Page 48 of Daddy's Little Matchmaker

Connor glanced at Tessica, unsure if that had been Gwen reluctantly complying, or if it had been Gwen pushing for more.

“Is that the way we set things down?” Tessica asked pointedly.

“Sorry,” Gwen mumbled. She gently righted the puzzle box, and set the clay and watercolors beside the box.

“You are on thin ice,” Tessica warned. She pointed to one of the four kitchen chairs and added, “That’s your spot. Sit down please.”

Gwen sat down with a pout.

Tessica looked at Connor. “Everything good, or did we need to check in?”

“Check in?” Gwen asked.

“Since this is the first time Daddy Connor and I have played together, we may need to go into another room to check in with each other a couple of times today.”

“Oh.” Gwen seemed a bit confused, but not upset by the concept.

“I’m good if you are,” Connor said.

Tessica nodded. “Great. Will you set the table while I grab the food?”

“Sure,” Connor agreed. He got out plates for all of them, pleased with the way things were going so far. Gwen seemed like the perfect Little for them to try this out with because she clearly wasn’t shy about telling them what she wanted.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Tessica set a water bottle at each of their spots next to the plates that Connor set out.

“Can I have soda?” Gwen asked.

“Sorry, all we have is water.”

“Ick,” Gwen muttered, making a face.

Tessica ignored her, knowing very well that Gwen liked water. She unwrapped all three sandwiches to make sure they were all the same; turkey on whole wheat with mayo, mustard, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and tomato. After confirming they were, she put a sandwich on each of their plates, and added a bag of regular potato chips next to each plate before sitting down.

“I don’t like crust.” Gwen crossed her arms.

Tessica knew that wasn’t true either, but figured she’d let Gwen have that one in the hopes that it would mollify her enough to stop complaining. “Okay, I’ll fix it.” Tessica took Gwen’s plate, got a knife out, and carefully cut the crusts off and threw them away before putting the plate back in front of Gwen. “There you go, sweetheart.”

Gwen frowned at the sandwich. “I don’t like whole wheat.”

Tessica sighed. “I’ve seen you eat whole-wheat sandwiches dozens of times.”

“I don’t like it today.”

“That’s enough,” Connor said sternly. “Eat your lunch, or no crafts.”

Tessica’s stomach did a little flip-flop at Connor’s tone, even though the words weren’t directed at her. She wouldn’t have been quite so stern with Gwen yet, but she didn’t disagree with Connor’s statement, so she simply nodded in agreement.

Gwen’s head whipped around to face him. “What? That’s not fair! I’m not hungry!”

“Then don’t eat the chips,” Connor said.

“You can’t make me eat my sandwich!”

Connor shrugged. “I wouldn’t dream of making you eat anything. I’m simply stating a fact. If you don’t eat at least half of your sandwich, we won’t do any crafts this afternoon.”

“That’s mean!” Gwen’s face flushed with emotion. “I don’t like whole wheat!” She shoved her plate away hard enough that it slid across the table and bumped into the puzzle and knocked it down.

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