Page 24 of A Little Spilled Milk

He took my hand in his. I didn’t know if he saw that I needed reassurance or if, since we were away from work, it was fine. But I was glad for it.

A few blocks down, there was a little shopping area. It was indoors, but it was set up like a street fair with all the vendors. We walked through, checking out the different wares.

Daddy bought me a hoodie covered in teddy bears, saying it was going to be chilly this weekend, and I bought a little too much candy. I was going to be sugared up tomorrow, that was for sure. But mostly, we just walked and talked until it was time to go back so he could head to dinner.

I had so many questions and asked none of them. Had she been one of his Littles? Were they maybe on a softball league together and I was misreading it all? Was he more interested in girls than boys?

There was too much to think about, and I didn’t like any of it.

When Daddy left, I pulled out my laptop, turned on my favorite cartoon, and held onto my tiger.

I didn’t know what else to do.

14

EMORY

I counted the minutes until I was back in the room.

It was in darkness, but as my eyes adjusted, I picked out a hump in the bed. Vinnie was huddled under the covers, and when I flicked on a lamp beside the TV, he was clutching his stuffie but didn’t stir.

Usually when I arrived home, my boy either raced out of his place and jumped into my arms, or he’d open my door and greet me as if we hadn’t seen one another in weeks.

I loved his reactions, but him not acknowledging me was unusual, and I guessed it had to do with him meeting Mia. But while I would broach the subject, he had to be honest about his feelings.

“You awake?”

“Just.” His deadpan, one-word response reinforced my opinion that he was upset.

I sat on the bed, but he didn’t turn over, his back sending a message that he did not want to talk to me.

“Sorry I’m late, but I got caught up talking to people.” Glad-handing was an important part of getting new clients and reconnecting with existing ones.

“And was Mia one of those?”

And there it was. Thankful he brought it into the open, I responded with, “Not really. She was part of a larger group, but there were over 500 people attending.”

There was no response from my boy.

“Is there something you want to talk about?”

“No.” He reached for his paci on the nightstand and shoved it in his mouth.

This was going to take a while.

I got up and headed for the bathroom.

“Where are you going?” His voice was laced with fear as he sat up and spat out the paci.

“To have a shower. Did you want to join me?” I shucked off my coat and shirt.

Vinnie flopped back on the bed and rolled to face the window.

“No!”

I sighed and considered getting into the shower, allowing the water to wash away my annoyance. But we had to deal with this now or it would fester and reappear in future.

“Vinnie, look at me, please.”

---