Quilting 101

"I could either make spaghetti or pop in that Stouffer's lasagna," Tiffany said.

"You pick, Nick," Ella said as the unintentional rhyme made her laugh once she said it.

"Well, I'm your fella, Ella," he said knowing it made no sense but would get a laugh out of her, and it did.

"I'll eat pretty much anything," he said. "Except for horse manure."

He made an 'icky face' and Ella immediately said, "Eeeewww!"

"Okay. You two kids quiet down back there and buckle up so we can go," Tiffany said, pretending to be annoyed but secretly loving watching her daughter have such a good time.

She was such a sweet girl, but when her father passed away from colon cancer nearly three years ago at the age of 34—something she assumed only happened to people 30 or 40 years older than that—Ella had gone through a very difficult time. Tiffany had done her best to be strong in front of her, and yet she was every bit as devastated by their loss as her daughter. So just seeing her have fun was always a treat. And the treat got bigger as they drove.

"So, Ella. Do you live in a mansion or anything?" Nick asked very seriously.

"No. We don't live in a mansion. Those are for princesses," Ella informed him.

"Wait. Aren't you a princess?" he said even more seriously.

"No. I'm a girl. If I was a princess, I would have a tiara on my head."

"Wait. Don't you mean a crown?" Nick asked as though he was very confused.

"Crowns are for the king and queen—not the princess!" she let him know.

"Oh. I see. So do you live in a cave?"

Tiffany was trying not to laugh as she saw Ella trying to decide whether or not Nick was joking.

"No. Hermits live in caves, and we're not hermits."

Ella finally threw her hands up and said, "Don't you know anything?"

Nick put his hand up then made a fist before resting his chin on it.

"What are you doing?" Ella asked.

"I'm thinking, of course," he told her.

"About what?"

"About stuff I know."

Suddenly, he sat up straight and said, "I do know something!"

"What?" Ella asked cautiously.

Nick leaned over until he was just inches away from Ella then said, "I know what...horse manure is!" before he tickled her.

Ella shrieked with laughter, and Tiffany had to fight back tears, as she remembered the way her husband, Tony, had made their daughter laugh like that. It got harder to do each year, and for the first year or so after his death, Ella barely laughed at all.

"Okay, okay. You kids behave back there!" Tiffany said.

Nick sat up very straight, put his hands in his lap and said like a little boy, "Sorry, Mommy."

Ella put her hand over her mouth and laughed again.

"My side hurts!" she said in between waves of laughter.

"Well, some people call me a 'pain in their side' so...."

Ella didn't get that one, but her mom did. It was so corny it made her laugh. Then again, she was in such a good mood almost anything would have made her laugh.

As they walked inside, Ella again reached for Nick's hand and smiled at him when he gave it to her. As they walked toward the front porch, Nick leaned over and asked, "Is your boyfriend gonna be mad if he sees us holding hands?"

Ella laughed again and said, "I don't have a boyfriend. Boys are gross!"

"Oh, okay," he said as they stopped so Tiffany could open the door. "Then why are you holding hands with me?"

She thought for a second then said, "Because you're not a boy. You're a man."

Tiffany smiled and said, "She's got you there, Nick," as she let them slide by and go in first.

Tiffany and Ella didn't live in a mansion. It was a modest three-bedroom home in need of some work, but it was clean and cozy and more than enough for the two of them.

"Give me just a minute and I'll get dinner started, okay?" Tiffany said.

"No hurry," he said.

"Mom? Can I show Nick my room?" Ella asked.

"Um...well, if he doesn't mind, I guess that's okay."

"Not at all," he said as the little girl, who was still holding his hand, pulled on him again.

"Exit...stage right!" Nick called out as he pretended to be the cartoon cat.

Ella's room was all girl and filled with dolls and ponies and clothes and—pink.

"Nice digs," Nick told her.

"Nice what?" she asked.

"Digs. You know—space or place."

"I never knew that," Ella said as though she was ten years older.

After showing him pretty much everything in the small room, Nick saw a kind of book on the nightstand by her bed.

"What have we here?" he asked.

"That's my diary," Ella told him. "That's where I write down all my secrets."

"Oh, I see," he said.

He looked down at her then said, "So...will you be writing about me? In there?"

Ella giggled again then said, "Maybe."

"Oh, okay. Just remember I taught you about force manure."

He paused for effect, and after getting a laugh said, "I mean...force majeure!"

"Come on! You can help me set the table!" Ella informed him as she grabbed his hand again after laughing at his silliness yet again.

