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Ellena watched Kevin and Lacey dance until she couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Kevin immediately looked up to see her smiling at him.
“Hi!” He smiled as he swung Lacey up onto his shoulders.
“Look at me Lala! I’m bigger than you!” Lacey squealed from her high perch.
Ellena squinted and shaded her eyes. She peered up at Lacey. “Lacey? Is that you? I can’t see you! You’re so tall!” Lacey giggled and waved down at Ellena.
Ellena turned her attention to Kevin and smiled. His heart stopped for a second when her gray eyes met his. She looked glad to see him. This was good. She reached out her hand and squeezed his arm, sending chills through his body. “Hi! What brings you to this neck of the woods?”
“I heard a rumour that there were two beautiful ladies living in this building and I wanted to see them for myself.” Kevin grinned. Lacey giggled.
“I see. You should know better than to believe rumours.” Ellena replied and unlocked the door to the apartment. She stepped in and motioned for Kevin to follow. He whispered to Lacey to watch her head and ducked through the doorway.
“I usually don’t but in this case it was true.” Kevin reached around to set Lacey down on the floor. Her little feet shuffled against the hardwood.
“Lala, I’m hungry hungry hungry.” She sang.
“Okay munchkin, what do you want for supper?”
Lacey grinned slyly and replied. “Grilled cheese.”
Ellena fell to her knees in front of the child and held her head in her hands. “No no no no!” She wailed dramatically. “I can’t take any more grilled cheese.” Lacey giggled more as Ellena pretended to freak out. “I can’t do it any more. I’m going to turn yellow from eating so many grilled cheese sandwiches. Don’t make me have grilled cheese for supper. Please.” Ellena bowed down to Lacey’s feet. “Please don’t make me do it!” Kevin smiled as he watched the two play. Lacey continued to giggle as Ellena grinned at Kevin and stood up.
“You’re not going to ask me for a grilled cheese are you?” Ellena winked at him.
Kevin laughed. “No – I have seen what that request would do to you.”
“Pizza!” Lacey chirped from behind them. “Pizza pizza pizza, I wanna pizza!”
“Hey kiddo, that sounds like a good idea.” Ellena took off her shoes and helped Lacey do the same. “Should we ask Kevin if he wants to stay for pizza?” Lacey nodded enthusiastically. Kevin caught his breath as Ellena’s gray eyes met his again. “Well…what do you say? Are you up for an evening with a hyper-active three year old and her psycho care-giver?” She asked.
“I can’t think of anything I’d rather do!” Kevin replied and followed the two girls further into the apartment.
“Okay Lacey, you go wash the ice cream off of you and I’ll get everything ready.” Lacey raced down the hallway to the bathroom with a squeal. Ellena motioned for Kevin to follow her into the kitchen. There, he sat down at the counter and watched Ellena pour three glasses of iced tea.
“So why are you really here?” She set one glass in front of him.
“I wanted to see you again.” He replied.
“I’m glad.” She smiled. “I was beginning to wonder if you forgot to ask my phone number on purpose.”
Kevin took a drink of his iced tea and sighed. “No, I didn’t forget on purpose. My mind wasn’t exactly on your phone number when I left here Thursday night.”
Lacey returned and took a chair beside Kevin. “It’s gonna be the bestest pizza in the whole wide world.” She stated matter-of-factly to him.
“It is huh?” He asked. Lacey nodded. “Where do you order it from?”
Lacey frowned at him and turned to Ellena. “What’s he mean Lala?”
“We don’t order it Kevin – we make it! Right squirt?” Ellena flipped on of Lacey’s blond pigtails in the air.
“Yep – wanna help? I get to sprinkle on the peppa-woni and cheese.” Lacey asked Kevin excitedly.
Kevin turned to Ellena. “How can I say no to that?”
“Believe me, it’s pretty tough.” Ellena answered.
Ellena busied herself preparing pizza dough as she listened to Lacey tell Kevin about her new kite. She smiled to herself when she heard Kevin talk just as excitedly as Lacey did. How many guys could engage in a conversation with a three-year-old and sound genuinely interested?
Once the pizza crusts were ready, Kevin and Lacey took turns putting mushrooms, green peppers, pineapple and pepperoni over the tomato sauce in silly shapes and faces. Ellena couldn’t help but laugh at Lacey’s shrieks of excitement over Kevin’s pizza monster that he had created. With the pizza warming in the oven and Ellena cleaning up the mess, Lacey led Kevin out of the kitchen by the hand and gave him a tour of their apartment. A few minutes later Ellena found them playing blocks on the floor of Lacey’s room.
“We’re building the awful tower!” Lacey announced when she saw Ellena enter the room. Ellena sat down on the floor next to Lacey and smiled at Kevin. Kevin’s eyes twinkled in amusement at Lacey’s interpretation of their block structure.
“Wow! That is the greatest awful tower I’ve ever seen.” Ellen said between giggles. Kevin picked up another block to add to the growing tower. As he placed it on top, the tower wavered and toppled to the floor.
Lacey frowned. “You’re not very good at this Kevin.” She put her chubby hands on her hips. “Do you wanna play Barbies?”
Kevin’s head snapped up to look at Ellena. Ellena was trying, unsuccessfully, to keep a straight face. “Yes, Kevin. You should practice your block building techniques more. Maybe you should just stick with playing Barbies for now. It’s more you speed.” She said with an evil grin. Kevin’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to make a witty comeback but couldn’t think of one.
“Yippeeeee!’’ Lacey squealed and jumped up from the floor. She struggled to pull a large box off her bookshelf and dropped it on the floor in front of Kevin. Lacey opened the box and pulled out two dolls. She dumped a mound of doll clothes on the floor and handed one of the dolls to Kevin. “You can play with this one.” Kevin broke off his gaze with Ellena and looked at the doll in his hand.
Ellena stood up and straightened her clothes. “I’ll go check on the pizza. Lacey you should let Kevin play with the Barbie in the pink dress. It’s more his style!” Ellena winked at Kevin, turned on her heel and left the room. Kevin was shocked speechless, yet again.
Lacey held up a Barbie to Kevin. “You like pink too? It’s my favourite colour. You can play with this one.” Lacey traded Barbies with Kevin. She walked a doll across the floor in front of her and spoke in her most grown up voice. “Hi! My name is Barbie what’s your name?”
“I can not believe this!” Kevin mumbled under his breath. He held his doll up in a standing position and replied in his most feminine voice. “My name is Jennifer. Nice to meet you Barbie.”
Lacey giggled. “Wanna go shopping?”
“Okay.” Kevin answered in a high voice.