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Cricket shuddered and she couldn't tell if it was in dread or anticipation. Maybe both.
“Thank you. That’s the best house warming present I’ve ever gotten," Daddy told the pilot. “I’m sure it’ll get plenty of use.”
“The other girls' do," Mister ’Pollo said. “And I’d love to stay longer and chat about it, but the boss man wants me looking into the best way to construct a runway up here, and researching bigger planes so I oughta hop to it.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
After they’d been living on Enclave for a week, their porch lights flicked on and off. They’d learned that was what people did here instead of knocking most of the time because they didn’t want to wake up a sleeping Little, or in the case of the Hovicks’ cabin, literal baby Sabby.
Everyone had been super nice and welcoming and Cricket thought she’d be very happy here. She was still getting to know everyone, but she felt as though she could already call the other girls friends. Maybe it was one of the girls coming to pay a visit!
“Daddy, may I get the door?”
“Of course, babygirl. And you may stand.”
Oh good. Cricket didn’t mind crawling—she kind of liked it, actually—but when she wasn’t sure who was going to be at the door she’d prefer to be on her feet. It wasn’t that no one knew what went on in a lot of the cabins but still. It was one thing to know and another thing to see. And honestly, it was going to take Cricket a while to get used to the fact that she basically lived at a massive, open air kink club now.
Cricket hopped up and did her best to scurry over to the door but it felt more like a high-speed waddle with her thick diaper. She hoped whoever was at the door wouldn’t notice that her pale cheeks had no doubt turned pink and that her nipples were beading against her sweater. Then again, whoever was there might understand.
Ignoring for the moment that opening the door would let a burst of cold in, Cricket undid the latch and swung the door wide open. And yes, it was cold, but also Gwennie and Mister Gavin were standing there.
“Hi hi! Come in, it’s cold out!”
Gwennie and Mister Gavin accepted her invitation hastily, knowing how much work it took to keep the cabins warm. They stomped their boots off, and stayed on the welcome mat. Daddy came over, no doubt as curious as she was what their visitors had to say.
Mostly Cricket loved living here but it sure could get quiet, and not seeing many people was going to take some getting used to. On the plus side, all the people they did see were friends, and understood their relationship.
“We can’t stay for too long,” Mister Gavin said, “but my Gwennie V wanted to make a delivery.”
A delivery? She didn’t think Mister ’Pollo had flown anywhere today but maybe someone had taken a boat to one of the small neighboring towns?
But Gwennie handed over a green construction paper envelope that had stickers all over, and had her name written on it in very fancy letters.
“Can I open it, Daddy?”
“Go ahead, babygirl.”
Cricket opened the envelope carefully since Gwennie had obviously put a lot of time and effort into it.
Inside was another green piece of construction paper, and it was an invitation.
“‘Cricket is invited to a sleepover at Gwennie’s house on Friday night,’” she read out loud.
Oh, she wanted to go so badly! The other girls would probably all be there and she didn’t want to be left out.
“Um…” She didn’t want to cry when her new friend had done something so nice for her, but the idea of being invited to a sleepover and not being able to go because of her sleep apnea made her mad about it all over again. “I really want to, but—”
Then Daddy was leaning down and talking softly in her ear.
“You can say yes, love bug. I already talked to Gav and Espen about rigging up a temporary generator at their cabin so Beyoncé will still work if the power goes out. But if you’d feel more comfortable sleeping at home, you can go over for the fun parts with the girls and I’ll come get you when everyone’s going to bed. Up to you.”
Daddy seemed too good to be true sometimes, but she shouldn’t let those icky thoughts get in the way of her very first Little sleepover, especially when her Daddy had gone to so much effort to make sure she could join in the fun.
So she beamed at her new friend. “I would love to!”
* * *
On Friday evening, her Daddy walked her over to the Bayards’ house. He’d helped her pack an overnight bag with pajamas and toiletries, and of course she had Bandit with her. A sleepover wouldn’t be complete without stuffies. She also had Beyoncé in her special carrying case.
