Popcorn Love (4 page)

“Ms.—sorry.” No formalities, she remembered.
“
Allison
, hello. I’m glad you could make it.”

“Hi,” Allison chirped with a little wave. Her eyes
raked down Elena’s body as they apparently were going to do every
time she saw the woman, then shifted to the little hand clinging to
Elena’s pants and wide caramel-colored eyes peeking out from around
Elena’s leg.

Smiling and shaking her leg, Elena softly said, “Stop
hiding, dear. Come out and say hello.”

His little head poked out just a bit farther with a
shy greeting. “Hello.”

“Hi Lucas.” Allison waved at him, and the boy
narrowed his eyes at her. She glanced back up at Elena. “He looks
like you.”

“Yes,” Elena said and then suddenly realized that
they were still standing in the doorway. Stepping back, she
motioned for Allison to enter. “Come in.”

They barely managed more than a few steps inside
before Lucas tugged on Elena’s pant leg. He crooked his finger at
her, motioning for her to bend down. When she did, he cupped a hand
around his mouth and pressed it to his mother’s ear.

“Momma, who’s that?”

“That is Allison.” Allison offered him another small
wave, but he just continued to look at her with narrowed eyes. “She
is a babysitter.”

“What’s a babysinner?” He shrank behind Elena a
little more.

Both Elena and Allison laughed. “Babysit-ter,” Elena
repeated.

“Yeah, kid,” Allison said. “I sit on babies.”

Lucas’s eyes widened comically and so did
Elena’s.

“I’m not a baby. I’m a big boy!”

Winking, Allison said, “Well then, I guess you and me
can just be friends then.”

Elena watched closely as Lucas seemed to consider
Allison’s words, and when he took a step out from behind her leg,
she couldn’t help but smile.

As if testing the water, Lucas quietly asked, “You
like dinosaurs?”

“Are you kidding me?” Allison gasped dramatically. “I
love
dinosaurs!”

That was all it took. A wide smile spread over
Lucas’s face and in seconds, he ran right past them and into the
next room, shouting to Allison over his shoulder. “Come on!”

Allison looked up at Elena and smiled. “Can I go and
play with him?”

Pure childlike excitement filled the younger woman’s
bright eyes in that moment, and Elena could see why babysitting was
a good fit for Allison Sawyer. “Go ahead. Oh, and I am making
pasta. I thought you might be hungry.”

“Awesome! Yeah, I’m starved. Thank you. That’s really
nice of you.”

“My pleasure,” Elena said. She watched as Allison
darted off after Lucas and out of sight. Only minutes later,
giggles from both of them echoed into the kitchen from the living
room, and Elena grinned as she brought her pasta sauce to a
simmer.

“Perhaps this will work out after all,” Elena
murmured, now only hoping that Vivian could keep her word and set
her up with at least a
few
decent dates.

When Elena finished preparing dinner, she set two
places at the dining-room table and then headed toward the living
room. She reached the open archway that led into the large living
room and stopped and leaned against the frame. A tender smile
graced her lips.

Allison and Lucas sat on the floor together as they
played with Lucas’s dinosaur figurines, and Elena had to cup a hand
over her mouth to keep from laughing aloud when she realized that
her son was slowly but surely scooting closer and closer to
Allison. Within a few moments, he was sitting hip-to-hip with her,
and completely surprised Elena by crawling up into Allison’s lap
and resting his back against her chest. That moment alone was
enough to convince Elena that Allison was right for the job.

She was only further convinced as Allison simply
seemed to roll with the changes, letting Lucas make his own
decisions and set his own pace. She patted his leg as she reached
around him and quietly asked, “What about this one?”

“That’s my tricertops.”

“Triceratops,” Allison corrected.

Lucas pulled the dinosaur from her hand. “That’s what
I said,” he muttered. He then held up another figurine and added,
“And the rex eats him.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, ‘cause the rex is a carnival.” Lucas gave her
a confident nod. “That means he eats meats.”

Allison giggled and so did Elena, unable to hold it
in any longer. Allison’s head snapped up and she smiled when she
saw Elena leaning against the door frame and watching them.

“Hey Elena, did you know that Rex is a carnival?”
Allison asked her, winking.

