A Chance Meeting | Chris Evans

Chapter 82

She'd only meant to stay for five minutes, but she'd obviously lost track of time because when Chris's appeared at the playroom door, it was a lot later.
'Hey.' He said, grinning at her. 'Nice hat.'
'Thanks.' Becca said, feeling herself blush.
Damn. I'm sitting on a teeny tiny chair, with a lap full of play food, wearing a stupid hat! Way to look sophisticated, Becca.
'So what's going on here?' Chris asked with a chuckle, walking in.
'Tea party.' Grace announced.
'Ah. Well, the parade's nearly finished, and you know what that means.' Chris said.
'Santa!' Grace squealed, running out of the playroom, followed by Evie.
'Santa?' Becca asked, trying to stand up without tipping all the play food onto the floor.
'He closes the parade.' Chris explained. 'Come on.'
She took off the hat and followed him.
'Found her.' He said to the others in the lounge.
'We were about to send out a search party.' Scotty joked.
'Oh, sorry.'
'She'd been dragged into a tea party in the playroom.' Chris explained.
Scotty laughed. 'I bet that was Grace, wasn't it?'
Becca smiled and nodded.
'Feel free to say 'no' to her - she can be a bit pushy.' Nick said.
'Oh no, it was fine, I didn't mind at all.' Becca said, sitting down.

Once the parade finished, Becca went outside with Chris, Nick and Scotty and the older children to play some games.
The first one was catch, which Becca excused herself from.
'Sure you don't want to play?' Chris asked her.
'No, terrible hand-eye coordination, remember? I'd either not be able to catch anything or I'd catch it wrong and break my fingers. Best that I just watch this one.' Becca said, sitting down at a picnic table.
'Suit yourself.' Chris said with a grin, and turned and threw the ball to Scotty.
Besides, the view from here is pretty good.
It was like bowling all over again - watching Chris play sports was a thing of beauty.
Look at those arms and those shoulders. Mmmm...

She was dragged from her drooling a few minutes later by Evie, who came over carrying a large tub.
'Hey Evie. What've you got there?' She asked.
Evie babbled a response, but didn't seem to require a reply from Becca.
That's good, because my translator's playing catch right now.
'Ah, it's threading.' Becca said, looking in the tub.
She watched for a second, slightly concerned as Evie tried to climb onto the bench and hold the tub at the same time.
'How about I take the tub so you can get up?' Becca said, taking it and putting it on the table, and then holding her hand out ready to catch the little girl if she fell.
Eventually Evie managed to get herself up on the bench, then promptly plonked herself onto Becca's lap.
'Oh, okay. You're sitting on my lap...that's fine.'
The little girl then began to pull out beads and thread.
'Are you going to do some threading?' She asked Evie.
Evie tried unsuccessfully to thread the bead a few times, frowning at it, then gave them both to Becca.
'You want me to do it?' She asked.
She threaded it on, then for a couple of minutes Evie happily handed her beads until the thread was nearly full.
It was only a minute later she heard someone calling 'Evie! Evie!' and Chris's sister came out looking worried.
'She's here.' Becca said.
Carly looked at Evie sitting in Becca's lap and smiled in relief. 'She's out here, mom.' She called into the house.
'Sorry, I didn't know you were looking for her.' Becca said.
'Oh, it's not your fault - I was meant to be watching her.' Carly said. 'She'd been happily playing in the lounge and I must have dozed off, because next minute she'd just vanished. Nearly gave me a heart attack.'
Becca smiled.
Carly rubbed her hand over her forehead, and  Becca noticed how pale she looked.
'Err...are you feeling okay?' Becca asked. 'You've gone really pale.'
'I'm fine.' Carly said, but she didn't look it.
'Do you want to sit down for a minute?'
Before you fall down.
'No, I-' Carly suddenly put her hand over her mouth and ran indoors.
What the?
It took a few seconds for Becca to put two and two together.
Oh, I bet it's morning sickness. Poor Carly.
Not that I can say anything, because I'm not meant to know.
'Hey.' Chris said, wandering over and rumpling Evie's hair. 'Everything okay? I saw Carly rush out and then back in again.' He asked Becca.
'Oh, yeah. She came out because she was looking for this one, who'd apparently wandered off.' Becca said. 'And then I think she ran back in because she was gonna barf.'
'Yeah, she gets really bad morning sickness in the beginning.' Chris explained.
'Poor thing. That must be horrible.' Becca said, pulling a face.
'Yeah. But you two seem to be having fun.' He said, smiling at her playing with Evie.
'Oh yes, she's threading. Well, she's mostly handing me the beads so I can thread. At least I think that's what she wants me to do - I'm a bit lost without my translator.' She nodded with her head in Ethan's direction.
Chris looked at her, confused. 'Huh?'
'Ethan's being my translator, because I can't quite make out what she's saying yet.'
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. 'Ethan's talking to you? Really? He never normally talks to strangers that quickly.'
Becca just shrugged.
'You're very good with kids.' Chris said.
She felt herself blush a little from the admiration in his voice.
'I just find them easier than adults.' Becca admitted. 'They're very upfront, so you never have to wonder what they're thinking. Also, they don't judge you for being stupid, which is a big plus.'
Chris laughed. 'True.'