Surprise Offer 2 - Chapter 23 of 45

	Surprise Offer 2: is a direct continuation of the story about Lily and her ‘brother’ Lance. Can she find acceptance and her place in the world as Lily instead of Lance? Emotions run high as Lily’s new best friend and ‘adoptive’ family members move things forward at lightning speed. Can she handle it all? How will a surprise just before Thanksgiving change everything? Lily and Sammie are back, ready to take on the world with pigtails and dancing, in a way only ten-year-old little girls can do.

Monday after lunch, Lily, Sammie, and Juliette sat around the Berger dining room table when they heard, “Samantha, can you come to the Salon. I need your help.”

About 15 minutes after Samantha left, she returned wearing a pink apron which read, ‘Heather's Curls,’ which was the name of Sammie’s Mommie’s salon. “Lily, you’re first. Julie, grab your magazine and come with us.”

Lily hesitated, “What’s going on, Sammie? I just had a trim last week.”

“It’s a surprise, silly Bestie.”

When Lily sat down on the chair booster, the unicorn cape was placed on the girl by her best friend.

Heather Berger took over, “Lean forward, Lily, and look at the unicorn.”

Lily felt the hairstylist lift up sections of hair. She felt hair below her normal hairline. The girl realized she was getting hair extensions again.

“Look to your left, Sweetheart.”

Lily followed instructions, watching Sammie give her Mommie bits of hair.

After a bit, Lily was asked to look to the right before finally being asked to sit up straight. By the time the hairstylist was done, Lily’s eyes were covered with hair.

Like last time, once the extensions were in, Heather Berger grabbed sections of hair and brushed dye on it before wrapping it with tin foil.

Lily watched her hair slowly but surely be covered with tin foil in the mirror. She smiled at Julie, who had her legs crossed, lost in thought in her new magazine.

“Juliette?”

“Yes, Mrs. Berger?”

“You and Lily need to switch chairs.”

When Lily sat down where Julie had been, Sammie placed the blower hood down and turned on the hot air. A coloring book and crayons were given to Lily. The short friend looked at her best friend, who had a huge smirk on her face.

“Hey, you gave Julie magazines!”

“Fine,” Sammie rolled her eyes. “You can have some too.”

Sammie left and returned with Seventeen, American Girl, and Highlights. “She dropped them on Lily’s lap, then turned to her mom and Juliette.”

Appreciating the selection, Lily looked through American Girl and realized she’d already read it. She opened the Seventeen magazine and flipped through it, trying to find something interesting.

“Okay, Samantha, dear,” Mrs. Berger said gently. “Your next client is in the chair.”

Samantha and Juliette looked at Mrs. Berger with confusion.

“Mrs. Berger,” Julie questioned. “You cut my hair last week. I don’t want it shorter.”

“I didn’t say you were my next client. I said you were Samantha’s.”

“Mommie?” Sammie inquired. “All I know how to do is wash, dry, and comb hair.”

“Which means Juliette needs her hair … “

“Washed?” Sammie questioned.

“Correct. Make sure you remove the wig and protect Juliette’s clothes.”

Sammie looked at the available capes before grabbing a plain red cape.

Over at the hairdryer, Lily had finished scanning the Seventeen magazine. She was about to look through the Highlights magazine, but the Sofia the First coloring book looked more fun. Looking up to see that no one was looking, Lily put the other magazines on the side table before she flipped to an interesting page and started coloring.

A few minutes later, Heather went up to Lily to check how done the hair was. “Did my daughter really only give you a coloring book?”

“No, she gave me those magazines too,” Lily pointed to the table next to her. “Sammie just knows I like to color.”

“Well, you still need five to ten minutes.”

“Lean forward, Lily,” Sammie said when Lily got back in the salon chair. She dropped the back of the chair. The best friend helped Lily lay her head on the bowl's edge.

Sammie put on some gloves before being instructed on how to remove the tinfoil and wash the excess dye out.

Sammie, after washing her friend's head twice, grabbed some conditioner. The short girl practically melted as her head was massaged. A final rinse later, Sammie grabbed a towel before helping Lily sit up. Her Mommie had handed her a hair dryer. With encouragement and coaching from her Mommie, Sammie dried her friend's hair.

After Sammie was done, Mrs. Berger trimmed her second daughter's hair before putting the now longer hair in braided pigtails with pink ribbons.

“OK, two girls can relocate themselves to Samantha's bedroom, and she will join you when she is done helping me clean up.”

Sammie walked into her bedroom holding a finished coloring page. “Lily, you actually colored a page? I was only teasing you with the coloring book.”

“Colorings fun, Sammie. I did glance at the magazines before opening the coloring book.”

“Well, Mommie says all three of us have to get our coats on and get in the car. She needs to deliver us to the babysitter before the parents' commitments this evening.”