"So did you get the grand tour?" Tiffany asked as she closed the refrigerator.

"I did. I even got to see the Princess's diary."

"I'm not a princess!" Ella said trying to sound pouty.

"Oh, really? Wow. Not even I'm allowed to look in her diary."

"I didn't look in it, I only looked at it," Nick said to her while looking at Ella who was smiling happily at him.

"I'm going to write about Nick in it tonight," Ella told her mom.

"Oh, my. I think someone thinks she has a boyfriend."

Ella didn't laugh, but she did smile.

"No, not me, Mom. You," she said.

Tiffany was looking right at her when Ella told her that, and Nick tilted his head, his arms crossed, and raised an eyebrow as he waited for her reply.

Her cheeks flushed red, and Ella pointed.

"My mom is blushing! She always blushes when she likes someone, so I'm right, huh, Mom?"

Now very flustered, Tiffany had to turn away and hide her glowing cheeks as she said, "Why don't you go wash up for dinner, little lady?"

"Okay," Ella said, unaware at the way her comment made her mother feel.

As Ella walked away, Nick said quietly, "Kids have amazing imaginations, huh?"

"Oh, yes. And mine has one that is very creative and often devoid of reality!"

Nick hesitated before answering, and Tiffany, who was smiling, looked at him over her shoulder as he said, "Hold on there. Are you saying I'm not boyfriend material?"

He was playfully teasing her, and Tiffany knew it, but just the mention of him even possibly being her boyfriend caused her cheeks to turn an even deeper shade of red.

"No. I'm not saying that," she said without looking at him.

"Oh. So you're just saying I wouldn't be boyfriend material...for you...right?"

Still unable to look at him, Tiffany said, "Ha! Yeah, right. Like you'd be interested in being some middle-aged mom's boyfriend."

The words she'd chosen were awkward, at best, and because she was already embarrassed, what she said only made things worse.

"If by 'middle-aged mom' you're referring to yourself, I'd like to say in your defense, you're a very attractive woman who's nowhere close to being 'middle-aged'."

Tiffany wasn't paying any attention as she removed spaghetti noodles from a box, and what Nick just said rattled her so badly they slid right out of her tiny hand and spilled all over the floor.

"Oh, no!" she said as she bent down to pick them up.

Nick had watched them fall, and was also already bending down, and when she lowered her head, they nearly collided.

"Hi there," Nick said as her face appeared less than three inches from his.

Tiffany took one look at his handsome face then looked away as fast as she could.

She stood up much too quickly and as she did, she hit her head on the countertop so hard it made Nick wince.

As Tiffany reached for her head, Nick instinctively stood up, and reached out for her to steady her.

"Are you okay?" he asked with genuine concern.

"I...I don't know," she said, her face, again just inches from his face, twisted in pain.

"Let me take a look," he said as he gently turned her around.

He rested one hand on her shoulder then looked at the top of her head.

"Oh, yeah. You've got a real goose egg there," he told her when he noticed a large, red, swollen area.

"I don't feel so good," she said.

"Come on. Let's get you over to the couch."

Nick pulled her arm over his shoulder and put one around her waist as he guided her around the spilled pasta.

"Is my mom okay?" Ella asked when she saw them walking to the couch. She'd heard the loud bang of her mom's head hitting someone and came running.

"She hit her head pretty hard on the countertop," Nick told her.

He helped her sit down then said, "I think we should have that looked at."

"No. Don't be ridiculous, Nick. I'll be fine. I just need to sit down for a minute. That's all."

Ella jumped up next to her mom and said, "Can I help?"

"No, honey. I'll be okay. I'm just a little dizzy, okay?"

"You could help me clean up the noodles," Nick told her. "Or show me where your dustpan is."

"Oh, it's right over here," Ella said as she led him to it.

Nick took it and Ella followed him over to the kitchen and helped him pick up every last piece then opened the trash can lid for him to dump them out.

"I guess we'll be having lasagna, but that's gonna take 90 minutes, and you probably don't want to...."

"No, we're having pizza," Nick said as he politely cut her off.

"Pizza? We don't have pizza," Tiffany told him.

"No problem. I work at a pizza place part time, and I'll have them bring one over. And it's one me."

"Nick. I can't let you do that," Tiffany said. "I have some money in my...."

"No. It's on me," he said again as he walked back over to her. "I'm allowed one free pizza per week, and I haven't used mine this week. Come to think of it, I haven't used my quota for the last two weeks."

