Across the large table, Jack Kimble set down his fork, chewed a bite of chicken, and washed it down with a drink of tea. “You’re still thinking about that Little, huh?”
Matteo brought his eyes up to meet Jack’s and nodded. He’d spent a few minutes at the beginning of dinner telling the assembled group—Jack and Iris, Ace and Lana, Isaiah and Cami, and Kendrick Vaughn—all about the strange encounter he’d had earlier at Auntie Athena’s.
Now, he supposed it was evident to all that he was still thinking about it.
“She was the cutest Little I’ve ever seen,” he stated. His eyes darted around the table to Iris, then over to Lana, and onto Cami. “Of course, you three are cute, too.”
The women giggled.
“No need to explain, Uncle Matteo,” Iris said. “You’re looking for your own Little.”
Cami finished her bite of asparagus and said, “Yeah. And when you find her, you’ll think she’s the most adorable sweetie in the whole world! That’s how you know it’s meant to be.”
“Oh, is that how it works?” her Daddy, Isaiah, asked.
She was grinning as she looked at him and nodded. “Didn’t you think I was the cutest when you saw me for the first time?”
Isaiah chuckled. “I suppose I did, in fact.”
“See? And it was in the middle of the night and you were coming to my big, scary haunted mansion. But even with all that was going on, you thought I was adorable.” The Little giggled.
“That’s true,” Isaiah conceded.
It was Lana who spoke next. “They’re right. A Daddy just knows when he meets his Little. Ace, you’ve told me that.” She tried to put her hands around his arm but couldn’t make them meet, thanks to his bulging biceps.
“So,” Matteo said, “you cuties are telling me I met my Little today?”
He hoped they were right. And they might have very well been. It wasn’t that he was just desperate to meet the girl that would be his to forever have and hold, but there seemed to be a real connection between him and the mysterious woman who’d literally fallen into his arms just hours before. There was no explaining it, either. Sure, he’d been searching for a Little, but he wasn’t some hopeless romantic who assumed every woman he met was her.
Yet something had been different there in the alleyway behind Auntie Athena’s nursery.
For those brief moments, when he’d been holding her in his arms, he felt something he’d never experienced before. Looking into her blue eyes had been almost magical.
What was going on? Was he finally growing desperate? Or was there something to this feeling?
“We are saying that,” Iris told him.
Matteo picked up his fork again, but he only poked at his food. He wasn’t sure he could trust their opinion. It wasn’t like he thought they’d lie. But Littles were easily excited. And besides, there was a good chance he’d never see the young woman again. It didn’t make sense to be so caught up in her after just a few moments.
There was something else bothering him, though.
The fork clanked loudly against his plate as he sat it down again.
“You know what bothers me the most?”
All eyes were on him as he elaborated a few seconds later.
“I could tell she needed me. Don’t get me wrong—she’s perfect. But it’s been a while since she’s had a good meal. A hot shower. I think she’s desperate. And I can’t stand the thought of her out there somewhere on the streets.”
A heavy silence followed. After a few moments, Iris said, “I know what it’s like. I’ve been through some tough times myself.”
Her Daddy started rubbing her shoulder.
She continued, “I wish there was some way we could help her.”
“We don’t even know who she is,” Cami pointed out. “But you’d know her if you saw her, huh?”
This brought a smile to Matteo. “You bet I would. I’ll never forget that beautiful face.”
