Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
As Carri watched Rooker walk away she took several deep breaths, trying to shift into her Big mindset.
“Are you okay?” Lottie asked as she approached with several very full cloth bags hanging from each arm.
“I’m fine,” Carri answered, shaking herself and moving into her own booth space.
“There is more stuff in the car to bring in,” Lottie pointed out as she set the bags down with a sign of relief.
Lottie and Carri had never been super close, but her sister was talking to her as if she were a child, instead of an adult only a few minutes younger than she was. Carri wasn’t sure if she was hurt or offended at the tone. But she’d found her Daddy, so she could be nice, for now.
“Okay.”
Without another word, Carri moved the boxes sitting on their trolley to the floor before pulling the empty cart behind her out of the ballroom. In the parking lot, Tilly stood next to her SUV. Carri blinked when she saw the trunk space was full.
“What did you do, bring everything in the house?” Carri asked as she locked the trolley’s wheels and began to pull boxes out of the SUV and carefully pile them on the cart.
“As a matter of fact, we did. Lottie decided it would be cheaper and easier to get a motel room in town instead of driving back and forth each day. So that meant bringing everything. I just hope we sell enough that we don’t end up having to make two trips to get it all back home Sunday evening.”
“We will,” Carri said, feeling confident. “You might also talk to Rooker and some of the other brick-and-mortar store owners about carrying your clothes.”
“Rooker? That man from yesterday?”
“Um, yes. He owns a boutique store that specializes in items for Littles,” Carri said, not looking at her sister. “Some of the other vendors might be interested in carrying Tilly’s tutus, too.”
Carri could not help but giggle, and felt a spike of happiness when Tilly joined in. At least one sister was in a good mood this morning. No doubt Lottie was tired from brooding about their future and packing the SUV. She really needed a man to take over the worrying for her.
Once they finished piling everything onto the cart, Carri waited while Tilly moved her SUV to the back row of the parking lot. Then the sisters worked together to roll the cart inside. They had less than an hour until the doors opened to the convention-goers.
Since she had already set up her display, Carri helped Tilly load her racks with hanging clothes after Lottie said she did not need any help.
Once Tilly was ready, Carri consolidated the boxes of her stuffies before adding a few more to her table.
Then she collected the empty boxes from all three booths and carried them to the dumpster just outside the back door of the building.
She returned to her table just as the doors opened to the day’s convention-goers.
The morning zipped past with her selling even more of her crocheted critters than she had the day before.
Before she realized it, Rooker was standing beside her booth looking hungry.
Her stomach growled, reminding her that she had not had a chance to eat the apple he had put in her bag for a midmorning snack.
Customers had been crowding around her table all morning and she was having a tough time keeping up with selling items, recording the sales, and restocking the table. She did not think she would be able to take a break for lunch.
Checking on her sisters proved they were just as busy as she was.
“I’m sorry, Rooker, but I can’t have lunch with you,” she said as two Little boys began to argue over who was going to buy a shark, drawing her attention from the handsome doctor before he could respond. “Hang on, guys, I’m sure I have another one.”
She was shocked when the man who wanted to be her Daddy moved behind the table. He never said a word as he sorted through a box and found a second shark.
After bagging both sharks, taking the money their Bigs handed her, and adding the sales to her sheet, Carri found Rooker restocking her table. He then began opening bags and lining them up on the floor so she would not have to fight with them every time she made a sale.
A few minutes later, the luncheon and presentation were announced and the crowd cleared out of the room.
“Thank you.”
“What kind of sandwich and chips would you like?”
“You don’t have to buy me food. In fact, why don’t you join us for lunch? I’m sure my sisters made more than enough,” Carri said, afraid he would think she always needed him to feed her.
“Yes, please join us, Mr. …?” Lottie said from her booth as she pulled drinks out of the cooler under her table.
Carri dug into another cooler, this one full of food, from where it sat on the cart. Tilly rearranged the chairs, and found a fourth one somewhere.
“It’s Doctor, actually,” Rooker replied with a steady smile. “Doctor Rooker St. James. I own the Little Boutique.”
“Oh, I love that place,” Tilly said. “I visit every time I come to town for fabric.”
“You do?” Carri stared at her sister like she had never seen her before. “Why didn’t you ever tell me about it?”
“Maybe because you would never have gone there with us,” Lottie said before turning her attention back to Rooker. “So, Dr. St. James, what are your intentions toward our Carrigan?”
Carri covered her face with both hands as it began to burn with embarrassment. “I cannot believe you just asked him that.”
“Why not? After that last asswipe broke your heart, I told you we would be vetting any man you wanted to go out with next.” Lottie looked annoyed that Carri was interfering with her interrogation.
“Meet and talk to, not interrogate like you’re her eighty-seven-year-old granny,” Tilly said with a chuckle as she handed out sandwiches. “I hope you like ham and Swiss, Rooker.”
Rooker had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing as Carri’s sisters squabbled. Carri kept her head down to hide her face, obviously mortified by their actions.
He was tempted to move her onto his lap so he could cuddle her, but had a feeling that would only lead to more questions from her sisters. Questions he and Carri needed to discuss between themselves before sharing their relationship with her family.
“Ham and Swiss will be just fine, thank you.”
He accepted the sandwich and a bottle of apple juice from Carri’s sisters. As he opened his lunch, he watched Carri pull out her own sandwich.
“Go ahead and eat,” Carri encouraged.
He watched as she carefully tore the crusts off her bread and put them back into the plastic bag before nibbling on what was left.
Once she finished her sandwich, he took the bag of chips from her lap and handed her the apple instead.
“Eat your apple. You can have the chips for dessert,” he said when she looked at him with a frown.
“But we have cookies for dessert,” she pointed out as Lottie pulled out a plastic box full of the sweet treats she had made two days before.
“Then you can save the chips for your afternoon snack, but the apple gets eaten before anything else.”
Carri made a low grumbly growl of disagreement before taking a bite out of her apple. Once she chewed and swallowed, she frowned at him. “Why don’t you have to eat an apple?”
“Because I ate my apple about two and a half hours ago,” he said with a smile as he picked two cookies out of the box Tilly offered him.
He leaned in so his lips were an inch from her ear.
“I will never ask you to do or eat or drink something I haven’t done or ate or drank myself.
I’ll probably even have twice as much since I’m the Daddy. ”
Carri giggled and said, “All right, but you’d better make them save me some cookies,” before taking a second bite of her apple.
Nodding, Rooker plucked two more cookies out of the container and slid them into the plastic bag his sandwich had come out of. “There you go, two cookies saved just for you, little artist.”
“Thank you, Da… um, Rooker.” Carri stumbled over her words as she tried to decide what to call him.
That meant another comment whispered in her ear, so he did not embarrass her in front of her sisters. “I have no problem with you calling me Daddy anytime you want, but I’ll wait until you’re ready to share our relationship with your sisters. Okay?”
“Okay, Daddy,” she whispered back with a grin.
“Good girl.”
He smiled when Carri shivered in response to his praise. Yes, she was definitely his Little girl. Now to battle through whatever gauntlets her sisters would throw up before giving him their blessings.
Leaning back in his chair, he looked from Tilly to Lottie. “All right, ladies, what else do you want to know about me?”