Series: Little Cakes Series by Pepper North
Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45110 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 226(@200wpm)___ 180(@250wpm)___ 150(@300wpm)
He tugged Tori over to the display of unstuffed animals. “What a choice! Look at all of them carefully. What’s more important, color or softness?”
“Softness,” she answered without thinking.
Tori picked up each choice to see what it felt like. Some were definitely plusher than others or had small decorations in the fur that she didn’t like. She had it narrowed down to two, a pink dragon and a blue elephant.
“What a hard decision,” Evan observed. He had stood patiently as she eliminated all the others. “Which one is your absolute favorite?”
“Coral,” she said, pointing at the pink dragon.
“Then, we get Coral today, and when you earn a reward, we’ll come back to get…” he paused expectantly.
“Bluebell.”
“We come back to get Bluebell. How does that sound?” Evan asked.
“I like that.” She smiled at him. “Thanks for helping me think through the decision.”
Tori carefully placed Bluebell back in her bin and pet her for a moment. “Don’t worry. I’ll come back to get you as soon as I can, Bluebell.”
When she turned around, Evan held Coral in one hand. He pointed at the large number two and held out his other hand for her. Forgetting where she was, Tori skipped to him and linked her fingers with his.
At the next section, she carefully chose a lavender scent and a pink heart. There were other options, but Tori had researched all the choices before. She knew what was important to her.
At the stuffing station, Tori whispered she wanted Coral to be squishy, not hard.
“Of course! That’s how I like them, too,” the teen worker answered.
At the very end, the employee asked, “Did you kiss your heart?”
“Oh, no! I forgot!” Tori carefully pressed a kiss to the material.
She hesitated and then turned to Evan. “Would you like to kiss Coral’s heart, too?”
The smile that spread over her face surprised her. She was having so much fun. Evan took the scrap of material and pressed it to his mouth before handing it to the young woman, who quickly finished with Coral and held it out to Tori.
“She’s beautiful,” Tori whispered.
“Next step, clothes.”
“Maybe a T-shirt?
“Let’s go look. What did you like online?”
“I liked the sparkly shoes. I want to see if they’re as pretty in person.”
“Let’s go look.”
Evan ushered Tori over to the next section with a hand on her lower back. He searched the racks with her, looking for the shoes. They were nowhere to be found. It didn’t look like Coral would get to try them on.
“Ta dah!” Evan magically produced them from the back of a rack of boots.
“You found them. They’re so pretty,” Tori exclaimed.
“Coral needs these,” Evan decided as he passed the shoes over to Tori to examine. “Now, what goes with those shoes?”
He pulled out a T-shirt and a pair of jean shorts. Evan held those up to Coral and asked, “What do you think? I think she needs something fancier.”
When Tori nodded, he put those back on the correct racks. She was glad to see that he didn’t just put them on the closest pegs for the employees to straighten out later. Tori liked that he thought of others.
The next outfit he chose thrilled Tori. It was a flouncy skirt in a rainbow fabric that matched her fur and a sparkly silver halter that matched her shoes.
“That’s perfect. But we don’t have to get everything,” she began as she looked at the racks to check the prices.
“It’s Spoil Tori Day today. No prices,” he reminded her.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, Curls. Let’s go check out so you can take Coral home.”
He steered her toward the cash register. Placing all their selections on the counter, he asked the owner, “Could Tori dress Coral while I pay?”
“Of course. I’ll snip off the tags as I ring things up,” Rose offered.
By the time Tori had Coral outfitted in her new clothes and shoes, Evan had taken care of the purchase. Tori placed Coral carefully into the special Stuff-It shopping bag and Evan escorted them out of the store.
Chapter Four
Watching Tori peek repeatedly into the shopping bag to make sure Coral still stood inside it made Evan’s heart melt. He’d filed away that she lived with her brother. That was unusual for her age.
“I think we have frozen yogurt with special toppings next on our list. Are you and Coral hungry?” Evan asked.
“We don’t have to get sweets. That place is so expensive.”
“But yummy,” he added. “Remember today is Spoil Tori Day. Making you happy makes me feel good. Come on, let’s go. Want me to carry Coral?”
He watched her hand tighten on the handle and move it a bit closer to her body before she answered politely, “No, thank you.”
He immediately understood that the Little girl wouldn’t be separated from her new stuffie. Evan took her free hand and headed toward the frozen yogurt shop. To keep her from worrying, he asked her a question, “Did you grow up here in town?”