Page 106

I laughed, and this time it lasted.

***

We talked through more things. Meals sitting down. Phone off at night. No work after nine. In bed by ten. It sounded good. It sounded… impossible.

“What happens if I don’t do these things?” I asked.

His expression changed. Not harder. More careful. “Depends what we agree to.”

“Explain.”

He set down the pen. “I talked to Boone last night. Then again in the stables this morning.”

My eyes lifted. “About me?”

“About me. About wanting to look after somebody and not confusing that with getting to run her.”

I sat back.

“He and Josie have a private arrangement,” Cash continued. “I’m not going to give you their details. But he helped me understand some words for what I’ve been trying to figure out.”

“Which words?”

“Daddy Dom.”

I stared at him.

He let the silence stand long enough for me to decide whether to fill it.

Eventually I said, “You’re going to need to elaborate.”

“It’s—” He stopped. Started again. “It’s an adult thing. Care and — authority, I suppose, the two of them together and agreed in advance. Some people want rules. Some want the name. Some want somewhere they don’t have to be the one in charge.”

He rubbed his thumb along the edge of the paper.

“That’s mostly Boone’s words. I’ve had it forty hours and I’m still learning the shape of it.” He looked up. “What I can tell you is what it isn’t. It doesn’t make you less capable. It doesn’t make me your parent. And it isn’t me deciding things and telling you afterward.”

“And you want that?”

“I think I might. With you. If it’s something you want.”

The careful qualification did more to steady me than certainty would have.

I considered the page. “Punishments?”

“Optional. Agreed ahead of time. Not something I invent because I’m irritated.”

“What would that look like?”

“For us, starting out? Maybe a short quiet break. No work, no screens. Something you actually choose as part of the arrangement. Not taking away sleep or meals. Not making you feel small in a bad way.”

I traced the edge of the paper. “If I miss lunch because a contractor arrives late?”

“We feed you.”

“If I ignore the phone agreement?”

“We find out why. Maybe the agreement needs changing.” He paused. “If you wanted a consequence for knowingly skipping it, we’d decide what that was before it ever happened. You could still stop.”