“Sappy can be romantic, but, seriously, Daddy, you don’t need to do anything special for me.”
He strokes my hair tenderly. “I told you, I want to. Help me find the joy in Christmas, boy.”
I hope I can. For him, Christmas is wrapped up in unhappy memories of watching his parents overspend in an attempt to make him and Nigel happy. I’m not sure if there’s anything I can do to compensate for those memories, except create newer, happier ones.
“I’ll do my best, Daddy.”
“Where do we start?”
I hum. “We should probably eat dinner. We could cook together.”
“That would be fun.”
“I don’t suppose you have any popcorn?”
“No, sorry.”
“Hot chocolate?”
He shakes his head. “And no cream or marshmallows, either.”
I pout.
“But there is a shop around the corner that stays open until late, even on Christmas Eve. They’ll have most of your wish-list.”
I grin.
“As long as you don’t mind bagged popcorn, rather than popping it yourself.”
“Eh, I’ll cope with bagged stuff.”
“Let’s walk there now, pick up supplies, and then make dinner together. Afterwards, you can choose a film to watch.”
I shake my head.
“No?”
“Wecan choose a film to watch.”
He smiles. “All right. We’ll watch the filmwe’vechosen, eat popcorn and drink hot chocolate.”
“And snuggle.”
He chuckles. “Yes, snuggling is the most important part.” He kisses my forehead. “And then sleep.”
“Sleep? Aren’t we going to play with my Christmas present?”
“It’s not Christmas yet, boy.”
I open and close my mouth. “Well, we don’t need a toy to have sexy funbeforewe go to sleep.”
“That’s true, we don’t.”
“Do you have restraints and a proper blindfold?”
“Yes.”
I kiss his jaw. “Then we’ll be able to havelotsof fun. You can spank me again during sex. That was hot.”