“S-Sammie, w-why am I g-going to a b-baby sitter with you t-two?” Juliette questioned.

“Why not?” Sammie responded.

"M-my p-parents and your t-two p-parents never g-get together. Sh-shouldn’t I j-just be g-going home?”

Sammie shrugged and looked at Lily.

“Don’t look at me, I'm just as clueless!” Lily exclaimed as the three of them headed downstairs.

“Mommie,” Sammie asked as they got in the minivan. “Who is babysitting us?”

“Laura Schneider from our church.”

“Oh.”

Lily looked at Julie’s blank expression before turning to her best friend, “Who is she, Sammie?”

“She’s a teenager, about 15 or 16.”

“Laura is 16, Samantha.”

Juliette, still confused by all this, asked, “W-where’re we g-going, Mrs. Berger?”

“You're going ice skating in Mountain.”

The minivan pulled up in front of a building that had a sign that said, “Public skating Monday to Wednesday, Six to Nine.” As they stopped, a blonde teenage girl walked up to the van like she was waiting for them.

“Laura!” Samantha exclaimed.

Laura responded, “Samantha! You gonna introduce me to your friends.”

“This dork is my best friend, Lily. And this is Juliette.”

“Thank you for babysitting them, Laura. I will pick them up around nine. Here is money for their admission and dinner.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Berger.” Turning to the girls, “Should we grab some food before the free skate opens up?”

Two of the three girls answered affirmatively.

While they were eating, Laura tried to get bits of information out of Lily and Juliette. She knew a lot about Samantha, but these two girls were new to her. No matter how she tried, however, Juliette just stuck to one-word answers.

Pulling Samantha aside later, Laura asked, “Is Juliette shy?”

“Julie’s really shy… especially around people she doesn’t know. But you’re doing really well. She actually stopped stuttering halfway through eating… except when she talks to me, of course.” Sammie giggled as a huge smile spread across her face before running off to see what the other girls were up to.

Monday evening, near closing time, Alison Gilbert watched a redheaded little girl walk into her costume shop. “Hello there. Are you here with a parent?”

Blushing, “I’m… actually 28.”

“Oh… terribly sorry, Miss.”

“It’s okay. It happens a lot… I kind of use it to my advantage sometimes.” Katie hesitated. “I heard I can book Lily… I mean, Lala… here?”

Kinda upset, “Who are you, and how do you know those names are connected?”

“I’m Katie Olsen… my husband’s Adam Olsen… does that name sound familiar?”

“Not really.”

Smiling, Katie continued, “We kinda call Lily the Candy Cane Girl at my house now.”

Thinking, ‘That is Lily’s ballet costume, so that means this lady knows about ballet.’ Hesitantly, Alison grabbed a Lala booking form and placed it on the counter, “So about the booking?”

“Oh… yeah, Molly’s birthday’s in February, and I really want Lala at her party.”

“Age?”

“Molly turns three on Friday the twelfth, but her party’s on the 13th.”

Looking at next February's calendar, “Lala is unavailable until two on Saturdays.”

“Yeah, she should go to ballet.”

“Time?”

“Is, um… two to five okay?”

“I can ask,” Ms. Gilbert stated. “She’s very young, so we normally don’t book her for that much time. How many and what are the ages of the kids at the party?”

Katie paused as if in thought. “It’s kind of a big group… plus the birthday girl’s gonna have a few friends there.

"There are four toddlers, including her, then her five-year-old sister… maybe a ten-year-old and a twelve-year-old… And then, um, like five teenage cousins and friends… somewhere between 13 and 17. Depending on who shows up, it’ll probably be around ten to twelve girls total.

"Though there’s no guarantee the teenagers will even want face painting.

“And… I’ll probably be acting a little younger during the party too, so… maybe closer to thirteen girls.”

Alison looked down at the notes she had jotted down, “Four toddlers and three young school-age kids are a bit more than Lala can handle herself. That invokes the helper clause.”

“Oh, we can definitely pay for that. Maybe Lily’s best friend could dress up and help her… I think her name’s Sofia?”

‘So she doesn't know everything about Lily.’ Alison considered the proposal. A February party gave them plenty of time to come up with an outfit for Sammie, “You do realize that'll double the cost.”

“We can definitely afford that.”

“Based on what you have said, I suspect you do not want to bring the kids here just to have their faces painted. We have a 25 percent surcharge for locations not at Gilbert Costumes. With a helper and the surcharge, you are looking at $500 per hour. You do get Lala’s full undivided attention during that time. Face painting is included in that cost. Where are you planning to have this party?”

“At my mother-in-law’s place… out in Riverville.”

“OK, I might have to include travel time in costs. I can say that Lala definitely can't be in Riverville at two on a Saturday. How about I get back to you after I discuss it with Lala and her parents?”

