Page 42 of Taste Me Daddy

‘Of course. A million times yes!’ Korben said, wrapping his arms around Danny, Louie, and Benji too.

The four Little friends jumped up and down together, and just like that Korben felt a whole heap of pressure and gloom lift off his shoulders.

It wasn’t that all of Korben’s problems had suddenly vanished into thin air. Far from it. But Korben could at least sit down now with his Little friends and experience some normality without being bogged down with any bad feelings or negative thoughts.

As the Littles tucked into their juice boxes, Korben went into his supply closet and returned with a huge sheet of paper that was big enough for all of them to draw, doodle, and sketch on.

‘Yay! I love a group doodle!’ Danny said, eagerly taking a rainbow-colored coloring crayon in his hand and beginning to draw. ‘I’m going to draw… a zebra with wings!’

‘And I’m going to do a seal with wings!’ Louie squealed.

‘And I’m going to do a tiger… with wings!’ Benji giggled.

‘I guess that means I need to do an animal with wings too!’ Korben said, eagerly taking a neon pink coloring pen and sketching out a smiling, winged elephant.

As the Littles continued to enjoy their drinks and snacks as they drew, Korben felt so grateful that he had a wonderful group of friends. Not every Little was so lucky to have a group of friends like he had, and Korben thought about how he might set up a monthly coloring club at his workshop for Littles who might want to make new friends and share their love of arts and crafts.

‘That’s a great idea,’ Louie said, upon hearing Korben explain his coloring club idea.

‘Thanks,’ Korben replied, blushing a little. ‘Okay, can I ask you all a question?’

The three other Littles nodded and immediately stopped what they were doing to give Korben their complete attention.

‘I still want Michael to be my Forever Daddy,’ Korben said. ‘But I don’t know what I’ll do if Korben’s Kandies is taken under by Phillip Neal. If that happened, I don’t know how I’d be able to look at Michael and not remember all the pain that Korben’s Kandies no longer existing would cause me. I know that there’s no real answer now, but I just had to say it out loud, you know?’

‘I know exactly what you mean,’ Louie said. ‘Even when there isn’t an answer, sometimes it helps just to let the words come out. I know that we can’t do anything about Korben’s Kandies, but I promise you that we’ll always be here for you.’

With that, Korben and his friends took their stuffies and had the biggest, snuggest cuddle possible.

Korben might not have found any answers, but he did feel loved by his Little friends and that in itself was worth more than anything money could buy.

After a long snuggle and then finishing off the animal sketches, Korben’s friends eventually left the workshop.

While Korben certainly felt better for having seen his friends, he couldn’t shake the overall feeling that all still was not right in his life. Korben hated the fact that he and Michael had fallen out, and he also couldn’t forget that his business was very much under threat from Phillip Neal.

In a moment of impulsiveness, Korben picked up his iPad and began to type out a message to his mother. They spoke fairly regularly, but Korben tended not to ever get too deep with his mom given the strain that dropping out of a legal career had caused between them.

With Korben’s mom having had such a distinguished legal career, Korben always knew that not following this path himself would cause friction. The fact that Korben dropped the law for making candy somehow made it even worse in his mom’s eyes, and there was no denying that they hadn’t been as close in recent times.

But even taking this into account, Korben found himself typing away in the hope that his mother would receive the message and perhaps offer at least some comfort…

Mom, I know it’s been a minute since we talked. I met someone. I think he’s pretty special. Well, I don’t think – I know he is. But that’s not why I’m messaging today. Urgh. I don’t know how to say it, but my business is under threat. It sucks. I don’t know how I’d cope if I had to start again from scratch. I’ve put so many hours into this, working late and night and at weekends too. I know that you worked super-hard in your career too. And I accept that making candy isn’t the same as working in the law, but I truly give it everything I’ve got. I’d love for you to come to the workshop and see what I’ve built for myself. Well, if I still have a workshop once all of this is through. *Sigh* I don’t even know what I’m expecting by writing you like this. I think I just wanted to vent to my mom, you know like the old days? Anyway, I love you Mom. Me XoXoXoXoXo

Korben hit send on the email and felt a weight lift off his shoulders. Even though he didn’t expect a response any time soon, Korben was glad to have shared his problem with his mom.

Back in high school, Korben’s mom would always make time to talk about the week over brunch every Sunday. It was Korben’s favorite time of the week and he sorely missed it.

‘Maybe me and Mom will have a Sunday brunch again one day…’ Korben mused.

Then, out of the blue, there was a knock on his workshop door. Surely it wasn’t the Littles coming back for more fun?

As Korben approached the workshop door, he felt his heart miss a beat.

Could it be him?

I’d do anything to make it happen.

If I just open the door and see Michael’s face looking back at me…

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