Page 27 of The Griffin, the Tiger, and Their House Cat Omega

And unlike any school play I’d been in, there was no program for me to even cheat. Her surprise was truly going to be a surprise.

“Do you think they forgot about her?” Matthew whispered.

“I don’t think anybody can forget about Flora,” I murmured.

She, for sure, wouldn’t let them.

The play continued, and finally, it was time for the bow at the end—and still, we hadn’t seen her.

First, the princess. Then the dragon. The dancing flowers.

And on and on they went—until the final person came up.

The rock in the center of the stage, one I didn’t even know was a person, stood up, walked to the front, and bowed.

“That’s our girl,” Allen whispered, squeezing my knee.

Sure enough—she was the rock.

It was adorable and fabulous—but also not at all what I was expecting, not with the way she had been going on and on about her play.

They had us pick the kids up on the stage—one parent only—while the rest of us were directed out. The crowd was just too deep.

It took a while for me to get up there, but when I did, she was beaming—especially when she saw how pleased I was with her performance.

“Bet you didn’t even know it was me. I was such a good actress.”

“You, my sweet girl, were the best actress,” I assured her. “I had no idea that was you. None! I kept looking, thinking, is she the dragon? Is she a flower? I knew you weren’t the princess because the princess was much taller than you, and you’re not good at stilts.”

She giggled. “I haven’t tried any stilts, Uncle Daddy. But maybe…could I get stilts?”

I 100 percent blamed myself for that one.

The guys were outside waiting for us, Allen already having brought the car around. That’s how long it took to get through the crowds.

“So, what do you think—ice cream for the wonderful performance?”

“I never say no to ice cream!” she declared as she buckled her seat belt. “And because it’s a special occasion, maybe I can get sprinkles.”

I bit back a smile. She always got sprinkles. But she always made sure there was a reason she was allowed sprinkles because sprinkles were special.

“Sprinkles galore,” Allen said, already driving to an ice cream parlor far away from the school, so we wouldn’t have to deal with the crowd.

We stood behind a family with a few little kids, including a baby in arms.

“That’s gonna be us,” Flora said.

I didn’t quite understand what she meant. But then it was our turn, and we ordered our ice cream, and I kinda forgot about it.

When we went back to our seats, she lifted her cone, gathering more sprinkles than ice cream on the tip of her tongue.

“What do you think?” she asked.

“Delicious?” Matthew guessed.

“No, Matthew Daddy, I didn’t mean sprinkles,” she corrected. “I meant the baby. Can we get one of those?”

And suddenly, her other comment made sense.

---