“Me, too. But we’ll get to see her again tomorrow.”
“I know.” And really, it wasn’t that long. Plenty of people went days, even weeks or months without seeing their partners. But she’d gotten so used to Mommy alwaysbeingthere and she was just feeling… off.
“What if we had extra ice cream after dinner?”
Ice cream wasn’t as good as having their Mommy around, but it was a good perk. “How much extra?”
“Two more scoops and you can have as many toppings as you want.”
There was a hint of desperation in his voice that added to the guilty feelings. But not quite enough for her to turn him down flat. “But that’s against the rules. Mommy said we had to follow the rules.”
“She also said I’m in charge. So I’m making an executive decision that we deserve an extra treat tonight.”
Tapping a finger against her chin, she pretended to consider the offer. “Well…”
As she was toying with him, her phone rang, and her heart dropped into her stomach at the sight of her actual mother’s face on the screen. “Ugh. I have to take this.”
Pushing up from the floor where they’d been playing their game, she headed for the relative privacy of his bathroom. “Hi, Mom.”
“Kylie! I haven’t heard your voice in weeks. I was beginning to think you’d lost your phone.”
Fresh guilt wormed its way in. “Sorry. Just been busy with finals and stuff.” It wasn’tentirelya lie as finals were less than a month away so she had been mentally preparing for them, it just also wasn’t the real truth. As much as she loved Danny and Addison, she wasn’t quite ready to tell her family about them.
“Oh, good. That’s what I was calling about. Have you heard anything about any of the Masters programs you’ve applied to?”
And there went more of the guilt, piling itself up in her stomach. “No, not yet.”
Truth was, she hadn’t actually applied for anything. No matter how many times she tried, nothing feltright. But her parents would never understand that she didn’t actually want to use her brain the way everyone had always told her she should. Right now, she was happier than she’d ever been just being Addison’s babygirl, and the thought of anything more was too overwhelming to even consider most days.
So she’d just been flat-out ignoring her parents and the pile of applications she was supposed to be submitting and pretending it would all just fix itself eventually.
“Hmm.” Her mother’s tone turned thoughtful. “Aren’t Eliza’s parents professors? Maybe they could make some calls, get things moving a bit faster.”
Closing her eyes, she rubbed at a spot in the middle of her forehead where she could feel a headache brewing. “I don’t think that’s how it works, Mom.”
“Well, you’ll never know if you don’t ask. Sometimes it’s all about who you know and they’re some of the top minds in their fields.”
“I’ll ask.” She wouldn’t, but it was the easiest way to get her mother off her back, at least for now. “Um, I need to get back to studying. Talk to you later. Give Dad a kiss from me.”
“Of course, honey. Good luck with finals!”
Tucking her phone back in her pocket, she gave herself a minute to calm down before plastering a smile on her face and returning to Danny’s bedroom. But one look at his expression told her she wasn’t going to be able to fake the smile for long.
“Why are you lying to your mom, Kylie?”
Steel she wasn’t used to hearing from him infused his words, tumbling her straight back into her Little space. Heat rushed to her cheeks as she shifted from foot to foot. “I don’t wanna talk ‘bout it.”
“Too bad. Finals aren’t for weeks still and we certainly aren’t studying right now.” He pointed to his bed. “Sit, and talk.”
“I’m not a fucking puppy, Daniel,” she snapped, instantly regretting the words as soon as they tumbled from her mouth.
Danny’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “You’re not, but you are a very naughty Little girl. So you can either sit and tell me what’s going on, or I can text Mommy right now and let her know she has a Little girl who needs her mouth washed out with soap.”
“No, Danny, don’t tell! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I won’t say it again!”
“Talk to me, and I won’t tell.”
Collapsing onto the edge of his bed with a sigh, Kylie dropped her head into her hands—and told him everything.
