She sighed, “Really, Daddy, I think you’re worrying about nothing.”
“I would worry about the sore bottom you’re getting when you get home.”
Oh, shoot.
“You can’t spank me on the Fourth of July, Daddy. That’s just cruel. It’s a holiday. There are no spankings allowed on holidays.”
“Spankings don’t take time off. Neither do I. Stay.” Turning, he walked out the door.
Stay? Sheesh. Who was she, Mr. Fluffy?
Mind you, Mr. Fluffy never stayed when she told him to. Or to be more accurate, he never moved when she told him to. He always stayed.
A knock on the door brought her out of her musings and she glanced up as Betsy and Sunny poked their heads into the room.
“The coast is clear?” Sunny asked.
“Can we come in?” Betsy asked.
Millie nodded her head. “Yep, come on in. Why wouldn’t the coast be clear?”
What did they think she and Spike were up to in here?
“They were worried what you and Spike were up to in here,” Jewel drawled as she followed them in.
Jewel sat down on the end of the bed while Sunny and Betsy flanked her at the top. All three of them sat with their backs against the headboard, facing Jewel.
“He’s gone to get ice. So, is everyone having a great Fourth of July?” Millie asked cheerfully.
“Well, some of us may be having a better time than others,” Jewel said with a grin. She nodded down at Millie’s foot. “Hurt it, did you?”
“Yeah,” Millie said. “I didn’t think I had, but then I realized I had. I told Daddy I hadn’t, and then he found out I had, so yeah . . .”
Jewel shook her head. “I can’t believe that I managed to follow that. Also, never lie to your daddy about getting hurt. That doesn’t go down well.”
Pfft. She knew that now.
“Yeah, well, apparently I’m getting a spanking later. Who gets spanked on the Fourth of July? It’s a holiday. There should be one of those . . . what’s it called? Moratoriums on spankings during public holidays.”
“There sure should be,” Sunny said, as she shifted around on the bed as though trying to get comfortable.
“You got spanked this morning, huh?” Jewel asked.
“Sure did,” Sunny said. “There’s definitely no moratorium on getting punished during a public holiday.”
Well, that just sucked.
“Cheer up,” Betsy said to her. “At least Mr. Fluffy didn’t get into the bag of hotdogs.”
“Yeah, but now he’s going to be so upset,” Millie said. “He’s going to sulk all afternoon about not being able to eat those hotdogs.”
“I’ll sneak him something,” Sunny told her as she patted her hand. “Don’t worry, we’ll cheer Mr. Fluffy up.”
Spike returned to ice her foot, and the girls all left. He sat facing her, cupping her face with his hand. “You know I love you, baby girl.”
She smiled at him. “Of course you do. And I love you too. Always. But do you think we could negotiate the spanking down to, say, ten lines?”
“Absolutely not.”
