Chapter 4
Chapter Four
“Are you in trouble with security?” Lottie asked the next time they both had a break in customers. Carri was busy with a Little boy trying to convince his Mommy to buy all three stuffies he hugged to his chest.
“Not that I know of. Why?”
“Because that security guard has been at your table four times since the ballroom opened this morning.”
“He helped me put the rack together in the parking lot this morning,” Tilly said, not telling her sister about the sketchy man Carter had run off.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to share too much with her sisters. At least not until she figured out if there was anything developing between them. Then, and only then, would she allow her sisters to meet and interrogate Carter like she and Lottie had Rooker during their lunch break.
“Uh-huh. And that’s why he’s watching over you like a Daddy watching his babygirl taking her first steps,” Lottie said before walking away.
Tilly wanted to argue with her, but she couldn’t because Lottie was right. Carter was watching her much more closely than he was any other vendor in the room.
She also did not point out that the man from the booth across the aisle from Lottie must have an incredible sweet tooth. He’d made three separate purchases so far, each time lingering to talk to her sister for longer than was necessary for such a small transaction.
For the moment, she would keep her opinions to herself and focus on Carri and her new man. And the convention of Littles and their caregivers.
She smiled as people walked by, but did not speak. This was not her first such sales opportunity, and she’d quickly learned that she could say good morning or afternoon, but any other conversation would drive potential customers away. Especially if they were Littles and at their first convention.
Finding Carter in the crowd became her between-customer activity. As people bought tutus, skirts and t-shirts, she added new ones to the display, but her thoughts remained with Carter and what he might want from her.
Would a dinner with the man be just a dinner, or would it lead to more?
Was he a real Daddy? Or was he just a poser looking for a woman to play with for the weekend?
She stopped herself because she did not like the way her thoughts were growing dark and decided to turn things around in her brain. The easiest way she knew to do that was to give into her Little for a minute while hoping she didn’t look like a fool.
Moving to the center of her booth where there was a little more space, she extended her arms to the sides, closed her eyes, and began to turn around and around. She felt her tutu lift and fly around her as she continued until she made herself dizzy.
Only then did she stop turning circles and opened her eyes. She wobbled and had to take a step to keep on her feet.
“Tilly! Are you all right?” Carter asked as he rushed up and grabbed her shoulders.
She looked up at him and smiled, her emotions back in the lighter end of the spectrum. “I’m fine, thanks.”
“And why were you spinning around so much you made yourself dizzy?”
“I was resetting my emotions,” she said simply.
She hoped he wouldn’t ask for a further explanation because she wasn’t sure she could make one that someone who wasn’t a Little would understand.
Carter stared at her for a moment before nodding. “Resetting your emotions, huh?”
“Yep,” she said, with a pop at the end of the word. “Twirling around and around helps me get rid of the yucky dark emotions and find the pretty light ones again.”
Carter nodded as he seemed to think about it. “I may have to try it the next time I find myself in the dark yucky emotions.”
Tilly nodded. “You should. It really works fast.”
“All right, but next time, maybe don’t twirl quite so long that you’re stumbling dizzy. Okay?”
“Okie dokie, smokie,” she said with a giggle.
“I’ll see you at closing,” he said as he booped her nose. “Be a good girl.”
“Yes, Sir,” she said with a soft giggle.
She watched as Carter walked away again.
“Who is that man?” Carri asked from her booth. Tilly walked over to her younger sister, not wanting to talk too loudly about the policeman-turned- security-guard.
“A man I could see being my very own Daddy,” Tilly said softly.
“Really? You do look good together. And he doesn’t seem to care that you’re wearing a tutu and a t-shirt with a unicorn on it.”
“Yeah, isn’t that cool?” she said with a giggle.
By the end of the day, Tilly had decided that if Carter asked, she would be very interested in seeing more of him. And if he wanted to be her Daddy at some point in the future, she would like that very, very much.
Carter clocked out in the security office and spent a few minutes talking to the men coming on duty. Once they agreed to call the police about anything problematic instead of trying to handle it themselves, he headed down the hall toward the ballroom.
The convention attendees were gone for the day, and by the time he stopped at the open door leading into the vendor’s room, he saw most of the vendors had already left as well.
Tilly and her sisters were huddled together talking, so he waited before trying to catch her eye.
She saw him and gave him a smile that had warmth pulsing through him.
Yes, she was indeed the woman he wanted to claim as his own.
