Little Packages Ch. 04

Daddy pulled out his phone and began texting. He then put it back down on the table, and drank from his pop. The phone rang 10 minutes later.

"She's going to love this," he said quietly, before answering the phone. He switched it to speaker so I could hear.

"I should honestly be kept on retainer for the number of times I bail you out," she said. I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not asking you to bail me out," he said. "I am seeking your counsel."

"I charge $400 an hour for that. Am I on speaker?"

"Kit was there as well, so she deserves to hear."

"Kit?" she said, sounding confused.

"I never liked Ashley. My mom and I don't get along so I changed my name to something I like," I said, maybe a touch defensively.

"How are you holding up after meeting the Queen of all Bitches?" Meg said, apparently unphased by the name change.

I was kind of surprised. She actually sounded sincere. "Ben stopped me from beating her in the middle of the street and rejected my idea of kidnapping her and dumping the body in the lake, so I have all this extra energy buzzing through me with no outlet. But I'm good otherwise."

"As legal counsel, I cannot advise on that course of action. As a member of the human race I would buy you flowers if you did. Anonymously, of course. So, what exactly happened?"

Daddy recapped the confrontation. I actually heard Meg laugh a couple of times.

"Jesus, Ben. You really are a whole new person. With all the sniping they did at you and Beth they've deserved that for at least 15 years. Good for you for saying it."

"Yes, but she's probably now telling half of Toronto that I'm a pedophile. I'd still like to avoid useless drama if I can."

"Too late for that now," she said.

They were both quiet for a few moments. Then I had an idea.

"You could just tell people we're dating. Explain it. If she's as terrible as you both say she is, won't more people believe you? Especially if Meg says she's met me."

There was a pause and I could hear Meg chuckle. "Thank god one of the two of you is sensible."

Daddy looked up at me and smiled. It was the first time since we left the tattoo parlour that he looked a little relaxed.

"Ok, we'll find a cute photo of the two of us, I'll write something up now and post it up on Facebook. That should calm things down a bit," he said.

I scrunched up my face when he said that.

"What?" he asked.

"It's just, do people still use Facebook? I thought only racists and anti-vaxxers used Facebook these days?"

There was a moment of silence and then Daddy roared with laughter, his hand thumping on the table. Over the phone I could hear Meg swearing. Daddy eventually caught his breath and wiped tears from his eyes, just as the food was arriving.

"Well, she's not exactly 100% wrong, Meg," he said.

"I am going to delete Facebook from my phone, then dip my phone in bleach, and then call my shrink. Jesus, how did we get old, Ben?"

"I recommend dating a young, smart, hot chick. It's done wonders for me," he said. I put my hands over my face so Meg couldn't hear me laugh.

"Fuck it, I'll download Tindr, find some 22-year-old, and fuck their brains out. Why not?"

"That's the spirit."

She sighed. "Ok, I'll keep an eye out. Do a good job on writing this, Ben. And Ashley, sorry, Kit...I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Thank you, Meg. That means a lot," I said. And it did. I might actually be starting to like her a bit.

There was a pause, and then Meg added "And Ben? You and Kit should come down to Toronto some weekend. Just to hang out. I miss you. I'd come up for a visit but I don't want to hear the two of you having sex all weekend."

"Plus all the casual nudity," he said, and I heard her curse. Daddy laughed. "We will absolutely come for a visit. Take care, Meg," Daddy said, ending the call as Meg was yelling something about wearing clothes when we did.

"Feel better?" I asked, and then took a huge bite out of my smoked meat sandwich.

"I do, actually," he said. "When you're not trying to cram that whole sandwich into your mouth at once, can you find a photo that you're ok with sharing on Facebook. Then flip it to me. I'm going to write something up."

"Ohhmfk, addy," I said. I got a look for talking with my mouth full, so I just switched on the adorableness. I also looked at my phone. As it happens, Michelle flipped me a bunch of photos she took of the two of us from last night. There were a lot of fun ones, but I stopped at one. There was a glass of wine on the table in front of me, which I ought to show I was legal. He was looking at me with a big smile. I had a slightly coy, but very happy look on my face. We were both dressed up. I thought it would be perfect. I tossed it at Daddy's phone.

