LITMIR.BIZ

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cream outing quickly followed by a knowing smile that they suspected Mitch had an interest in the new girl. And then the response that bothered him most—a tender smile toward his girls that he knew meant “Oh, how wonderful it’d be if they had a mommy in their world.”

      That look pierced his heart. They did have a mommy. She’d been gone only a year and a half. And his girls were doing fine. So was Mitch, for that matter. He simply needed the town to realize that he could have a female employee without it being anything more, that he could take that employee for ice cream without it meaning anything more.

      The string of bells on the door at the Tiny Tots Treasure Box sounded loudly as they entered.

      “Welcome to Tiny Tots,” Mr. Feazell, the store owner, called from where he was settling a dollhouse in the middle of a display. He placed a tiny light so that it spotlighted the house and then quickly moved to the front of the store to welcome his guests. Unfortunately, Mitch saw the older man’s entire appearance change when he noticed Kate holding Dee’s hand. “Well, hello,” he said, grinning. “Who do you have with you today, Dee?”

      “This is Miss Kate,” Dee said. “She likes toys.”

      “You don’t say. Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Kate.” His head nodded subtly. “We’re glad you’re here. Where are you from? And how did you two meet?”

      Leave it to one of the oldest men in town to toss out his filter completely and ask what everyone else was thinking. Mitch prepared to explain Kate’s employee role again, but Kate spoke before he had a chance.

      “Oh, no,” she said, an embarrassed laugh bubbling out with her words. “It isn’t like that. Mr. Gillespie is my employer. I’m working in his office, and he was kind enough to invite me to the square this afternoon with him and his girls.”

      Mr. Feazell had a good deal of snow-white beard covering his face, but even so, Mitch saw the tops of his cheeks redden with embarrassment at his presumption. He shook his head. “Oh, I, uh—” he chuckled “—well, I’m glad you got some help for your office, Mitch, and a right pretty helper, too, I might add.” Yet another testament to the fact that Ted Feazell had no problem saying exactly what was on his mind.

      Looking uncertain about how to answer, Kate simply mumbled, “Thank you,” and then allowed Dee to pull her toward the dollhouse display.

      “Come look, Miss Kate,” she said, and Kate obliged.

      “Sorry about that, Mitch. Thought you had a lady friend,” Mr. Feazell said after they’d walked away. He attempted to whisper, but his ability to whisper had apparently flown out the window at the same time he lost his filter for words, and Mitch saw Kate’s cheeks blush bright pink.

      “No problem,” Mitch said.

      “Doggy.” Emmie pointed to an abundance of stuffed animals lining the entire right side of the store.

      Mitch walked toward the packed bins and tried to spot the one that had caught her eye. He spied a fluffy white puppy with a purple bow and pulled it from the stack.

      “No,” Emmie said, shaking her head and pointing again. “Doggy.”

      There had to be thirty dogs in the overstuffed bin she indicated, and since he wasn’t entirely certain he’d gotten all of the strawberry ice cream off of her hands, he didn’t want to have her running her palm across the toys, but he also didn’t know how he would find the one she wanted. He lifted a brown Chihuahua.

      Strawberry brows furrowed and her lower lip poked out. “No, Daddy. Dat doggy.” He leaned her closer, not close enough for her to touch, but close enough that he could narrow down his selection. It appeared as though she were reaching for either a tiny black poodle or a bulldog that had one of those “so ugly it was cute” looks. He plucked the poodle out as Kate and Dee walked over, with Dee moving to the fairy-tale figures near the Disney display.

      “Trouble picking one out?” Kate asked.

      “Trouble with me finding the one she wants,” Mitch clarified, while Mr. Feazell, standing nearby and watching it all, laughed.

      Mitch couldn’t imagine her wanting the other dog, with its flat face and wrinkles, but he took it from the batch, and then was shocked when Emmie began clapping.

      “Yes!” She grabbed the smushed-faced toy as soon as it was within reach and promptly buried her head against its fur. “Doggy!”

      “That’s the one you want?” Mitch asked, but Emmie simply continued to snuggle and love the new toy. He looked at Mr. Feazell. “I guess that’s the one we’ll take.”

      But Ted Feazell’s hand was over his mouth, his eyes were wide and his head shook slightly as he watched Emmie’s reaction to the toy. “I’m not believing...”

      Confused, Mitch looked from him to his baby girl and then back. “Not believing what?”

      “It’s just that, well, most little girls go for the cute puppies, you know, the fluffy ones, softer fur, that type of thing. I don’t get that many bulldogs in, because girls typically don’t like them, and the boys usually pick something bigger. I’ve only had one other little girl who ever had a fit over bulldogs like that. I remember each time she came in the store when she was little, that was what she wanted. She always said she wanted a real one someday, but she never got one.”

      Mitch’s memory kicked into place, and he remembered his wife talking about the puppy they’d get when Dee was big enough. “Jana?” he asked.

      Mr. Feazell’s eyes watered, and he rubbed a weathered hand across them before nodding. “Isn’t that something? She was just a baby when Jana passed, wasn’t she?”

      “Two weeks old,” Mitch said, and he noticed that Kate had taken a step toward them, her mouth open in surprise.

      “They always say kids take after their parents in what they like and all,” Mr. Feazell said. “Wouldn’t have thought about that applying to toy animals, but it sure does seem to be the case, doesn’t it?”

      “Yes,” Mitch said thickly, “it does.”

      “Doggy,” Emmie repeated, grinning against the animal’s face.

      Mitch held her a little tighter and silently appreciated the fact that she’d obviously taken after Jana in what she liked. How many other things would he see and learn over the years that showed a glimpse of the woman he loved through their children?

      “She likes...what her mommy liked,” Kate said, almost so softly that Mitch didn’t hear, but he looked up and noticed her hand held just beneath her throat as she stared awestruck at Emmie.

      Mitch didn’t get a chance to think too much about Kate’s tender emotion at seeing Emmie’s reaction to the animal because at that moment, Dee cheered, “I found her. I finally found her!” Then she ran toward them from the Disney section holding up her prized find. A tiny figurine...of Snow White.

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