“Mr. McDonnell referred you, am I correct?” Without waiting for her response, he went on. “I read his recommendation yesterday. He seemed quite convinced you would benefit from our matching service.”
“He said you… you would help me learn to, I dunno, take care of things better.”
“That we do, that we do, my young friend,” Mr. Green assured her with a smile. “Though not me personally. I’m only a matchmaker, a simple go-between for those who wish to nurture and those who need nurturing.” Reaching into his briefcase, he quickly pulled some papers out and pushed them across to her. “If you wish for me to find you a suitable match, all you need do is read and sign the agreement. Everything you need to know is right there in black and white.”
“Oh, um,” she stammered, skimming the papers before her quickly. She hadn’t anticipated there might be papers to sign. Duh, Jos, everything has papers to sign. “I… I would need time to read it over; I didn’t realize there’d be a contract involved.”
“No, no contract, nothing legally binding,” he exclaimed, his bushy eyebrows knitting together in concern. “A mere agreement, stating that you will allow me to select the most suitable match available, and that once that selection is made, you will abide by the rules your new daddy makes.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, blinking warily. “Did you say, ‘daddy’?”
“Yes indeed,” he replied, his unwavering gaze growing stern in an instant. “You come to me unable to function in adult life, Josey. You daydream when you should be working, spend money on treats and trips instead of your bills, eat buckets of junk food without any sort of self-control, and refuse to make even the slightest attempt to clean up your messes.” He leaned forward and waggled a finger at her. “Oh yes, I’ve heard the stories from your office cleaning crew.”
Josey found that hard to believe. “How would you have heard anything from them?”
“Little birds,” he smiled slyly. “They tell me so many things. They flit here and there and come back to me. And you should remember that if you decide to move forward. The agreement this evening is the first step. Once I’ve selected your daddy and he agrees to accept you, the two of you will enter a separate agreement at another meeting which will take place here, more than likely tomorrow evening. And, as individuals vary, so do the agreements. So, while I can assure you it will require your complete obedience, I cannot be specific as to what that might entail at this time.”
“So, it’s not a contract,” she mused thoughtfully. “If I decide I don’t like it, I can quit?”
‘No, not a contract,” he agreed. “Each agreement has a sort of escape clause, if you like, that will allow either party to back out of the agreement at any time, for any reason. However,” he added quickly, “once either party backs out of their agreement, their association with my organization ends. There will be no coming back to complain or whine for a second chance.”
“Has anyone ever backed out before?”
“Only once,” he assured her. “And they did come back to whine and plead, but to no avail. I take great care in my selection, Miss Tate. I assure you, I won’t pair you with anyone but the best.”
Suddenly, the most important question of all came to mind. As usual, she’d forgotten all about the bills, and she hesitantly asked what the cost for the arrangement would be.
“Ahh, have no worries about that, Miss Tate,” he smiled benevolently. “We are a rather… elite service… and as such, our clientele tend to be as well. Your new daddy will assume responsibility for all expenses, from use of our facilities—which I think you’ll find far exceed their outward appearances—to any activities the two of you might engage in outside of these walls.”
Chewing her bottom lip, she considered her options. They seemed pretty simple. She could say no and go back to her unhappy existence, or she could sign on the line and someone would try to help her. A daddy who would help me. It sounded silly, and yet, how many times had she wished to go home and let her own father take care of things once more? She skimmed over the agreement again, but nothing in it seemed sinister or even mildly concerning, and he had said she could get out of it if she really wanted to. Before she could change her mind again, she snatched up the pen and quickly initialed and signed at every highlighted X.
“Now what?” she asked as he quickly tucked the contract into his briefcase.
“Now I’ll make a few calls, and you’ll go home. By the time you fall asleep, I’ll have your new daddy chosen. Check your inbox at work first thing in the morning for an important email from him, and by all means do as it says, or you’ll get off to a very unpleasant start,” he warned, waggling a finger at her as he returned to his seat on the other side of the desk. “In the meantime, go home and get some sleep, my dear. Tomorrow will be a new day!”
Meeting Daddy
The clock read 7:48 a.m. when Josey finally rolled over and opened her eyes. Not again! She’d forgotten to set the alarm for the millionth time, and there was no way she’d be on time now. Flinging the covers aside, she stumbled quickly to the bathroom and raked a brush through her hair with one hand while frantically brushing her teeth with the other.
