Page 13 of A Little Christmas! 4: Song
Daddy smiled at that and inclined his head. “You can call me Mr. Gage, and you can do the same for Cooper and Hank and the other Daddies and Mommies you met if you run into one of us on the street. Most times it’s Mr., even when you’re little, since I’m not your Daddy, but neither Cooper nor I mind you calling us Daddy and Papa, so please don’t feel like you need to change it. I’m pleased that you asked the question and didn’t just sit there squirming in your seat, working yourself into a fit of nerves. It takes time to navigate the lifestyle and all the subtleties.”
And just like that, Song’s smile was back.
“I call him Mr. Gage when we’re at anything work-related, but as soon as we get in the car, he’s Daddy again,” Zachy explained. “I like that much better.”
“It must be hard to switch between the two,” Song said.
“Oh yeah, at first, it was really hard, especially if I was upset about something,” Zachy explained. “There were times when I wanted to run to him and cry in his arms, only I knew I had to wait until we were alone.”
“Are you not allowed to date since you work together?” Song asked.
“No, it’s nothing like that. He isn’t a member of the cast, so we’re allowed to date one another, and our bosses know that we’re together. It’s just the Daddy part I had to be careful not to blurt out, since not everyone is nice or understanding of our lifestyle.”
Song sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. He’d worn it loose today, and all those deep brown strands shimmered where the sun hit it. He’d let me braid it for him before we’d made our pizzas, so it wouldn’t get in his eyes when we were rolling out the dough. It was so super soft that I longed to touch it again, but that wouldn’t have been polite to do in public.
“Here you go,” our waitress, Beth, said when she returned with chocolate milk for me and Song and a root beer for Daddy, who loved pop but was trying to cut down on his caffeine intake. “I’ll be back in a few minutes with your food.”
“Thank you!” Zachy said, with Song chiming in right beside him.
“Thanks, Beth,” Daddy said. “How’s the stray settling in?”
“He’s a darling little brat,” she replied. “Wakes me up with doggy kisses every morning, then happily takes me on a walk. Loves to have his belly rubbed while we’re watching movies and is super protective, let me tell you. He is not a fan of people who walk up and try to pet him. He gets right between me and them, narrows his eyes, and sits glaring at them. Doesn’t try to snap, though. He just stands there reminding them of their manners until they give up and walk away. I wound up naminghim King Rex, but most days I just call him Rexy or T-Rex when he’s running through the house knocking things over with that ginormous tail of his.”
“Hits like a wrecking ball, doesn’t it?” Daddy said.
“Every single time,” Beth replied, giggling as she headed to her next table.
“What kind of dog does she have?” Song asked.
“Near as we could tell when she shared pictures, he’s part Great Pyrenees and part Saint Bernard.”
“Holy crap, those are big dogs.”
“Yup.”
“I can see why his tail is like a wrecking ball.”
“Right,” Zachy added, his tummy rumbling the moment he caught a whiff of his chicken strips nearing the table.
Song had gotten them too, and onion rings, while Daddy had ordered Zachy fried pickles and a fruit salad to go with his, which meant he got two dipping sauces. Ranch for his pickles and honey mustard for his chicken strips, though he always dunked them in both.
“You guys must come here often,” Song said, words disintegrating into a moan as he took his first bite. “Ohh my god, hot, hot, hot!”
His cheeks heated up some as he chewed and swallowed his first bite quickly and immediately reached for his glass.
“I do that all the time,” Zachy said in between carefully blowing on a chicken finger that was already making his fingers feel hot. “But that first bite is so good, isn’t it?”
“Super good, wow, these are seasoned,” Song said after a few gulps of milk.
“Yup.”
“We come here every Wednesday,” Daddy said. “It’s the longest day of our workweek, so we spoil ourselves to make up forit[TM1].”
“I used to work at the record store in my neighborhood,” Song explained, “but it closed a few years ago, so I’ve been focusing on writing more songs for the band and creating digital art pieces that I sell through my website. A few have even been turned into covers for other bands, which has been an awesome way of getting the word out about the website and the type of art I do.”
“Do you have any on your phone?” Zachy asked.
“Oh yeah. Do you wanna see?”