Just One Kiss

Just One kiss Ch 1 cont.

They all turned at the sound of her heels and Wade stopped talking to Tia long enough to greet her warmly and introduce her formally to his son.

Rahul Watinagi was a small boned, wiry little boy of ten. He was a little above average height for his age and she just knew that he would be as tall-if not taller than his dad (who topped out at 6'2) when he was older. He had short blonde hair and eyes that were darker than her daughter own- sea green if she remembered her colours right and those beautiful eyes were slyly looking at her with so much mistrust that she almost cringed. She could see that Wade hadn't been joking when he had said that his son didn't trust adult woman and she truly could not blame him. His own mother had just walked on them when he was a year younger than Tia was now and the series of baby-sitters and dates that followed had only cared more about getting to know Wade than taking care of him as a result they all made him promises that not one of them had kept. Naturally he didn't expect her to be any different and she could see that she was not going to have an easy time proving to him that she was different. But if was one thing Johanna knew was that she loved Wade more than she'd thought possible and that would give her strength to deal with Rahul if he became too difficult. On impulse she stooped until she was about level with Rahul and hugged him. He was more than a little resistant of her hug but after a few minutes he returned it tentatively. Johanna smiled at him she could be satisfied with that for now.

Standing up she led everyone to the dining room table and made them sit while she brought out the food.

Lunch was noisy and comfortable. Johanna was pleased to see that whatever uneasiness that Rahul seemed to have with her he didn't have with Tia. She was able to get him to speak albeit only two word answers but at least he was talking to Tia. To his father he had plenty to say and to her all he did was nod and look in her direction.

Finally it was over and Tia who had been good up 'til then began to squirm. After a good five minutes Johanna started to giggle over her daughter's reaction to being in a dress longer than she had to. She slapped her hand over her mouth and looked at Wade who was grinning. He knew that Tia hated to wear dresses and of her love of sports.

Laughing now Johanna told Tia she could go change her clothes. In a flash Tia was up out of her chair and heading for the stairs. In her room Tia flung off the hated dress, shoes and changed into her beloved jeans, T-shirt/vest/tank and sneakers. When she dashed back down the stairs Johanna saw that she was dressed in what she considered her daughter's uniform. Tia had opted to leave her hair pinned back but that was all that had remained from her previous outfit. She had changed into an orange vest, pale blue Capri and sneakers that matched her outfit. Johanna was about to ask her if she was coming back to the table when the doorbell rang. Before she could move to see who it was Tia was at the door and greeting Jon.

Johanna didn't catch much of the rapid fire conversation except one word- soccer and knew immediately that he and the rest of the boys wanted Tia to play with them.

Johanna sighed, thanks to her Irish ex-husband who played for his country's premier soccer team and played every other sport as a hobby, Tia was very much into sports. It didn't help that the only children in their neighbourhood were boys. Rationally Johanna knew that unless she wanted to keep her Tia isolated in the house, she would have to let her play sports though she wished that her daughter was happier playing dress up instead of kicking a ball around or whatever she did when she was outside with her friends. Tia turned to her, the question in her eyes, Johanna nodded.

"Thank you!" Tia exclaimed punching her fist in the air.

Johanna shook her head, you would think from that expression of happiness that she didn't always allow Tia to play her sports. This was not so. While she wished that Tia did not play sports Johanna was confident that her little girl would grow out of playing sports. If she showed signs of wanting to continue playing as a teenager then Johanna would discourage that then. For now Tia was only six and should have fun however she chose.

Tia run up to her mother and hugged her before going up to Rahul.

"Would you like to come play soccer with us?" she asked with a hopeful look on her face.

"Girls don't play soccer." Rahul told her looking down his nose at her.

"Where have you been? Girls have been playing soccer for some time now. We even had teams that went to the Olympics and won medals. My Daddy told me so." Tia shot back.

She waited a beat before asking again "Are you going to join us?"

"Are you any good?" Rahul asked sullenly, his eyes betraying how curious he was.

"I don't know." Tia answered honestly "You'll have to either come play with us to find out or ask my friends before or after the game to get the answer to that. So are you coming?"

Rahul nodded, "I'd better come in case you're no good and they have been humouring you all this time."

Tia shrugged, "Let's hurry Jon doesn't like to wait." She told him heading for the door.

Rahul turned to his father. "Dad, can I go?"

"After you agreed to play now you're asking me? Go on."

"Thanks." Rahul replied and followed Tia outside.

After the door closed Wade turned Johanna and said with a smile, "Alone at last."

She smiled back at him then said, "Wade, your son doesn't like me."

"He just hasn't gotten to know you yet that's all."

"If you say so. He and Tia seemed to be rubbing together alright though."

"Yea, I noticed that. I almost laughed when Tia told him that girls have been playing soccer for a while. I thought she was gonna quote him some stats."

"She probably could too. You know that my ex-husband plays for the Irish premier league. He started teaching Tia the ins and out of soccer and all his favourite sports-which is probably everything since she learned to walk."

"I've seen her play and she's got her father's talent. If Rahul can survive getting creamed I think there's a chance that they'll be the best of friends,"

"Wait, if Tia beats him then wouldn't that make him hate her?"

"Nah, that's not how things work for Rahul. If she beats him as I think she will if they're put on different teams then she would represent a challenge to him. By the time he gets over that I have a feeling that they'll be good friends by then."

"If you say so." Johanna replied somewhat doubtful.

Wade smiled and nothing more was said about their children. They spent the rest of the time enjoying each other's company.

As for their children? They enjoyed themselves and Rahul was forced to admit that for a girl, Tia was a good soccer player (they'd played on the same side) as well as a good basketball and baseball player. In fact by the time his father decided that it was time for them to go Rahul had to admit that Tia was just an all round good sports person.

Both parents were pleased to see that by the end of the day both Rahul and Tia seemed to have moved beyond the stilled conversation they'd been having at lunch and seemed to be well on their way to being good, if not best friends.

In the coming months the two families hung out a lot together and it wasn't long before Wade asked Johanna to be his wife which she gladly accepted. When the children heard the news both of them pumped their fists in the air and hugged. As Wade had predicted they were, by that time, the best of friends and where you saw Rahul you saw Tia and vice versa and where other ten year old boys loathed having girls tagging around behind them, Rahul didn't seem to mind. He was often seen listening patiently to what she had to say and carrying her about on his shoulders when they weren't playing games with her other friends.