Learning to Trust - M.A. Innes Page 0,28

a track, but I have to keep putting them away.”

Ah.

Glancing around the room, I shrugged, pointing to the far side of the living room. “What about if we shift all the living room furniture about a foot this way and make a permanent space for them? Now, fair warning, Destin will ask about the trains, and while I won’t force you to share, he’s going to be a pest unless you let him play too.”

Keeping him away would be a nightmare.

Morgan giggled again. “I’ll share and I don’t mind him knowing about it. But just let me know if you have a party or want to invite anyone else over and I’ll put them away.”

“Of course, but I can’t think of anyone I’d invite over.” Having a lot of people in my personal space wasn’t something that I would enjoy.

He smiled. “Like a date?”

I winced before I could stop myself. “That’s not something you should worry about.”

Dating and I did not agree with one another.

I could see the questions behind his eyes, but he just nodded and changed the subject. I was grateful for it, but I knew that with him opening up about his personal life, questions would only be fair.

“And I can watch cartoons out here?” He glanced over at the TV. “Not just grown-up stuff?”

I shrugged. “I spent a year watching Destin get caught up on all the kids' programming he missed when he was actually a kid, so that won’t be an issue.”

He smiled. “Thank you.”

He was surprisingly cute like this.

Not that I was planning on admitting that to anyone.

“No problem. This is your home too and you should be able to enjoy it.” Pushing away from the door, I took several steps and glanced over at the clock on the stove. Eight was too early to head to bed, but he’d been working hard all day without being little.

“Why don’t you go grab a shower and put on whatever pajamas you like to wear when you’re little, then we’ll find some cartoons for you?” Again, the silence had me turning toward Morgan. “You don’t have little clothes?”

That seemed to be the first thing the littles online purchased. Every blog started off talking about their first cute outfit and first toys they bought to be little.

Wait.

“If you sleep in only a diaper, we’ll have to figure something else out because that’s really not appropriate for the living room, but I’m sure we could find something to go over it.” Hell, I could borrow something from Destin. He and Morgan were about the same size.

His eyes just kept getting wider.

It was slightly startling, but eventually he started shaking his head and found his voice. “No, nothing like that. I mean, I don’t…I haven’t…I have pajamas I can wear.”

I’d sort through the details of what he said later, but for the time being, I nodded. “That’s fine. Go grab a shower, and while you’re getting ready, I’ll reheat one of the brownies for you.”

His wide eyes that time were from excitement, thankfully. “Dessert? With ice cream?”

I couldn’t help wincing, but I nodded as he giggled. “Yes, a small amount.”

Grinning, he nodded and dashed off toward his room. There was a lightness in his step I hadn’t seen before. It made me curious about what else would change. Coming out of his room more was my first guess, but I knew there would be other things as well.

At least he’d be getting more sleep and the takeout would slow down.

Hmm.

If he didn’t know how to cook, then if I wanted to encourage better choices in his freebie meals, I needed to make sure there were easy options in the pantry. Leftovers to quickly reheat and a few freezer meals might work too.

I was going to have to do a bit more research on being little. Surely there were other grown-ups who’d needed to get littles to eat better.

When Morgan dashed out of his room and toward the bathroom, I knew I’d have to get started on his dessert or he’d be finished before I was. Heading into the kitchen, I started thinking about easy breakfast options he could grab before class as I made dessert.

The brownies were already somewhat healthy, so I didn’t feel too bad when I put a small scoop of ice cream on the top. But if we were going to have dessert on a regular basis, I needed to come up with some better alternatives.

By the time I had everything ready, the water was off