Series: Little Cakes Series by Pepper North
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
“This is why you have such huge arms,” she observed, trying to steady the camera. When Evan’s deep chuckle amused her as well, she bobbled the camera and took a shot she didn’t plan. “Oh!”
“It’s okay. Let’s look at it.” Evan moved the display back. “Wow!”
Tori leaned closer to see two gophers in perfect focus playing. One arched backward, caught in the middle of a backflip. Instantly, she loved it. Clapping her hands, she looked at Evan to judge his reaction.
“That is the photo of the day. I want to see that blown up,” he congratulated her as he extended his hands out to indicate something poster-sized. “That’s a once in a lifetime photo.”
“It was an accident,” she whispered.
“Shh!” he cautioned, looking around them as if someone would overhear. “You just tell everyone you had to wait for hours to get that one.”
Tori giggled and nodded. She scooted a bit closer to Evan as he turned the camera back to the wildlife before them. Looking through the razor-sharp camera lens, she’d noticed all sorts of things that she would never have seen. She loved seeing what Evan captured—a butterfly here, a colony of ants carrying leaves, the green grasses reaching for the sun. It was all so beautiful.
“Grab some water, Curls,” he suggested as he finished taking a few more snapshots.
Turning, she opened his backpack and found everything perfectly organized. Easily finding the bottle, Tori joked before taking a drink, “If your spices are organized alphabetically, you’ll have to take me home.”
His laugh reassured her. “Nope. Although it concerns me a bit that you thought of that.” Evan wrapped a hand around her and squeezed her close before stealing the bottle.
“Hey!”
“Thanks for sharing, Little girl.”
As he threaded the cap back on, he asked, “You ready to head back to the car?”
“Sure. This was fun. Can we do it again?” Tori handed the binoculars back and watched him store them in their own reserved spot in the bag.
“I’d love to have you with me. You sat quietly and let the wildlife settle around us. You did great, Little girl. I’d let you be my assistant anytime.”
His praise thrilled her. She hadn’t had any idea what to expect and had just enjoyed the sight around them. Looking at the world through his lens fascinated Tori. She beamed at him as the happiness inside her leaked out. Bouncing forward, she pressed her lips to his. His arm immediately wrapped around her to pull her onto his lap. Heat flamed between them.
“Look, Mommy! They’re kissing!”
The sound of a young boy made them break apart. Tori looked immediately to the ground in embarrassment. When Evan lifted her chin, she met his gaze and giggled when he winked conspiratorially at her.
“Let’s go, Curls.”
Chapter Eight
“Whoa!” Tori flailed her arms in each direction, trying to regain her balance as her sneakers skidded on loose stones. Immediately, Evan risked getting bonked by wild gestures to wrap an arm around her waist and stabilize her.
“Are you okay, Little girl?” he asked as she rested against him.
“I’m good. Sorry.”
“No apologies needed. You didn’t twist your ankle, did you?”
Tori lifted each foot to roll them, checking for injuries. “No, I’m fine.”
“Good. The car is just over that hill. Catch your breath and we’ll set off again,” he suggested, glancing at his watch.
He’s in a hurry. Tori didn’t want to slow him down. “I’m ready. We can go now.”
“Take a few steps and see if you ended up with a rock in your shoes. That always happens to me,” he suggested.
She felt something poke her as she stepped on her right foot but dismissed it as nothing important. “I’m good,” she promised.
Five steps later, that poke felt more urgent. Tori thought about saying something but gritted her teeth. They were almost to the car. She could make it.
A minute later, she gasped in pain as she took a hard step down on what had become a boulder in her shoe.
“What’s wrong?” Evan stopped immediately and ran his hands over her shoulders.
“I have something in my sneaker. I thought it would be okay but it’s not,” she admitted.
As he sank to one knee in front of her, he instructed, “Brace your hand on my shoulder and lift the foot that’s bothering you.”
Distracted as she followed his directions and he slipped off her shoe, Tori didn’t think about what she revealed, “It got in there when I slipped, but it didn’t feel so bad.”
Evan carefully shook a small rock out of her sneaker and felt over her sock to make sure nothing else clung to the material. “So you lied to Daddy when I asked you if you had anything in your shoe?”
“It wasn’t too bad at first,” she rushed to assure him.
“But you felt it immediately after your slip?”
“Well… Yes,” she admitted. “But just barely.”