She knew her punishment was going to be tomorrow. Charlotte just had a feeling.
"Can we hang out tomorrow? I don't have any meetings," he said.
"Okay."
She didn't know what else to say. She wanted to hang out with her Daddy, but she didn't want to get her punishment.
"You know you're getting a punishment tomorrow. You broke a rule, and it can't go unpunished," he said.
"I know." Charlotte's voice was so small.
"It's going to be okay. After the punishment, all is forgiven," Daddy said.
Not all would be forgiven because he didn't know about the other things she had kept from him. He didn't know, and she was going to feel guilty until he found out or until he wasn't her Daddy anymore.
Charlotte didn't know if she could feel guilty the whole time he was her Daddy, and she didn't want him to not be her Daddy. She loved it, and she couldn't see herself with anyone else.
"Okay, well, you need to go to bed," Daddy said.
She didn't want to hang up and not talk to him anymore.
"I'll be at your house at nine in the morning," he said. "Don't eat breakfast ‘cause I'll make you some."
"Okay, thank you," she replied.
"Good night, little one."
"Good night, Daddy." Her voice sounded so sad.
Neither of them hung up.
"Do you want me to come over, little one?" he asked. "You sound sad."
"I'm okay. Just tired. I'm going to take a bath and then go to bed."
Daddy took a breath in. "No bath. I don't want you to slip in the tub when I'm not around. Take a quick shower, and then go to bed."
"Okay, Daddy."
She could see where he was coming from. One time Charlotte had overheard a conversation at BTS. The Daddy had said his little one had taken a bath while he was right next to her, and she slipped. The little froze and didn't come up for air but stayed under water.
Charlotte didn't want that, and it scared her. Any time she had taken a bath by herself, the water was so low that if she had slipped, her face would still be above water.
It wasn't fun to play in water that was so shallow, but she didn't want to drown.
"Good night, little one. I'll see you in the morning," Daddy said. “Don’t forget to plug your phone in before you go to bed.”
"Good night, Daddy," she replied.
Daddy hung up the phone, and Charlotte let out a sigh. She didn't want to get up, but she knew she needed to go take a shower and get into bed. She didn't want to add on to her punishment even more by not getting eight hours of sleep.
Charlotte got up from the couch and made her way toward the bathroom. She had placed clothes in here before she left for work because she knew once she got home she wasn't going to want to.
"Maybe I can just skip my shower," she whispered to herself. "No, no. I smell so bad. Baked goods and coffee. I don't want my bed smelling like that."
With her mind made up, she turned on the shower to the right temperature before she stepped in. She washed her hair first before she moved to her body. As she rinsed off the soap, the water turned off.
"That's odd," she mumbled.