"Oh, that's wonderful," he said. "I thought Michelle was taking some pictures of us last night. Ok, how does this sound:

"Some of you know that I had no intention of ever being in a relationship again. Couldn't see how it could possibly happen. Well, the universe sometimes decides it has other plans. I met Kit at a comic con last October. And despite saying I was pretty messed up and she should run away, she persisted. Four months later and I know I have a stupid grin on my face every time I look at her. I didn't think I could be happy again. I am delighted to be wrong. I'm sure you can tell there's an age gap between us. She's working on her degree in Montreal. I hope none of you will make a big deal out of it. We're both phenomenally happy and in love. And in the end, that's the most important thing."

I had a mouthful of sandwich I was chewing and that's when he decided to read something like that to me. My eyes got wide and I knew I started to cry as I frantically tried to swallow and he laughed and told me not to choke. I finally managed to swallow and then came round the table and hugged him and told him I loved him too.

After I calmed down a bit, he took the photo I sent, attached it to the message and showed it to me as I was looking over his shoulder.

"Ready?" he asked. I nodded. He hit "post".

"Now we wait for the madness to begin," he said. He then closed his phone and put it in his pocket.

"You're not going to wait to see how people respond?" I said, going back to my seat and the sandwich. "Aren't you curious?"

"It'll be there later. So, how's the tattoo feel?"

I looked at him like he was nuts, but smiled and then started to tell him about it."

***

By the time we got home his phone had been buzzing pretty much non-stop for over an hour. I insisted he respond to some of the messages while I went into my room and did some school work for a couple of hours. Which I did, but eventually my curiosity about how the reception to our coming out was going got the better of me. I walked into our bedroom and stripped. The lady at the tattoo parlour said to make sure my Batgirl got lots of air, so I took that as an excuse to walk around naked. But after I put on my red thigh high socks.

I wasn't sure I wanted to seduce him right now; it had been a weird day for both of us. But I still liked looking cute for him, and I knew how much he liked me walking around like this. I walked into his office, but he wasn't there. I headed out to the kitchen and I could see him beginning to prep for supper. It looked like he was making some homemade pasta. How did I get lucky enough to find a guy who liked to cook? He saw me walking into the kitchen and grinned. I hopped up on one of the stools and watched him work.

"We ate lunch only a couple of hours ago," I said.

"True," he said, getting dough ready for the past maker. He also had some chicken, veggies and some cream out. I didn't think I was hungry, but looking at the ingredients, I could feel my appetite start to lurch awake. "But there's a process, so this will take a bit. Plus, you eat like a half-starved piranha when you're here."

"You're just a really good cook, Daddy," I said.

He shot me a look. "More like you're not eating enough during the week when you're at school."

That was twice in 24 hours someone had made a comment about my weight. I was not viewing that as a coincidence, but I was also not going to get into it with Daddy about it now. We'd already had a day. Besides, I really was curious how his friends and family were reacting to, well, me. Us.

"So, what are they saying? Are you in the clear or the biggest pervert in Canada," I said. I reached over and grabbed an apple from the bowl. I was going to need something to tide me over.

"You are a smash hit, princess," he said.

"Really?"

"Turns out I was in my own head way too much. Over 100 likes on the post. Dozens of comments congratulating me and saying I deserve to be happy. Another dozen or so texts and instant messages saying, essentially, who cares about the age difference, I can't remember the last time I've seen you that happy.

"Oh, and my mom thinks you're adorable and she can't wait to meet you this summer.

I paused mid-bite into the apple.

"I'm meeting your mom?"

"Yes, she invited herself and my dad out to stay for a week or so this summer," he said, smiling. "Did you think you were going to avoid my parents forever?"

"Well, I was hoping we'd avoid my mom forever, so I don't know."

"She's crazy for grandchildren, by the way, so I'd be careful how much you talk to her about wanting to get pregnant."

He began putting dough through the pasta maker, and it quietly began humming away, creating fettuccine noodles. So I was going to live here this summer, spending time with Daddy, and then going to work for Ahmed and Michelle, while actually making money. Perhaps squeeze in some comic cons. I'd meet Daddy's parents...and shook my head a little about that.

It was surreal. It was better than I could hope for.

