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"Thank you Mr. A," Paula said sweetly and Mr. Argent actually smiled.
"You're very welcome." He then turned to Malcolm and told him curtly, "Feel free to bring Paula with you any time you need to. She's welcome at the office."
"Thank you so much," Malcolm said as Mr. Argent surprised him for about the tenth time that day.
Chapter 3
It was Paula's second day at the office. She was less nervous this time, giving Amy at reception a little wave. To Malcolm's surprise, Paula looked kind of disappointed when she saw that Mr. Argent wasn't in his office. She wasn't disappointed for long. Mr. Argent arrived just as Malcolm was setting up Paula on the floor with her coloring books and pencils and some stickers.
"Good morning, Malcolm. Good morning, Paula," Mr. Argent said, greeting her like she was another of his employees.
"Hi," Paula whispered as she glanced up at him and smiled then she got engrossed in where to stick her stickers on the coloring book page.
Malcolm worried that Mr. Argent might think he had too many kid things for Paula spread out on the floor, but it was the opposite. Apparently he didn't think they had enough. "Is that all she brought with her?" Mr. Argent asked, making him feel like he was shortchanging Paula.
"I think that should keep her busy," Malcolm said. There were like five or six coloring books in the stack. That was plenty for five or six kids.
"Doesn't she have a special toy? Or maybe you didn't bring it," Mr. Argent said, turning to walk into his office. "You can bring anything you think she needs."
As Malcolm followed him in, he said, "She doesn't really have anything like that. Coloring books seem to be her favorite thing. She can't get enough of them."
"I thought all children had that one special toy," Mr. Argent said as he sat behind his desk.
"She and her mom moved around a lot, she had to leave stuff behind," Malcolm said and that was just a small part of what Paula had to deal with in her young life. She had definitely beenshortchanged. Malcolm got her different toys, but so far she kept them lined up all together at the foot of her bed, but hadn't gotten especially attached to any one of them.
"Oh. Should we take her to lunch and then shopping so she can find a special toy?" Mr. Argent asked. He was starting another day by surprising the hell out of Malcolm.
As it got close to lunchtime, Mr. Argent was ready for a break and for them to take Paula shopping. It was so unlike him to want to take a lengthy break in the middle of a work day, Malcolm had to wonder what got into him. He wondered if he felt sorry for Paula, and that in turn made Malcolm feel like a bad uncle.
Mr. Argent wanted to take them shopping before going to lunch so their first stop was a department store toy section. Malcolm's shopping philosophy was get in and get out. His parents never had much money, maybe that was why he didn't have a knack for it, but he didn't think Mr. Argent did either. Mr. Argent seemed lost and like he just wanted to escape the store. Malcolm almost reminded him that this was his idea.
Malcolm was paying more attention to Paula though. He had noticed that when they went to the store, she didn't ask for anything. To figure out what she wanted, Malcolm had to pay attention and see what she stared at the longest. Since this was a toy section, she liked a lot of things. But she stared the longest at a stuffed toy in the shape of a blue cloud.
"Is that what she likes?" Mr. Argent asked coming close to Malcolm, maybe too close. The man smelled indecently good. Still, Malcolm couldn't let himself be distracted.
"Let's see," he said then asked Paula, "Do you like that cloud toy?" "I like him. He's Mr. Cloud," she confirmed then started to put it back on the shelf.
"You named him, now we have to buy him," Mr. Argent said and his gruff voice made Paula look a little worried. Mr. Argent gave her a smile to reassure her.
"We'll be taking Mr. Cloud home with us," Malcolm told her and he took the toy off the shelf again.
Paula looked happy but Mr. Argent didn't think they were done. "She should have a cute bag to carry her things," Mr. Argent said as Malcolm thought they would be going to the register. "You had her things in a grocery bag."
Mr. Argent was eyeing him with disapproval, so Malcolm sighed and said, "OK, let's find a cute bag."
They found a shiny backpack with a butterfly design in purple, but it didn't end there. Though Mr. Argent seemed completely lost in the toy section, he still found stuff that Paula had to have. There was a doll that came with several hats. That was a must have. Then there was a colorful bird that lit up and slowly flapped its wings.
None of these were things Paula asked for because she never asked for anything. It was all Mr. Argent. Malcolm was a little jealous because it seemed to him that his boss was better at helping Paula find things she liked than her own uncle.
"It's usually kids that have to be dragged out of toy stores before they try to buy everything in sight," Malcolm grumbled as they were going to pay.
"I'll pay for all this," Mr. Argent said but Malcolm couldn't let him.
"Oh, no, but I appreciate the offer," Malcolm said. At that, Mr. Argent's face fell so Malcolm relented, "OK, you can buy her Mr. Cloud."
Now Mr. Argent looked more cheerful but he also realized, "It's the least expensive of all the things you're buying her." He was right, but it also turned out to be the most special.
Mr. Cloud was the toy Paula was hugging as they went to lunch and then back to the office. They arrived just as Candy was dropping by with some papers and to say hi. Candy was a good friend of Malcolm's and the daughter of one of Paula's babysitters, Mona, but she still hadn't met Paula. Maybe she was afraid she would be roped into babysitting. She had told Malcolm that she was allergic to responsibility and warned him not to expect any babysitting services from her.
