Page 14 of Milk For His Little

Now that it was time to give him the collage, I was nervous. What if he didn’t like it? What if he thought it was silly?

“You do?” His smile was genuine, and I wondered if I’d been imagining everything from the day before.

I ran and got the picture I made him.

“When did you have time to do this, sweet boy?” He looked at it intently. “This is where I first saw you.”

He recognized it!

“Last night, when I got home. I wanted to do something nice for you.” I tapped the paper. “Turn it over.”

He read the letter out loud. It was short and sweet, but said exactly what I wanted it to. “Thank you for being my best Daddy ever.”

“That’s so sweet...” His voice cracked. He put it down and pulled me onto his lap. But I wasn’t there for more than a few seconds when the timer went off for the last batch of cookies.

“Gotta get the cookies out or they’ll burn.” I hated having to get up, but I’d have hated needing my fire extinguisher more. “We’re having a special dinner.”

“A special dinner? And a present? What is the celebration?”

“Not a celebration. It’s just that I know that you like me to eat healthy, and I was coming home kind of late from work—I got us baked chicken with roasted potatoes and vegetables.”

“And where do the cookies I smell fit in with the healthy balance?” He had a point.

“Balance, Daddy... balance!”

Chapter 12

Shawn

“Bath’s ready.”

Kasper’s fingers were sticky with a mixture of gravy residue and saliva. Even though he’d been wearing a bib, his clothes were stained, and if anyone looked closely, they’d know what he ate for dinner.

He raced into the bathroom, tearing off his clothes. But one look from me and he placed them in the hamper. The shirt would need soaking, but that was for later.

I stuck my elbow in the water to check the temperature and helped him into the tub. He was semi aroused, but I was certain there was something he was holding back.

That made two of us. I hadn’t mentioned my high blood pressure and nothing had changed, as I’d only been taking the pills for 24 hours.

Kasper was usually animated during dinner, but tonight, I’d had to prod him for details about his day. Not that I expected him to be chirpy 24/7, but his slumped shoulders and him pushing the food around suggested there was something bothering him.

Perhaps he was tired because he’d stayed up so late last night making the collage.

I grabbed the boats he often played with and a dinosaur. My boy was obsessed with all things prehistoric. But instead of having the beast attack the boat and the captain perform some tricky maneuvers involving splashing, he rocked the boat back and forth, and the dinosaur slammed into it, sinking it.

“Don’t want to play tonight.” He shivered. “Please get me out, Daddy.”

I dried him off and wrapped him in the towel before scooping him up and carrying him to the bedroom. He snuggled into me but made no attempt to suckle.

“Footie PJs, a sleep suit or?—”

He stuck a thumb in his mouth and pointed to the separates, a pair of plain PJ pants and a top emblazoned with bears. I would have preferred he used words, but the exhaustion was showing on his face.

“Diaper?”

“No, Daddy. I can pee pee by myself tonight ‘cause I’m sleeping in the big bed like a big boy.”

Kasper scrambled onto the bed, and I put his pajamas on. With him under the covers cuddling his bunny, I got the basket of books and asked him what he wanted me to read.

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