Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 29741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29741 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 149(@200wpm)___ 119(@250wpm)___ 99(@300wpm)
Hmm. Yes, he looked like a mother hen.
Not.
Thankfully, he faded into the background as Bonnie oohed and aahed over the things she had in the cart.
“Oh, that’s my favorite onesie. I think I’ll wear it in the shop on Christmas eve. And this outfit goes together so well! You have a real eye for fashion.”
“Thanks.”
“You know, I’m only using about a third of this building at the moment for the toy shop. I was thinking I could make another area dedicated to just clothes.”
“That’s a great idea.”
“And I’d really like to do a trampoline park for the last part. That’s why I was practicing right now. I’m getting really good. I think I could graduate to a bigger trampoline for front flips and things.”
“Not happening,” a deep voice grumbled from the shadows.
Betsy jumped at the sound of Titus’ voice. Jeez, she couldn’t even see him.
How did he do that?
Ink put his arm around her as Bonnie sighed and started ringing everything up.
“My biggest issue is finding someone to run those parts as I couldn’t do it all by myself.”
Ink paid and Bonnie smiled as she handed him the receipt.
“I don’t know what you do now, but if you ever want a job, come and see me. I think you’d do a great job with the clothing part of the store.”
Betsy stared at her in amazement. Could she do that?
No, she wouldn’t be any good at that.
Right?
“I, um, that’s really flattering, but I—”
“Already have a job. I get it.” Bonnie looked so disappointed that Betsy felt bad.
“Oh, it’s not that. But I have a lot going on at the moment and I’ve never worked retail before.”
“But you’d be amazing, I can already tell.”
She didn’t know how she knew that. Betsy thought she’d be too quiet and nervous to talk to people. But she didn’t have problems talking to the other Littles, did she?
“Think about it, okay?”
When they were outside and in the truck, Ink turned to her. “Bet you weren’t expecting a job offer, were you?”
“She doesn’t even know me, why would she want me to work for her?”
“Baby, she would be lucky to have you work for her.”
Darn it. He always said the sweetest things.
4
“Let’s get you some lunch and while you’re having a nap, I’ll unpack everything,” Ink told Betsy as he lifted her out of the truck.
Ink was glad he’d taken today off. It was obvious she needed this time.
And so he did he.
“I’ll help you, Daddy,” she offered sweetly.
“Thank you, Button. But Little girls shouldn’t carry heavy things. They might fall and hurt themselves.”
A pout crossed her lips and he reached down to tap her bottom lip with his finger. “None of that.”
“All right, Daddy.”
“Would you like to wear the Christmas nightie that we bought today?” he asked as he took her hand in his.
She skipped along beside him. “Yes, please!”
Ink unlocked the door and then turned off the alarm. Leading Betsy into the kitchen, he lifted her onto the counter. The kitchen was enormous with a long island that could seat eight. “What would you like for lunch, Button?”
“Fruit face! Fruit face!”
He smiled. “All right. But you need protein, too. So I’ll scramble some eggs.”
“Protein-schmotein, Daddy,” she said.
He tapped her nose. “Enough of that. Or someone can spend some time in the corner instead of helping.”
“Sorry, Daddy!”
Fifteen minutes later, he had their lunch ready. He had scrambled eggs, toast, and orange juice. Sure, it was more breakfast than lunch but it worked.
He’d created a smiley face out of the fruit she’d chosen and put some scrambled eggs in a bowl for her.
After putting the food on the table, he turned to lift her off the counter and carried her over and sat her down at the large wooden table.
Then he grabbed a bib from a special, locked cupboard in the side cabinet. Ink had wondered if the boys might ask what was in the cupboard, but they never had.
The bib had an elephant on it and he knew it helped put her in a Little mindset. He also grabbed out some special cutlery. It was smaller and lighter than normal cutlery.
“There you go, baby,” he said as he pushed her chair in. “Eat up.”
She ate the berries first like he knew she would. He also knew that she’d leave the eggs until they were cold and gross.
So he grabbed the bowl and forked some up to feed to her. She blushed slightly but took the eggs delicately off the fork.
“Good girl,” he praised her. She’d had so little praise in her life that he liked to give her as much as he could.
And she seemed to soak it in like a flower needing water.
Okay, now he was just getting poetic.
“Enough, Daddy, I’m full. Can I go play?” she asked.
“No, you need to wash up and then it’s nap time.”