Series: Little Cakes Series by Pepper North
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44951 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 225(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
After dawdling in the warm spray, Rose dressed quickly and added her normal touch of makeup. She caught a glimpse of the bag and thought about other things from home she needed to bring. Not bring from home, she corrected herself. Suddenly, her lonely apartment didn’t feel like her home anymore. She wanted to be with Adam. He felt like home.
Remembering her Daddy said he’d made space in a few drawers for her, she shuffled over to the dresser and opened three drawers before she discovered the empty ones. She grinned as she realized he’d cleared out lower drawers for her. They would be easier to get to.
She was so excited to be staying here that she grabbed her bag and unpacked her things into two of the drawers. “There,” she declared when she finished, clapping her hands together. She turned toward Ruff and cocked her head to one side. “Is this happening too fast, Ruff? I put my things in a drawer. That feels like a huge step.”
Ruff simply smiled at her, so she assumed he was pleased with the arrangement. He liked Adam. She was sure of it. After all, Adam had been the one to ensure Ruff had a home and was loved. If it weren’t for Adam, Ruff might still be an unstuffed pelt in the lonely store. No wonder Ruff was so happy.
Catching sight of the time, she ran to pick up her stuffie and dashed down the stairs to find her purse. As she locked the door and headed to her car, her phone buzzed. She jumped into her car before pulling it out to read the text.
Little girl, are you safe?
Quickly, she typed back to him.
Sorry! I forgot to text you. I promise I didn’t slip and fall and hit my head in the shower. I’m perfectly fine and I’m headed to the store.
I’m glad you’re safe. By the way, one.
There was no time to answer him. Rose needed to drive. She wondered what he meant by one and tried to set a mental reminder to herself to ask when she reached the mall. Speeding through the late rush-hour traffic, Rose forced herself to concentrate.
Arriving later than usual, Rose parked and hurried into the mall. Larisa waited for her at the door. “Sorry! The roads were completely at a standstill in several places.” With that half-truth serving as her excuse, Rose unlocked the store and ushered Larisa inside.
Rose threw her purse into her office and jumped into action. It didn’t take long for the two women working together to fill the cash register, restock a few items of clothing, and don their festive Santa hats. Immediately, she thought of the newest Little Cakes cupcakes. She should bring each of the employees one to sweeten their last payday before Christmas.
The day flew past. Rose glanced at the clock and knew that Adam’s day at work had finished. She liked thinking about him at home waiting for her. Smiling, she turned back to wait on the next customer.
A couple of hours later, Larisa emerged from the back rooms with an armful of sacks to replenish the supplies before she left at the end of her shift. “I think your phone is buzzing in the office,” she reported to Rose quietly.
“I’ll call whoever it is back later,” she assured Larisa and continued ringing up the next customer lined up in front of her.
When she had time to grab a bite of the sandwich that should have been lunch, Rose checked her phone and found a few worthless emails, two missed calls from Adam, and the messages—Two and Three.
Frazzled, she didn’t have time to worry about the messages until she left the mall at the end of the night.
Several hours later after locking up, she found Adam lounging against her car. One of the teenage boys from the pack she greeted every night stood a short distance from the muscular man. Their body languages appeared tense as if it were a standoff.
Quickly, she called, “Hi! Is everything alright? Someone didn’t hit my car, did they?”
“Do you know this man?” the teenager demanded.
“Yes—of course. This is my… my boyfriend,” she filled in, hoping Adam would understand her using such a vanilla word to explain their relationship.
“Oh!” The teenager assessed her face and figure as if wondering if older people could actually date.
“Thank you for watching out for her,” Adam commented, obviously unconcerned by the grilling he’d gotten after taking his position to wait for her at her car.
With a nod, the young man drifted back to his friends, looking back a few times to double-check that she was okay.
“Sorry,” she said quickly.
“I’m glad he’s keeping people you don’t want to talk to away. That took a lot of courage to approach a grown man,” Adam observed.
“I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m ancient,” Rose marveled.