A few weeks had passed since J and T had their new friends over. They'd been chatting on and off and they wanted to plan a get together, but their schedules just hadn't meshed. Since it was Friday and neither him nor his little girl really wanted to cook. J had ordered pizza and he was setting the table while T layed on the living room floor her coloring supplies spread out around her, some forgotten cartoon playing quietly in the background.
T glanced up from her picture when the phone rang.
J picked up. "Hello?"
On the other end of the line Chris said "Hey there! How are you?"
J smiled, "Hey Chris! I'm good! What's up?"
"Well," he continued "I just got a call from work. Sara and I were planning to go camping this weekend, but there's an emergency and I've gotta head out of town first thing in the morning. She's pretty upset about it, so I thought I'd give you guys a call to see if I could salvage her weekend and see if she could spend it with you two?"
J thought for a second and glanced down at T, her curious eyes on him, coloring forgotten.
"Yeahhhhhhh, you know, I don't see why not! We didn't have any plans for the weekend, and I think that would be great! When are you planning on heading out?" J said.
Chris hesitated, and then said, "Wellll, I WAS thinking about sending her over in the morning, but I've gotta leave pretty early. It might be easier for you guys if she came over tonight, but I really don't want to put you guys out."
J chuckled. "It's definitely not putting us out whatsoever! We have been looking forward to seeing you guys for weeks now and although it sucks that you can't make it, we'd love to have Sara here! We're just about to have dinner, why don't you head over as soon as you're ready!"
T, eavesdropping, was practically vibrating from excitement.
Chris sighed with relief on the other end of the phone. "Wow, Ok, thank you so much! Sara will be ecstatic. She's been wanting to see you guys again for a while now...Hey... So... " Chris paused for a minute and then continued "Um, I know we discussed it a few weeks back, but I wanted to save you from asking any uncomfortable questions... Although I'm sure you wanted to wait till we could all play together, but I'm ok with anything that might happen while Sara's there, Ok? We're all in agreement that playing together is on the table and we all know that it could be a possibility. So no need to make any embarrassing phone calls, I'm ok with it."
J's eyes widened a bit and his cheeks had taken a little bit of red, not to mention that his pants got a little tighter at Chris's statement, but he and Chris had talked about it before and neither of them were the jealous type and they were both kind of excited to share. "Wow, Ok! Thanks Chris, and I'm sure you'll get the opportunity to be on the other side of this conversation someday soon."
Chris laughed, "I hope so! I'm a little envious of you, Sara has been feeling especially... Rambunctious... Lately, but hey, I know I'll get my turn too. So, we'll just get our stuff together and head over in a bit, say... 8ish?"
J glanced at the clock on the microwave, 5:46. "Sure! That works, it'll give us a chance to pick up a bit before you arrive."
Chris agreed. "Ok! Well, we'll see you then. Talk to you later!"
"See you soon!" J said and hung up. He grinned knowing that T was obviously listing in on the conversation and he decided to tease her a bit so he turned back to the table and continued setting it.
T instantly jumped up and ran over to him. "Daddy! What was that about? What did Chris want??" She was adorably bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement.
"Ohhhhhh, nothing much..." J grinned. "Just that they were gonna go camping this weekend and he got called into work so they can't go. Sara is a little sad about it. So..."
The doorbell rang.
J stopped and handed the cash to T, a huge Cheshire Cat grin on his face. "Could you get that please? It's probably our pizza and I need to finish setting the table."
T huffed in excited frustration. "Ugh! Yes Daddy."
T's mind was whirling and she bounded to the door wondering what her Daddy had planned.
When she finally had the pizza and they were sitting at the table, T's legs were bouncing up and down and she said "Well?"
J grinned "Oh yes, where was I?"
T whined "DAAAADDY!"
J chuckled. "Ok princess. Because Sara was upset about their trip being cancelled, Chris asked if she could spend the weekend here for a sleepover instead. They'll be here around 8."
T squealed and clapped her hands. "SQUEEEEEE!! THANK YOU DADDY!!"
J was grinning and tried to use his stern voice, "So, after dinner I'll need your help tidying up before they get here. Ok?"
T was giggling, "Of course Daddy!!" And she leaned over and gave him a big kiss before they dug into the pizza.
Chris hung up and shouted from the kitchen "SARA, WHEN YOU'RE OUT OF THE TUB, COULD YOU COME HERE FOR A MINUTE?" He turned back to the dishes.
Sara sat in the bath and pouted. "FINE!" She shouted back, and thought to herself, "It just isn't fair. We've had this weekend planned for WEEKS. Stupid work! Why does he have to go? It's not fair!"
Sara finished her tub, dried off, and with the towel wrapped around her body she brushed her hair and made her way to the kitchen. She pouted and said "What?" a little more petulantly than she meant to.
Chris raised an eyebrow at her and said "What was that?"
Sara pouted and mumbled, "nuthin. Sorry. What do you need, Daddy?"
Chris nodded. "That's a little better. I know you're upset about our trip being cancelled, but you don't need to take it out on me, sweetheart. We can use more constructive ways to express our sad feels."
Sara stared at him, and her thoughts were a jumble of anger and frustration and each word he said just seemed to make her blood boil even more and finally she couldn't hold it in anymore and she blew up.
"IT'S NOT FAIR!! YOUR STUPID FUCKING WORK RUINED OUR WEEKEND AND I HATE IT!!" She threw the brush she was using for her hair and it clattered into the corner as her eyes welled up with angry tears.
Chris's eyes got wide and his mouth gaped at her tirade. "Excuse ME?" He said and pointed to the corner. "We do NOT speak that way to each other in this house. Get your nose in the corner until you can have a respectful conversation!"
Sara was beyond composure and shouted "NO! IT'S NOT FUCKING FAIR!" Punctuating each word with an angry stomp.
Chris balked and then steeled himself. He reached out and grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the kitchen table.
Sara's eyes got wide with sudden realization and she sputtered as she was dragged to the table, "No Daddy! I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, I'm sorry!"
Chris pushed her chest down into the table and tore the towel off her. He landed hard, stinging swats to her bottom and thighs and scolded her, "Sara!" SLAP "I'm surprised at you!" SLAP "I do NOT" SLAP SLAP SLAP "Appreciate your behavior!" SLAP SLAP SLAP SLAP SLAP
Sara danced and tried to wiggle away, but she was held firmly down against the table. "OW OW! DADDY! PLEASE! I'M SORRY! OW!"
Chris paused his spanking and said, "Now, I WANTED to have a calm conversation with you about this weekend! I knew you were upset so I planned a surprise for you to make you feel better! You WERE going to go over to J and T's house for a sleepover this weekend, but if you can't even be respectful HERE in your own HOME I don't know if I can trust you to behave at a friend's house!"
SLAPSLAPSLAPSLAPSLAPSLAPSLAP