"So, no fallout from this afternoon's street brawl?"

He got a slightly darker look when I mentioned that. So there had been something.

"A couple mentioned that Marie had texted them with 'scandalous' news about my new girlfriend. They were rolling their eyes at it, so I guess we beat them to the punch, although I'm sure Marie will find some new way to be horrified and offended. Fuck it. I've better things to do than worry about her," he said.

"Good. Glad you're 'out'?"

He went over to the cutting board and began chopping up some mushrooms. "I regret overthinking things, but that was inevitable. I'm doing better at being more spontaneous, but that doesn't happen overnight. But I appreciate you being patient with me."

"It's hard working training a Daddy, but I do my best," I said, and then smiled sweetly at him.

"Brat."

"You love it."

An hour or so later we were sitting across from each other at the island...I don't think the dining room table has ever been used...I was still naked except for the socks, so I was giving Daddy quite the show during supper. A couple of times I "accidentally" let some cream sauce drip onto my boobs, which I then had to use my fingers to clean up. Daddy smirked at me, but he also certainly wasn't complaining.

I insisted on cleaning up, and I know Daddy was enjoying the view as I moved about the kitchen. But then he left, which was a bit weird. I could see he was out in the living room, so I headed out to join him once I finished in the kitchen. But before I got close, he called out.

"Kitten, this is an odd request, but before you join me here, would you please put on some clothes first," he said.

Daddy asking me to put on clothing never happened.

"Ok, but why?"

"You'll understand. Trust me."

Daddy and his being mysterious. I went to our bedroom, grabbed the t-shirt from earlier today, and threw it on. I also grabbed a pair of panties, if he was going to be mysterious like this it was probably somewhat serious. I then headed back to the living room. As I walked in, I noticed he had the fireplace lit. The view really was quite nice from here, even at night, you could still see some of the lake. I just preferred his office and the bedroom.

He had what looked like photo albums on the table. He saw me come in and patted the sofa next to him. This looked serious, so I could see why he asked me to get dressed. I'm glad I didn't kick up a lot of noise about it. I went over and curled up next to him.

"It's not just appearances that make relationships with big age differences a challenge, princess. You got a taste of that this afternoon when talking to Meg and I. I know you were teasing, but you're right, a lot of people your age simply don't use Facebook, whereas Meg and I just assume everyone we know is there," he said.

"I do have an account, but I honestly couldn't tell you when I last logged in," I said.

"Exactly. Different movies, music, cultural references. Which is fine. I'll learn from you, you'll learn from me. That's not the stuff I'm worried about. But I would like you not to get blindsided by my past like you did today," he said. He then pointed at the albums.

"These are photo albums that go back to when I was a teenager. So you can certainly get a laugh out of what a geek I was when I was a kid, and I'm happy to explain what was going on and who I was then."

I looked at the albums. There were over a dozen or so. I knew all of them weren't photos of when he was a kid. There were going to be pictures of him with his wife. I suddenly couldn't bear to have him hurt just because I wanted to know more about what his life was like before me.

"Daddy, I'm ok. You don't have to do this for me," I said, crawling onto his lap to try and distract him.

He smiled and kissed my forehead and then took my face in my hands.

"Kitten, I haven't had the strength to look at some of these photos since the accident. But I'm afraid the longer I go, the more likely it becomes that I might never look at them. That I'll be scared of them. And I don't want that. I will feel...stronger, if you're here with me. Can you help me with that?" he asked.

How could I say no when he asked like that?

And that's how we spent the next couple of hours. I reached for a photo album at random and I chose wisely because it was before Beth, so I got to see Daddy in a tuxedo for his high school grad. He was adorably geeky with some girl he said he dated briefly during the last few months of high school, but he dumped her when he found out she had been cheating on him. It was hard to process that he was basically my age in these pictures. If he was closer to my age now and looked like that, would I say yes? I didn't know.

An album of his university days...there he was at a party with a bunch of people I didn't know. Pictures of him and Meg hammered at a bar, goofy and impossibly young. Meg's hair was shorter, with pink mixed in. I wanted to memorize it so I could tease her about it next time I saw her.

