Page 29 of The Grump I Got Stuck With

“You’ve just entered a jewelry-making workshop,” I said. There were strips of paper and tubes of glitter and pipe cleaners and pompoms and macaroni noodles everywhere.

“I…see that,” Alistair said.

“Don’t worry, I’ll clean it all up.”

“Daddy!” Kenna cried excitedly. “Look what I made!”

“Wow,” he exclaimed, dialing up the drama for her. “This is amazing.”

Kenna beamed, holding the beaded bracelet out to him. “Try it on. Madison said I have to check if it’s big enough.”

He held his wrist out so she could slip it into place. “Perfect. Are you sure you actually made this all by yourself?” he said, teasing her. “I think you bought this from a shop.”

“No, Daddy, I made it,” Kenna said, touching her chest.

“Maybe you ordered it off the computer. Did the postman deliver it?”

Kenna stood up on her stool, giggling. “I really made it!”

Alistair held his arms out, and she jumped into them, pecking him on the cheek. “Then it’s extra amazing,” he said.

“I agree. She’s got some real potential in jewelry making.” I couldn’t help smiling at the way he interacted with her. At that soft, doting look he got every time his eyes landed on his daughter. He may be trying to hold the entire world at a distance, but it was clear she was his entire world.

“Here, Daddy,” Kenna said, reaching for a paper crown on the island. She grabbed it and plopped it on his head.

“How’s it look?” he asked.

“Beautiful,” she said, immediately reaching for one of the paper chain necklaces we’d made. She strung that over his head. “You look like Princess.”

“That’s exactly what I want to hear.”

My lips twisted with amusement as he allowed her to bedeck him with everything she’d made. His gaze cut in my direction. “You’re really starting to pull off the lord part of Lord Crankypants,” I informed him.

His eyes narrowed in a way that was more playful than irritated.

“So,” I said, turning from Kenna and lowering my voice slightly. “Since we’re no longer snowed in, I noticed that there’s a cat café in town. I was thinking I might take Kenna down there tomorrow morning if that’s cool?”

“Definitely not cool,” Alistair said, his eyes narrowing.

“Why not?”

“Because I have meetings.”

“You don’t have to come,” I said. “That’s the whole point of having a nanny, isn’t it? You work. I keep an eye on Kenna. Maybe she’ll even meet a few more kids her age while we’re there. Oh! Then I could set up playdates and⁠—”

“No,” he growled. “No town without me. And no playdates.”

I frowned at him. I was perfectly capable of keeping Kenna safe, but the way he scowled at me, I could tell he thought otherwise. And now Lord Crankypants was actually irritated. I sighed. Apparently, opening up Kenna’s world was going to be more difficult than I’d thought.

10

ALISTAIR

“Did you make a bead bracelet for Aisling?” I asked Kenna, firmly shutting down any further discussion of an outing into town without me.

She shook her head. “No.”

“We made Princess a little beaded charm for her collar,” Madison, “but there wasn’t enough supplies in the kit to do more than that, so you’ll have to stock her up with more beads and string and wire.”