“All right, pink squishy it is.” He picked it up and then took her hand and led her back to the front desk.
Where Bonnie seemed to be caught in a staring match with Titus. Cash often wondered if there was something going on between the two of them. Whether they had feelings for each other.
Finally, Cash cleared his throat as it became obvious that neither of them was going to acknowledge him or Addie.
Bonnie jumped and turned to stare at him. “Oh, hi. Sorry. Didn’t realize you were there.”
Titus sighed. “And that is why you cannot go out playing detective. You have no instincts for it.”
Bonnie’s face fell. Cash glared at Titus.
“I think you’d make a great detective,” Addie said.
It surprised him that she’d spoken up like that in front of Titus.
Titus turned to frown down at her. To Cash’s shock and delight, she stepped behind him. It meant that she trusted himto take care of her. It also meant she was scared and felt like she needed protection.
“Do not stare at her like that.”
Titus raised his eyebrows, not looking at all concerned. But then he huffed and walked away.
“He doesn’t mean to be so grouchy,” Bonnie said. “Sorry if he frightened you, Addie. He’s actually a big softy on the inside. He’s just concerned that I’m going to go do something stupid.”
“Are you okay?” Addie asked.
Bonnie waved her hands. “Me? Of course. Titus is overreacting. I would be an excellent detective. I’d have everything solved quickly.”
Cash wasn’t sure that he agreed, and he knew that Titus and Dante definitely wouldn’t.
“You need to keep yourself safe, Bonnie. No going out and playing detective.” Cash gave her a firm look.
She huffed. “I have the cutest detective outfit,” she told Addie. “I could totally figure out who is creating all of these problems. Just like that.” Bonnie snapped her fingers.
Or, at least, she tried to. Her fingers made no noise as she pressed them together and attempted to flick them.
Bonnie sighed. “Oh, I forgot that I never mastered how to snap my fingers. Huckleberries and blackberries.”
“What?” Addie asked.
“I’m trying out new ways of swearing without swearing, like saying ‘shoot’ instead of ‘shit.’ When I was growing up, I heard so much of it. Every second word was ‘fuck’ or ‘shit’ or ‘damn’ or whatever. I swear I came out of the womb swearing, sometimes I almost think my first word was a swear word. Anyway, Dante never liked me swearing, so I tried to clean up my act. But since I’ve been here, I’ve been starting to get into bad habits, let’s just say. So I’m testing other interesting words that I think might work instead of swearing.”
“And you’re thinking about going down the berry avenue?” Cash asked, feeling amused.
“That’s definitely where I’m going this week. Next week, I might try breads.”
“Breads?” Addie asked.
“Yep, like sourdough. Wouldn’t it be really satisfying when you hit your toe or something and you go, ‘Sourdough’? Ooh, I like that. I think sourdough could work.”
“I really think it could,” Addie told her with a smile.
Bonnie sighed and leaned her forearms on the desk. “I really like you, Addie. You’ve got Bonnie energy.”
“Bonnie energy?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s a good thing. Trust me.”
Bonnie rang up the purchases using his staff discount, which was apparently fifty percent. He’d had no idea, since he’d never actually bought anything from LittleLand before. He should probably check with Ralen, because he wasn’t sure that LittleLand was even turning a profit.