He knelt down in front of her as Ella slid back up next to her mom then said, "So...end of story."

"That's very kind of you, Nick. Thank you so much," she told him.

He asked what they liked then called in the order then went back to kitchen and found a plastic freezer bag and filled it with ice.

He grabbed a hand towel then walked back over and said, "Why don't you lay your head in Ella's lap and she can hold this on your head for you."

"No, I'll be fine," she tried to say as Nick pointed to the other end of the couch.

Ella slid over there then said, "Lay down, Mom," as Nick handed her the ice.

"Well, okay. Thank you," she said as she rested her head.

She looked up at Nick then told him, "Ella says she's not a princess, but she's my princess."

Ella smiled happily then Tiffany said, "And, for now at least, you're my prince."

Nick knelt down beside her and said, "Hey, I thought I was your boyfriend."

Tiffany started to laugh, but it hurt her head so badly she stopped immediately and said, "Ouch, ouch, ouch!"

"Are you okay, Mommy?" Ella asked calling her 'mommy' for the first time in over a year.

"Yes, honey. I'm fine."

She smiled at Nick then said, "I have my prince and princess, so how could I not be?"

Tiffany looked so small and fragile, and from just two feet away, she also looked very pretty.

Nick reached over and laid his hand on her hands, which were folded across her lower tummy and said, "I'm really sorry this happened."

Tiffany's head was killing her, but her heart wasn't as she listened to his words.

She put one of her hands on top of his and said, "You are such a sweetheart."

Nick tried not to laugh as he said just as quietly and very seriously, "So...I am boyfriend material?"

Tiffany laughed in spite of her head, and that made Ella smile then laugh, too.

"I wouldn't mind if you were my mom's boyfriend," Ella said just as innocently as she had about him being handsome.

"Ella Anne...." Tiffany began saying as she tried to sit up then immediately laid back down. "Oh, my. That really hurts."

"Are you sure we shouldn't run to the ER?" Nick asked, the silly stuff long gone.

"No. I'm sure. I sat up too fast and it throbbed pretty bad, but it's not that serious," she assured him.

"All the same, I'm going to stay with you for a few hours even after the pizza is gone because you shouldn't fall asleep too soon after hitting your head like that."

"Nick, that is so not necessary," Tiffany told him.

"Maybe not, but you're stuck with me," he told her as he gently squeezed her small, soft hand.

"Thank you," she said again.

"My pleasure," he told her in a very quiet way as they looked into each other's eyes.

Several seconds passed before Nick realized he was staring. He shook his head then said, "I uh...I should get out some plates and napkins."

"I'll help!" Ella said as she abandoned her mother.

Nick saw her wince again as Ella jumped off the couch, removing her legs as Tiffany's pillow.

He leaned down immediately, and as their eyes met again, he gently touched her cheek and asked, "Are you all right?"

When her heart began to pound, it made her head pound, and yet the pain didn't matter one bit as his gentle touch and kind words were all she noticed.

"Yes. I'm fine," she told him as they once again stared into each other's eyes.

He smiled even more brightly then said, "Huh."

"What?" she asked, concerned he may have noticed something else that was wrong.

"It's just that...from this angle...you're actually kind of...beautiful."

Tiffany made a loud 'pfft' kind of noise then laughed then immediately grabbed her head.

"Oh, ouch!" she said again as Nick reached for the plastic bag and gently placed it on the knot.

"There you go," he told her.

As he got ready to stand up, Tiffany smiled, and even though she had no intention of saying what she was thinking, said, "You look beautiful from any angle, Nick."

He smiled at her then said loudly enough for Ella to hear, "Your mom's vision must be blurry. Maybe we should take her to the doctor."

He smiled afterward so Ella would know he was teasing, even though she didn't get what was going on.

Tiffany smiled at him then said, "No. I see just fine, thank you."

Nick took the hand that wasn't holding the ice as he stood up and squeezed it.

"I'll bring your pizza over to you when it gets here, okay?" he said so gently it made her heart flutter.

"Okay," she said as she squeezed back before he let it slowly slip away.

"How we comin' with the table setting over there...Princess?" he called out as he headed Ella's way.

She giggled then said, "If you're going to keep calling me a princess, you're going to have to buy me a tiara."

Nick frowned and said in his best English accent, "I'm but a poor peasant boy, your highness. I have no money with which to buy such a gift."

Ella laughed happily and said, "You're silly."

Tiffany was also smiling and in spite of the pain in her head was thinking, "He isn't just gorgeous. He's pretty amazing, too."

