If nothing else, I could admire the balls on Michelle. She ratted me out to my girlfriend and was trying to gaslight her all at the same time. I cut the other bagel, put some of the jam on it, laid it on a plate, and placed it in front of her. At least she looked like she was now tempted to eat some of it.
“I went over there this morning because I was furious. I could understand why they wanted someone as smart and creative as you are to work for them. But they have university degrees, so I didn’t understand why they would want you to sacrifice your education. Then I got there and it made sense to me,” I said.
“They’re being good friends by trying to give me a job so I can stay here with you?” she said.
“No. Because they need you more than you need them. If they tie you to them and their business right now, they can probably grow it on the back of your creativity and talent. But if you go back to school, you’re likely never going to go and work for them. You’ll graduate and if you want to start a cosplay business, you’ll do it on your own and at their expense,” I said.
She took a bite of her bagel to give her time to process that. Then she made that little face I love when she ate something delicious. She shook her head.
“I can’t do what they do. I’m not smart enough.”
I took a chance and reached out my hand and touched her face. She didn’t back away. Progress.
“Of course you can. If you want to. If that’s what your dream is, then you absolutely can. They have the equipment, we can get that. I might not have a business degree, but I’m not an idiot. The two of us can put something together. If that’s what you want. But…”
“But I have to go back to school and finish my degree. Because there are about a million people making costumes online and I need to have an edge,” she said, the reality sinking in.
“Yes.”
She looked so unhappy. I hated killing her plans like this. She picked up her plate with the bagel on it and walked out of the kitchen. I followed and she headed out onto the deck. She sat down in her favourite chair and let the sun shine on her. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth. I didn’t say anything or press the point until she was ready.
“It’s weird being me sometimes, y’know? I’m not smart like you or Meg, but I’m not dumb either. I just have to work harder to get what I want. I always have. And it’s so tiring sometimes. I just want to relax and not have to study so hard to get what I want. I met you and I can relax, just a little bit because I know you’re there. I can be silly and you love it. I can be ditzy and you’ll catch me. I don’t have to worry,” she said.
“Always,” I said, meaning it. She smiled and it was the first one I’d seen since the restaurant last night.
“So this was perfect. I’d be with you. I’d have a job. Yeah, I’d be working hard, but I’d have you at the end of the day, and that would be all I needed. Maybe we’d start taking the next steps. You know I want a family…”
“You may have mentioned to me, loudly, a time or two,” I said, trying to tease some lightness into the situation. Thankfully she laughed.
“Asshole,” she said, but with a smile and less maliciousness than she would have 10 minutes ago. “But they were just taking advantage of my naivete, weren’t they? Right from the beginning, they just saw me as someone to take advantage of.”
“No, I don’t know if that was the case from the beginning. They genuinely like you, but I think they saw an opportunity and jumped at it,” I said.
“She apologized for forgetting to mention the salary cut. Did that come up during your ‘chat’?”
“Yes. And they didn’t forget.”
“Yeah, I thought as much. Wait until I quit school, commit to them, and then mention it, right?”
“Yup.”
She was quiet for a minute. “I am such an idiot. A sucker.”
I pulled a chair over so I was next to her and put my arm around her. She leaned into it.
“You aren’t and you have the biggest heart of just about anyone I know. I love that you wanted to do this. And if I was a worse person I would let you do it. But I love your dreams. I love that you want to make costumes. I love that you want to design something that a little girl will see and inspire her to make for herself. That’s amazing,” I said.
“It’s silly,” she said.
I took her head and gently turned it so she could look at me in the face.
“It’s one of the best dreams I’ve ever heard. I will do everything I can to help you achieve it. I swear,” I said.
She wrapped her arms around my neck and sobbed a little, but it wasn’t the broken-hearted tears of last night. I mentally breathed a huge sigh of relief. She was going to do the right thing and go back to school. The right thing that would make us miserable for weeks, if not months. So yay us.
She stayed like that for a few minutes, then pulled back, sniffed and wiped her eyes.
