Page 52 of His Sassy Little

“Anything you want, Little Hurricane.” Tanner wrapped an arm around her waist and led her to the car. It seemed his plans would need to wait.

Tanner and Arabella were both pleasantly surprised to find Stone and Sapphire already at the local diner. Ralf’s was known for their incredibly large burgers and their pie. It was most definitely the best pie around, especially if you got it a la mode. They handmade their own ice-cream and it tasted even better than that one most Texans loved with the cow on the label. Personally, if Tanner was going to have ice-cream, he’d head to Ralf’s over the grocery store. Most of the population of Lilton would agree.

Stone and Sapphire gestured for Tanner and Arabella to join them and the couple wasted no time in heading towards their friends. Tanner waited for Arabella to slide into the booth and greeted Stone with a handshake before joining her.

“So?” Sapphire asked, “How’d it go?”

“Fully healed.” Arabella sounded extremely proud of the fact.

“Guess it’s time for a treehouse to be constructed.” Stone sounded amused, “Thanks for that, by the way. Ever since you talked to me about it, Sapphire and the boys have been begging for one of their own.”

“They can come play in mine anytime. They just need the password.” Arabella loudly whispered the last part, holding her hand at the side of her mouth as if doing so would keep Sapphire from hearing.

“What’s the password?” Sapphire bounced on her seat with excitement at the prospect of learning the key to treehouse life.

“You have to guess first.”

“Aw, no fair! You know how bad I am at guessing. Look how long it took me to guess the reason for Spike’s nickname.”

“Ummm, I told you the reason.”

“Right, it took your help to finally get it right. Why would you have me guess?”

The men chuckled at the conversation between the women, clearly enjoying the entertainment.

“Well, I guess I could give you a clue.” Arabella had this look on her face like she wasn’t so sure about giving out clues.

“Oh, that would help!” Sapphire was back to bouncing in excitement.

“It’s my favorite cartoon.” Arabella had a smug smile, she obviously knew it wasn’t going to be a good enough clue for Sapphire to guess.

“Scooby Doo?”

“Nope.”

“Is one guess enough, or do I have to guess again?”

“Okay, okay, twist my arm.” Arabella laughed loudly enough to draw the attention of the few other patrons.

Before Arabella could reveal her secret, the waitress came by and took their drink and food orders. She’d left to put their orders in when Stone asked Tanner, “How’s therapy going?”

“It’s going well. It’s only been two weeks but already I am starting to see small improvements.”

“That’s awesome!” Sapphire exclaimed with yet more bouncing. Tanner began to wonder if the woman ever sat still.

“I’m glad.” Stone piped in, “Any luck with finding out who’s leaking info?”

“Not yet. There just isn’t enough information. We’ll figure it out, though.”

“Yeah, we will.”

The men fell silent for a beat and Sapphire took her opportunity.

“Alright, I need to know this password so I can come play in the treehouse as soon as it’s done!”

“Okay, okay. The password is…”

“Paw Patrol,” Tanner finished for her.

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