She was still pulling on her shirt when she headed out the door at 8:06, and by the time she made it to the parking lot, she was a full ten minutes late. In her haste she fumbled the keys twice, dropping them under the car a second time. “UGH!” she yelled as she got on her knees to reach underneath. Finally, she got the key in the lock and got inside, only to find the car sulky and unwilling to start.
The ten-year-old Sunfire was another constant source of headache and stress. Thinking to avoid yet another monthly bill, Josey had purchased an older model for cash. Kelly Walder from the cubicle beside hers had warned her not to buy anything until she’d had a mechanic go over it first, but the seller had been nice, and the car seemed fine. So, she bought it and spent the money for the mechanic at the mall instead. Within days, a strange knocking began, and dark blue-gray smoke had started billowing from behind as she drove. The repair shop she took it to said something about valves and rings, which sounded trifling but were apparently quite expensive. They gave her several options, but options meant decisions, and decisions were the very things Josey tried to avoid. In the end, she took it home, still belching its noxious smoke and knocking its monotonous tune. It ran and got her to work mostly on time, so she pushed the needed repairs from her mind, reasoning that she would deal with the repairs when the car refused to start.
Start, you heap! As if in reply, the Sunfire’s tiny engine shuddered to life, and Josey let out the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. She would be big time late, but at least she’d make it. The car belched its smoke and knocked its tune the entire drive, and by the time she pulled into the company parking lot the digital clock on the dash proclaimed it to be 8:35.
She half ran, half scuttled down the hall to the break room and quickly darted inside for a Dr. Pepper and a Snickers bar. With any luck no one had realized she’d yet to arrive, and if she strolled to her cubicle with snacks in hand, they might just assume she’d been there all along. Jason Myers gave her a hard look when she passed his office, but when she made it to the end of the aisle without hearing him call her back, she breathed a sigh of relief. If that ploy had worked, perhaps the rest of the day would go better than it had started.
It wasn’t until she checked her inbox that she remembered Mr. Green’s words. Spam, spam, office jokes… there it is! The contact address was nondescript, a few letters and numbers at a generic email account, and the subject line would make no sense to anyone but her. Kitty Pajamas, it said, and she blushed to remember the kitten PJs she’d worn to her appointment. Clicking quickly, she eagerly read her first introduction to the man Mr. Green had chosen for her.
Miss Josey,
I hope your morning has gotten off to a good start. Mr. Green and I have spoken at length, and we have set an appointment for the three of us to meet this evening at 5:30. Our
driver will arrive to pick you up at work and bring you straight here, so please do not keep him waiting. In the meantime, I am sending you a list of instructions for today.
I suspect you will have gotten a soda prior to reading this, so you may go ahead and finish it. However, for the remainder of the day you are to drink either water or tea, and if you must sweeten the tea, you may use artificial sweetener, not sugar. Additionally, you are not to eat any junk food, such as candy bars or chips. For lunch you may select a chef salad from the vending machine (no dressing!), or else have the lunch runner pick you up a turkey sandwich on wheat, with all the veggies you like. You may have mustard or ketchup (or both!), but no mayo or cheese, and no snacking today either. I know it will be hard.
During your afternoon break, you will go to the company fitness center and walk on the treadmill for the full fifteen minutes at three miles per hour.
Pay attention at work today, and get your assignments completed. Your employer does not pay you to daydream and stare out of windows, so if you are not on break, stay busy please.
I expect you to be a good girl and do as I say. Trust me when I say I will know. If you disobey me, then I will have to punish you, and you will not like that at all.
See you this evening!
Sincerely,
Daddy
“Are you kidding me?” she blurted out incredulously, nearly choking on her Dr. Pepper as she reread the email. No snacks? Walk on the treadmill? And how would he know anyway? Twisting her pony tail nervously, she looked around for signs of a camera or someone watching her. Suddenly, she wondered if the whole thing was some sort of cruel practical joke, though she choked to think that Mr. McDonnell would be so cruel. Myers, sure, he was always giving her nasty looks and griping at her, but Mr. McDonnell seemed so kind and nice.
“Whatever,” she muttered as she hit the delete button and checked the rest of her email. The appointment of the night before already felt like it didn’t really happen, and the bizarre email convinced her that the whole thing was some mean prank that someone was playing on her. She only hoped the supposed agreement she signed didn’t wind up on the office bulletin board for everyone to laugh at.
The salad held no attraction for her, but when the lunch runner came through collecting orders, she decided a turkey on wheat sounded pretty good after all, but with mayo instead of mustard or ketchup, and a bag of Munchos and an extra-large Coke to go with it. The worst part about the runner was that he took the orders two hours before they would be delivered, and that meant two hours of salivating over the lunch that hadn’t arrived yet. Fortunately, she had an Almond Joy tucked away in her top desk drawer to help her until he returned.
