“Okay, talk to Daddy. What’s going on, Sweets?”
Rebekah wouldn’t meet my eyes, her lips pressed tightly together.
“Rebekah. Look at me.”
Her eyes slowly turned toward mine, and my heart broke a little.
“That was a lot of money for some silly toys. You shouldn’t have spent that much.”
“Do I look worried, Little one?”
She took a moment to scan my face, searching for the smallest amount of regret. None of which she would find. “No, Sir.”
“That’s right. If I was worried about the total, I would have told you no. You’ve been a good girl, besides the breaking and entering, which I haven’t forgotten about. You deserve to be spoiled just a little bit. So, how about you let me worry about the cost of things? Don’t go finding trouble when there’s none there.”
I never wanted her to be worried about things a Little shouldn’t concern themselves with. I’d never been one to spend above my needs, so I had plenty of money sitting around for me to spoil my girl.
“With that settled, let’s go have lunch now. I think a certain Little girl asked for ice cream, but she only gets it if she eats all her lunch.”
Rebekah put a little pep into her step as we made our way toward the food court. I allowed her a few moments to see what there was to eat before taking her to her choice. It seemed like we would be eating Mexican food for lunch, which was fine with me.
Rebekah found us the perfect place to sit and eat while I waited for our food to be ready. I hadn’t thought about the work that was waiting for me or about what cases might come next. My focus had been on her, and it felt right.
“Beau, your order is ready.”
After grabbing the tray, I made my way to where she waited. Sitting pretty and patient, looking at the Legos in the bag on the floor beside her. I knew we would be building one of those today. After she took a nap, of course.
Rebekah had been amazing today,so as promised, we got ice cream to go. At a nearby creamery, we each ordered an ice cream cone, hers double chocolate chip and mine strawberry, and decided to take a walk in the park across the street.
It was such a pretty day outside, so there was no reason not to take advantage of the nice weather. We’d had so many extremely hot days recently, so this nice eighty-degree breeze was perfect.
Holding her hand in mine, we strolled along the path, eating our cones and pointing out the different animals. Everything was going great, until it wasn’t.
“Fuck!”
My eyes widened at the colorful word that came out of Rebekah’s mouth. I looked over where she stopped walking, and my heart broke. On the ground was her ice cream, which had fallen off her cone.
Rebekah turned her tear-rimmed eyes to me. “Oh, Sweets, it’s okay.”
“Daddy, my ice cream.”
“I know, Sweets, but it’s okay. Accidents happen.”
I pulled her into my arms, wrapping her up into a tight hug. “How about we go get you a new one?”
“Can we just go home instead? I don't feel like being in the outs anymore.”
After placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head, I grabbed her hand and led her back to the truck. It was a good idea to go home. It didn’t escape me that she had called my house home, but I was trying not to get too excited about that.
It didn’t take long for us to drive home after we got into the truck. We had a silent ride, not even a single hum from my passenger princess. I knew that Rebekah was going to fight me, but I thought a nap would be a fantastic idea.
“Come on, Sweets. It’s time for a nap, I think that will help your mood.”
“I don’t want to nap, but thank you for that suggestion.”
Oh, my sweet Little brat was in for a rude awakening if she thought that was a suggestion. She would be taking a nap, even if that meant I had to lay down with her.
“Not a suggestion, brat. Let’s go, you can wear one of Daddy’s shirts again. I think your blanket is still on the couch where youleft it this morning. Go get it and head into the bedroom. I’ll be up in a moment.”
