leannerhodesâ:
âHonestly, I wouldnât have blamed you if you did. I have kids of my own, and youâve really got to be careful. There are some real weirdoâs out there.â Leanne smiled softly as she gestured to the adorable little girl on her push bike. âI canât tell you how many times Iâve shoved a camera out of paprazzi hands when they followed me and kids around.â ďżźUnfortunately for Leanne, being a well known broadway actress meant unwillingly forfeiting all of her and her familyâs privacy. â Forgive me, I canât seem to remember your name, but your face looks so stinking familiar. Maybe weâve met somewhere?? Iâm Leanne, Leanne Rhodes.â She kindly offered her hand to the young woman, wondering where it was sheâd seen her. Leanne was fairly well known around Asteria, most people called her auntie Leanne because she was always looking out for everyone. Most of the young adults remembered Leanne throwing the most amazing pool parties when her kids were young. Apparently, she had the best popsicles in town. More recently, sheâd been baking cookies to take to those affected by the hurricane and putting together care packages. Sheâd put 3.5 million of her own into restoring asteria, and was planning another fundraiser now with the rest of the Asteria events committee. âPlease, donât apologize. Iâve been there, I get it.. hi, darling. Iâm so sorry for disrupting your bike ride.â Leanne was so used to children and their moods nothing phased her.. âOh! I think I accidently got a shot with you and little Eleanorwalking a head of me. I can delete it if you want, but I think it turned out really lovely actually. Some of my best shots are candids.â
âThat is...slightly terrifying. I donât think Iâd be able to handle anything like that. Just add that to the list of reasons I could never be famous. ...along with the fact that I have zero talents that would get me there. But Iâm okay with that. I think Iâll always be a small town girl at heart.â Kip had been born and raised in Asteria. When her dad had taken off almost two decades ago, heâd gone off to New York. Kip had thought about going there and confronting him at one point when she was old enough to find him, but then she realized sheâd be going alone, and sheâd never even been out of North Carolina, let alone to a big city like New York. Sheâd be swallowed whole in a place like that. Ella, always wanting to be on the move, tugged at Kipâs shirt. âMahhhmaaa.â Kip sighed and bent down, picking up the toddler. âYou, child, are going to be the death of me.â She sighed before looking back to the woman in front of them. âNo worries. Iâm Kipley Rowe. Iâm a couple years older than your son Ashton, but I still went to school with him. I didnât really know him, but I knew of him. If you ask him about me, Iâm sure heâll be able to tell you all about me. The girl who practically lived in the principalâs office for being very loud, and very obnoxious.â She laughed. âBut, hey. I may have been loud and obnoxious, but I was a good kid. Donât let anyone tell you otherwise.â She shifted Ella onto her other hip. âBut Iâve retired my shenanigans, and live the mom life now. And my mother is loving every second of it, because Miss Ella here is turning out to be every bit of me. Arenât you, Ells Bells?â Ella giggled and put her thumb in her mouth. âOh, you can keep it. Now that I know youâre not some creeper that takes random pictures of people for your own viewing pleasure, I feel much more comfortable.â













