Elle, with Janine toddling along beside her, stepped gingerly up the walkway and ascended the steps to the door. She rang the doorbell and looked down at her daughter who looked back up at her adoringly.
Janine was a little over two years old. Pigtails stuck out the sides of her head, like little flowers the color of bronze. The girl had inherited her father's hair, straight and brown, but she had gotten her eyes and facial features from Elle. Sparking blue eyes. She was wearing a pink gingham dress that Claire had given her for her second birthday.
A pleasant-looking woman answered the door, a fluffy little dog at her heels. Elle wrinkled her nose. She hated dogs like that. Stupid yippy things; she just wanted to punt one whenever she saw it.
The woman seemed familiar, like they had met some time before in the past. But before Elle could match a name to her face in her mind, she recognized Elle. "Elle Bishop?" Elle nodded, "Sandra Bennett, right?"
The woman, Sandra, smiled and opened the door wider. "And who is this little darling?" Elle glanced down at the girl. "This is my daughter. Janine." Sandra bent down, and with exaggeratedly slow movements, shook Janine's hand.
The dog, seeing an opening, leaped out the doorway and ran over to the child, yapping away. Janine yelped and hid behind Elle's legs.
Sandra leaned against the doorway, both leaving the door slightly open and blocking them entrance at the same time. "You have a daughter?" Elle smiled weakly. "Yeah." Sandra seemed satisfied with introductions and let them into the house.
She led the duo over to a couch. "Go on. Sit. " So they obeyed. Sandra continued to talk. "Now why was it you came here? And with your little girl too?"
Elle exhaled deeply and began. "I, uh, came here to see your husband, Noah Bennett?" She could tell the woman was suspicious. Probably wondering why she had traveled hundreds of miles just to talk to someone, especially if that someone is another woman's husband.
Just as Sandra opened her mouth to question Elle more, the front door opened. A male voice echoed through the room from the front door. "Honey, I saw someone's car in the street. Is someone here?" And he walked into the living room. "Hm. Thought someone was here. Elle Bishop." Noah said, acknowledging her. Elle spoke. "Yeah…"
Then Noah noticed Janine. "And just who is this?"