Page 4 of Wild Ever After
“Are you sure?”
“I am. Take a nice long weekend for yourself.”
“Thank you, Mr. Walker. I’ll do that.”
Harry smiled and walked down the hallway to the rear entrance of the property.
Fifteen years ago, he’d purchased the house and split it down the middle. It resembled a duplex, however, instead of a neighbor tenant, he used one half as his political and architectural interests and the other half was where he and Bella had raised their kids.
As a whole, the total square footage was a little bit shy of five thousand. Once divided, each section was the perfect size.
Upstairs to his bedroom, he packed a small suitcase of clothes, Bella’s favorite flogger and nipple clamps. Nothing brought her to her knees or got her wetter than a little pain.
He changed out of his suit into a pair of loose fitting jeans, a Gamecocks t-shirt, and his custom made Gamecock’s Chucks.
It wasn’t football season, but it was never too early to start showing team spirit. Even if early meant three months.
And he might’ve gone to school outside his home state, but his loyalty lay with the University of South Carolina.
He’d call their youngest son, Aaron from the plane as well.
But his daughter…
She answered on the third ring. “Hi Dad.”
“Hiya Pumpkin.”
“Dad, I’m a little too old for nicknames like Pumpkin.” They had this argument every so often and he relished it, especially right then considering she’d been dodging his phone calls almost as much as her mother had.
“You’re my little girl. Always. No matter how old you get and until I draw my last breath, I’ll be calling you Pumpkin.”
“The real question is why you are calling in the first place.”
“I’m coming to see your mother this weekend and —”
“Mom didn’t say anything about you coming up,” she said, interrupting him.
“Because your mother doesn’t know yet.”
“You’re planning to surprise her?”
“Why is it that you and your brother seem sosurprisedby this?”
“Because Mom doesn’t like surprises. You should give her a heads up.”
“I tried, but she didn’t answer the phone and more than likely she deleted the voicemail without even listening to it.”
“Then maybe I should tell her you’re coming.”
“No, don’t. I really do want it to be a surprise for her.”
“Oh, it will be. And you want to stay here?”
“I’d rather stay with her, but…”
“Right. I’ll set out some bedding for the couch.”
“Dad…” His daughter sighed on the other end of the phone. His children were looking out for him and for their mother. It was sweet and their collective hearts were in the right place, but he knew how to handle his errant wife.
