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“Aunt Marie keeps some in a fridge for the Littles who visit. Surprisingly, quite a few Littles have problems remembering to drink water.”
“Well, there are much more interesting things to drink. Chocolate milk, Dr. Pepper, coffee. Yum, coffee.”
He shook his head. “Water. That’s it.”
“All right. I’ll drink the water.” He set her down and moved away. He returned with a kid’s drink bottle with a plastic straw at the top. It was in the shape of a penguin.
Oh my Lord. It was adorable. She instantly wanted it. But she put her hands behind her back. “I can’t take that.”
“It’s okay, we can pay for it at the end. No one else has drunk out
of it.”
“I . . . really?”
“Really.” He handed it to her. She took it and sipped from the straw. The water was cool and she realized that she’d been thirsty.
“Let’s get a cart.”
She turned to follow Ed towards where a couple of large, metal carts were stacked. They had a seat at the front where someone could sit, but instead of being child-sized these were adult-sized.
Ed turned to look down at her. “Want to ride in the cart?”
He still thought he should take her home.
Why the hell hadn’t he thought to talk to her about this place, first? What kind of an idiotic move was it to make this a surprise? Yeah, one hell of a surprise, sending her into a panic attack.
Idiot.
She gaped at the cart then up at him. “No way.”
He could tell she was lying. He crossed his arms over his chest. “Georgie-girl, it’s okay if you’re scared or unsure. But it is not okay to lie to me.”
Her eyes dropped guiltily. “Sorry, it’s just. I don’t think I can.”
“That’s okay. You don’t have to.”
Surprise filled her face then understanding. She nodded.
This wasn’t going how he’d planned. He’d wanted to give her a fun experience. She was still clenching her jaw. Cupping her face in his hands, he massaged her jaw gently until she relaxed more. Then he moved his thumb to her lips. Unsurprisingly, she opened her mouth and sucked on his thumb. This had become something comforting for both of them.
When the tensions seeped from her shoulders, he slid his thumb free.
“Come on, how about we start in the toy aisle first.”
He’d expected her eyes to light up. What Little didn’t like toys?
She gave him a smile, but he didn’t see the excitement he was hoping for. Unless he had it wrong . . .
“Or we could start looking at some clothes.”
Happiness filled her eyes. Okay, that surprised him. She didn’t seem like she was that interested in clothes.
And you just judged her by her appearance. Asshole.
“Alright, my girl. Where do you want to start?”
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