Page 115 of Skylar

“Certainly.”

“Are we able to take this with us today?” Aiden asked.

“Yes. You just have to choose the color of dog and the skating outfit you want, and I will assemble it for you. We can also put an insert in it if you want to record something.”

“Oh, that would be nice, but we’ll have to figure out what we want to say.”

“Well, while you discuss that, let me bring out our dog options and our selection of clothes for an ice skater.”

“Should we sing a song?” Aiden asked when Elena had left them.

“What song?”

“MaybeJesus Loves Me?”

Skylar hummed it quickly, then nodded. “I think that would be really nice.”

“I’ll just have you come over to this other side,” Elena said, leading them to a room that was set up much more like a working area.

On a large table, she’d laid out an assortment of unstuffed dogs, as well as some skater outfits.

“I really like this white one,” Aiden said. “It’s unique, and it will match the unicorns.”

“Plus, it’s white like snow, so it goes with the ice skater theme.”

“So white?” Elena asked. Skylar looked at Aiden, then they both nodded. “Now, on to the outfit choices. These are the ice skater options. I’ve also pulled a couple of our ballerina ones because they could also work for this. I’ll let you look them over while I fill this little girl with fluff. Did you want to record a message?”

“Yes. We’d like to sing a song.”

Elena smiled as she turned to pick up a small white box. She showed them how to record the song and how to play it back. “If you’re not happy with it, you can record as many times as you like. It replaces the previous recording each time.”

“Okay. Thank you,” Aiden said as he took it from her.

“I’ll leave you to do that while I fill the dog.”

“Let’s do the song first,” Skylar said once Elena had gone into a small room at the back of the space. It had a large glass window, so she could still see them, but she probably couldn’t hear them.

“Are you sure you remember it?” Aiden asked.

Skylar crossed her arms. “You’re older than me, so I think that question applies more to you than me.”

Aiden grinned as he lifted the small white box, then motioned for her to come closer. “We’ll need to be close to this or it’ll sound like I’m singing a solo.”

“Let’s rehearse first so we don’t have to do a bunch of run-throughs.”

Not surprisingly, they both remembered the song. Singing with Aiden reminded Skylar of the times they’d stood side by side to sing in worship services or with the youth group. Aiden had a nice voice, and hers wasn’t bad either.

It took a couple of tries before they were certain enough that they wouldn’t be messing it up. They sang the first verse and the chorus, then ended the recording with them both saying they loved her.

“I think that’s perfect,” Aiden said. “What do you think?”

“It’s good. I hope she likes it.”

“I think she’s going toloveit. I’m going to need to come back and get one for Willow.”

“Yeah. I would have loved one of these when I was younger.”

They turned their attention to the outfits, and after a brief discussion, they settled on a light blue tutu style skater outfit and a pair of silver skates.

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