“That’s fine… can I look around for a bit?”

“Not a problem as long as you understand that we close in 30 minutes. All items are available for rental, and my daughter can custom make any item in the shop for purchase if she has enough time.”

“Hello, Susan. It's Alison. Is Lily available?” …

“She is not. Ok, I have a gig offer for her, but they want her for three hours. They also want Samantha as her helper.” …

“They called Lala Lily, and said something about Candy Cane Girl. Samantha, they called Sofia” …

“A Katie Olsen, who mentioned the name, Adam Olsen.” …

“Oh, Adam is Lily’s lawyer. That explains a lot.” …

“No, the birthday girl is a little girl turning three named Molly.” …

“February 13th, at two, in Riverville.” …

“I'll suggest 2:30 to 5:30. I'm thinking of charging for travel time due to the distance, even though there isn’t a clause for that in the Lala contract.” …

“She is still here. I thought she was a little girl at first.” …

Alison looked at the security cameras before calling out, “Katie, can you come to the counter, please?”

“Here she is, Susan.” …

Katie took the phone, “Hello, Mrs. Vanderbilt.” …

“Fine, Susan. My regressed side might have trouble calling you that… but I’ll try.” …

“You give your approval? Okay, great. Not that I care, but… yeah, you could’ve had Ms. Gilbert tell me.” …

“Yes, that was me yesterday at the Zoo.” …

“Wait, where did you get that dress?” …

“Macy’s? Thank you very much… I need, like… three of them.” …

“For my two daughters and me, of course.” …

“That is fine.” …

“Hello, Heather.” …

“Yes, I’m hoping she can help Lily with my… kinda large family.” …

“Yes, I understand your daughter doesn’t do face painting like Lily… I mean, Lala.” …

“Okay, the two girls have to give final approval for the party, and they’re not there right now. Ms. Gilbert has my contact info, so she can let me know once they decide.” …

“Talk to you later… Ms. Gilbert probably wants to get home.” …

“Here’s the phone, Ms. Gilbert. I should probably get home before my bum gets even more sore… it’s already gonna hurt for kinda agreeing to, um… like five hundred bucks an hour without asking my Da…” Katie winced. “I mean… my husband.”

“Three kids and one student ticket, please. Here’s my discount card,” Laura told the lady at the ticket counter.

At the rental counter, Laura asked the girls their sizes, then spoke, “I need a little kid 12, and then a big kid 2 and 3. And for me, a woman’s 7. Oh… and here’s my card.”

Lily found it easy to ice skate as long as Julie or Sammie held her hand, unlike Julie, whose bum met the ice multiple times. But even with that, all the friends were having a blast.

Heather Berger asked the girls, “Did you enjoy ice skating?”

“We did Mrs. Berger,” Lily answered for the group.

“How about you, Juliette?”

“I had a blast, but my bum hurts,” Juliette said while rubbing her bottom.

“How about you, Laura?”

Smiling at the three young girls, Laura responded, “They were a joy to be around, and we all had a blast.”

“Did they behave themselves?”

“They did. Not a single issue.”

Heather handed some money over to Laura Schneider.

“Mrs. Berger,” Laura said, looking down at her hand. “This is too much.”

“I insist. You took wonderful care of them.” Heather waved it off with a small grin.

On the way home, Heather Berger told the girls behind her, “All three of you need to give a ballet recital for mystery guests tomorrow for dinner.

"M-me, too?”

“Yes, even you, Juliette.”

Julie fidgeted with her sweatshirt sleeves. Anxiously, she said, “Oh.”

“Juliette,” Heather Berger gently said. “I want you to trust both the Vanderbilts and Bergers. We have your safety and best interests in mind.”

"Y-yes, Mrs. Berger.”

“Now, I thought that Lily could do her recital in her candy cane tutu. Samantha, you can do the recital you did at Pratt in the tutu you wore there.”

“Yes, Mrs. Berger,” Lily smiled.

“Yes, Mommie.”

“Now, Samantha, do you think you can come up with a nice recital that shows off Juliette's knowledge and a tutu for her?”

Samantha sat up straighter in her van seat. “Yeah, I can. She could do the one she did for Rachel after the recital.” Sammie paused, “She might not remember all of it, though.”

“That is fine,” Heather paused, thinking. “Juliette, I think your wig can be put in a bun.”

“A b-bun!?”

“Ballerinas usually wear their hair in buns in ballet outfits.”

“Oh.”

“Now, when we get to my house, Lily, you are to go straight home. Samantha, you go straight to bed. Juliette, you are to find Jimmy and come right back to the car. It's past your curfew, but your parents know you are going to be late.”

✣ Please see the story ‘Juliette's Recital - Juliette 3’ Chapter 1 for another viewpoint.