“I’m such a baby,” she said. “And I ruined your birthday. I shouldn’t have brought it up in the car. I was going to wait until this morning, but it kinda… slipped out.”
“I got a super cool walking stick, two orgasms, and dinner with a beautiful woman. Best birthday in ages,” I said. “But yeah, in the future, no life-changing discussion while I’m driving, ok?”
She nodded, took a deep breath, and let it out.
“So what now? I mean, do I ever go back to work after all of this? Would they even take me back?”
“I think you go back. Be the bigger little girl,” I said, which made her giggle. “Say you appreciate the offer but you’ve thought about it a lot and you think it’s better to go back to school and finish your degree.”
“Michelle will be pissed,” Kitten said.
“Yes, but if she’s anything other than understanding, you let me know. And if she makes you feel like shit a few days down the line, just leave. Remember, they need you more than you need them. Don’t be arrogant about it, but don’t let anyone diminish your worth.”
“Ok, Daddy.”
“You’ve been cranky anytime I’ve mentioned school in the fall, but you’ve spoken to Gillian and everything is set, right?” I asked.
She looked a little uncomfortable but nodded her head. I wondered if she had dropped out how she was going to explain that to Gillian. It would have been a shitty thing to do. If she had been determined to go through with dropping out, Gillian was one of the two, last resort pressure points I was considering using.
The other was her mom. I was relieved I didn’t have to do it.
“Yeah, she found a place and she promises it’ll be better than the last one. I might need to go to Montreal in a few weeks to find some furniture and whatnot. Do you think you can come and help?” she asked.
“Of course,” I said.
She sighed.
“I know it was a dream and silly, but the idea of being with you all the time, it was a nice fantasy to live in for a while,” she said.
“I know. And I’m sorry to do it. I really am. But I’ll help make this school year easier, including spending a few nights in Montreal in September if you think it won’t be a distraction,” I said.
Her face brightened and she nodded her head. Good, that was easy enough to do. Then she got a serious look on her face.
“I don’t like to threaten Daddy, but I expect you to support whatever I decide after I graduate. If I decide I just want to come back here and be with you, then understand I’ve thought about it and that’s what I want,” she said.
“And that’s fine,” I said. “I will. But don’t be afraid to dream big. If you want to go out to Hollywood and try and break in as a costume designer, I will come down there with you and we will both live in some shitty little apartment while you find work. Deal?”
Ok,” she said, shaking her head like I was a lunatic. Then she leaned in and kissed me. After the last 16 hours of drama, it was the best thing in the world.
“Sorry about teasing you about, you know, anal sex and then not delivering. But I’m still kinda all over the place right now and…”
I put a finger to her lips.
“When you’re ready, you let me know and we’ll take it from there. At least we won’t be doing it while trying to get me hard for the third time in 12 hours,” I said.
She laughed and got up. I knew she was going for another bagel as she could never have just one. She was at the doorway, turned to look at me, and pulled her nightshirt so I could see her bare ass.
“Trust me, Daddy. This would have gotten you hard again,” she cooed, and then gave herself a little slap. Then she giggled and ran into the house before I could do anything. And, sure enough, I could feel my cock stirring.
“Damn she’s good,” I muttered.
***
(Friday, Labour Day Weekend)
It was Kitten’s last weekend before heading to school in Montreal and she had been all over the place emotionally the last few days. She was sad to be leaving, cranky that I thought this was a good idea, but also excited to get back to classes and happy that Gillian was arriving on Saturday. She was going to spend a couple of days here, and then we would all head up to Montreal on Monday to move them in.
There had been a lot of drama. She was being brattier than normal. I’d tolerated it because it had been a rough month. Not just because I was ‘forcing’ her back to school, but Michelle and Ahmed did quite the passive-aggressive number on her. They said they understood why she was going to go back to school, but then increased her workload and criticized her results more. They were also suddenly too busy to drop her home at the end of the day, meaning I had to go and pick her up. It was no big deal, but it felt petty.