Page 29 of Daddy's Pride

After showering, fucking, and showering again, we doze on my bed, cuddling, kissing, and talking until our stomachs complain. We relocate to the kitchen, where I put Harris’s wet, muddy clothes in the washing machine and prepare food while he sits at the table with a laptop, his lips pursed and brow furrowed. His concentration face is sweet.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Putting some advertising ideas together for you, but I’m missing one key ingredient.”

“What?”

“A name.”

“Harris?”

He laughs. “I’m flattered. But I don’t think we know each other well enough for you to name your business after me.”

“I walked into that, didn’t I?”

He holds his thumb and forefinger up. “A tiny bit. I’m guessing the previous owners put up the sign on the road?”

“Yes.”

He half closes his eyes for a moment and shakes his head. “Nope. Can’t remember what it was called.”

“Murphy’s Assault Course Challenge.”

“Huh. Well, that’s boring.”

I bring our food to the table. It’s nothing fancy. Pasta with homemade sauce and a salad. Harris shuts his laptop and pushes it away as I put one of the plates in front of him. I can’t resist leaning down to kiss his forehead. He lifts his head at the last second, so I reroute my kiss to his tender lips.

“Thank you, Daddy.”

Is he thanking me for the food or the kiss?

I sit adjacent to him. “The owner’s surname was Murphy. This used to be a livestock farm, but it wasn’t making enough money, so he sold off most of the fields and built an assault course on what was left. Apparently, he made decent money for a bit, but then he got sick and was hospitalised. He eventually moved into a care home but refused to sell. He had no family, so the property was vacant until he died. Then it was put up for auction.”

“And that’s where you come in?”

I nod.

“So this is a fresh start for you and the property? It definitely needs a new name and a fun logo. I can help with that.”

I put my hand on his arm. “You don’t need to.”

“I want to.”

“Thank you.” I might be starting to believe in luck, fate, or whatever you want to call it. I can’t think of any other way to explain Harris coming into my life exactly when I needed him to.

“Amazing food, by the way. Thank you, Daddy. I can’t imagine you did much cooking in the army.”

I chuckle. “No. Not much. Most of our food was cooked for us.”

“Did you learn to cook before or after?”

“After. When I left the army, I moved in with my parents briefly. They made it their mission to teach me how to cook five good meals. Several cookbooks later and I can make more than five.”

“Impressive. Remind me to thank your parents.” Harris’s face goes bright red. He puts his knife and fork down and waves his hands. “Not that I’m likely ever to meet them. I’ll be out of your hair tomorrow.” His expression falls as he slowly lowers his hands to his lap.

Tomorrow. The thought makes me sombre too.

“I’ll thank them for you, boy,” I say in a forced light tone.

---