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.Pippi tipped her chinto get a better view of him, and her tiara scooted farther back on her head."You got somebubbles?""What?""I like bubbles.""Uh-huh."Her eyes darted to his pockets."Where's your phone?"file:///C|/Downloads/Susan%20Elizabeth%20Phillips%20-%20Match%20Me%20If%20You%20Can%20(v1.0).html (116 of 329)10/12/2005 17:39:42 SEp Match me if you can"Let's go see how your mother's doing.""I wanna see your phone.""Give me back my old one first, and then we'll talk."She grinned."I luvvvv phones.""Tell me about it."Last month when he'd dropped by the Tucker house, he'd been left alone with their littleadorable for a few minutes.She'd demanded to see his cell.It was a brand-new state-of-the-artfive-hundred-dollar Motorola equipped with enough peripherals so he could basically run hisbusiness from it, but he hadn't seen the harm.Just as he'd handed it over, however, Kevin hadcalled from the other room asking Heath to look at a piece of game film, and that was the lasthe'd seen of it.He'd managed to get her alone before he'd left and tried to cross-examine her, but all of asudden the kid no hablo-ed the ingles.As a result, he'd lost a couple of dozen important e-mails and the final notes on a new contract.Later, Bodie had said Heath should have just toldKevin what had happened, but Kevin and Molly were starry-eyed when it came to their kids,and Heath couldn't imagine saying anything they could interpret as criticism of their littledarling.She stomped a foot in the grass."Wanna see phone now.""Forget it."She screwed up her face.Oh, shit, she was going to cry.He knew from past experience thatthe tiniest sound of dismay coming from her moppet's mouth sent Molly's head spinning.Where the hell was Annabelle? He whipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his newestcell.I'll hold it while you look." He knelt at her side.She made a grab."I wanna hold it."Heath would never for a moment have let it go he wasn't that stupid but Annabelle chosethat particular instant to make her appearance, and he was so surprised by what he saw that helost track.A queen of England size crown nestled in her wild tumble of curls, and she wore a longsilvery gown.Shimmering rhinestones sprinkled the fluffy skirt, and a wisp of silver nettingfile:///C|/Downloads/Susan%20Elizabeth%20Phillips%20-%20Match%20Me%20If%20You%20Can%20(v1.0).html (117 of 329)10/12/2005 17:39:42 SEp Match me if you canframed her bare shoulders.As she walked onto the grass, the sun struck her from everydirection, setting her hair on fire and striking sparks in the rhinestones.No wonder theshrieking little girls fell silent.He was fairly awestruck himself.For a moment, he forgot how pissed he was with her.Although the gown was a costume andthe tiara fake, she seemed almost magical, and something inside him didn't want to look away.Most of the girls were dressed by now, their tiny pink gowns pulled on over shorts and T-shirts.As Annabelle approached them, he spotted her flip-flops peeking from under the hem ofher gown.For some weird reason, they seemed just right."Greetings, my little beauties," she trilled, sounding like the good witch in The Wizard of Oz."I'm Annabelle, your fairy godmother.I'm going to ask each of you your name and then cast amagic spell that will turn you into an official princess.Are you ready?"Their shrill squeals seemed to indicate they were."After I do that," she went on, "I'll help you make your own magic wand to take home."Heath snatched up the wands he'd dumped in a heap and began tossing them among the pots ofpink glitter and plastic jewels on the tables.Annabelle moved along the row of little girls,leaned down to ask each child her name, then waved her own wand over the child's head."Idub thee Princess Kee-sha& I dub thee Princess Rose& I dub thee Princess Dominga& I dubthee Princess Victoria Phoebe."Damn it! Heath whirled around, remembering too late that the kid had his phone.He searchedthe grass where they'd been standing and checked his pockets, but his cell was nowhere to beseen.He turned toward the girls, and there she stood, a pint-size phone felon with empty handsand a crooked pink tiara on her head.The kid was only three, and hardly any time had passed.How far could she have gone with it?As he considered his next move, Phoebe popped up at his side with a Polaroid camera."Wewant a picture of each of the girls sitting on the throne in her costume.Will you take them forfree," she cooed, "or are you going to put a lien on their tooth fairy money?""Phoebe, I'm wounded.""Not to worry.I doubt you'll bleed." She plopped the camera in his hand, and off she went,pink tiara aglitter, ill will oozing from every pore.Great.So far, he'd managed to fire hismatchmaker and lose another cell without getting one step closer to repairing his relationshipfile:///C|/Downloads/Susan%20Elizabeth%20Phillips%20-%20Match%20Me%20If%20You%20Can%20(v1.0).html (118 of 329)10/12/2005 17:39:42 SEp Match me if you canwith the Stars' owner.And the party was just getting started.Annabelle finished the naming ceremony, then she and Molly guided some of the girls to thetables to decorate their wands while Phoebe and Hannah led the others toward a tray oflipsticks and eye shadows.He had a few minutes before he needed to set up his photo shop,enough time to figure out where a three-year-old could have hidden a phone.A trill of laughter coming from Glinda the Good Witch drifted his way, but he refused to bedistracted.Unfortunately, Pippi had hunkered down with her mother.Her hands wereoccupied, one with a glue stick, the other attached to the thumb she'd popped in her mouth, soshe must have stashed it somewhere.Maybe she'd slipped it into her shorts pocket under hergown.He remembered he'd programmed it to vibrate, and he set the camera down, then cutaround the house to grab his BlackBerry with its built-in phone from his car.When hereturned, he entered the number of the lost cell and stood off to the side to see if she'd react.She didn't.Not in her pockets then.Damn.He needed Annabelle.Except he'd cut her out of his life.All of the little girls were clamoring for her attention, but instead of being rattled, she seemedto like it.He made himself turn away.So what if she looked as innocent as a Disney cartoon?He didn't forgive and he didn't forget.He slipped deeper into the shade of the patio.None of the girls were ready for their photos,and he had time to make a few calls, but as sure as anything, she'd catch him at it and makesome withering remark.Once again, the theme from Jaws blared in his head.He looked down.Pippi wore bright blue eye shadow and sported a rosebud mouth slick with red lipstick.Hequickly shoved his Black-Berry in his pocket."See my wand?""Hey, that's a wand, all right." He crouched, pretending to check out her artwork, but reallygetting down to business."Pippi, show Uncle Heath where you put his phone
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