been wonderful, but Hannah noticed that her mother’s eyes had closed several times during their trip back to Brentwood. “Are you tired, Mother?” she asked as they entered the house.
“Yes, I am,” Delores admitted. “I was up late last night, waiting for Doc to come back from the hospital, and I didn’t sleep well. If you girls don’t mind, I think I’ll go up to my room and take a nap.”
“That’s a good idea,” Lynne said. “Traveling can be very tiring and it’s been a long day for you.”
“Then that’s what I’ll do as long as you don’t need me,” Delores declared, heading for the staircase.
“Are you tired, too?” Lynne asked Hannah.
“Not really. I think I got my second wind. Of course, sleeping all the way here on the plane might have something to do with it.”
“As long as you’re not as exhausted as your mother, stay and have another glass of champagne with me.”
“That sounds nice, but just one glass,” Hannah told her.
Lynne stood up and motioned to Hannah. “Let’s go in the den. It’s cozier. And we can have some of your Chocolate Peanut Butter Toffee for dessert. I carried it in there before we left the house and it’ll go well with champagne.”
Hannah followed Lynne down a long hallway. There was a door at the end and Lynne pushed it open. “Here’s where I come to study my lines. Have a seat, Hannah. I’ll get the champagne.”
There were two leather chairs in front of the fireplace with a small table between them. Hannah took one and waited while Lynne opened a small refrigerator and took out a bottle of champagne. She opened it, poured two glasses, and carried them over to the small table. “It’s Taittinger,” she said. “That’s my favorite champagne. If your mother had joined us, I would have opened a bottle of Perrier Jouët.”