It was nine in the morning when Nathan's cell phone rang. He'd been at work for three hours, and was idly wondering when she'd call.
"Hey there," he said as he pulled the phone to his ear.
"Good morning," Dani said. He could hear the sleep in her voice. "You must be a wreck this morning, what did you sleep? Like an hour?"
"I'll make it. Have you gotten out of bed yet?"
"Nope, I looked out the window though, and your dad and Mel's cars are there," she sounded nervous at the prospect of being discovered.
"He won't care, grab a shower, get some breakfast, and relax I'll be home around two-thirty," Nathan said. "Oh, and be sure to call and try to set up tomorrow night with Aimee."
"Ok lover, I'm on it," Dani said with a short giggle. "You better get back to work if you're gonna bring bacon this evening."
Nathan said a goodbye, and caught a look from his boss, Robert. Phone calls were generally frowned on if you weren't on a break. Nate reminded himself to let it ring if it happened again, and grinned as he went back to work unbundling a large stack of lumber.
He had woken up to his alarm clock with ease. As was becoming usual, no matter how much sleep he got, he was completely refreshed when he woke. Things were still looking up in his world, and he intended to keep them that way.
Along the drive to the jobsite, he had come to the conclusion that he wouldn't crawl into a hole with the book and disappear. He'd been living with next to nothing for so long that he'd be damned before giving up on opportunities the book presented. No, he'd rather be dead than forced to scrape a meager existence out again.
Freed from that decision, his work day had been uplifting. The simple tasks let his mind spin, formulating a plan for his future. He still had a bit of time before he could open the safe deposit box and get Pop's information out, and he planned to advance in the book before that time came up.
At lunch, he grabbed a hoagie off of the kitchen truck that usually appeared, and jumped into the bed of his truck. In between bites, he glanced around to make sure the rest of the crew was a fair distance away. Then he flipped open his phone again, and called his house.
"Hello," It was Dani's voice that greeted him.
"Hey, just taking my lunch, and thought I'd see how you were getting by."
"I'm great, Mel woke up a while ago, and we've been hanging out."
"How'd it go with Aimee?"
"Well," Dani hesitated. "I took a little creative license out on her."
"Meaning?" Nathan sat up straight in the truck. He wasn't sure if he was more curious at what she'd done, or excited.
"I got her voice mail, so on a lark, I sorta told her to meet us at Fitzgerald's tomorrow at seven."
"Okay," Nathan said. He wasn't sure what the big deal was. "You afraid she won't come?"
"No, I'm just hoping I didn't intimidate her," Dani said. "As soon as I got her voice mail, and it beeped, I said 'Aimee, this is Dani, you met me and my boyfriend last night, and I want you to meet us at Fitzgerald's tomorrow seven PM sharp, don't be late, Nathan wouldn't like that. Don't pull your hair up, and wear a skirt. I can't wait to see you there."
Nathan grinned, Dani hadn't made arrangements with Aimee, so much as she'd made the arrangements, and told Aimee how it was going to be.
"Well, if you've scared her off, I'll have to punish you for your mistake," he said. He was trying to make the threat sound reasonable, even though he wasn't sincere.
"I know, but I think that if she does show up, we'll already be much closer to an understanding with her."
Nathan's mouth hung open a bit at Dani's acceptance of his threat, she hadn't balked or anything, it was almost as if she had accepted the possibility before he'd said it.
"Nate," Dani said; her voice a whisper. "If you have a second, I wanted to talk to you about something else, I moved into the bathroom for some privacy."
"Okay," Nate was a little taken back.
"It's just that, you're doing such a great job being in control, I was hoping that I could show you how much I appreciate it."
"What did you have in mind?" Nathan found himself leaning forward, waiting for her words.
"Well, I wanted to show you how much I respect you for taking charge of me when we're together, so I thought," Dani stopped for a second, and Nate could almost feel her nerves through the phone. "I thought maybe when we're together, and alone, I could call you 'Sir'."
The other end of the phone became quiet like a tomb. Dani had completely shut down after the word 'Sir'. Nate was a bit shocked by her request, and more surprised by his own excitement for it. After a moment he realized it was quiet because they were both holding their breath.
"Breathe Dani," he said after his own breath. Then he heard a sharp intake of air from the phone. "I think I'd love to hear you call me Sir. When ever we have privacy, I think it works."
"Thank you...Sir"
Nate was amazed at how he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck buzz with approval when she said it, addressing him with it for the first time. His cheeks flushed with warmth, and began to hurt after a few seconds of grinning like a Cheshire cat. Finally, he was able to speak a few seconds later.
"Oh, I had no idea how much that would turn me on," Nathan said, hoping she would at least feel half of what he was. "I'd better finish my lunch though, and get back to work. I'll see you in a few hours, and get you out of the house."
"Can we go by my dorm to get some clothes?"
