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After seeing hihter to the bedrooe Ellen’s clothes, Anne Marie put her to bed, tucked under a crisp, cool sheet It’d been a long, exhausting day An exhilarating day…

The phone rang as Anne Marie was putting their wet clothes in the dryer The tiny laundry roo for the phone on the second ring for fear it would wake Ellen

"Hello," she said softly

"Anne Marie?" her friend Barbie asked "Is everything okay?

It doesn’t sound like you"

"I just spent an entire afternoon at a water park with Ellen and Tiuessed swihed "It can be a lot of fun, too"

Anne Marie kne much Barbie and Mark enjoyed the hours they spent in her swi pool Mark was bound to a wheelchair and loved the freedom water afforded hi ith Tim?"

"Yes…" Anne Marie had been skeptical when Tim f irst ap proached her, but her reaction to hie The way she felt about his invitation proved that It was tiot to know each other, she decided, ti awareness between them

"You’re attracted to him, aren’t you?"

"I am," Anne Marie admitted "He’s been wonderful with Ellen and he’s respectful of my place in her life" Because she’d needed someone to conf ide in, Anne Marie had shared her concerns with Barbie when Tiht?"

Barbie seemed to have some kind of intuition when it came to relationships--romance radar, she called it "Tim asked me out to dinner," she confessed

"Just you?"

"JustEllen here?" Barbie said "Actually, I was phoning to invite both of you to coht for a pool party Mo"

"I wouldn’t want Ellen to intrude"

"You’re kidding, right? She wouldn’t be any bother Hector can bring one of his great-nieces and the two of thereat"

Never one to hold back, Barbie asked, "Has Tim kissed you yet?"

Anne Marie didn’t think she could include that peck on her cheek

"He has, hasn’t he?" Barbie burst out

"Technically, yes--but it was just for show"

Barbie laughed "Don’t kid yourself This is ideal, you know"

"What is?" she asked, although she was beginning to feel the sauy, who happened to be her adopted daughter’s biological father

"It’s a perfect scenario for Ellen," Barbie was saying

"Maybe…" Anne Marie hated to seeun to hope that a relationship between her and Tim was possible, but she wasn’t quite ready to believe it "Do you think so?"

"I do," Barbie insisted "Ellen would have the ical father This couldn’t have worked out better if you’d planned it"

"But I didn’t," Anne Marie said wryly

"And that’s why it’s so perfect Pro"

"Okay"

"Pro when you coht Oh--and I want to meet him soon"

A few rin Despite Barbie’s opti on too ed by Tim’s dinner invitation She sensed he was attracted to her, just as she was to hi about hi about the two of theht be setting herself up for a major disappointment, one that would hurt Ellen, too