18. Electricity

Mentor's jaws were starting to hurt slightly from holding them together with so much force. The neighbour's question had him worked up on the inside and he didn't like it one bit.

He looked away at the lush sea of grass that spilt out beneath them and breathed deep.

How was it her business? Just because she had made his daughter's hair didn't give her the right to ask him personal stuff. He looked back at the tabletop in front of him with a frown. Was she one of those interlopers that felt entitled to everybody's lives?

"Oh my God." He heard her say with a soft gasp.

That caught his attention and he looked up. There was a frisson of fear lodged in her coffee-brown eyes. She was penitent, knowing she had gone overboard there.

She looked down and away and touched a hand to her forehead tiredly. "I'm so sorry. That was so stupid of me. I shouldn't have asked that question. I shouldn't have. . ."

With a start that made his heart start to sprint, he realized he must have shown his annoya