Page 28 of The Grump I Got Stuck With

“Princess is so cute now,” Kenna declared, kissing the top of her head before setting her down. It was so adorable my chest actually ached. “Can we make a necklace now?”

“Sorry, Ken, I think that’s all there was in the kit.”

She frowned, climbing back up the stool to look for herself. Her eyebrows pinched together. “But I want to make more jewelry.”

“Well, even if the kit’s done, I can show you how to make other kinds of jewelry,” I offered. I hopped off my stool, going to the cupboard. Hopefully, Florence wouldn’t hate me. “Have you ever made a macaroni necklace?”

Kenna shook her head.

I found a bag of tube-shaped pasta. “Then you’re in for a real treat.”

While I showed Kenna how to color her macaroni like jewels using markers, she told me all about who would be getting a necklace. Since Alistair already had a bracelet, she needed one for Florence, Uncle Weston, Auntie Lena, Aisling, Uncle Locke, and Auntie Isla. She also wanted to make one for the various pets—Milo, Ranger, and Bonnie. It took me a hot minute to figure out Bonnie was a pony. Once her pasta was colored, I showed her how to thread it onto the string.

“Just like a bead, see?” Her little tongue appeared again, all focus. And as I watched her, impressed at how quickly she caught on to everything I was teaching her, I considered how small her circle really was. Everyone she’d mentioned—minus Aisling and the animals—was an adult. “Hey, Ken, do you know any kids your own age?”

“Yeah, lots.”

“Why don’t you make them a macaroni necklace too?”

She tilted her head back, looking at me sadly. “’Cause they’re not here. We moved away.”

“You mean they were friends from London?”

Kenna nodded. “At nursery.”

“I see.” I’d been around Scotland long enough to figure out that at Kenna’s age, nursery was sort of the equivalent to daycare.

“We had to leave because everyone was mean to Daddy.”

I hated that she understood that. “Who was mean?”

Kenna held up her hands like she was taking a photo. “The ’razzi.”

“Paparazzi?”

She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Sometimes they chased our car.”

“That’s so silly,” I said, trying to keep things light.

She laughed a bit. “Yeah.”

As she returned to her coloring, I stewed in my thoughts. Kenna’s world had shrunk to these echoey castle corridors all because of those slimy tabloids. Despite all the toys in her playroom, she was probably really missing her friends. No wonder she’d been so thrilled when Princess and I turned up.

Given all the trouble he was having finding a nanny, I wondered why he hadn’t enrolled her in a nursery in Braeburn. Maybe he was afraid of the way people would treat her once they realized who her father was. I once again realized just how difficult this move must have been for both of them. Kenna had to be lonely after losing most of her social circle. But moving all the way out here was probably the only way Alistair felt he could truly protect her.

How long would it be before he felt safe enough to open her world up again? She deserved the chance to be around other people. Other kids.

“This one is going to be for Princess!” Kenna announced, holding up her macaroni creation. She held it out to the dog, then frowned. “Oh, it’s too big.”

“That’s okay,” I said. “Let’s make her a paper necklace instead.”

Kenna didn’t look convinced until I introduced her to the world of paper chains, which we elevated by decorating with her stash of glitter glue. For the next twenty minutes, we explored the fine art of making paper loops adorned with glitter blobs. Once Kenna had mastered the loops, I added paper crowns to her inventory, and Princess lived up to her name as we decked her out in all the homemade bling.

“And what do we have going on here?”

I glanced over my shoulder as Alistair walked through the doorway, his eyes drifting across the island. I expected him to look at least mildly horrified at the sheer amount of creativity going on, but he just seemed amused and fond—because of Kenna, of course. I laughed lightly.

Princess raced up to him, but not too close, yipping like she was about to start peddling him cheap costume jewels.