"Hey, Bayb!! What have you been up to here lately?" Sabrina asked her little cousin. Miranda looked up, kinda out of the world. She smiled.

"Nothin' much... just takin' care of Daddy. Watchu been doin, Bean Bag?"

"Oh nothin...Just taking care of the kids. I asked Mike if he wanted to grill tonight. He said yeah... so I'll see you after I get off of work."

"K... See you then, Girl!!! Can't wait!"

*******

Miranda went home to wash the some what little dishes there was at the house. Later, Mike, her daddy, asked her to go over to Sabrina's and see if Rick could look in the cabinets and see if there was any BBQ sauce in the cabinets. She did, and her and Rick got to talking. Rick was 26, and Miranda was 17. They were standing there, and Rick asked,

"How old are you, anyways??"

"17. Sorry, Darlin. I'm still jailbait."

"It never hurts to ask..."

"I gotcha. You are hot though...if that amounts to anything." Miranda smiled her sweet smile and flirty grin.

"Well, I reckon I better get goin. Daddy's probably wonderin where I am."

"Ok, well I guess I'll see you around."

Miranda remembered something. She began to walk out of the door, and turned around.

"We're cookin' out at Daddy's tonight if you get bored... It's gunna be me, Bean Bag, Daddy, Anthony, and the kids. Their drinkin' and Daddy's supposed to be grillin. We have more than plenty of food. If you get tired of sitten here by yourself, come on over."

Miranda smiled and walked out of the door. About 7, Anthony and Miranda went over to the hillside to see if anybody had any BBQ sauce. Anthony went over to Randy's to check on the BBQ sauce. Miranda saw Rick's sillhouette sitting on the steps of the trailor. She walked over and sat down on the step below where Rick was sitting.

"Why don't you come over and eat with us.(sheepish grin)I would like it if you did..."

"Just to see you,"He said in his deep, tender voice.

"Are you sure you don't want to make sure there is no BBQ sauce?"

"I can check and make sure, but if you insist."

They walked inside the trailor. Rick looked behind him, almost certain she didn't want to look for BBQ sauce. She didn't. He walked over to her and took her into his arms and lifted her into the air, holding her tight as to not let her go or drop her. She grabbed his head behind his ears and tilted it towards hers. He was the first one to kiss her.

"I knew what you wanted earlier," she said.

"You like that, don't you, Baby," was his reply.

Anthony would have walked right in on them if Rick hadn't of had the idea to lock in door. They were standing in front of the door, so Rick gently released her and made sure her feet were on the ground.

Anthony said, "Sure you don't want to come over, man? We're all cookin and havin a great time."

He didn't have to ask twice since Miranda had already convinced him to come.

"Alright, Man."

Well, everybody ran out of beer. Rick and Miranda took Sabrina's car and went to the Marina to restock. They got to talking, and found they were extremely interested in one another. Rick kept comlpimenting her personality. She was enjoying what he had to say, too. She loved the way he actually had morals and had finished school, unlike many of the other people on the hillside. Come to find out, he had a football scholarship, but had blew his knees his junior year, therefore he didn't go to college.

Miranda felt herself begin to relax with Rick. She felt like she could tell him anything in the world. She felt safe with him. He was a muscular man and was wonderful.

They got to talking about relationships and they both confessed to having been in love before and getting their hearts broken.

That is the night they both fell in love...
*******
They dated for two years before they became engaged. Neither set of parents had a problem with them being together. As soon as they were married, they started trying to have kids. She blessed him with 7 children and they adopted 3. She persued her dream to be a Kindergarden teacher and he went back to college and got him Bachelor's degree in Carpentery.

****END****