Total pages in book: 156
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 160192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 801(@200wpm)___ 641(@250wpm)___ 534(@300wpm)
Reaching up with her hand, she sucked her fingers into her mouth. Normally, when she felt like this, she’d search out somewhere small and dark to hide.
But Jared’s arms around her were even better than hiding in her closet.
She felt safe and secure.
So she sucked on her fingers and just tried to blank her mind. Could she slip fully into Little headspace?
Well, she was mostly there.
And if it helped her forget . . .
“Good, she’s awake,” North said.
She turned to look at him. He moved over to them both, cupping the back of her head with his hand.
“I thought I was going to have to wake you up. You need to eat,” Nort told her.
“She’s non-verbal right now,” Jared explained.
North’s eyebrows rose and she felt a pang of something . . . worry? Was he going to think she was stupid?
“All right. That’s fine. I’ll make her some lunch and you can feed it to her.”
“I think that’s a good idea. I’m going to take her to the toilet. Can you also get her some water?”
“Sure.”
Were they going to say anything about Rex? About what had happened?
You could ask.
Yeah, but that would take so much effort. And she didn’t have the energy right now.
“Come on, baby girl,” Jared said. “You must need to go potty.”
Potty? Eek. Did he really just say that?
Why did he call it that?
Well . . . you do need to go.
Yeah, now that he’d said that, she could feel the pressure in her bladder building.
He carried her into the attached bathroom and set her down on her feet in front of the toilet.
She danced around.
Gotta go. Gotta go.
“Sorry, baby. I’m trying to move quickly. But you need to stay still for me so I can unzip you.”
“Daddy!” she managed to get out.
But he finally unzipped her and had her sit on the toilet seat so she could go.
She sighed. What a relief.
She didn’t even care that Jared was in the room. He could leave if he needed to.
When a girl had to go, a girl had to go.
Although when he reached for the toilet paper, she slapped his hand away. It was instinct! She couldn’t help it.
All right, maybe she should have tried to stop herself. But she didn’t think it was necessary for him to help her that much.
Jared gave her a stern look. “You did not just smack Daddy’s hand.”
Umm.
Oops?
She shrugged.
“Baby girls don’t smack Daddy’s hand away when he’s trying to help them.”
Sheesh.
She suffered through the embarrassment of having him clean her up, nearly snapping off his hand as she closed her legs quickly when he drew away.
“Silly baby, don’t you know that Daddy considers it a privilege to help you however he can?”
She bit her lip. He did?
All right, then.
“No underwear, huh?” he said as he redressed her, then washed both of their hands at the sink.
Picking her up, he carried her cradled against his chest into the playroom. North had set up a picnic in the middle of the room and it looked amazing.
But she just couldn’t find much interest in eating. She sighed as Jared sat with her on his lap. Jared grabbed a sandwich and held it to her. She screwed her nose up, though.
“No sandwich, huh? North has got some soup for you.”
Soup sounded better, but it was difficult for him to hold and feed her at the same time.
“Here, pass her to me,” North said. “I’ll hold her while you feed her.”
“Really?” Jared asked.
“Yes, this isn’t completely out of my skill set.”
Jared handed her over and North settled her on his lap. “Hmm, she probably needs a bib. Soup can be messy.”
“Right. I saw one in the bedside drawers,” Jared said, getting up and returning with a bib that looked like a whale.
It was so cute!
She clapped her hands as Jared put it around her neck.
Then he sat and spooned up some soup. It was actually pretty good and she was surprisingly hungry.
Until she started to think again.
Oh no.
No, no.
No thinking.
“No thinking,” North ordered.
It took her a moment to realize that he’d spoken and that wasn’t a voice in her head.
“I can feel you tensing up. Just relax. You’re not to worry about any of this.”
“North and I will take care of everything,” Jared added.
She wanted to ask what they were going to do. Where the rest of Rex was. Who they thought might have done it.
But right now, she wasn’t sure she was ready for any of those answers. So she simply nodded and settled in to accept some more food.
Once she was full, she shook her head and North turned her so he could clean her face efficiently with a wipe.
“All clean.”
“Would you like to play some games, baby girl?” Jared asked. “Or maybe go watch a movie?”
She shrugged, feeling listless and unsure.
“Well, how about we do some building? North got you some Lego.”