Page 5 of Daddy’s Little Candy Cane

CHAPTER FIVE

Diana

Thanks to Francine James's recommendation, whenever I applied at Sally's Diner, Sally hired me on the spot and even had me start the same day. Normally, I would have asked to wait until the following Monday, but, after realizing that I would be doubling as a waitress as well as the hostess, I knew that the tips would actually help me stay on my feet until I received my first paycheck. Even though I had money from when I was still employed in the city, I didn't want to waste it all before I got my first check, especially since I still had to go buy a Christmas tree, which was a lot more expensive than I had ever known.

The fact that I had run into Ethan Powell, owner of Powell Family Farms and Tree Lot, while working at Sally's Diner was a stroke of luck that actually made me feel as though I was going to be able to make it after all. If there was one thing I didn't know about the Christmas traditions, it was how to get the tree and what kind of tree Mother and Father always got. They might have always gotten the same tree every single year, but they never told me which kind of tree it was. Based on the way he had acted at the diner, Ethan knew exactly what kind of tree I needed and was willing to help me pick it out.

The rest of the day, while I was working despite my best efforts to maintain a professional appearance, I couldn't help but wonder about him. Even though I knew he had taken over the tree lot around the same time I was born, I was amazed at how well he had aged. His hair was black with hints of gray and white salt and peppered through it, and he was still in really good shape, too. At first, I thought it was because he worked out at the gym, but, after hearing how he like to help people with the heavy lifting whenever they bought a tree, I realized that it was his work that had kept him in such great shape.

I had known a few people at the call center I worked at who preferred older men and often referred to a kink where they would search for somebody to be their Daddy. They often recommended it to me, but, being completely unnoticed by everybody I came across, I didn't have much luck finding a significant other, much less an older man who found me attractive. Even though I had blonde hair and blue eyes, I was actually considered plain and ordinary in comparison to the other women that I associated with due to the fact that I preferred a night in watching my favorite kids movies and eating popcorn rather than going out to the bars to flirt with men.

Now that I was back in the small town, I wasn't quite sure if people would be so open to the kink. While Ethan was the perfect candidate for a Daddy, as far as I could tell, he wasn't a Daddy. Instead, he was just a regular man in his early forties who was just doing what he had done for the last twenty years. I was sure that the last thing he wanted was a much younger woman flirting with him and trying to be with him during his busiest time of year.

The end of my shift came at exactly five that evening, and, while Sally tallied up my tips for the day, I prepared to leave work and head straight over to the address that was on the business card that Ethan had given me. After receiving my tip, which totaled to approximately fifty dollars that day, a surprising amount for what Sally called a slow day, I put on my coat and started towards the door, eager to get out to the tree farm in order to look at the trees. I hoped that Ethan allowed debit card transactions since the bank was already closed, but I had already accepted the possibility of having to return in order to buy the tree after being able to withdraw the cash I needed. Once I had heated up the car, I immediately started towards the edge of town, where the tree lot was, wondering what kind of trees he had out there as well as which one he would recommend.

I had heard people talk about how Christmas trees were a couple hundred, and it worried me that I would have to spend so much on something that would be gone by the start of the New Year, but I knew it was tradition. I refused to ignore tradition. There was nothing wrong with buying something once a year in order to decorate the house, especially since Mother and Father absolutely refuse to have a fake tree in their house.

While people in the city believed that real trees were a fire hazard and should be avoided at all costs, everyone here in town believed that it was bad luck to have a fake tree in your house during the holidays. Even the tree in the mall was real, and it was over twenty ft tall and decorated in the most elegant manner possible. As I drove, I started to wonder how I was going to get it home until I arrived at the tree lot. Pulling up by the warehouse, which also doubled as a farmer's market, I got out of the car and looked around.

"You made it," called out the familiar voice of the Ethan Powell. Turning to face him, I smiled as I watched him approach me from the warehouse.

He was still wearing the same red flannel shirt that he had been wearing at the diner, and his jeans were still hugging his body close, covered in tree sap. Over his flannel shirt, he was wearing a brown winter coat, which was unzipped, and he wore a beanie on his head. When I didn't respond right away, he continued.

"I was afraid that you would not be able to come before I close tonight," he said as he stood beside me. "I'm glad you made it." Feeling embarrassed, I looked around, wondering what time he was supposed to have closed up the tree lot for the day.

"I'm not too late am I?" I asked, and he shook his head.

"Of course not," he reassured me. "I don't close until five thirty, so we have plenty of time to go look still." Glancing at my watch, I quickly realized that it was only five fifteen and wondered if I should have just come the following day when I had a day off. Before I could say another word he nodded towards the open field, where all the trees grew. "Come on. I already picked out the perfect tree for you."