And then, Beth. Back when she was in university. I don't know who I had her looking like in my head. Maybe a redhead like me. Maybe thin like I am. Maybe this perfect goddess. Instead, she was a pretty girl with glasses and curvy. Her hair was dirty blonde and cut short. She had a great smile. The picture was outside, in what looked like a park area of a university.

Daddy sounded...ok. Sad, but ok.

"She had just finished an exam and I thought a picnic would help cheer her up because she had really struggled studying for it," he said.

"She's really pretty, Daddy," I said. He nodded.

"Yes, she is," he said in a quiet voice.

"Is...is her mom ok with us? I know you spoke to her over Christmas, but you never said anything."

"I'm sorry about that, Kitten. Yeah, she is. She knew I was going to start dating again, even if I didn't. I was worried the age difference would upset her, which she found funny.

"'I've endured far worse than your dating life' she told me. She told me to just go be happy and live my life and not be alone if I can help it.

"I'm glad for that. If she had disapproved..." he said, shaking his head.

We went back to looking at the albums. I saw them at parties, on vacation, and even their wedding photos. I saw them get older and put on weight, but still had big huge smiles. You would have to be blind not to see they were in love. And Daddy would talk to me in a quiet voice, that sometimes got uneven, but he didn't cry. And I think that was a big thing for him to be able to do. It was a life and I began to better understand just exactly what had been ripped away from him when that driver killed Beth. I could better understand how huge his grief must have been.

At one point I closed an album and I began to cry a bit. He tipped my head towards him and wiped away some tears with his thumb. He just stared at me for a moment and I couldn't read the look on his face.

"I'm sorry you lost her, Daddy. I just...I don't know how I compete with all of that. With all of those things you did with Beth," I said.

Then he did that thing...that smile that told me that everything was ok and I was just being silly.

"It's not a competition, Kitten. You have similarities and differences. Physically, you're different. She loved her job, which was HR for a bank, and honestly, you need a special mindset to love a job like that. You love what you do, which is to be creative and make things. She couldn't sew to save her life.

"But you're both geeky. You both have kind hearts. You're both terrifyingly protective of people you care about. You both work hard at what you do. For reasons I will never understand, she loved me and you love me now. I hope...I hope with luck and hard work we'll have decades to build something special of our own."

And then I did begin to cry because it was the most beautiful and romantic thing I'd ever heard. I wanted that. I didn't even know I wanted it until I saw the albums. It was just a vague notion in my head...be with Daddy, for both of us to be happy and maybe have some kids. It felt silly now, the kind of thing a naive little girl wishes for. The princess who wanted her happily ever after without knowing what that actually would look like.

Now I knew. I wanted to build something like what he had with Beth. Different from that, but I wanted him to look at me with the same love and happiness 30 years from now that he did when he looked at Beth in those photos.

I just held Daddy then. I didn't reach for another album. Maybe there was more to learn, but I thought I knew enough for now and I didn't want to overwhelm things. So I just cuddled him and he held me. The fire kept us warm and I drifted off to sleep looking past a stack of memories, out the window, and into the night.

***

I woke up and it was dimly lit in the bedroom. Of course Daddy carried me in here. He might give me some grief about my weight, but he carried me way too much for a man with a bad knee. I was also naked which made me grin a bit. I don't know why the thought of being asleep with Daddy undressing me and putting me to bed gave me shivers, but it did.

I quietly rolled over to the edge of the bed and glanced at my phone. Daddy had thoughtfully plugged it in. It was about 7:30 in the morning. Normally I would sleep for another hour or two on my weekends here. But I was wide awake. I looked over at Daddy and he was on his side, still sound asleep. I didn't have the heart to wake him.

I quietly got out of bed, used the bathroom, and then wandered down the hall and back to the living room. All of the photo albums were gone. He must have put them away after I fell asleep. I was ok with that. It was a lot to absorb and I'm glad we did it, but I hoped it meant we could start building our own memories. Maybe I'll buy my own album and start printing some of my favourite pictures of the two of us. I liked the idea.

I walked into my "office" where I had been working on a number of projects. I really wasn't in the mood to start working on something at this time in the morning, especially before coffee. But I saw the scattered bits and pieces and had an idea. The weekend had started off so well, and then got weird and then got serious. I just wanted it to end with a bit of fun before I had to head back to reality.