How to ask v-select to return the select string to use it to run a function from where is it call

So I want to this call

  <ValidWordList
    :items="answer.WordList"
    :labelText="answer.WordList.length + ' Words'"
  
  /></template>

to return the select string from the items array to run this function after a string is selected

function select(word: string) {
  console.log(word)
  answer.value = word
}

and here is the component

<template>
  <v-select :items="items" return string :label="labelText" ></v-select>
</template>

<script setup lang="ts">
export interface Props {
  items?: string[]
  labelText: string
}

const props = defineProps({
  items: {
    type: Array,
    default: ''
  },
  labelText: {
    type: String,
    default: ' Words'
  }
})
</script>

Honestly, I’m not sure what to do and how to make it work and I tried to add @input and @change and emit it back but nothing seem to work