13. Danny’s Distress

Chapter thirteen

Danny’s Distress

I slammed down my last card and yelled, “Nertz! Haha. Gotcha.” It was rare that I ever beat Mom at her favorite game. It was like solitaire, only a speed version played with two or more people. It was fun, but we were so competitive sometimes it became intense. Still, it beat the hell out of going home and dealing with Lee’s hangover.

As if my thoughts of him had conjured him up, he knocked on the front door as he entered the house. “Hello. Danny? Mom? Dad? Anyone home?”

Mom glared at me from across the table as she sorted through the cards. “In here, Lee.”

“Shh…Mom,” I protested, but I shouldn’t have. I was being a coward. And I didn’t even know why since I wasn’t the one at fault here. I huffed, “Fine.”

Lee walked into the back room where we hung out a lot when at my parents’ house. “Danny? Can we talk?”

“I guess so.” I stood and planted my hands on my hips, intent on being mad.

“I know you’re still mad, but I can’t wait for you to calm down. This is serious. I’m really taking it seriously. Okay?”

I turned to face him with a glare. “You wait until I leave to take me seriously? And now you want me to drop everything and talk to you?”

My traitorous mother snorted. “What everything? The ass-whopping you’re getting in Nertz? You can come back anytime for that.” I waved a frantic hand at her, but she was ignoring me. “Ya’ll go outside and talk. I’ll make some coffee.”

“Please?” Lee’s dark eyes were soft and pleading. Well, fuck it.

“Fine. Come on.” I pushed the slider open, and we went out onto the big deck that overlooked their pool. It was too cold to swim, but it was still super nice out and sunny. I sat on the single rocker.

“I’m sorry, Danny. I know I fucked up. And I know it wasn’t just the Christmas party.”

“Do you?” I crossed my arms over my chest.

Lee threw his hands in the air. “Yes. I’ve been ignoring our relationship. I’ve been overly stressed and too busy at work.”

I didn’t say anything at first. He was right, of course. That was the giant pink elephant in the room and in every room we’d been in. Despite my efforts at bringing him back to daddy-space, where he could actually blow off the stress, he ignored me. Maybe it didn’t work the same way for him. I didn’t know. I thought about our situation. “I think it got worse on the cruise. You got to spend time with adult daddies. I think you don’t want to play with Littles anymore. You want me to be an adult all the time. But. But. You know that’s a deal breaker.”

“That’s fair. Yes, it was the cruise, but no, not like you think.”

“Okay. How was it?”

Lee sat across from me on the lounger that was made for two people. “Okay. It was the cruise, but it was because it made me realize some things.”

“That you don’t want a Little anymore.”

“No, Danny. I love you. I love you being a Little. But it’s not all about that.”

I huffed. But waited, giving him space. Maybe I was a little bratty and spoiled. I wanted everything to be about me. But if it wasn’t. I could at least listen. I motioned for him to go on.

“I realized how stressed I’d become over work, and that I’m not successful no matter how hard I’ve been trying. At least not compared to them. So, I needed to try harder. Work harder. But that only sacrificed the rest of my life. Made me more stressed out.”

“You don’t have to be successful like them. I don’t care if we’re not rich. We have each other.”

“I know. I guess I lost focus on what really mattered.”

“Damn shame you had to lose me to figure that out.”

He was up in a flash and darting over to me. He knelt in front of me. “Please don’t say that. I don’t like what my life would be like without you.” He took my hands in his. “Please. Give me a chance.”

I threw myself in his arms. “You already know I’d say yes to that.” I kissed him. “I never wanted to leave.” I kissed him again. “But you weren’t listening.”

“I’m listening now. And I say fuck work. Our life together is what’s important. And I have a surprise.”

“A surprise? For me?”

“Yes. A Christmas surprise.”

I couldn’t wait to see what he came up with.