“What do you mean yellow isn’t your favorite color? It was your favorite color yesterday!”
Dax stood at the table feeling like a moron, holding a glass of milk in a yellow cup that Marnie refused to take.
“Orange!” she demanded. “No yellow!”
Dax sighed. “You remind me of someone who was once very dear to my heart,” he mumbled, Marnie’s mother in mind. She had been a very demanding sort, especially for someone who never seemed to know what it was she really wanted. He hoped like hell his daughter wasn’t going to turn out to be the same way but it was impossible to tell. She was a little spitfire and whoever ended up having to figure out whether she liked yellow or orange would have his work cut out for him.
Marnie was pacified when she had her orange cup and Dax leaned against the counter to watch her eat. Maybe Alan was right. The elders had a point when it came to good old-fashioned family values. Marnie deserved somebody who would always be there for her, not some random babysitter who still couldn’t do all her times tables yet. It wasn’t fair to either of them they were stuck all on his own. If his wife hadn’t left, he wouldn’t be in this position right now. He probably would have already received the promotion instead of being jerked around and tested by the elders, who wanted to see whether or not he really could keep his shit together.
He deserved the promotion. Everybody in the fucking company knew that. He had every right to walk down that hallway with a corporate suit on to an office with his name on it. Instead, he was stuck in a cubicle because his wife thought they were no longer a good fit; that they were keeping each other from truly growing. She was incapable of seeing her own flaws and preferred instead to fixate on those of others. It was unfair, but he knew he was better off without her. He hadn’t really been able to move on until she finally sent him a letter saying she didn’t hate him the way she’d claimed to, they just weren’t good for watch other.
It was true, and she hadn’t been a good mother, either. Dax had always had to step up when it came to their daughter and she had learned to say his name first, even with her mother there.
Yet the lingering bitterness remained. He’d been so sure he was on the right path when he had married her. Their marriage had been a bit unorthodox, of course, because she had claimed him and not the other way around. But then maybe that had been an indication from the start that it just wasn’t meant to be. The elders had cautioned as such, but he had been too stupid and foolishly in love to listen. And now look at him. It was pathetic.
Then there was the matter of the sexy barmaid that he had been with the night before. He had certainly made his claim on her, and yet there was something holding him back. She hadn’t agreed to it out of liking him, necessarily. She had been in a vulnerable time biologically and he’d simply heeded her call; anybody could have done it. It was just the bear within him responding to something out of the ordinary. It didn’t have to mean anything more than that, Still, he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind at all. It was disconcerting.
“Okay Marn, Chessa’s here. Daddy has to go to work now.”
“No!”
The wail was startling and a secret part of himself found enjoyed the attention. He didn’t want to hurt his daughter, but after being bossed around about the yellow cup, he was feeling a little needy for her affection, but that’s probably because he’d always been a big softie for her. She was the only woman in his life he would ever take orders from again.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’ll be back home tonight, then tomorrow we can have a special day, just the two of us. Would you like that?”
He lifted his daughter out of her booster seat and held her close. She was still nonplussed, but she nodded. “Stay!”
“Not today, sweetheart, but tomorrow I will. Today, daddy has to make lots of money so he can spend it on getting you presents for tomorrow.”
This seemed to satisfy her and Dax sat her back down, shaking his head to himself. Yep. She was a lot like her mother. He was going to have his hands full with this little spitfire.
However, he wouldn’t have it any other way and Dax went to work with a smile on his face. If he got this promotion it would mean long hours, a lot of pay, and three days off every week that he could spend with his daughter, no questions asked. Sure, he would be on call, and that would be hard without a babysitter or a mate… but he would find a way. If there was one thing Dax was good at, it was coming out on top no matter what happened.