Page 31 of The Captain's Little Girl

CHAPTER11

Buzzing with caffeine and sugar, Cricket delivered her friends to different locations before returning home. Without thinking, she’d driven to Mark’s house. It felt like the place she was supposed to be. Pulling into the driveway, she sat in the car, wondering if she should go back to her apartment as she’d locked the door behind her when she’d left and didn’t have a key.

The rumble of the garage door made Cricket look up. Mark stood in front of the car. Quickly, she stepped out of her car. “Sorry. I was trying to decide what to do. I locked the house when I left.”

“It’s a good thing the other Littles texted their daddies to tell them where they were. I got home and you had disappeared.”

“Oh! I should have sent you a message. I’m sorry,” Cricket apologized for making him worry. “The car worked great.”

“Good. Come in and let’s talk,” Mark directed ominously.

“Am I in trouble?” Cricket asked as she walked inside. Her stomach, already a bit upset from all the sweets they’d eaten, began to twist with worry.

“Take a seat on the ottoman, Cricket.”

Watching him carefully, she tried to read his expression, but it was composed, revealing nothing. “I’m sorry I didn’t let you know where I was. I’ll remember in the future,” she assured him as she sat on the padded round footrest in the middle of the curved sectional. Cricket swallowed hard when Mark sat across from her on the couch.

“First, let me see your keys.”

Without saying a word, Cricket handed over her keys. Mark stood and walked to the kitchen where he opened a drawer and took something out. As he returned to sit on the couch, he threaded a key onto her key chain. It had a blue guard over the top of it that stood out when you looked at the mass of keys.

“Blue like the house,” he told her, holding the keys out to return them.

Cricket exhaled in a rush of relieved breath. “Thanks. I always lose keys on this chain. I don’t know what half of these open,” she confessed.

“That’s not good, baby girl. Perhaps you need to carry only the keys you need and put the others on a spare keychain just in case you need a key.”

“That sounds like a lot of work,” she admitted, rubbing her tummy.

“We’ll work on it.”

“Okay.”

“Second, you left your nursery in a complete mess.”

“We were late to get to lunch. Ember only had so much time on her lunch shift, so we had to hurry,” Cricket explained as she mentally pictured the beautiful nursery, looking like the toy chest had thrown up all over the floor.

The thought of vomiting didn’t make her stomach feel better. Cricket swallowed hard, trying to fight her nausea.

“We will go clean up the mess there in a few minutes,” Mark said before continuing, “You also left the puzzle pieces on the kitchen table. I moved them to a table that I sat up in your nursery so you can finish it.” He seemed to watch her very closely.

“Yeah, I didn’t know what to do with it. We worked so hard. We couldn’t tear it apart to put it back in the box.”

“Notice I didn’t count that one. I should have thought of a table for your nursery.”

“A table will be great. Then, everyone can visit again.” Cricket attempted to break the tension building in the room with a cheerfulness she didn’t feel.

“Third.” Mark didn’t allow her to distract him. “What did you have for lunch?”

“Rosie put together a bunch of yummy things: sandwiches, cupcakes, cookies, milk.” Cricket swallowed hard as she pictured the food in her mind.

“What did you eat for lunch?”

Staring at him, Cricket debated how to answer. He couldn’t know. “I ate the stuff she’d made. Everything Rosie makes is amazing.”

“This is the third and final time I’m asking. What specifically did you choose to eat?”

“Cookies.” The word tumbled out as she remembered the platter right in front of her. She’d munched on cookies as the group had chatted.

---