Page 27 of The Grump I Got Stuck With

“Okay!” Kenna said excitedly, popping up to take the kit from my hand. She gave it a shake, making the beads rattle. “I want to make a pink one. And Princess will make a purple one.”

“Princess is unfortunately lacking thumbs,” I said. “So we’ll have to make something for her. Maybe we can design a cute little charm for her collar?”

Kenna looked down at Princess with grave concern. “You don’t have any thumbs so you can’t use the beads, okay?”

Princess yipped as if in agreement, rolling onto her back for a belly rub.

“Why don’t we relocate this jewelry-making party to the kitchen,” I said. “I think we’re gonna need space to let our creativity flow.”

I grabbed a bucket of craft supplies from the shelf in the corner, Kenna picked up a stuffed bear she’d abandoned earlier, and together we headed down to the kitchen.

“Mind if we work in here?” I asked Florence as she was unpacking groceries into the cupboards.

She smiled and shook her head. In my limited experience, the woman didn’t say much, but she was sweet with Kenna and, again, her daily sweet treats had me in a chokehold. While Kenna climbed onto her stool, I borrowed some bowls from the cupboards, pouring beads into each. It would be easier for Kenna to grab and sort through them this way than out of the tiny boxes they were jammed into.

I set the bowls down in front of her. She squirmed with anticipation. “Now, the first thing we do is cut a length of string. Do you want to make one necklace or two bracelets?” That was about the extent of what you could do with the supplies in the kit.

“One bracelet and one thing for Princess,” she said.

“Okay,” I said, cutting the string for her. I passed it off. She immediately strung a bead onto the string. It went sliding off the other end, hitting the floor with a small tick.

“Oops.”

“That’s okay,” I said. “We just have to tie a knot in the end like this so the beads don’t fall.” I adjusted the bracelet for her, then sat down on the stool next to hers, digging through the bead options. “What kind of charm do you think we should make for Princess?”

“A purple one.”

I laughed. “I agree, purple is an optimal color. But what should it look like? Hmm, should we make it in the shape of a little dog bone?”

“Yeah!” Kenna cheered. She screwed her face up, tongue out as she threaded a particularly sparkly bead onto her bracelet.

“Who’re you making that for?”

“For me,” she said excitedly. “No! For Daddy.”

“Ah, I see. I definitely think he’s a sparkly bead kind of guy. Sorta got that Barbie Dreamhouse thing going on with the hair. Very Ken-worthy.”

“Yeah,” Kenna agreed.

I caught a flash of amusement flicker across Florence’s face. She finished with her task, setting off for another room. Kenna and I settled in, working on our respective tasks.

“Done!” she announced a few minutes later, holding up her bracelet. “Now what?”

I examined the kit again. “Usually, there are little clasps you can attach to the ends,” I said. “Hmm…I don’t think this kit comes with any.”

Kenna pouted.

“It’s okay,” I said, unclasping one of my own handmade necklaces from around my neck. “We’ll just borrow one from mine.” I carefully removed the lobster clasp and tied off the ends, slipping the rest of the necklace into my pocket to repair later. Then I helped her tie both ends of the clasp to her bracelet. “Ta-da!”

Kenna squealed. “Let’s make another one!”

I glanced at what was left of her beads. “I think you might have just enough to make a little bracelet for yourself.” I cut and prepped another length of string for her. When she was done with that bracelet, I sacrificed another one of my own pieces of jewelry so we could fasten it to her wrist with a proper clasp.

“I love it!” Kenna said, shaking her arm to admire our handiwork.

“And look what else is done,” I said, holding up Princess’s tiny bone-shaped charm. “Want to help me put it on her?”

Kenna hopped off her stool and scooped Princess into her arms. She held her while I attached the charm to her collar.