Page 21 of Lakeside Little
More adults needed to co-opt napping as a whole. It wasn’t right that it belonged in the activates reserved for toddlers. But as a little, I was well within my rights to nap whenever I pleased, and often, I would nap right away lunch, but since being at the cabin and spending so much time and excitement over discovering something new with Jack, I hadn’t had much time to really nap.
The magic of napping as a child was always that you would wake up somewhere completely different, usually in bed. And this time was no different. I didn’t remember falling asleep, but I recall waking up in bed with my scrap of blanket scrunched in a fist.
It was eight in the evening. I woke to my shorts taken off, but my t-shirt still on in bed. It was just as well because I absolutely hated how sleeping with a belt on made my belly feel.
Diego was in the living room sat by my doll house. I watched from the bedroom doorway for a little while until I saw what he was doing, and I let out a coo. He turned to see me with two pieces of wood in hand as he was fixing them together.“Hi,” he said. “You were a little sleepyhead in the car.”
“But I’m awake now,” I said, tugging the front of my t-shirt down over my crotch. “What are you making?” I stepped over on my tippy toes as if I had to be quiet.
“I’m trying to see if I’m able to make something for your house,” he said. “It’s supposed to be an extra room coming off this wall here. But I’m not sure if these scraps of wood will work.”
I shook my head. “You don’t have to,” I said. “If you want to, you should do something completely yours. Because this one is kinda trash, it always breaks, and it’s mostly made of that wood that crumbles.”
“Thin plywood,” he said. “I noticed because the one I got was thicker.”
“Not the only thing you’ve got that’s thicker.”
“Oh, feeling a little naughty?”
I giggled, it was impossible not to giggle post-nap and have a hot, handsome Daddy flirt with me, and yes, I considered him trying to build something for me flirting. “I’m just trying to say thank you for being so sweet and kind.”
“Well, if there’s ever anyone, I wanted to be sweet and kind to, it’s definitely you,” he said, cupping my chin and cheek with his now soft hand. “I hope you’ll want to keep seeing me once all this is over.”
“I don’t think you have much choice in the matter,” I said, wiggling my head around in his hand. “You kinda promised me a doll house, and I’m not sure about you, but when someone says they’re going to do something like that, it’s almost a commitment to see them again.”
“There’s one thing about me, I’m committed, maybe too committed, you know, because of the whole job thing, twenty-five years and—well, I’m ready to think about anything but that now.” He kissed me. “So, what type of house do you want?”
I puffed out a raspberry in a guffaw. “How much time do you have to listen to me?”
He looked to his wrist, pretending there was a watch on it. “I guess until the end of time,” he said. “I’ll never tire of hearing what you’ve got to say.”
“Well, then, let me tell you about Horatio Lovebite, he was the first action figure doll I ever owned, and started out as like an army guy, anyway—”
“Love bite?” he asked.
“Let me tell the story.” It didn’t just come back to me randomly. Diego reminded me of him, maybe because of the muscles and the black hair and way Horatio’s drawn on bodyhair looked like that of Daddy Diego’s, but the story itself came to me because of the love bite he’d left me near my nipple. Horatio never managed to do anything like that. “So, I was practicing hickeys on my arm, and my mom caught me, so I blamed them on Horatio.”
“Not where I thought that was going,” he said. “What happened to him?”
“She told me to put a muzzle on him.”
“Did you?”
I shrugged. The details after the core memory were a little hazy. “But yeah, you’re my Horatio Lovebite now, and I’m not going to lose you.” As I said it, it sounded more permanent and like a promise than I’d expected, but I truly meant it from the top and little of my heart.
“Does that mean you’re going to air tag me or something?” he asked, tickling my side.
“I might. But I think it would be you air tagging me.”
“So, tell me about this dream house you want built.”
That was right, before the distraction, I was about to tell him. “It’s not a house, firstly.”
“Ok. And what would you call it?”
Gesturing with both hands like it was text flashing in front of his face and covered in sparkles. “Castle,” I said. “Wait. No, it would be a kingdom, and it would probably have to be built within the room because I would want it going from wall to wall.” I directed his eyes with a hand pointing left then right, up then down. “Floor to ceiling. It would take up the entire room, and in the middle, I would be able to nap.”
Daddy nodded his head for a moment, rubbing at his chin and pushing his tongue between his teeth so cute. “I think I know what you want, and I think it’s doable. I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but I think it’s definitely in my wheelhouse.”
