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She desperately wanted to say, “Yes, Daddy,” but wow was that not an option. Especially not after he’d said he sees naked bodies all the time. So Cricket nodded.
It was strange to have another person brush her teeth. Doctor Pierce was a lot more thorough than she ever was, certainly, and it made her feel helpless but in a nice way. A Little way.
“Where’s your floss?”
“Oh. Um…”
The stern expression on his face was like a physical manifestation of his voice before. “Don’t lie to me, Evelyn. How am I supposed to take care of you if you don’t tell me the truth?”
It was squirm-inducing to be called out like that.
“I…I don’t floss.”
“Well you do now.”
There was a spark of temper inside her—who was he to tell her what she would and would not do? He wasn’t her Daddy, he couldn’t boss her around. Not to mention that it wasn’t as if he was going to be around in the future to see whether she flossed or not. What did he care anyway? But despite all her yawning, there didn’t seem to be enough oxygen in her blood to fan the flames, and she just stood there as he pulled out a length of floss and wrapped it around his fingers. Much like he had her wrapped around his finger, whether he knew it or cared.
“Open wide for me. That’s a good girl.”
Chapter Six
After he’d brushed her hair and washed her face, he gave her some privacy to use the toilet. That she would’ve put her foot down for. Doctor, schmoctor, she didn’t need someone who was basically a stranger watching her pee.
When she was done, she came out of the bathroom to find Doctor Pierce waiting in the hallway.
“Are you all set? Do you need anything else?”
Cricket wished he’d just show her to the guest bedroom and be done with it, but that didn’t seem to be how this was going to go. And she was missing an essential.
“I need one more thing. You have to promise not to laugh.”
“I promise.”
People had said that before and they’d been lying. But in his line of work, Doctor Pierce had probably heard a lot of wild things and had to keep a straight face so his patients didn’t feel bad. She’d just have to hope he could do the same for her so she wouldn’t feel too self-conscious.
Cricket skittered downstairs and Doctor Pierce trailed after her to the door where her duffel still sat. Reluctantly, she pulled her pig stuffie out of her bag and held him to her chest. There was no hint of disgust on Doctor Pierce’s face, or any signs he was holding in a laugh so that was a good start. Cricket probably would’ve cried if he’d teased her—her composure was hanging by a thread, and Doctor Pierce unknowingly making her feel Little wasn’t helping matters any.
“This is Bandit. I’ve had him since I was a kid and I can’t sleep without him.”
Her mom had given her Bandit when she’d asked to have a pig of her own. Her grandparents and her dad had been very matter of fact about life on the farm. Sometimes they could even come across as cold, which she understood and could respect more now. A farm wasn’t a charity; everyone had to earn their keep including the animals which meant if they weren’t good for work, they had to be good for milk or meat or eggs or wool. But at the time, it had been her mom who gave her the stuffie and told her she could keep Bandit forever, because the pinkish-brown stuffed animal would never be any good for pork or bacon or ham.
Doctor Pierce nodded. “Then let’s get you and Bandit tucked in. You’ve had a long and stressful day, and you were already exhausted.”
He picked up her half-empty bag in one hand and put the other on her lower back again. She almost giggled at how close his hand was to her butt, but if he asked what she was laughing about, she’d disintegrate from embarrassment. Luckily, she kept it together as he showed her upstairs and to a bedroom next to the bathroom where she’d gotten ready.
She’d expected a guest bedroom, but the space he showed her into looked very…lived in. It was neat but somehow felt like it wasn’t empty most of the time.
“Is this your room?”
“Yes,” he said simply as he deposited her bag next to a nightstand that had a lamp but no clock or pile of books like the other side did.
“Don’t you have a guest room?”
“No.”
What? She could’ve sworn there were more doors on the hallway. What was behind all of them if there wasn’t another bedroom? Cricket almost died when he folded the corner of the covers down on his own bed. She hadn’t thought…
“I can’t sleep with you!”
