Page 14 of Deep Daddy

The drive out of the city and upstate was a joy. Harrison could tell that Sammy was still suffering from burnout, so was happy enough to see Sammy drifting in and out of sleep during the journey.

But when Sammy was awake, the conversation flowed as smooth as hot butter off a knife. Harrison couldn’t believe just how much him and Sammy had in common. Yes, they were very much polar opposites in many ways but there was a clear and undeniable common thread between them.

As Sammy talked about his all-consuming passion for food, Harrison thought back to his own childhood where he would spend hour after hour working on his own stories. Harrison hadn’t had much growing up, and money was tight in the Hawk household. But one thing Harrison’s parents always made sure of was that Harrison and his brothers had enough paper, pens, and books.

Reading and writing was such a big passion in their home that it was no wonder that out of the three brothers, one was a book reviewer, one a screenwriter, and of course… Harrison was an author.

Harrison couldn’t help but look back on those early years with a slight sense of regret. Somewhere along the way, Harrison’s massive success as an author had seen him lose his spark. The breakup with his former Little had been a huge blow, but it was more than that. Something had been missing for a long while.

But speaking to Sammy and hearing just how enthusiastic he was for the art of making innovative, fun, and tasty food was enough to get Harrison thinking that his own passion for writing might come back one day in the not-too-distant future.

‘Kid, we’re nearly home,’ Harrison said, cringing at little at his choice of words. Yes, it was home to him – but as far as Sammy was concerned it was just somewhere he was staying. ‘I mean, home to me. You know what I mean.’

‘Mmmmm,’ Sammy said, his sleepy eyes opening as he stretched his arms up and out from his body. ‘How long was I asleep for that time?’

‘Only about forty-five minutes,’ Harrison said, chuckling and pleased that Sammy didn’t seem to have heard his misstep. ‘Something tells me that I might need to dig my old alarm clock out from storage. You’ll be getting enough sleep with me, but there’s no way I’m allowing you to spend all your time snoozing in bed!’

Sammy smiled and picked up his half-full juice box and took a long sip on it.

‘Wow! Is this… your house?’ Sammy said, his eyes now fully open as Harrison turned off the tree-lined road and pulled up into his driveway. ‘It’s… big.’

Harrison looked at Sammy and saw that he was blushing.

‘Well, yes it certainly is big,’ Harrison chuckled. ‘But don’t be too impressed. It’s owned by the college. As a big draw for the university I get to stay there rent free. I’ve even tried to buy it from them a couple of times, but something’s always got in the way.’

‘I don’t care who owns it,’ Sammy giggled. ‘I can’t believe I get to stay here with you!’

Harrison put his hand on Sammy’s knee and smiled warmly. It felt good to see how enthusiastic and positive Sammy was being. They hadn’t even stepped foot inside the house yet, but Harrison could see that Sammy was already feeling more relaxed and tension-free than at any point since they had met.

All that was left now was getting Sammy inside and settled down.

‘Come on, I’ll give you the full tour,’ Harrison said, smiling as he watched Sammy running and jumping into a big pile of Fall leaves that had been swept up together. ‘Careful, you’ll have Mr. Saul from next door after you if you make too much of a mess!’

‘But I love it so much!’ Sammy squealed. ‘Tree lined streets, big comfy houses, gardens, I love it all! It’s like a dream!’

God damn, he’s cute.

He’s as sweet as pumpkin pie and probably twice as naughty.

I need to keep my urges under control…

‘Inside, now. That’s an order!’ Harrison said, putting on his gruffest voice.

With that, Sammy hopped to attention and followed Harrison in through the old oak door and inside the house.

‘Well, this is the entrance hall. Obviously,’ Harrison said, standing in the open plan area and proceeding to point Sammy in the direction of each room. ‘We’ve got the main living room, the rumpus room, the kitchen, my study. Then upstairs we’ve got the usual bedroom and bathrooms. You’ll have your own bathroom and bedroom of course.’

Sammy nodded along, but Harrison could see that Sammy’s attention span was struggling to keep up with all the information. Sammy had a look of pure Little delight on his face and it came as no surprise when Sammy took his stuffie Zozo out of his backpack…

‘Zozo! Look! This is our home for the next few weeks!’ Sammy squealed with joy. ‘Please can I go up and guess which my room is? Please? Pretty-pretty-pretty-super-cherry on top please?’

Harrison let out a big laugh that echoed around the entrance hall.

‘Of course you can,’ Harrison said. ‘The whole house is yours. Well, apart from my study. You don’t go in there unless it’s with me, got it?’

‘Got it!’ Sammy said, his slender body already half-way up the curved, hand-carved staircase. ‘Waah! This is soooo exciting!’

Harrison listened as he heard Sammy discover the guestroom.