Page 8 of Brighton

Emails, meetings, more emails, phone calls, and yet another late afternoon meeting filled my day as it flew by. Thankfully, Dorine took it upon herself to take Simon out for potty breaks, though he immediately returned to his bed. I thought the poor guy was on stimulation overload. I wondered about taking him with me when I volunteered at Ms. Kitty’s next or even on Saturday when I met Brighton there, but we were still so new to each other, and I feared he’d think I was dropping him off. I’d just make sure and pick up a new treat for him on the way home to make up for leaving him home alone. All in all, his first day at work went well. “Time to head home, bud.” Simon stood and stretched, then followed me to the elevator and jumped right into the truck. No leash required. This boy had been well trained.

I wondered how he was with cats.

Don’t get ahead of yourself, Edward.

I’d glanced at my phone too many times and felt like a teen today, hoping for at the very least a random text from Brighton. By the twentieth time, the light bulb came on.

Dumbass, you never got his number.

Brilliance, be thy name. Yeah, not mine for sure.

The last few boys I’d played with, Stevie included, I met through the club. Expectations were shared up front and with all parties in the lifestyle we knew what to expect going in. For the most part. With Brighton, this was new. Dating would be a given and a slow introduction to the Daddy/boy world would have to happen. But I was confident a relationship would blossom from this potential new romance.

At least I had hoped it would.

Wednesday was my usual volunteer day at Ms. Kitty’s. I left Simon at the office, he had plenty of pet sitters, and I made the short walk over to the shelter. “Good afternoon, Edward,” Ronita, another volunteer, greeted me.

“Good afternoon. Anything new today?”

“The food donation was delivered this morning, and we have two adoption appointments this afternoon. One for Sadie and another for Jasper.” Sadie was a horse Ms. Kitty rescued that she kept out in the pasture. The shelter was on her property along with her personal residence, which worked perfectly during the holiday season as she was always there to feed the animals. Jasper was an albino python the police confiscated from a less than desirable breeding situation. He came in with an armful of snakes that had been kept in too small enclosures for breeding purposes only. Now they roamed the reptile habitat and were no longer stressed as they once were.

“Fancy seeing you here,” Ms. Kitty said as she rounded the corner from the cat condo area. “Where’s Simon?”

“He’s at the office being spoiled rotten. I didn’t bring him out of fear he’d think he was being left again.” Broke my heart each time an animal was dropped off, though just setting them lose or abandoning them as some jackasses did made the shelter option a much better decision. Here we’d do our best to rehome them in stable situations.

“Makes sense. Wanna help unload the food pallets?” Ms. Kitty was amazing, seventy-four years old, yet you’d never know it. Fit as a fiddle and strong as a moose.

“Absolutely. I’m yours for the next three hours so put me to work, my dear lady,” she shook her head when I bowed for effect.

“Oh, I fully intend to. Grab your coat and follow me.”

The storage barn was filled with pallets with barely two feet of space to squeeze around them. End of year was always a huge donation time. Ms. Kitty’s shelter was a 501c(3) and for any business that needed to fulfill their year-end donation checklist for tax purposes, now was the time for it. “Ms. Kitty, I think you need to invest in a forklift.” Then we could easily stack the pallets and keep them out of the way.

“Then we have forklift maintenance to contend with. My grandsons reuse the pallets for the reclaimed patio furniture they build and sell. Worth it to me to unload them and shelve the food.” She had the barn set up with warehouse style shelving units and the food sorted by size and type. Some animals had stomach issues while others had allergies just as humans did. It amazed me how much we had in common with our four-legged friends. As usual, I lost track of time and when all was said and done, we had the pallets neatly stacked off to the side for her grandsons to pick up in the morning when they stopped by to help her muck the stalls for the equines she housed.

“See you next Wednesday?” she questioned.

“Actually, I’ll be by on Saturday. Meeting a new friend here who’s interested in adopting a cat.”

“New friend you say?” Ms. Kitty smirked, “I look forward to meeting him.” Ms. Kitty knew I was gay, but I’d never delved into my preferred lifestyle with her. Not that she’d frown upon it in any way, but that was a conversation we’d never had.

“Yes, though I have hopes for more.”Forever the lonely dreamer…

“You’re a good man, Edward,” she patted my shoulder. “He’d be a fool not to see that.” I hoped her words were true because here I was once again, diving into the deep end without learning to tread water first. When would I ever learn…

When I returned to the office, Simon was sprawled out in Dorine’s area surrounded by the HR department who fed him treats while rubbing his exposed belly. This was a familiar scene from ancient Greece. “Keep giving him snacks and I’ll need a wheelbarrow to get him out of here.” They laughed, and knew my words held no malice. “Your majesty, your royal bed awaits.” He hopped up and followed me into my office and sprawled out on said bed. I absolutely loved this for him and was elated he was in my life. The ultimate, unconditional love and true definition of a best friend.

I swear, I didn’t sleep a wink Friday night. Ridiculously excited over the fact I got to see Brighton had me at the shelter an hour before he’d be there. “I didn’t see you on the volunteer schedule today.” Shelby, the weekend front desk volunteer, scanned the clipboard.

“No, I’m technically not in. I’m, um, I’m meeting a friend here today.” Did I just blush? I didn’t blush, I was a Daddy after all. Daddies handled blushing boys, not the other way around. Well, this blushing Daddy used to and hoped he would again.

Shelby’s face brightened. “A friend, huh? Must be a special friend.”

“That’s my hope. I’ll just, uh, I’ll be in the cat condos if you need me.” I hurried off in that direction.Get yourself together, Edward.

Chapter Five

Brighton

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