"It's me," Alida said with a giggle as Ira adjusted her sunglasses for her. After she'd switched her attention to the other girl in the group, she nodded happily. "I'm Alida. And you're Miss Ori! I like your dress. It's very pretty."
And then Theo was gaily nattering on about his hat, which was like Daddy's, and he barely even paused before switching from nattering at Mr. Ira to Miss Ori and back again. "I wanna see your hat, Mr. Ira," he exclaimed, holding his arms out to ask for a lift up. "It's very bright."
Staas, meanwhile, gave a giggle of his own in response to Ori's. "Don't you start with that 'Mister' crap--Oh, fuck." He sighed and crossed his heart to Alida when she shouted, "Two swear jars, Daddy," and then just picked up where he'd left off. "It's Staas, young lady. I don't know what your brother might have told you about my age, but it's lies, I tell you! All lies!"
Finally he let her go fully, laughing at her appreciation of his aesthetics. "I am a pretty face," he agreed. "You have no idea how hard it is for me to get people take me seriously because of it," he added dramatically. He moved over to Ira and threw an arm round the bloke's waist, giving him a one-armed side hug the man might be capable of returning while still holding on to Theo. "This one doesn't even care that I'm pretty. He just loves me for my kids. And maybe my food. Speaking of which . . ." He went up on his toes to leave a quick kiss on Ira's cheek, then slipped out of his jacket and scurried back to the kitchen, tying the apron on once more.
"Ira, there's coffee in here for you guys if you want. Unless you have another request, Ori?"