Page 30 of Hearing Little Hadley

She was surprised. It only hurt a tiny bit, probably just from allergies.

“Oh,” she said, unsure how to respond. “Can I stay home with you today?” She didn’t want to be apart from him even a tiny bit.

“Yes, baby. I’m going to take you down to the infirmary. It might still be your allergies, but I’d feel better if we got you checked out.” He slid from the bed and pulled the covers over her. “You can wear your jammies down there, okay? When we get back, we can have a movie day. Definitely no preschool if you feel yucky.”

Hadley laid there quietly while guilt churned in her tummy. Finn looked really worried. She should tell him the truth.

Once he was dressed in jeans, boots, and a hoodie, he came back to the bed. “Let’s go, babygirl,” he said before he scooped her up.

“Daddy?”

“Yes, baby?”

“I lied to you and I’m really so very sorry,” she said before she buried her face into his neck. She couldn’t bear to look at him due to shame. Their second day in a relationship and she’d already messed it all up. Just like she always did.

“What did you lie to me about, Hadley?” He tried to set her on the bed, but she clung to him.

“I do feel better, I think my allergies are just being wonky. I just don’t want to go to preschool. I want to stay with you.”

He rubbed her back again and sat on the bed with her in his arms.

“Thank you for telling me the truth, Peeps. Lying to each other could really hurt our relationship.”

“I’m sorry, Daddy!” she sobbed into his neck, the guilt too much to handle.

“Aw, honey. Don’t cry. You’re going to make your throat hurt so much worse.”

“It doesn’t hurt much at all. I lied, remember?”

“Shhh,” he soothed.

“I just wanted to stay with you,” she coughed.

He stood with her in his arms and carried her out the door.

“I’m proud of you for telling me the truth. I know that must have been hard.”

“Don’t be proud of me. I was so bad, Daddy.”

“No, baby. You made a naughty choice. You’re never bad, Peeps. You said you told a fib because you wanted to stay with Daddy?”

“Yas-huh,” she cried.

“You know, Daddy wanted you to stay with him too, but he didn’t want to make you sad by asking you to miss Nanny J’s class. I think we both should have communicated better, huh?”

She nodded into his neck.

“Even though we’ve been friends for a very long time, there’s things we will have to work on and communication will be one of those things. We both should have expressed our wants better,” he told her. “How about we both promise to work on that from now on, okay?”

She nodded again.

“I’m sorry, Daddy.”

“I forgive you, Peeps.” He kissed her forehead. “You’re warm, baby. I do think maybe you have a little fever.”

Hadley realized she did actually feel bad.

“Daddy, I think I don’t feel so good. For reallies this time,” she whispered. She wanted to go back to their room where she could talk to Daddy freely.

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