Page 80 of Ask Your Mom If I'm Real

I had a feeling my grandmother wouldn’t like this, but I knew my nieces would.

I picked up four, even though I only had three nieces.

The patter of footsteps continued on, and I watched her run over the short shelves, gauging where it was that I needed to turn for her to show me what was next.

We did this for lollipops, peanut brittle, and even fudge.

The woman I couldn’t stop thinking about since last night walked in, and I watched the little girl go running back to the back room.

My brows rose when I heard Merriam say, “Anleigh Reese.”

The little girl stopped.

“What are you doing out here? You know that you’re not allowed out on the floor without me,” she said.

“Papa’s screaming,” she whispered.

I visibly watched Merriam’s shoulders slump.

“I’m sorry, baby. I know he scares you,” she whispered. “Come here.”

Anleigh ran toward Merriam, and Merriam bent down to pick her up and cuddle her close to her chest.

It was right then and there that I realized it was possible to fall in love with two people in twenty-four hours.

Two sets of beautiful eyes, one brown and melty, and the other one piercing baby blue, looked at me with the same expression. Interest.

“Hi,” I said as I waved at the little girl.

And maybe who I assumed was her mother.

Merriam’s smile was sweet, but the movement caused her to wince, and the smile to fall.

My stomach twisted.

“This is my daughter, Anleigh,” Merriam said quietly, her eyes quickly glancing at the door. “She’s not allowed to be out here, because my dad freaks out. He thinks kids make selling candy harder.”

I doubted it.

“Yeah, I don’t tend to agree,” I responded. “She kept me company and showed me everything I needed to buy.”

Merriam’s eyes widened.

“I…”

“Will take everything,” I finished for her. “I have nieces that need stockings filled.”

She placed the little girl on the counter beside the register and started to ring me up.

When she went to put the fourth huge sucker into the bag, I took it from her and handed it to the little girl.

The little girl shyly took it from my hand and brought it to her chest.

Her fingers brushed the front of her outfit showing a child holding a similar lollipop.

“Those are very pretty,” I told the young girl.

She smiled bashfully and looked at her sucker.

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