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“These are some ideas we haven’t fully put together yet, just preliminary things that we work on in our down time,” I tell Cleo before taking out my two favorite books of them. We sit there, going through them and the entire time, I can see ideas starting to come together inside her mind.
When I get to the Wonderland Tea Party Maze idea, the smile on her lips grows tenfold. “Do you like this one?”
“I like the maze but not really Wonderland,” she tells me a bit shyly.
“So what sort of maze would you like?” I ask, watching her mouth twitch to the side, serious thoughts flowing through her.
“I don’t know.”
“I promise, no matter what you say, I won’t laugh,” I tell her when it seems she’s hesitant to tell me.
“Well, Uncle Adam and I went to see the new Polly Adventure movie a couple weeks ago. I really liked it, but I don’t think I want it to be a character theme,” she admits, and I can’t stop my smile.
“What if we did Cleo’s Grand Adventure? We can create a maze to get to the treasure, that takes you through a jungle area, a dessert, and a temple to find the treasure chest. We can fill it with goodies, chocolate coins, candy necklaces, rock candy for crystals, and ring pops for jewels,” I suggest, and the way her eyes light up, tells me I’m onto something.
“You’ve seen the movie?” Cleo asks excitedly and I give her a nod. “I loved it, especially the part where they found the mermaids.”
“What if we did a mermaid cake then? It doesn’t have to be an actual mermaid or even have a picture of one on it, but how about the colors swirled on it, or make the sides look like scales with the different colors?”
“Oohhh, that would be awesome,” she agrees, giggling happily with me.
“What would be awesome?” we both hear, turning towards the door in surprise to see Adam there. “I heard excitement coming from in here, so I thought I’d stop in and see what you lovely ladies were up to. I mean, you left me all alone out there,” he adds, and another giggle slips from me, drawing dark eyes my way.
The last thing in his gaze is anger. Oh no, it’s just hot, hungry need and for once, I want to indulge in it.
I take the tablet from his hand as he joins us at the table, seeing what I’d expected in the budget section. I’d usually roll my eyes at the word ‘unlimited’ but this time, it just warms my heart. Knowing that Adam is willing to spend whatever necessary to do something special for Cleo is amazing. That he can afford to doesn’t bother me in the least.
I’ve had more than one guy with money hit on me while we worked on a party for them, and I hated every last one of them. If Adam started blatantly hitting on me, I guarantee I’d be saying yes—likely to anything with the man, which is so not me.
“We were coming up with some ideas for Cleo’s Grand Adventure Party,” I tell him, enjoying the surprise that lights his eyes hearing that. “We were thinking about setting up the space as a maze, which would likely work better indoors than out,” I add seeing the spot where he lists outside at his place or a venue as preferrable.
I can understand that. I hated when we had things at the house and people tried to go snooping around. Dad had the place set up specifically so one of the downstairs wings was just for that alone.
When Julie moved into the east wing, which was where events would take place, Dad put a door up to block off access to the upper floor. It’s where I’m living now, and even being in the same ‘house’ as my parents and younger siblings, I don’t see them every day. There’s a small kitchen in the east wing originally set up for caterers to use during events, but I use it so I can eat and make what I want, when I want it.
Jamison was living in the room across the hall until he finished building his place. It’s further out from even Mom and Dad’s from the city center, in a wooded area. He had just enough room cleared to put in a driveway and security fence—a necessity considering some of the women that go after my brothers to get their hands on the Cartwright money. Then cleared some land for the house which Joe helped design while Jamison built all the cabinetry and furniture himself.
“I have a space in mind that should work, and it won’t be outrageous in cost,” I offer, making his brow lift a hint which only makes me warmer.
“Doesn’t matter how much it costs to me,” he says, and Cleo lets out a little giggle.
“Uncle Adam’s house is huge. It used to be hid dad’s house, but he had it…”
“Remodeled?” I offer seeing her trying to come up with the right word.
“Gutted and rebuilt,” Adam says, pulling my attention back to him. “I didn’t want to live with the old memories of the house I grew up in. They weren’t all pleasant. I’m happy with the way it turned out, especially with having Cleo with me now. I don’t entertain from it much though, which is why I thought a venue might be better if we’re doing something indoors that’s not a sleepover or such.”
“I completely understand. The building I’m thinking about is actually one that I own. I had it built last year to help host events that were too large to fit elsewhere. We’ve hosted several charity events there so it should be able to handle a birthday party with ease. There’s plenty of bathroom spaces, along with areas that we can set up for parents to stay and relax. I’ve got some ideas for a maze running through my head I’ll need to get down on paper first, but I definitely think it’s something we can handle even in just three weeks. Getting it all put together might take a bit longer than we’d have with most venues and I wouldn’t want to disrupt your home to do so either.”
“Alright, that sounds perfect then,” Adam says, looking to Cleo with a grin that’s sweetly parental. “Did you think about who you want to invite to it, honey?”
“If we invite my whole grade maybe some of them will actually show,” Cleo says, her lips turning downward, and it makes my heart hurt.
“We can do that, honey. I think even some of the boys might like to attend with as much fun as it sounds we’ll be having,” Adam tells her, and I smile as she gives him a hug. “I know it’s been a change moving to a new school and not seeing your old friends as much. If you want to invite any of them, just let me know and I can send messages to their parents.”
“They won’t talk to me anymore, not since I said I didn’t like Ms. Tina,” Cleo says softly and the hard look that covers Adam’s face tells me he’s not just mad, he’s pissed at the people hurting his little girl. She might not be his daughter, but she’s his, and it just makes me want to be his even more.
“You changed schools this year?” I ask and Cleo nods, a bit of a smile coming back.
