maria mantuan

32 days of carol (2/32)

Their eyes met at the same instant, Therese glancing up from a box she was opening, and the woman just turning her head so she looked directly at Therese.

She was tall and fair, her long figure graceful in the loose fur coat that she held open with a hand on her waist. Her eyes were grey, colourless, yet dominant as light or fire, and, caught by them, Therese could not look away.

...

Therese noticed the woman’s perfume for the first time, and instead of replying could only shake her head.

She looked down at the slip to which she was laboriously adding the necessary figures, and wished with all her power to wish anything that the woman would simply continue her last words and say, “Are you really so glad to have met me? Then why can’t we see each other again? Why can’t we have lunch together today?”

Her voice was so casual, and she might have said it so easily.