The pizza arrived about twenty minutes later, and Nick thanked the driver whom he knew quite well. He gave him five bucks for gas even after the driver insisted there was no charge.

"It's not for the pizza, dude. It's for you. You put a ton of miles on your car so take it."

The even-younger man thanked him then left.

"Do you feel like sitting up yet, Cinderella?" Nick asked after putting a slice on each of the three plates.

"I think I can do that," Tiffany said as she slowly sat upright.

"Can we all eat on the couch?" Ella asked.

That was a big 'no-no' in the Collins's home, but Tiffany didn't feel like moving so she gave in and said, "Just this one time, okay?"

Nick handed a plate to Tiffany who smiled and thanked him then said to Ella, "Hop on up, Princess."

She didn't correct him this time, but she intentionally moved to the other end so Nick would have to sit next to her mom. He pretended not to notice then handed her a plate and some napkins before going back and grabbing the drinks he'd poured.

He sat one on a coaster on either end table for the 'girls' then sat down and placed his between his legs while holding the plate above his lap.

"Okay...dig in!" he said with a smile directed first to Ella and then to her mom.

"I love pizza!" Ella said after taking her first bite.

"And I love when my daughter doesn't talk with food in her mouth," Tiffany said gently as she looked across Nick at her daughter.

"Sorry, Mom," she said as Nick tried not to smile.

They sat and ate quietly for a minute or so, but the sound of people chewing was too much.

"So what grade are you in, Ella?" Nick asked.

"I'm in first grade," she said.

"Wow. So...what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Ella thought for a moment then said, "Um...a princess!"

Nick and Tiffany both chuckled.

"How's your head?" he asked when she didn't wince.

"Better, thanks," she said with a sweet smile.

"I'm glad."

"You really don't have to worry about me, Nick. Or stay."

"True. I don't have to do either one. But I am doing both."

He looked right at her then said, "Got it?"

"Okay," she said as he smiled at her. "The pizza is really good, by the way. Thank you again."

"It's the least I could do," he told her. "Since I caused all of this."

"What?" Tiffany asked with total disbelief.

"Well, yeah. Had I not been here, you wouldn't have dropped the spaghetti noodles, I wouldn't have bent down at the same time, and you wouldn't have rapped your gourd on the countertop."

"Rapped my gourd?" Tiffany asked.

"Yes. Rapped your gourd. Rang your bell. Knocked your noggin."

Tiffany tried not to laugh but couldn't help it.

"What's so funny, Mom?" Ella asked.

"Someone on this couch is a goofball," her mom said to Ella while looking at Nick and trying as hard as she could not to laugh.

He crossed his eyes at her and that was it. This time she laughed hard enough that she winced again.

"I didn't mean to cause you any pain. But I did mean to make you laugh," he told her.

Tiffany told him it was fine then asked him a question.

"So...what do you want to be when you grow up?"

"He's already grown up, Mom," Ella informed her.

"Physically, maybe," her mom said without taking her eyes off of Nick.

"Maybe I don't plan to grow up," he said the way someone Ella's age might. "Did you even think of that, Miss Smarty Pants?"

"You nut," she said before asking for another slice of pizza.

"Oh, sure. You slam me then ask me for a favor. I see how things work in this joint."

As Nick got up to get her another slice she said, "Thank you!"

"Uh-huh. I got your number," he said as he turned and pointed at her.

"I may have invited you for dinner—purely out of sympathy, by the way—but I most definitely did not give you my number."

"It's only a matter of time," he said as he threw another slice on her plate.

"Oh, really?" she said with some attempt at indignation.

"Yep. It's no longer an issue of 'if' but of 'when'."

"Cocky much?" she said as he handed it to her.

She went to pull the plate away but Nick wouldn't let go of it.

"Oh, you are so in trouble," Tiffany said when he finally let go of it.

He sat back down then took a huge bite, and with food in his mouth said, "Ohhh. I'm so scared!" in that same playful, childish way.

"Jerk," she said as she elbowed him in the ribs.

"Hey! What was that for?" he asked.

Before she could answer he turned to Ella and said, "Your mom just hit me!"

"Mom! Nick is our guest. You have to be nice."

"I didn't...hit him, honey. I just...nudged him," she replied.

"Nudged. Ha!" Nick said holding his side as though it was injured.

He turned to Ella again then said, "My side is killing me!"

Ella giggled then said, "Then go get the ice!"

In his best Rodney Dangerfield voice he said, "I can't get no respect."