Page 27 of Deciding for Little Dallas
She smiled at him. “Will you be at the Ranch for Halloween?”
“We will!”
“It’s so fun! You both will love it,” she said. “There are a few Halloween goodies here, and we get fresh cookies and chocolates from Angel’s Heavenly Bakery and Chocolate Shoppe on Rawhide Ridge and they sent some really cute ones over. Would you like to see the cookies first?”
“Yes, please,” he answered, knowing Dallas would die over cute cookies.?
Jackie picked up two large baskets and allowed him to look over the sweets. He selected a bat, a jack-o’-lantern, and a ghost with a bow. “These are wonderful!”
“I thought that ghost was almost too cute to eat.”
He nodded, agreeing.
“We also have some craft kits if you would like to look at those. Each one has an easel, a Halloween image, paints, and a paintbrush.”
Pike followed her to the area with the art kits and picked out two. One had a unicorn with a pumpkin stuck to its horn and one was a black cat in moonlight.
“The unicorn one is popular with the Littles. Apparently, there are several copies for them to color because they like it so much,” she explained. “We have a few beanie boos too. The skeleton is so soft and it glows in the dark,” she told him.
“I will listen to your recommendation and take one skeleton beanie boo.”
She grinned, pleased to have helped him and grabbed the soft stuffy.
“Anything else?”
“Just a question, who do I need to let know I’m having a package shipped here?”
“The front desk. They will have you fill out a form with your room number and when it arrives, Moses will bring it to you.”
“Thank you so much, Jackie, you have been incredibly helpful.”
She beamed at him before leading him to the checkout. Becky scanned all his items for him and placed them in white bags printed with the Ranch logo. At the register, he saw a few bundles of bath toys. Spotting one with a mermaid, he added it to his items. Bitty would probably like some toys for the pool.
“Oh, some Little one is going to be very happy.”
He nodded. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”
“Well, the mermaid in this bag has weights, so she will sink to the bottom of the pool and it looks like she’s swimming. It’s really cool.”
Pike grinned. His little girl would love that.
“Daddy!” Dallas squealed from the carpet of the Caterpillar Room.
She waited until Nanny J gave her permission before she climbed to her feet and rushed over to him. It was on the tip of his tongue to remind her to use her walking feet, but since she wasn’t exactly running, he refrained.
He scooped her in his arms and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Teefs’ body hit him in the back since she was holding the lovie. “Oh, I missed you so much today, Little girl.”
“I missed you too, Daddy, but we were so brave!”
“She did very well indeed today,” Nanny J said.
“Thank you for looking after her and keeping her safe. I’m glad to hear she did well.”
“Teefs also behaved herself. I’m glad to report she didn’t bite anyone and I don’t have a classroom full of zombies.”
Pike laughed. “Well, that is great news.”
“And Dallas is the sweetest Little girl. She used her best manners and played with her new friends so well,” another woman added. Her name tag read Miss Phoebe.?Pike recognized her as the woman who’d called to ask about his Little’s ice cream allergies.
