Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77812 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 389(@200wpm)___ 311(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
No.
To suck on his thumb.
“I’m glad we have our plan worked out.” It would be a relaxing way to fill up our time since my mate was wonderfully organized and had all of his possessions packed neatly.
With his Daddy’s help, of course.
Being able to provide him with spells that would help his storage requirements had made me the best Daddy ever according to my mate.
“You’ve done a very good job of getting organized, so I think a reward is in order.” That didn’t get his thumb out of his mouth but his mind was filled with the question mark that ended their written language.
“No more questions. Littles don’t worry like that.” As they floated around like balloons, I did my best to picture one and popped it like we were in a cartoon. Wren’s laughter at my poor attempt of imagination escaped around his thumb and had him crashing into me as he started popping bubbles in his imagination.
By the time we made it back to the motel, he’d cleared all the questions from his mind and had relaxed into a mostly nonverbal presentation that was much less anxious than his more grown-up one had been.
That had been exhausting to watch and it had not even been my stress.
I wasn’t sure if it was our bond, my role as Daddy, or just my own emotions influencing it, but I could feel my own stress going down as his did. The only difficult part of it was deciding when to be quiet and when to chatter like a human.
“Can you sit at the table for me?” I was glad the room came with a small space for eating, but I had to admit jealousy for the others who had a full kitchen.
Then again, I would’ve been tempted to try to learn how to use their appliances if they were readily available.
“Cooking as a human can’t be as difficult as Kenzie made it sound.” Frowning as Wren giggled, I huffed as I was supposed to as I started setting out our food. “I have traveled the stars, my mate. I can defeat a stove and make food like a human.”
Wren’s happy sounds turned teasing and wicked as an outdoor fire sprang up in his mind. “You can cook like that?”
Would fire or a stove be more difficult?
I could make fire a variety of ways but I’d never thought to cook like that before.
As more question marks started floating around his head again, I did my best to guess at his intention. “Well, I’m often invited to others’ homes because of my role and I will admit to eating out at our local version of your diner. However, I can provide for my mate and make appropriate meals.”
Just not anything resembling a dino nugget or mac-n-cheese.
He popped some of the question marks but there were still several left. Wondering what else I could tell him as I got his cup for water out of the refrigerator and put his milk in it, I made the thinking sounds he found funny and dished out our food called meatloaf and mashed potatoes. “We have similar food on my world, a ground meat kind of loaf and a root vegetable that we mash. The texture is slightly different, though.”
What else?
“I do not have dino nuggets made from chicken but I can make you nuggets made from dinosaurs.” It wouldn’t be hard since he’d explained their contents. No. Ingredients. “Should they be shaped as chickens?”
He found that just as funny as the children on my world would probably find chickens. But his snickers and the food being ready got his thumb out of his mouth, so it was productive as well. “Your Walmart store had them in letter shapes. I remember you showing me those.”
Additional context made them make more sense.
“Klynn appreciates the dino shapes, however, so their original form might be best.” Being a Daddy instead of being little might make my views on the subject slightly unhelpful. “Here’s your fork. Do you need help?”
He shook his head as he took the utensil, but I watched him closely when he still didn’t see the need to speak. “Good boy.”
Giving him a kiss, I sat down beside him and kept up the chatter. “We’ve got food that is similar to types of soup served in the diner.”
A picture of Kenzie popped up through our bond.
“Yes, he wouldn’t like that at all but I think everyone else will be fine with it.” Nothing in our records indicated they should have issues with our food, but we had asked everyone about known allergies since many of their families had bred with humans in the past.
Cupcakes popped up with the question marks.
“No, we don’t have those but we do have similar cakes. Ours are usually denser and not as sweet, but I think that’s a preference not a difference in our baking ability.” The question marks wiggled as he took a bite of his potatoes. “I remember my mother putting in too much of the ingredient we use to make baked goods rise and the cake was very fluffy. It was closer to a human style of cake and she said it was ruined.”