She rushed ahead to sit on the couch. “Can I open it?”
“Of course.”
She pulled out the phone and looked up at him. “I haven’t had a phone for a while. I ran over my old one when I figured out that he was tracking me with it.”
“Good job, Brookie. I’m glad you thought of that. We’ll be sure he doesn’t get your phone number on this one.”
“It was a scary time. I even went to a free clinic to make sure he hadn’t given me anything. Like a disease. Trusting Brent didn’t seem like a good idea.”
When her face turned red, Caden guessed she hadn’t planned to share that type of intimate information with him. “I’m glad you took care of yourself, Brooklyn. Zale tests the team routinely too. You’re safe with me.”
Her flushed cheeks turned a deeper red. To distract her, Caden pointed to the sack and said, “There’s something else in there.”
Eagerly, she thrust her hand back inside and pulled out the special case he’d found for her. “Bunnies! This is so cute!”
“The bunnies insisted on coming home with me. We’ll get your phone set up after dinner.” He glanced around the house and didn’t see any signs that she’d been home throughout the day. “What did you do today?”
“I played in my room most of the day. Fluffikins wanted to explore all the fun stuff in there.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed your room. What did you find for breakfast and lunch?”
“I… I wasn’t hungry.”
Her expression alone told him she wasn’t telling the truth. “What did my note say?”
“Good morning and a bunch of stuff about breakfast and lunch,” she answered.
“Hmmm. Did you have any trouble with the coffeemaker?”
“Oh, no. It was easy to figure out.”
“Little girl. I think we’ve talked about lying,” he said.
Her eyes widened. “I’m not lying.”
“Brookie, my note apologized for my not having coffee in the house. It also suggested things you could eat. Tell me the truth. Did you ever leave your room today?”
“I went to the bathroom.”
“You haven’t eaten all day?”
“I wasn’t hungry,” Brooklyn told him. Unfortunately, her stomach chose that moment to growl loudly.
“You’re certainly hungry now. Let me feed you, and then we’ll deal with your untruthfulness.” He stood and held out his hand to her.
She let him pull her to her feet, saying, “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to invade your house.”
“This is now your home, too, little girl. You’re never an intruder here.”
Caden helped her onto a stool at the island and reached into the refrigerator for an apple. Fingers crossed, she’d eat that. Quickly, he cut it into wedges and trimmed out the core, and handed her a slice.
“Start with this and I’ll doll these others up a bit.” He spread peanut butter on the others and put them in front of her.
“Mmm, these are good,” she mumbled around the treat as she devoured one coated wedge.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full, sweetheart. I don’t want you to choke. Just give me a thumbs up if you’re chewing.” He laughed when she answered with two enthusiastic thumbs up.
When she’d finished all the apple wedges, Caden held out a hand to help her off the stool. He drew her to the stuffed ottoman and sat down in front of her, steering Brooklyn to stand between his legs. “Now that you have something in your tummy, we need to deal with the lie you told Daddy.”
