Series: Little Cakes Series by Pepper North
Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 46077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 46077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 230(@200wpm)___ 184(@250wpm)___ 154(@300wpm)
Chapter Fourteen
Soon, he parked in the driveway of her modest, middle-class house in a nice neighborhood. The last time he’d been here, it had been night, so he hadn’t had a chance to look around. Kids played down the block while parents watched carefully. A couple of older neighbors had waved from their porches as they’d passed.
“I guess we’ve arrived.” Sue groaned.
Davis picked up on the discontent in her voice. He wrapped an arm around her waist and squeezed. “Ready to go check out the grandfather clock and pick up some clothes? Then I thought we’d go to the gym. I need to check on a few things.”
“Are you going to work out?” she asked, scanning his body.
“Probably if you’d like to get some exercise done.”
“I need to do some laundry. You could go work out and I could meet you at your house later. You know if you want to…”
“Cherry. Look at me. I want to spend time with you. Today is your day off. If you don’t want to exercise, it’s okay. You could take a book and read in my office,” he suggested.
“My laundry…”
“Your laundry can wait until tonight. I’ll throw in a couple of loads, and we can fold together while we watch a movie.”
“Really? You want to spend the whole day with me?” she asked, her wide smile reflected in her deep brown eyes.
“I want nothing more. I’ll get some fun things for you to do and keep them in my office. What do you like better, crosswords or word searches?”
“Jigsaw puzzles. I’m a master at them.”
When they reached the front door, Sue fumbled for her key, clearly flustered when the keyring hid at the bottom of her bag.
“Let me hold Barbie for you?” he suggested, reaching out for her toy.
“She doesn’t know you yet, Daddy. I’ve got her. I’ll introduce you to her later.” Sue answered, shifting the stuffie over to the crook of her arm away from him.
Davis schooled his face to not reveal his amusement. His Little wasn’t letting go of her stuffie. She needed to have the cute porcupine close.
He took the key from her when she pulled it free and opened the door. “Ladies first,” he announced, standing back and ushering Sue and Barbie inside.
He noticed she was adjusting her jeans as she entered, but he said nothing. She needed to get used to wearing a plug sometimes. He wasn’t inclined to take it out yet, and he was proud of her for not mentioning it.
The large grandfather clock dominated the living room. Sue stopped and looked at it before walking forward slowly. When she reached it, she turned to look at Davis.
“I can’t believe he hid something inside. What do you think it is?”
“Something important to him. He’s been a real jerk trying to get it back,” Davis observed.
“I’m almost afraid to open it.”
“Want me to see what’s inside?” Davis offered.
“No. I’ll do it. I just need to take a second.”
“We have all the time in the world,” he assured her. He watched a slow smile spread across her face.
“This really doesn’t matter, does it? I don’t need to worry about him. Troy has a Mommy who seems to take good care of him. I didn’t know his boss well. She’d just started the new position when I dropped by the office to invite him to lunch.”
“Open the clock, Cherry. Let’s see what’s inside.”
She nodded and turned to the large wooden timekeeper. Sue reached out a hand and tugged at the knob fixed to the center panel. It caught slightly as if it hadn’t been opened often.
Davis marveled at the perfect hiding spot. Who would look inside? Especially when it was tough to free.
She took a step back as the door sprang open. Inside a blue quilt was folded into a bundle and jammed under the clock mechanism. Sue reached in, plucked the fabric from its hiding spot, and carefully closed the wooden panel.
Davis followed her to the kitchen table. He looked around curiously to see the very nondescript environment that his Little had lived in for many years. How had she been happy here?
Sue set Barbie down on the padded cushion of a chair out of the way before placing the object on the wooden surface above. Slowly she folded back the first layer of fabric before glancing up at Davis. “Maybe I shouldn’t open this.”
“Whatever you think is best. This could be your only chance to get some answers. If you’re okay with just resolving this part of your life without knowing, leave it concealed.”
“He totally upended our lives and then tried to bully me into giving him a family heirloom for no reason other than he hadn’t been able to get back in without me being here to supervise,” Sue spat.
Davis knew she was angry with Troy. Not him. He didn’t answer but waited to see what she did. Finally, she tore her eyes from him to refocus on the blanket-wrapped object.