Ryan was in the kitchen, adding powdered sugar atop Mickey Mouse shaped strawberry jam pancakes. It was a little over ambitious for breakfast, but his daughter only had breakfast with him two days out of a week. The effort was worth it.

He still wasn't sure if it was worth Theresa's annoyed voice though.

"Ryan, make her cereal. She has cereal with me five days of the week. And strawberry jam pancakes will make her hate me for giving her cereal."

He couldn't help but smile though. Theresa herself craved his breakfast specialty while she was pregnant. This morning the pancakes were a little lopsided though. And maybe just a little bit on the overcooked side. Just a bit. He had things on his mind.

Actually, he had Summer on his mind.

That kiss the night before still haunted him. He wasn't sure whether he was glad it happened or not. On the one hand, it was Summer and she was the spoiled rich girl from high school, and he probably shouldn't have been kissing her anyway. But on the other hand, she was the first woman that he had talked to in a while. And they had laughed and she had listened and there was something there. A connection.

XXX

The blankets smothered her face, but she could feel the morning light seeping through her curtains. It wasn't that she was a light sleeper. In fact, she was one of those people that could probably sleep through a hurricane. But she was awake now, trapped in her state of wonder that kept her up half the night.

She was thinking about him and his blue eyes and his baby girl and his kiss.

Not in that particular order, but those were the images that traversed through her mind. And the worst part was that each time an image of him would pass through, she would be even more confused than before.

She didn't want to pretend that she didn't have a great time talking to him, because she did. She really wanted to do that again- the talking part. He actually listened to her San Francisco stories. He was the only person who had done that so far. She really liked that.

At the same time she didn't want to go through the trouble of pretending that the kiss didn't happen. Because she would have to if she intended on keeping up with the talking part of the deal. It would be far far far too awkward to be comfortable and open with a guy like Ryan with the unspoken motivation behind the kiss lingering around them.

And really, she had enjoyed the kiss. She didn't want to pretend that it never happened. It was nice. His lips, they were nice. Really nice.

But he had a daughter and he had a girl who was his daughter's mother and before all that, he had been her best friend's boyfriend.

So he was off-limits. Off-limits to the nth power.

The two of them would probably just decide that the kiss was a fluke and that it never actually happened. Yeah, that was something that they could both do. They were from Newport- pretending was a way of life.

And since they were both decidedly gong to pretend their way through a normal friendship, it wouldn't hurt if she called him today right? Maybe stopped by his apartment. She could play with Ella.

Ella was a sweet girl. She would love Princess Sparkle. Oh wait, she was four. Princess Sparkle would be too much for her. A Barbie, Summer could offer the little girl a Barbie or two.

There, she'd call Ryan and visit with a Barbie for Ella.

The day's plan was hatched. Summer finally pushed the blankets away from her face, ran her fingers through her dark hair and decided to look for an outfit to wear to Ryan's.

XXX

"Daddy, what are we doing today?"

The strawberry jam pancakes had brought a huge smile to his sleepy daughter's face. But in less time than it took for the Dora the Explorer episode to finish, the food had vanished.

She was a growing girl.

Ryan smiled to himself, looking at his messy haired little girl. There was still a tinge of sleep in her eyes, but she looked satisfied with traces of powdered sugar lining her mouth.

"I want to go to the beach." Ella announced, noticing her father's lack of response. "Can we, Daddy?"

Her voice was full of excitement, it was impossible for Ryan not to break into a smile. Her wide eyes were hopeful and she clasped her hands together to complete the begging effect. It was a wonder that she didn't own half the known world already. He'd give her anything.

"The beach?" he feigned doubt. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" she jumped out of her chair and threw her arms in the air.

"I don't know…" He pretended to be deep in thought as she threw herself against his leg and hugged tightly.

"Please, Dad? Please, please?" She hugged tighter and Ryan got the feeling that he wouldn't have his leg back until he said yes.

"If you really want to, then we'll go."

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She squealed. He leaned down to muss her hair as she danced happily in a circle.

"Why don't you let me finish my coffee in here and go watch Nickelodeon for a while? We'll get ready afterwards, ok?"

"Sure, Dad," she called over her shoulder and she started flipping channels on the tv. "Oh yeah, why don't you bring your friend, Summer? She's pretty."

Ryan opened his mouth to reply, but by then Ella was too engrossed with the show on tv. That sure was an odd suggestion from her.

Well, at least he and his daughter thought alike.

XXX

"Hey Ryan, I was in the neighborhood and wanted to say hi. Do you have plans for today? If you want we could…"

"Hi Ryan, what's up? I had fun yesterday and wanted to stop by…"

"Hey, wasn't yesterday fun? Do you have anything planned for today because I was thinking…"

Summer mumbled incoherently to herself as she stood outside the door to Ryan's apartment. She had parked well over ten minutes ago but for some reason she had about as much courage as the Lion from Wizard of Oz.

Ah, what the hell.

She knocked lightly on his apartment door, praying that by some miracle the right words would come to her when he opened the door.

"Summer?" His voice was deep and gruff and something smelled really tasty in the apartment.

"Ryan," her voice came out high pitched and squeaky. "Hi." With her left hand, she gave a little wave. Realizing how dorky she probably looked, she quickly put her hands behind her back. Oh dear, this wasn't going well.

"What's up?" He asked, if she paid more attention to him she would have probably sensed that he was as nervous as she. But her head was busy trying to think of a way to invite him to spend the day with her.

"Just wanted to stop by," she said nonchalantly. "Yesterday was fun and I was thinking that maybe we could do it again." She paused. "The hanging out part. I mean, the last bit, the kiss thing, that wasn't- well, it was fun, but- you know we shouldn't. Because, well- because."

What happened to all the eloquent sentence that she had been thinking of? Where did the casual invitation to hang out disappear to? She was babbling away like a nervous idiot and he just stood there, leaning against the doorframe. He stood there leaning against the door frame in a white wife beater looking really good.

All coherent thought fled her yet again. His eyes, they were so blue. She could swear that they were sparkling. And his lips, showing off his pearly whites in that cute smile. No wonder she couldn't speak properly around him.

"Summer?" He interrupted, her babbling was beginning to make him uncomfortable.

"I brought this for Ella!" she burst out. Quickly, she peered into her purse and pulled out a Malibu Barbie.

At that moment, Ella bounded towards the door in her bathing suit. Her face brightened into a smile when she saw both Summer and the new Barbie.

"Summer brought a Barbie!" she exclaimed. "Isn't that awesome, Dad?"

Ryan glanced from one brunette to the other and gave a half smile.

"Oh Summer, come with us to the beach today? Please?" Ella gave the older woman another smile.

"Sure," Summer said. "That would be fun." She smiled at the little girl who had left the adults at the door and headed back inside the house with her new Barbie doll.

"I guess you're stuck with us for the day," Ryan grinned.

"I guess so," Summer replied, sharing his smile. Looking into his eyes, she realized how much she wanted to be stuck with Ryan for a day.

And as he noticed her staring at him, he thought the very same thing.