Her eyes literally bathed me with admiration. She let the door slam behind her without hearing it.
"That's right!" I said. "You've never seen me before when I looked like a decent human being."
"Oh, I have too," she retorted.
"Do I look anything like you thought I would?"
"That's just it," she said. "You look exactly like I dr— hoped you would." Then, like she was snapping out of a dream, "Dad wants you downstairs. That is, he said to tell you he would like you to drop into the study if you want to, but also to tell you you don't have to. You're free to come and go as you please. He said expressly to tell you that." She stopped breathlessly, the dreamy stare coming back into her eyes.
"Why, sure," I said. "I guess I won't mind dropping into his study—too much." I grinned. "Though I'd much rather ignore him and go out someplace with you."
"That's a date," she said softly, wrinkling her nose at me, "after you see dad."
We tripped lightly down the stairs hand in hand as if we had done it hundreds of times before.
"That the door?" I asked, looking at the one she had ushered me through when I had first arrived.
"Yes," she said.