Free Forever Checking (Checked Series Book 3) by Jennifer Jamelli Page A

shake my head, laughing. “Barbies. A Barbie pageant. Barbies in skimpy swimwear.”
    “Oh.” His nose scrunches up a little. “That’s too bad.” Hot. Hot burning eyes. Almost—
    “Aunt Callie?”
    One. Two. Three. I reluctantly tear my eyes away from him and turn my head toward the stairs, calling back to Abby. “I’ll be right there.”
    “I guess you can’t have a therapy session right now.”
    My head turns back to him. To his amused eyes. Nope. Sorry. Have a pageant to attend. So you can’t Mary Poppins any needles or…or Judy herself…out of that bag.
    I shake my head. “I guess you don’t want to stick around for our Barbie pageant?”
    He smiles. “Of course I do.” His shoulders shrug. “But I haven’t been invited in yet.”
    {Damien slowly—}
    Callie.
    Smile still on my face. “Oh, please do come in and join me upstairs.”
    “I’d love to join you upstairs.” Heated eyes again.
    My stomach starts to flutt—
    CALLIE. Abby. Is. Upstairs. Waiting for you.
    One. Two. Three. His eyes burn into mine.
    One. Two. Three. {Damien. Quiet. Longing.} My head gets fuzzy. Drunken fuzzy. Blurr—
    CALLIE!
    I rip my eyes away from his, stepping aside so he can come through the doorway. He steps in, still holding his mystery bag. I shut the door behind him as he slips off his shoes. Then, without touching him, without letting myself look at him—at the same time feeling his body moving behind me, feeling his eyes on the back of my head—I lead him upstairs…for a Barbie pageant.
     
     
    HE PLAYS BARBIES LIKE HE runs therapy sessions.
    Abby is letting him play Ken. Dr. Ken, the judge. And Dr. Ken has said “all right” and “okay” at least three million times already.
    But it’s still adorable. Charming.
    He’s sitting on the floor. Playing freaking Barbies. BARBIES.
    And he’s making Abby smile. She seems to really appreciate the fact that he’s taking his host job so seriously—introducing the contestants during each separate competition category, clapping after each talent performance, and even making up questions to ask the Barbies during the speaking portion of the pageant (Abby has watched the Miss America and Miss Universe pageants every year since she was born. She has them memorized, and she likes to keep her Barbie pageant events as authentic as possible).
    Now it’s time for a winner to be announced. Four girls remain. Two of my Barbies. Two of Abby’s Barbies. All four of them are wearing gowns and standing in a line, holding hands (with our help, of course).
    Dr. Ken is holding a silky sash (Melanie made it recently for pageant play), a Barbie-sized crown, and a little bouquet of tiny plastic flowers.
    “Okay, girls. The results are in.” Dr. Ken speaks, pretending, I guess, that he has a panel of judges in front of him to help choose a winner.
    Dr. Ken…no, the person voicing Dr. Ken, seems to know a decent amount about pageant protocol. I think that perhaps he’s watched one or two Miss Americas win the crown before. Maybe he watched with his moth—
    Callie! He’s gonna somehow know that you are thinking about her. He always knows. And then he—
    “The third runner up is…Miss Shadyside.” My leggy blonde. The first loser.
    He looks at me with apologetic eyes, as though he thinks that I’m going to be devastated if one of my Barbies doesn’t win the pageant.
    I roll my eyes. Then I help my Barbie gracefully hug the remaining three girls before walking her off of our pageant stage (a long box covered with a pink pillowcase).
    “The second runner up is…Miss Penn Hills.” Abby’s redhead with the high ponytail. Abby makes a little shocked face, but she doesn’t voice her disappointment. She knows that her voice is her redheaded Barbie’s voice, and she likes her Barbies to be good losers. (Melanie has clearly taught her this during the many times they’ve played Abby’s Pittsburgh-themed Barbie pageants at home). Abby helps her Barbie hug the remaining two