Tina jumped with surprise when the door slammed open. Renee came in the house quickly and practically ran into the the bathroom. Tina laughed hard at her mother's behavior. "Moooommmm" she called. A few minutes later, Renee appeared out of the doorway, sheepishly laughing. "Well...?" Tina said. " I made it!" her mother said. Tina leaped up to hug her mother but remembered about Ananda in her arms. She sat back down and took the bottle out of the child's mouth. Renee had been looking at the job at the new clothing store in Tampa, and had applied for the job. Tina wanted nothing more than to see her mother happy again. Ananda, being only a year and a half, didn't know the difference.
"So tell me all about it" Tina said to Renee. "I'll have to later because me and the girls are going out. I'll call you tomorrow when I get home alright?" her mother said. "Oh... ok mom" Tina replied.
Her mother kissed both the girls goodbye and ran out the door. Tina looked down at the sleepy Ananda and whispered " Grandma's a little crazy for someone her age huh?" Ananda giggled but had no idea what Tina had said. Tina set the little girl down and Ananda ran unstabily to the living room and promptly turned on the television. Tina laughed at that and got up to rinse the bottle.
As she looked out the window, she saw a guy who looked about 17 or 18, with blonde hair. She couldn't see his face because he was facing the other way, talking to another guy who looked about 23. Tina gazed at the guys goofing around in the back yard of the house next door. She giggled as she saw the older one say something to the younger one, causing him to make a very angry face and push the older one to the ground. "I wonder if they moved in..." Tina thought to herself. "I thought Donna and Greg hadn't moved out yet."
She heard a strange noise come from the living room and she walked into the room. Ananda had also seem the guys and was laughing harder than Tina had ever seen her laugh. She shook her head and picked up the little girl.
Walking to the door, she opened it and took Ananda by the hand. The girls walked over to the guys and snuck up behind them. "Ready... one... two... three!" Tina whispered to Ananda. Ananda jumped out from behind the guys and yelled as loud as she could, "Boo!". The guys jumped about a mile into the sky and both made a strange noise. The two girls fell to the ground laughing. The guys were red-faced and looked at each other. Tina got herself up and picked up the still giggling Ananda. "I'm sorry... but I saw you two out here and I just had to..." She started giggling again.
The older one laughed and said in a Kentucky accent, " That's ok, don't worry about it." He stuck out his hand. "Brian Littrell" Tina took his hand and shook it. "Tina Colton." The blonde waved and said," I'm Nick." "Have a last name to go with it?" Tina asked jokingly. "Nn..nnooo..." He said slowly. Tina stared at him. "Oh..." Nick cracked up. "Carter." He said laughing still. Tina laughed, seeing that she'd been tricked already. Brian punched Nick on the arm and said "Awww man you give up so easily!" "Yeah well..." Nick replied.
Brian turned to Tina. "So you live around here?" She nodded and pointed to the house next door. "There"
"Oh..." Brian said. Tina looked around. "Umm... where did Nick go?" Brian looked around also and started laughing. Nick was sitting in the grass a few yards away with Ananda in his lap. She was standing on his legs so that she was looking him in the eye, and their foreheads were pressed together. It looked like they were having some kind of staring comtest. Tina giggled and walked over to the two on the ground. Brian followed close behind.
"You two getting to know each other?" Brian asked. Nick lifted his head and smiled sheepishly. "We were just playin..." he said. Ananda leaned against Nick's chest and slowly shut her eyes. She fell slowly down so that she was sitting in his lap. He looked kind of surprised.
Tina walked closer as Nick got up. "I better put her to bed..." she said quietly. "Ok" he said and started to hand her over to Tina. Ananda sqeezed her eyes shut tighter and clutched Nick's shirt in her tiny hands. She made a squeal and refused to let go of Nick. "Damn..." Tina said. "Umm... Nick, do you mind bringing her into the house? I don't think I can get her to let you go..."
Nick nodded and said "Sure". The three walked to Tina's house and she opened the door for Nick, who was still carrying the baby. She led them up the stairs to Ananda's room, which was baby pink with white stripes. Nick let her down into the crib and pulled the sheet over her small body. He turned to Tina and Brian and they walked quietly out of the room. "So... is she yours?" Brian asked. "Oh no!" she said quickly. "She's my brothers..." "Oh." he replied. "Well Nick, I should probably be getting home."
Nick nodded and walked over to the door. "I'm gonna go with Brian until he leaves, ok?" Tina nodded. "See ya Tina" Brian said. "Bye Bri." she replied. "I'll see you later" Nick said. Tina smiled and nodded and said " You can come over later if you want to." Nick nodded and said "Ok I'll come over later then." Tina held the door as they walked out and watched them walk to Nick's new house. She smiled as they turned and waved. She shut the door and grinned as she sat down on the chair. "This is gonna be great..." she thought to herself.
Hearing In The Wind index
Chapter 2