Page 132 of Daddy's Pride

Never had hot water felt better than it had right then. As I stood beneath the spray washing away the remnants of the day, it hit me how lucky my boy and I were. We found each other at the right time and now had friends to share our lives with. Had the other Daddies not been here to help the party would’ve been a disaster with that mishap. That wide-eyed boy staring at me, covered in flour. Now it was funny, then, not so much. The laughter hit me hard. Those two little imps were coated like floury clowns.

Chapter Eleven

“Look, Daddy, I’m a sloth.” I crawled super-duper slow across the playroom floor toward my stuffies who all were lined up and waiting for me to play with them.

“Yes, you are, silly boy.”

When I finally reached them, I scooped them up and crawled on top of my puppy-paw bed and laid them down. “There, now you’re safe from the evil jungle monster.” Sloffers wasn’t scared but Kiki was, so he held his friend tight.

Daddy was sitting at my tiny table.

“You’re silly, Daddy.”

“Me? Why?”

He was too big for it, but that wasn’t nice to say.

“Just ‘cause. What’s for dinner?”

“Hot dogs, tots, and grilled zucchini.”

Normally, I didn’t like ‘chini ‘cause it got mushy when you cooked it. But Daddy grilled it just right and made it yummy.

“Are you ready to eat?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

Daddy tried his best to make me happy. He knew I was sad about the store I worked at closing. It was the only job I ever had, and my boss was really nice. I’d get a severance package since I’d been there a long time, but I would miss my friends and some of my regular customers.

“Let’s clean up and then Daddy can feed you.”

We made a great team and had my room cleaned up and my stuffies tucked into bed in no time.

“Jamie…”

Ut oh, no shiny star or sweet boy. What did I do?

“Am I in trouble?”

“Quite the opposite. I know your job is ending and I’m sorry you’re sad, but before you find another one, I’d like for us to take a vacation.”

I sat at the bar and watched as Daddy got everything ready to grill. “A vacation? Like a real one where we go somewhere outside of Nevada?”

Daddy’s smile was back. “Yes, outside of Nevada and we’d be gone for a week. What do you think?”

I ran fast and jumped up, and Daddy caught me and swung me around like we were in Dirty Dancing. “I think it’s great and I’m super excited. Can I bring Sloffers? And Kiki? We can’t forget George and Patty.” I still needed to name the rest of my stuffies I got for my birthday last month but that was a lot to do.

“Maybe only one or two if you can? You might find new stuff you want while we’re gone, and you’d need room in your luggage to bring it home.”

“Okay, Daddy. I can do that.” It would be hard, but Daddy asked nicely.

“Perfect, we’ll leave the day after your last shift.”

Something told me Daddy had planned this for a while now.

As the week went on, one by one my work friends left as we ran out of things to sell and they were let go. My boss Sylvia, another manager Dean, and I were the last to leave and we decided to go out to dinner after we locked up the store for the last time. It was fun but still sad to say goodbye. We said we’d keep in touch, but that doesn’t always happen.

“Is that my shiny star?” Daddy said when I got home.

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