When he took a step in her direction, her eyes widened and she shook her head and tilted her head toward the parking lot.
He nodded and headed outside. He went to his car and stood beside it as he watched the back door of the convention center, waiting for Tilly to emerge. She and the candy-making sister emerged a few minutes later. They looked tired as they headed across the nearly empty parking lot to their SUV.
Carter frowned when he saw Bob approaching them. The homeless man had become more of a problem lately with his panhandling. Maybe it was time to do more than just shoo him away from people with threats.
Maybe it was time to actually put him in jail for a day or two.
Carter started walking toward the man, but when Bob grabbed Tilly’s arm, he ran.
“Give me money!” Bob demanded, roughly shaking Tilly.
Since he was a good half-foot taller than she was, and had a good thirty or more pounds on her, Tilly was having a hard time trying to escape his hold.
Carter reached them as fast as he could and forced his way between them, forcing Bob to release her. “What the fuck are you doing?”
The man smelled worse than usual, and his skin looked more sallow than normal. Was he getting sick?
“She owes me twenty bucks and I want it now,” Bob said as he tried to reach around Carter to get to Tilly.
Carter took several steps forward, forcing the man to move back, away from Tilly and her sister.
“I’ve called the police!” one of the security guards called, waving his phone as he approached. “They’ll be here in a couple minutes.”
“No!” Bob said. “No more cops. I ain’t going to jail. All I want is the twenty bucks she owes me.”
“Bob,” Carter said, holding tight to his patience, “she doesn’t owe you twenty dollars. You didn’t do anything to earn it.”
“I helped her.” Bob pointed at Tilly. “Didn’t I, missy? I helped you this morning.”
Carter kept his eyes trained on Bob as he continued slowly moving him away from the women and their SUV. “No, Bob. You didn’t help her. I helped her put her rack together.”
With that, Bob blinked and frowned, clearly confused about the morning’s events.
Before he could try and argue his way out of it, two police cars pulled into the parking lot behind him.
Carter waved the officers over and in just a few minutes Bob turned his attention from getting money from Tilly to trying to figure out why they were putting him in the back of one of their cars.
“Book him on the usual vagrancy charges, and see if he’ll go to the hospital for another evaluation. If not, keep him in holding for the weekend,” Carter said to the officers. “And someone needs to collect his gear from under that tree. We don’t want him accusing anyone of stealing from him.”
“Yes, sir,” the senior officer said.
With that taken care of, Carter was able to focus on Tilly and her sister.
“Are you two all right?” he asked as he approached them.
“Tilly? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Thanks for rescuing me again.”
“I’m sorry about Bob. He’s been diagnosed with early onset dementia, but refuses to allow anyone to help him.
We’ll keep him secured for the weekend so hopefully he won’t bother you again.
” He frowned, then added, “The convention center and your hotel aren’t in the safest part of town.
You’re lucky I was here. Please be careful, and try not to be outside the either of them alone if you can help it. ”
Tilly nodded. “We are so lucky you were here, and we’ll be careful, and try to use the buddy system from now on. Thanks again. Oh, and this is my sister, Lottie. We’re going to that new restaurant, Comfort Food, for dinner. Would you like to join us?”
Before Carter could answer, Lottie stepped half in front of Tilly, crossed her arms and glared at him. “Are you stalking my sister?”
“Excuse me?”
“You apparently stepped in this morning with this Bob person. You stopped by her table a half dozen or more times during the day and you don’t appear to have a Little girl.
And now you’re saving her again from Bob, so I have to think you’re stalking her so you can be her hero or something.
So the question stands: Are you stalking my sister? ”
Carter had to fight back a grin at Lottie’s accusatory tone. While he might not mean to be stalking Tilly, from her sister’s perspective it probably looked like he was.
Looking Tilly in the eye, he returned her sister’s question with a question of his own. “Would that be such a bad thing if I were stalking you?
Tilly blushed as she slowly moved her head side to side. “No, I don’t think it would be a bad thing.”
“Would you like to join us for dinner? That way we can get to know you better.” Lottie stepped in once again before Carter could do something Daddyish, like take Tilly in his arms and cuddle her for the next few hours.
Carter blinked and took a step back so he could see both women at the same time. “I’d be honored to have dinner with two such lovely ladies. I’ll follow you, if that’s all right.”
“That’s fine,” Tilly said with a smile that had Carter’s heart beating just a touch faster. “We’ll see you there.”