Lola traced her fingers against the grooves left in the paper. His handwriting was as familiar as his voice had been. She read the lines over and over trying to find some kind of truth in their meaning.
Mark leaned against the dresser across from her, and rubbed his chin, scratching his day old whiskers.

"Could you bring your letter to me? Would you mind terribly?" she asked. "Maybe if I just saw the two of them together...maybe it would make more sense," she almost whispered to herself.

Mark looked down at his watch. The evening was starting to slip into view, and he stood there still soaked in his socks, his stomach rumbled noisily.

"If I go home now, I could shower and meet you back here with it." he looked down at her, a thought lost in his eyes. He sighed heavily. "Maybe I could take you to dinner and properly apologize."

Lola searched his face. There was more he wasn't saying, and she could feel it. She wanted to trust him, she knew she needed to.

"Ok," she said. "Come back in an hour, and I'll be ready."

Mark stepped closer to her, arms crossed, a question etched in his face, but something seemed to change his mind, and took a step back.

"Alright, Lola, I will see you in an hour," he said. "Maybe you should do something to warm up too...your lips are blue," he smiled softly, patted her shoulder, and then strode from the room leaving her alone with her thoughts.

A cold chill rolled up Lola's spine, covering her in goosebumps, and she was suddenly aware of how uncomfortable she was in her wet clothes.
She slipped out of her room and headed towards the bathroom. She had already memorized the poem, and kept saying it over and over again in her mind. Gloria stepped around the corner, an arm full of clean towels startling her out of her thoughts.

"So, that was awful nice of Mark to bring you home after you started to not feel well with Bryon," her eyes narrowed at Lola.

Lola stared back at her mother. "It was nice of him."

"I caught him on the way out, he told me he was taking you to dinner."

"That's the plan."

"He said he wanted to properly apologize for not being around."

"Yup."

Gloria raised her eyebrows knowingly.

"You need to be careful with that young man's heart, Lola."

"What? What are you talking about, Mom?" Lola asked defensively. "I don't need to worry about Mark, and anyway, look at me," she motioned to herself. "I'm pregnant. I doubt there is any part of me that is attractive right now."

Gloria shook her head. "Lola...pregnancy wouldn't matter to him, and if you think it would than you're just being ignorant," she said firmly. "He's not over you. He wasn't over you when you broke up with him. He wasn't over you when you announced your engagement. He wasn't over you when he was the best man at your wedding, and to see him walk out of your room and tell me he was taking you to dinner...well...he wouldn't want it to show of course...he tried to hide it, but it's in his eyes. It was the way he said your name," she said. "All I'm saying is to be careful, and to not swing his emotions to far."

Lola reached for a towel in Gloria's arms, her heart thumping in her chest, embarrassed like a schoolgirl learning of a crush.

She sucked her lower lip in slightly, as her cheeks started to burn. After her relationship with Mark had ended they had been able to carry on as friends...good friends...despite her relationship with Kyle. She had always felt so lucky in that. But what if her mom was right?

"I'm going to take a shower and get ready."

Gloria stepped forward, raised up on her tiptoes, and kissed Lola on the head.

"It's not your fault, ya know," Gloria said. "You can't help how amazing you are. Now having said all that, there's a lovely dress I hung in your closet, maybe you should try it." She smiled at her daughter than headed to the linen closet.

Lola turned on the hot water, then stepped into the shower letting the water pierce her skin and warm her to the bone. She shivered.

Once she was back in her room, she looked in her closet to see a knee length, light cream dress with a floral print and instantly fell in love. She slipped it over her head, letting it drape around her small baby bump. She looked in the mirror. It was perfect.

Kyle would have loved this dress, she thought to herself.

The bathroom was still full of steam when she returned a few minutes later. She swiped the mirror with her hand and stared at her drenched curls. Then did something she hadn't done in months. She pulled out the bottles of her favorite hair care products and began the ritual she had done for years. Scrunching here, separating curls there until her ringlets hung perfectly around her face. She smiled a little.
“Well, why stop there?” she mumbled to herself.

She dug out a bottle of concealer and applied it under her eyes then added a little powder on her nose and chin. She finished with a touch of blush and a dab of massacra. She took a step back and looked in the mirror. This was the Lola she remembered.

***

Exactly one hour later, Mark rang the doorbell, butTommy reached the door first.
“Hey Tom!,” Mark said as Tom swung the door open. “How have you been?”

“Oh, great I guess," he shrugged. “Are you hear to pick Lola up?”

“I sure am,” he smiled. “Is she around?”

“Yup, she’s in the kitchen.” Tom held the door open for Mark to step inside.

“Thanks buddy,” he said, and walked in to find Lola with a mouthful of chips.

“I’m trying to feed you,” he laughed.

Lola smiled. “I keep getting these bursts of hunger, don’t worry, I will still eat plenty.”

“So,” Gloria said from the kitchen table. “Where are you guys headed?”

“I thought we’d go to Luigi’s that is if Italian sounds alright?” he glanced at Lola.

She shrugged. “I’m good with anything.”

“Now listen, Lola,” Gloria started. “Dad and I are headed out in a bit for that get together with his friends.” she rolled her eyes. “Tom will be home alone for the evening, which isn’t a big deal, but I was thinking maybe you could bring him back a dessert or something. I’m ordering pizza…but I know he loves the chocolate cake from there.”

“Absolutely,” Lola said.

“Or he could just tag along.” Mark added casually.

Lola shot him a look. Her anticipation to see his envelope had grown exponentially in the past hour alone, and her self-control was almost at its limit.

Mark ignored her, and smiled at Gloria.
“Sure, if he wants to,” she said and looked from Lola to Mark and back again. “I’ll just go ask.”

“What about the letter,” Lola hissed.

“It’s fine, I have it,” he smiled. “And I will show it to you, but your mom thinks I‘m trying to take you on date. She keeps looking at me like she did when I was sixteen. It’s freaking me out. If Tom comes then she’ll know that it’s not, and she won’t question why we’re together so much.” Lola looked at him a little confused. “Well, I think it might take more than one day to figure out what’s going on.”

She hadn’t considered this before, not really. She looked at Mark again and speculated on what her mom had told her earlier. She couldn’t tell, but she decided it didn’t matter. She couldn’t solve this on her own, and she was tired of feeling alone.