Page 56 of Dear Daddy, Please Want Me

“If it helps, Chr… no, wait. Forget I said anything.”

“Hang on, Christy and Nikhil?”

“Do you see it, too? It’s mutual, right? But they haven’t done anything. Promise. Though, uh, I did tell her that the HR policies might be changing.”

“You are trouble, baby boy. And yes, I see it, too.”

He pumped his fist in the air, then remembered he wasn’t supposed to say anything. “Um, sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. You just want everyone to be happy, and you’ve thought about some realistic ways to do it.”

“Christy helped.”

“Of course she did.” Saul shook his head. “Well, at least it’ll be even. Could you leave at least a little delicacy around the details?”

“Just tell me what the limits are and I’ll stick to them. I don’t have to tell her anything if you don’t feel comfortable with it.”

“Maybe not until we all three… or maybe all four… sit down and talk about it. How about that?”

“Sounds good, Daddy. Um… I know this sounds strange, but I’m feeling much better now. I mean, I’ve already been having the best week of my life, but this just made it better.”

“Really? Why?”

It took Levi a minute to put it into words. “I think that the past two days were kind of like… a fantasy. You know, where you dream it up, but you know it’s not real. When we figure out the logistics, I feel like it means something. Like this isn’t going away.”

“No baby, it’s not. I’m still figuring a lot of this out, but I’m your Daddy for as long as you want me.” That was the third time Daddy had used the label, and he really shone.

Levi floated through the rest of the day.

He got a lot of work done, especially without all of those pesky meetings, since most of the team was on vacation. He went out to lunch with Christy and enjoyed tormenting her with hints of details that he couldn’t disclose.

He sent Saul a text at about 3:00 to see if he could stop by his office. He summarized the status on a new project, then got a kiss on the cheek and an invitation to spend the night. He drifted back to his cubicle, buzzing with delight.

This was better than any fantasy.

14

Saul

Saul managed to leave the office by 6:30. Even while he was constantly wondering how Levi was doing and imagining what they could do together, he’d gotten a lot done today.

He’d always felt like Christmas week was prime productivity time for the Jews. Well, and everyone else in the office who was Hindu or Muslim or atheist. He’d only had one meeting today, and the office was nearly silent except for a few folks stopping by to say hello.

He’d heard Levi and Christy’s laughter ring out over the cubicle walls once, and smiled fondly. It seemed like this was something that could really work.

Now he was going to swing by Levi’s apartment, since he apparently didn’t have a car and usually biked everywhere. It was very Portland of him.

Levi came down as soon as he texted, which was probably good because there was construction happening at the base of his building and the block was on the tram line. Even with his blinkers on, Saul had gotten honked at.

It was also good because it didn’t give him time to wallow in his insecurities.

He hadn’t quite been putting off spending the night together but… well, he kind of had. Levi might believe he was OK with dating a trans guy, but there was a lot of ground to cover between the idea and the reality.

Levi slipped into the car with a shout of “Daddy! I missed you!” and, well, it really was difficult to hold onto his anxieties in the face of such enthusiasm.

There was a car waiting behind him, so Saul eased back into the traffic. “You know we saw each other three hours ago, right?”

“I know. It was like forever.” Levi sighed in classic Levi fashion.