Antonios' Pizzeria was bustling with activity when they arrived and Blake was happy that they had called ahead and made a reservation. He glanced around the shop that was decidedly bigger inside than what it looked like outside.
There were murals of Italy on the walls inside of arches with stone pillars, checkered table clothes and little battery operated candles on the tables. Booths were plump and large enough for groups of 6 and the waiters were all in black pants and red shirts with the shops logo on the front pocket. Fake vines with fake bunches of grapes hanging from the ceiling and Blake could tell that although the décor was outdated, the place was well taken care of, and loved by the community.
The girls were dancing in a circle with excitement, singing thank you and what they wanted to eat. McKenna was watching them and laughing softly and Blake found he couldn't take his eyes off of her. He wanted to hold her close and never let go but she also seemed so far out of his reach. She had decided that she was just going to be a burden to him and he didn't know how to convince her otherwise.
Their name was called and they were led back to their table. Giggling, the girls started asking for their pizza orders while McKenna let the waitress know their drinks and he asked for a water. She smiled at him as she ordered two personal pizzas for the girls, one pepperoni and one bacon then a chicken bacon ranch with banana peppers for herself. "I'll take a meat lovers personal pizza please." Blake said.
They sat in silence as the girls talked and giggled about how excited they were to have pizza tonight. Blake kept glancing at McKenna and she kept looking at the girls, seemingly ignoring him. But that wasn't like her, maybe she just didn't know what to talk about. In that case...
"So, you got to realize your dream of owning a bakery. I'm glad." Blake said in an attempt to start conversation.
"Yes, it was a hard road to go down, but I opened it when the girls were two. I had to prove that my goods were desirable to the bank before they would loan me the rest of the money, I ended up selling and saving a sizable down payment from the farmers market and operating out of my home doing personal orders. Once they saw what I was capable of they were happy to loan me what I needed. Just last month I paid it off early, they were really surprised but I needed to be debt free as soon as possible." McKenna blushed. "That was probably too much information, I'm sorry. I just get so excited talking about the bakery."
"No! Not at all, I love hearing about you. It wasn't too much, really" Blake replied earnestly. No way was he going to make her feel like a burden to him in any way.
"Mommy worked extra hard to pay off the bakery, she had to tell us no a Lot." said Jasmine. "Yeah, we didn't like hearing it, but Mommy always spoiled us at our birthday and Christmas, so we didn't mind too much." Amber added. McKenna blushed harder and Blake couldn't keep his eyes off of her. The girls looked at them, then each other and started giggling again and whispering to each other.
"What are you two talking about, huh?" McKenna asked "Nothing!" Came the two person chorus.
"Hey Daddy, what do you do?" asked Amber. "Well, I run a business, I'm a CEO. or chief executive officer. I tell people what to do to make the business run better. We specifically run a lot of entertainment businesses, movie theaters, restaurants, concert halls, that sort of thing." He loved how all three of them were listening to him to attentively. He was used to others listening to him obviously but it was different with them. 'My girls.' he thought, 'that's why it is so different, it's because these are my girls.'
Their waitress arrived with their food just then and the girls all but dove into their pizzas making yummy noises. McKenna smiled at them before taking a bite of her own pizza. Blake was enraptured by everything she did, her smiles, her movements, the way her eyes shimmered while watching their children. All he needed was for her to look at him that way and he'd be happy. Just then his phone started ringing, he looked at it and groaned out loud before hitting ignore.
McKenna looked at him and asked who it was. "Just my stalker, she can't seem to understand that I am not the least bit interested in her, I never have been and I've never given her a reason to think so that I'm aware of." McKenna was silent for a moment. "Want me to answer the next time she calls? Maybe hearing another woman on the other end will keep her from contacting you anymore."
Blake was shocked by her offer. "Are you sure you'd be okay with that? There's always the off chance that it'll backfire and she'll come after me harder or try to get rid of you. Which won't work, obviously, I've never wanted anyone but you, I swear." "Swearing is bad Daddy!" Both girls pipped in.
McKenna laughed, "Girls it's okay, that kind of swearing isn't bad, Daddy was just trying to reassure me of something is all." "Oh" "Okay" "I guess he's fine then." "Yeah, never mind Daddy." And back to their pizza they went. McKenna looked at Blake and smiled. "The next time she calls, give me the phone and I'll answer it. I don't mind helping you out."
Just then his phone started ringing again and Blake looked at the screen and groaned again. He held the phone out to McKenna who laughed when she grabbed it and saw the screen. 'Personal Stalker Don't Answer' was displayed across the screen and McKenna couldn't help but laugh harder as she thought about the poor woman on the other side who probably didn't know she was in his phone this way.
McKenna answered the phone and said "Hello, Blakes phone, he's busy at the moment, can I help you?" There was silence at the other end before the other woman started yelling "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU ANSWERING MY FIANCES PHONE THIS LATE AT NIGHT YOU WHORE?!"