Page 71 of A Little Bit Naughty

It rang again.

Fuck. Maybe if he just sent back a text that would at least get Remi to stop calling.

Only it wasn’t Remi calling. It was Tommy. Well, Remi and Tommy both. He could see calls and text in two streams. But Tommy, at least, he could talk to right now.

He hit the answer button on the next ring and just sobbed into the phone.

“Hey Isaac,” Tommy said soothingly. “I got you. I’m here. Anything you want to talk about.”

Isaac sniffled. He put the phone on speaker and slid to the floor, the box of plastic tools resting on his lap.

“Do you want to tell me what’s going on?”

Isaac shook his head. He couldn’t.

“Your Daddy said to call you because he was worried about you. Did you open the box?”

Isaac nodded, then realized that Tommy couldn’t see him. “Yeah.”

“And was it… too much?”

“Yeah.”

“Um… Your Daddy, er, Remi, asked me to apologize to you if you didn’t want the presents and you didn’t want to talk to him.”

“Yeah,” he said again. He wasn’t even sure what that word meant any more. He had no idea what he wanted.

“He said that if it was too much you could give them to someone else or throw them away.”

His ferocious cars in the trash? “No! They’re mine.”

“Of course they are,” Tommy soothed. “They’re yours forever. No matter what. And I’m still here as your best friend, no matter what.”

Isaac drew in a deep breath. That was right. He still had a best friend, even if he didn’t have a Daddy. He didn’t have to do this alone. Tommy had always listened to him, so maybe it was time for him to talk. “I don’t want to have a Daddy who’s far away.”

“I know,” Tommy agreed quietly. “That wasn’t your plan.”

“So he can’t send me presents!”

“OK. I can tell him that if you don’t want to talk with him.”

“No. That’s not it.” Isaac didn’t know what it was though. Just that this was all wrong. He slid further down the wall, butt scooting across the hard floor, until he was lying on his back. “He can’t send me presents if he’s not going to be my Daddy. And he’s too far awaaaaaaay.” His words rose in a wail.

“Ohhhhhh…” Tommy’s voice held a wealth of understanding. Hopefully he would fill Isaac in.

“So what do I do?” Isaac demanded.

“Do you really want my advice on this? Because you’re probably not going to like it.”

“Yeah, tell me.”

“I think you should call your Daddy up and tell him why you’re crying.”

“But he’s not my Daddy.”

Tommy sounded exasperated. “He is your Daddy. And you know he’s your Daddy. Isaac, you should have heard him flipping out on the phone. He misses you like crazy and he’s worried that he upset you. He is fucking panicking. Don’t tell me he’s not your Daddy.”

Daddy was upset? That made everything a million times worse. He never wanted Daddy to be upset.