Page 58 of Awakening His Daddy

“What’s up?” he asks.

“I’m bored.” I sigh.

“Did your phone finally die?”

“Yeah.” He kept his phone on low-power mode in case of emergency, but I could play with mine because he’s a good Daddy like that.

“Why don’t you go play solitaire?”

“Solitaire is lonely and boring,” I whine.

“I’m sorry, but you can’t help me in the kitchen. You shouldn’t be using a knife with the wrong hand.”

“Hey!” I gasp, thoroughly offended. “The left hand is the right hand, and the right hand is the wrong hand. Scientists say that lefties are in our right minds and more creative.”

“So I’ve heard, but you also can’t use a can opener.” I open my mouth to argue, but I really can’t. I hate those fucking things. “Or scissors.” Again, I want to argue, but I can’t. You would think scissors would work in either hand, but they don’t.

“Fine, smarty pants Daddy, but I can design the perfect Christmas light display for any house.”

“I don’t know.” He shrugs. “I haven’t seen any of your work this year. Maybe you and I could work together to get the cabin decorated for Christmas.”

I gasp loudly.

“I would love that! But you would need to help because…” I hold up my arm.

“Of course. I wanted to go check on the conditions outside, and I’ll grab the decorations too.” He kisses the top of my head and hands me my snack. I put the flashlight down and dig in.

“I don’t think you need the flashlight right now, baby. It’s daytime.”

“I’m not taking any chances. The snow could get really bad again and block out the sun. It already took the power. Why not the sun?”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen, but I won’t say never.”

He walks to the closet by the door and gets all bundled up. I can barely see his face when he’s finally ready.

“I don’t think you should go outside.” The wind is howling and that damp cold feeling is permeating every room but the living room, and that’s only because the fireplace is in there.

“I’ll just check, and if it’s too bad, I’ll come right back in.”

“Okay, but be careful.”

“I will. I need to get back so I can take care of you.”

“Damn right you do.”

“Darn,” he corrects.

“Darn,” I repeat, and then he goes out the door.

I try to focus on my snack, eating slowly, but I’m worried. The wind is so loud I wonder if maybe wendigos are real.

When the front door opens just a few minutes later, I run to find Daddy covered in so much snow, he almost looks like the abominable snow monster.

“Are you okay?” I ask and help brush him off with my good hand.

“It’s really darn cold out there and the snow hasn’t stopped yet. There’s got to be at least three feet and still coming.” He shakes and stomps off the snow. “Everything looks good outside, though. The vents are clear, and the roof looks stable.”

“The roof?! Were we worried it was going to collapse?”

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