Page 25 of Guiding Little Gabi

“If you are going to be in the afternoon sun, you will be wearing sunscreen. I’ll run to the gift shop and pick some up. Do not leave this room before I get back.”

The effort to hold back an aggrieved sigh was too hard. “I won’t, Daddy. The girls have to open their gifts anyway.”

“Okay, I’ll be back soon.” With that, he headed out the door.

“I love him, but I thought he’d never leave,” she said to her friends, making sure they could tell she was joking.

“I think it’s sweet,” Pippi said. “Now, did you say something about gifts?”

Lifting the gift bags with each girl’s name, thanks to Becky, gift shop cashier extraordinaire who’d spelled everyone’s name for her, Gabi presented each girl with their bag.

Hayleigh’s eyes rounded. “Holy crap on a cracker! How did you manage all this?”

Gabi’s heart swelled. They liked her gifts, and they hadn’t even opened them yet.

“Sweet!” Wren said. She hadn’t slowed down long enough to appreciate the packaging. She’d torn through all of Gabi’s hard work without noticing it at all.

Wren dumped out six bath bombs onto her lap. It was a good thing they were individually wrapped because she immediately started trying to juggle them.

Sadie, Hayleigh, and Pippi followed suit, each pouring their bath bombs into their laps. Soon, everyone had bath bombs flying through the air, doing their best to juggle and see who could keep the most in motion.

It was all going well until Pippi giggled when Sadie dropped one of her bath bombs. After picking it up, Sadie tossed the ball at Pippi. Pippi ducked, then laughed and threw one back at Sadie.

Sadie ducked, and the ball landed in Hayleigh’s lap instead. “I don’t need white ones,” Hayleigh said. “You take it.” She then tossed the ball at Wren.

What happened next would forever be known as the Great Fourth of July Bath Bomb War. Bath bombs soared in all directions. The girls took cover behind any furniture they could find. Shouts and laughter filled the air until someone threw a bomb too close to the window.

A crash shattered the fun when one of Gabi’s magic glass flowers fell from the windowsill and smashed on the glossy hardwood floor.

Rushing to the window, Gabi fell to her knees, wincing as shards from her beloved glass flower, her daisy, cut into her skin. She shouldn’t have put her magic flowers on the windowsill, but they needed to be out during the day to retain their magic at night.

Sadie ran to her side. “Oh no! I’m so sorry. And look, your knees are bleeding. Wren, can you grab the first aid kit?”

Wren dashed to the bathroom and emerged with a first aid kit in hand. Hayleigh and Pippi retrieved a travel-sized whisk broom and dustpan from the bottom drawer of the stocked kitchenette and began to sweep up the shattered glass.

Gabi tried not to sniffle as Sadie and Wren treated her knee. Her tears weren’t for her scratches; they were for her beautiful magic flower that had been destroyed. She tried to remind herself that she had an entire bouquet of them, but it didn’t help. Each one was precious because it was all she’d had left of Raleigh when she’d run away.

She’d been afraid of the dark for as long as she could remember, but after her kidnapping, she couldn’t sleep at all. When Raleigh found out she wasn’t sleeping, he bought her the glass flowers. They were beautiful, but they were also magical. She left them in the sun during the day, and they glowed in the dark all night, providing her with a beautiful nightlight so she could sleep. They brought her peace and made her feel loved and cared for.

“Do you think we need to take her to the infirmary and have Nurse Cain look at her knees?”

Gabi didn’t like the sound of that. “No, no. It’s just a few scratches. I’m sure it’s fine. There’s no need to go to the infirmary. We’re all ready for the hot tub, and I’m sure the bath bombs will get my knees plenty clean.”

Sadie didn’t look convinced. “I don’t know. My Daddy doesn’t like it when Littles get hurt and don’t get checked out.”

Gabi held her breath. It wasn’t as if they could force her to go, right?

Wren broke the silence. “If she thinks she’s good, I say we let her decide. Besides, if we all go, Nurse Cain will ask how she got hurt, and then we’ll all be in trouble.”

“I don’t want anyone to get into trouble.” That was the last thing Gabi wanted. No one would like her anymore if she gotthem in trouble again. She stood up, doing her best to hide her wince of pain.

“What happened?” Raleigh called from the door. As soon as he spotted Gabi’s knees, he rushed to her side. Noticing the glass from the broken flower in the dustpan, he quickly did Daddy math and figured everything out. “Tell me there weren’t a group of naughty girls throwing balls indoors.”

Everyone began explaining at once. Even Gabi couldn’t figure out what they were saying, and she had been there.

Her Daddy raised a hand for silence. Turning to Gabi, he asked, “What happened, teacup?”

Now she was in a jam. She could either tattle on her friends or tell her Daddy a fib. It was the no-win situation of the century. He must have figured that out, too. Before she could think of something to say, he took over the conversation. “Forget I asked that.” Looking at each of the girls, he continued. “I think we’ll chalk this up as a lesson learned on why we don’t throw balls inside buildings. Yes?”

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