“I did, actually.” Elena nodded. “He only eats
meat.”

“You’re sposta say thank you.” Lucas’s hand poked at
Allison’s chin.

Allison grabbed his hand and held it. “What for?”

“Because I teached you something.”

“Taught,” Elena and Allison corrected
simultaneously.

Huffing out a breath, Lucas tried to roll his big
honey-brown eyes but only ended up crossing them. Allison gently
moved him off her lap and placed him in the middle of all the
dinosaurs. He seemed content to play alone, so she popped up off
the floor and walked over to Elena.

“He has trouble with tenses,” Elena explained.

“Well, he
is
only three,” Allison said. “He’ll
get the hang of it. I had a brother once whose speech didn’t really
develop until he was like four, and then I had a sister who was
talking up a storm by the time she was two. It’s different with
every kid. There’s no hard and fast rule to it, you know?”

Nodding, Elena continued to watch her son play. “He’s
normally very shy around strangers,” she said. “He seems to have
taken quite the liking to you, though. I’m surprised.”

“Ouch. Are you saying that I’m not likeable?” Allison
gaped comically and pressed a hand to her chest.

A smirk formed on Elena’s lips as she shook her head.
Allison seemed like a genuinely kind person with a good head on her
shoulders, and she was refreshingly at ease with herself. It
actually made it easier for Elena to be more comfortable with
her.

Allison leaned against the opposite side of the door
frame as she, too, watched Lucas play. “He’s pretty awesome.” She
nudged Elena’s arm with her elbow. “Like his Mom.”

That pulled a loud laugh from Elena. “Flattery will
get you nowhere, Ms. Sawyer.”

“It’s Allison, and I think you’re wrong about that,”
she argued. “I think flattery will at least get me some food.”

“You would have gotten it anyway. The dining room is
just around the corner and to your right. I’ve already set the
table for us. You go ahead. I am going to move Lucas to his
playroom so I can see him from the table.”

“Okay, thanks.” Allison darted off toward the dining
room while Elena collected her son.

* * *

“So, what do you think, munchkin?” Elena quietly
asked as she picked Lucas up. “Do we like Allison?”

His fingers tangled in the hair at the back of her
neck as he offered up a wide grin.

“Is that a yes?”

The answer came in the form of an enthusiastic nod as
they passed the dining room, where Allison had just finished
filling a bowl with salad and was now piling some pasta onto a
plate, and then into the playroom next door. “She’s pretty,” he
whispered, his cheeks flushing a gentle pink.

Elena patted his bottom and put him down on his feet.
“I know,” she said, tapping her finger on the tip of his nose.
“Momma’s going to eat now. You be good.”

“Okay.”

* * *

When Elena took her place at the dining room table,
adjacent to her guest, Allison pointed toward the playroom. “The
kid likes dinosaurs, huh?”

“More than almost anything,” Elena said. “He got a
dinosaur T-shirt for his second birthday, and ever since then, it
has been dinosaur everything—clothing, room décor, toys, and
anything else we can find. I have yet to understand the
obsession.”

“I always liked dinosaurs too.” Allison leaned back
in her chair and stretched her arms out. “They’re cool because they
actually existed.”

“I suppose so, yes.”

“So, you think I’m pretty, huh?” Allison asked, then,
taking Elena by surprise.

Elena shook her head, laughing quietly. “Do you ever
stop?”

“Rarely.” Allison nodded to accept the wine glass
Elena offered. “Unless it bothers you? Because if it bothers you, I
can totally stop.”

“It doesn’t bother me.” Elena took a sip of wine. “I
am simply unaccustomed to it. That’s all.”

“Unaccustomed to what? Unaccustomed to people who
don’t talk like they just climbed out of a textbook, or people who
actually speak their opinions to your face instead of behind your
back? Lifestyles of the rich and famous and all that, right?”

One slender brow rose at the daring remark. “My, my.
Am I sensing a hint of bitterness?”

“Not at all.” Allison shoved a forkful of pasta into
her mouth and moaned softly as she chewed the food and swallowed it
down. “Holy crap! That’s good.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank
you.
Anyway, no, not bitter. Just my
opinion, I guess. You disagree?”

