Page 144 of Daddy’s Fortitude

Your owl is cute.

Could he not have come up with something better?

She slid her thumb from her mouth. “His name’s Owly McOwlFace.”

“That’s an interesting name. How did you come up with that?”

She just shrugged and her thumb went back in her mouth.

Shit, that hadn’t gone very well. The conversation had lasted all of two seconds.

“I’m surprised you don’t have a Garfield toy,” he said.

A look of sadness filled her face. Had he said something wrong? What was going on?

“I did,” she whispered. “I-I lost him.”

It was clear to see that it hurt.

“I’m sorry, Little girl.”

“It’s not your fault. He was an old toy, one I’d had since I was a child. My parents gave it to me one year for my birthday. I don’t have a lot from them anymore, but I always kept Garfield.”

“Would have been sentimental.”

She nodded. “Charlie didn’t get it. He just told me to buy another one.”

“We’ve established that Charlie was a giant dick.”

She giggled. “You shouldn’t say that he was a dick.”

“No? But it’s true, isn’t it? He was a giant dick.”

Another giggle from her.

He felt pleased with himself for managing to wipe the sadness off her face and make her smile.

“Have you ever used a pacifier before?” he asked, nodding at where her thumb was creeping back to her mouth.

She shook her head, staring up at him. “No.”

“You don’t want to try one?”

She shrugged. “Never thought about it. I read books about Littles, you know?”

“You do?”

“Uh-huh. I have them on my e-reader. I didn’t even know about Littles until I started reading, and then I started wondering, could I be a Little? But I wasn’t sure. I was married to Charlie. He’d never have helped me explore that, and I didn’t know who to talk to about it. I didn’t feel particularly Little. I just enjoyed bits and pieces, like sleeping with Owly McOwlFace, although I only did that once Charlie moved into the other bedroom. I didn’t want him to laugh at me.”

Fucking Charlie.

“You know I wouldn’t laugh at you, right?”

“Of course I know that, Silly Willy, you never laugh at anything so why would you laugh at me?”

“That’s not true, I laugh.”

“Let’s think about that,” she said as she tapped her forefinger against her chin. “No, not sure that you’ve ever laughed.”