Page 204 of Giddy Up, Daddy

Why is it his job to read your mind?I argued with myself.

Not wanting to sit there and get in my head about things, I snagged the discarded rope from the floor and looped it around my arm like I'd seen Cade do a bazillion times. I could not sit in that room and think. I needed to be outside. Preferably around animals. The cuter the better.

I made my way back out to the barn to return the rope and check in on Destiny, hoping that Wren was still available to go with me to the petting zoo. Not that I couldn’t go by myself, but I liked Wren, and I wanted to hang out with her and get to know her better. I didn’t tend to make friends out on the circuit because it was like a revolving door, and I didn’t much like the women who were just there to hope to catch themselves a sexy cowboy for an evening or two. And I’d pretty much lost touch with the few friends I’d had in school. They were all married with kids, and I found I had less and less in common with them as time went on. Wren was different, though. She was younger than me, but she had an old soul, and she was smart and knew horses and loved ranch life.

I could love ranch life, too. It could be a lot like rodeo life, aside from living in the bus and being in a new city every week or so. Couldn’t it? Maybe?

“Back so soon?” Wren looked completely shocked to see me.

“Yep. Brought Travis’ rope back.” I lifted it off my shoulder and handed it to her.

“Thanks… but… how are you back so soon?”

“What do you mean?”

She took a step closer and lowered her voice. “If I talked like that to my Daddy I would… let’s just say I would not be out wandering the Ranch right after.”

“Oh… well, he’s not my Daddy. We’re just friends.” I’d already told her a little about my life and who Cade was, so I wasn’t sure if she was confused or not.

“I know, but he wants to be.”

“I’m sorry, what? Why would he want to be my Daddy? I’m not even looking for a Daddy. I’m not a Little.”

“First off, you don’t have to be Little to have a Daddy. There are plenty of Daddy Doms out there taking care of their submissive partners. The Ranch is full of them. Secondly… You’re not a Little?”

I continued my lie. “No. I’m not.”.

“Hmm… my mistake, I guess.” She shrugged. “Anyway, he wants to besomethingto you. That much is completely obvious.”

“Trust me, he doesn’t.” I shook my head. “He has every opportunity, and he doesn’t do anything about anything.”

“So you want more with him, too?” Wren linked her arm in mine and we began to walk.

“I didn’t think I did. Until we got here. Until maybe we stopped being so busy I had a chance to think about it. Until he didn’t handle me the way I guess I was sorta pushing him to today.”

Wren nodded. “I should tell you that you should communicate with him and be open about your feelings. That’s what a responsible person would do.” Wren pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “But I’m not really that person. I mean, I could be if I really tried, but like… if you need a person like that, then maybe you should go talk to Erika. Or maybe evenMrs. Cat. She’s the Ranch therapist, and a lot of the Littles see her for a lot of reasons.”

“I’m not a Little.” Why did she keep saying that?

“Right, right. Not a Little. You sure, though? I usually can read people pretty well, and your whole energy is screaming Little to me.”

Tired of keeping up with the lie, I came clean. At least a little bit. “My late husband and I dabbled, but there is not another soul on this planet who knows that information, so you have to promise to keep it a secret”.

“Pinky promise.” Wren held up her pinky and I interlocked mine with hers. “Thanks for sharing that with me. I knew I was right. You dabbled and you loved it. Right?”

I closed my eyes and prayed for patience that I knew would never come.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

“I loved it more than anything else he and I ever did. But again, that stays between us. And I’m not a Little anymore. I’m too old for that stuff.”

Wren stopped dead in her tracks, forcing me to stop, as well, since our arms were still interlocked. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?”

I turned to look at her as I explained. “I’m too old to be a Little. I’m in my forties.”

She stared at me, slow-blinking like she had no idea what to do or say in that moment. Like all of a sudden I was an enigma that she just could not solve.

“Ripley, and I mean this in the gentlest way possible, what the actual fuck are you talking about?”

---