Elena stared at her a long moment before sucking in a
breath and confessing, “Unfortunately, no.”

“It’s no big deal, really.” Allison shrugged. “I
mean, minus the general textbook talk, the middle and lower classes
are really no better. There are bitches in every group, you
know?”

Elena’s eyes cut quickly to the side to see if Lucas
had heard that word, but he was completely immersed in his own
little world, making loud screeching and roaring sounds as he
played with his dinosaurs. Allison followed Elena’s eyes, and her
cheeks instantly flushed.

“Oh sorry. I didn’t mean to say that so loudly. I
swear I won’t ever cuss around the kid.”

“Thank you. I would prefer that you don’t in his
presence, but I don’t believe he heard just now. Anyway, I find I
rather agree with you. However, I
am
curious to know…”

“If I see
you
like that?”

Elena nodded as she took a dainty bite of pasta and
avoided Allison’s eyes. It wasn’t until she heard the quiet words
“Not even close” that she finally looked up.

“At least, not yet,” Allison added. “You can always
tell which people think they’re better than you. It’s in their eyes
and in the way they sneer, you know? I’ve had a lot of rich people
turn me away just because of how I dress or how I talk or whatever.
But I don’t get that from you, even if you
do
secretly think
you’re better than me. You definitely don’t show it.”

“I don’t,” Elena said quickly.

“You don’t show it?”

“I don’t think I am better than you.”

Their eyes locked across the table. Allison winked
and pointed her fork at Elena before twirling it in her fingers and
poking it down into her pasta again. “Okay then.”

Her smile was echoed on Elena’s face. “Okay.”

* * *

When they were finished eating, Allison immediately
stood up and reached for Elena’s plate. All stacked together, the
dishes were easy to carry to the kitchen, and Allison deposited
them next to the sink.

Elena started to thank her but then noticed Allison
pulling off the jean jacket that she seemed to wear like a second
shirt and turning the faucet on.

“Oh Allison, you don’t have to do that.”

“I know. You didn’t have to cook me dinner either,
but you did. I want to, so just let me, okay?”

Elena’s shoulders relaxed as she laced her fingers
together in front of her waist and stepped over to the counter.
“Very well. I appreciate it. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Thank you for dinner.”

Just then, Lucas sprinted into the kitchen, shouting
that he wanted to help Allison. When he tried to skid to a stop,
his socks slid on the tiled floor, and he crashed into the lower
cabinets beside Allison’s leg. The dishes sitting on the counter
near the edge trembled as Lucas’s little body banged against the
cabinets, and before Allison could stop it, the salad bowl on the
top of the stack slid off and went tumbling down.

A yelp of fear escaped Elena as Allison threw herself
to the floor and covered Lucas’s body with her own. The salad bowl
clunked on top of her head with a hard thud, rolled down her
shoulder and then onto the floor where it cracked on one side from
impact.

Elena was on the floor next to them in seconds, just
as Allison was turning Lucas in her arms and looking him over. “You
okay, little man?” she asked. He nodded like it was no big deal and
then bent to pick up the fallen bowl.

“This bowl is not okay.” His eyes widened as his
voice jumped up an octave. “Look Momma, a crack!”

“I see,” Elena said. “I’m just glad that you are all
right. Let’s not touch it anymore, though, okay?” She took the bowl
from him and placed it back on the counter, far from the edge.
“Lucas, why don’t you go to your room and change into your pajamas?
You think you can do that by yourself like a big boy?”

“But I wanna help wash.” He knotted his hands in the
bottom of his shirt as he danced in place from foot to foot.

“You can help Allison the next time she comes to see
you, okay?”

That seemed to be enough for him. “Okay!” he cheered
before taking off for his room.

Once he was out of sight and Elena turned back
around, she found herself face to face with an amused Allison. “So,
there’s gonna be a next time, huh? That mean I got the job?”

“Are you kidding me?”

Allison’s smile dropped from her lips. “Oh, uh, well,
I—” she began to stutter.

“Allison, you just threw yourself in front of a
flying salad bowl to protect my son. Of course you have the
job.”

A sigh of relief slipped through Allison’s lips
before dissolving into laughter. “Sounds so much more badass when
you put it like that.”