“I don’t know, their children?” she asked.
“There’s another toy shop for children two blocks over. This shop is just for Littles.”
It was? Wow. She hadn’t realized. She looked around her. The shop was pretty quiet, but over in the far corner, there was a woman dressed in a bright blue short jumpsuit. She was holding the hand of the man next to her, swinging it back and forth excitedly while another man bent down to pull out one of those toy dogs that barked and walked and ate. The woman reached for it but the man holding it said something to her. She looked down shyly, scuffing her toe against the floor as she replied. Then the man handed her the toy and she squealed.
Okay, so maybe she didn’t have to be that self-conscious.
“And if you want a sandpit, I’ll build you one.”
“You will?” She gave him a surprised look.
He pushed up his glasses. “Well, I’ll get Aleki to.”
Yeah. That’s kind of what she thought.
“I don’t want you guys to—”
He placed his hand over her mouth. Damn it. She was tired of them doing that. Sticking out her tongue, she licked the palm. He gave her a shocked look. “Why did you do that?”
“Because you’re always putting your hand over my mouth.”
He frowned down at her. “Because you are always talking like you expect to be leaving us.”
She gaped at him. What? “No, I don’t.”
“Yes,” he replied calmly. “You do. You’re always saying you don’t want us to spend money on you or to do something like decorate your playroom or make a sandpit because you think you won’t be here long enough to make it worthwhile.”
Was that why she did it? It wasn’t, was it? Maybe partly it was. Now she felt awful.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t even realize I was thinking that. I just didn’t want you spending so much money on me. And I . . . you’re right. I guess I’m acting like none of this is mine. The room. The house. You guys.” She rubbed at her forehead.
“You’re ours, princess. You need to start believing it. And I like doing this. Providing for you. This is relaxing and you’re kind of ruining it for me.”
She stared at him. “Sorry. I’ll try not to do that anymore.”
“Good.” He nodded and put the bucket and shovel set in the cart. “So, you’ll be grabbing that dump truck and digger you’ve been looking longingly at then.”
Oh. He was so sneaky. But she nodded and added them to the cart. “I don’t know what you’ll get me for Christmas if we’re buying all this now.”
“I’ll leave that up to Santa.” He winked at her.
She grinned. As they walked towards the back of the shop, she heard some laughter. Spotting a big window, she moved closer and looked down at a large room filled with colorful play equipment. There was a huge bouncy slide. Several giant bouncy pillows were set into the floor. A big castle with more slides coming down from it. An enormous ball pit was in the middle of the room. A bubble machine sent bubbles flying through the room.
The laughter was coming from several women and a couple of men running around and playing.
“What’s that?”
Wolfe looked down. “Oh, that’s the Littles play area. If their Daddies want to go shopping alone, they can leave them there. Or they can stay and watch. You can’t see it from here, but there’s a small café and eating area off to the side.”
“Can we go down there?” It looked like so much fun.
“No.”
“Please, Wolfie.”
He shook his head. “Your ankle is still weak. You’re not bouncing around and possibly injuring yourself. Again.”
She pouted. “Please.”