The instruction to spend fifteen minutes on the treadmill during her break was also ignored. Josey didn’t care to walk the distance from her cubical to the complex’s fitness center, let alone spend any amount of time on a treadmill getting sweaty and out of breath. She became more and more convinced that the entire thing was an elaborate hoax by people at work, most likely with the goal of getting her on the treadmill and secretly videoing it so they could post it on YouTube at her expense. Every glance and every nod was now viewed with suspicion, and she kept losing focus on her work in favor of scanning the ceiling tiles in hopes of catching one nudged aside for a webcam to peer through.
The clock on the wall also proved a strong detraction from focusing on her job, creeping ever slower towards the important hours of noon, then two-fifteen for break, then five. She broke for break early, shuffling to the break room at two for a bag of Cheetos, and then hiding out in the restroom until her two-fifteen break began. Three-fifteen called for another soda, and she was debating getting another bag of chips around four-thirty when someone mentioned there were cupcakes for someone’s birthday in the break room. She had just polished off a second one when the clock mercifully rolled to five, setting her and the remainder of the office free once more.
Just as she was grabbing her purse, her phone buzzed. It was the girl at the front desk, informing her that her ride was waiting out front. Josey’s mouth went dry as she hung up. She’d been so sure it was all a joke, but would they really send a driver again just to play a trick on her? Not Mr. McDonnell, she thought. This is for real. Suddenly a thousand excuses ran through her head. Had to work late. Tummy ache, needed to go home. The email had said if she didn’t follow the instructions, she’d be punished and she wouldn’t like it. Back stairs, I’ll take the fire stairs and slip out the back, drive home really fast, and just pretend I never got the email.
It had seemed like the perfect escape until she opened the back door and discovered the driver from the night before standing there, waiting. Seeing her, he silently opened the back door and waited for her to get in.
“My car,” she blurted out. “I can’t leave it here, something might happen to it.” The driver raised an eyebrow at her lame excuse, but continued to hold the door open, waiting. He seemed prepared to wait all day if necessary. Sighing heavily, she finally climbed in and went to face Mr. Green and her new daddy.
* * *
They were both waiting in the office when she arrived. Mr. Green was seated at his desk, wearing a different, but equally crisp, white linen suit and looking none too pleased to see her. The other man was seated with his back to her. She took the remaining seat, too nervous to meet either Mr. Green’s stern gaze or take a peek at the man beside her.
“I must say, Josey, I didn’t expect perfect behavior, but you defied all expectations.” Opening his briefcase, he withdrew a memo, pausing to put on his glasses before reading the contents out loud.
“Soda and candy bar to start the day, but you had that before you checked your email, so you get a pass on that, I suppose. Ordered the sandwich, but with mayonnaise, a bag of crisps, and an extra-large soda from the lunch boy. Another candy bar while waiting for lunch to arrive, I see. After lunch, a bag Cheetos, yet another soda, and two cupcakes. Not one drop of water or tea. Refused to exercise. And for work: dawdle, dawdle, dawdle, daydream, stare at the clock, stare at the clock some more, a full fifteen minutes in the restroom prior to your afternoon break.”
He glared over the desktop at her.
“I actually thought you might behave.” He laughed ruefully. “Lost a fiver on it, I did. You also tried to sneak out the back door and avoid our driver. Really, Josey? I’m disappointed.”
“I’m… I’m sorry,” she stammered, her cheeks flooding with heat and shame. It was one thing to goof off and snack all day, but to hear someone read off her list of transgressions sounded so much worse. “I thought it was a prank. Myers, he hates me, he—”
“Quite an elaborate and expensive prank wouldn’t you think? To rent this entire facility? To hire me? To cozen your employer into playing along? Really, Josey, you should know better than that. And now to change the subject,” he said, adjusting in his seat as a more pleasant expression came over his face. “Allow me introduce you to your new daddy. His name is Richard Black. You will address him as Daddy, and good luck to him, I say. It was his email you deleted this morning. He and I are in firm agreement that you’re in dire need of assistance in guiding you towards more appropriate behaviors.”
At last she allowed herself to look directly at the man seated beside her. She’d picked up on his scent immediately, warm and reassuring, like Old Spice and soap, but now she took in the artfully faded denim jeans that hugged the firm swells of his thighs, the starched creases that peaked an edge running down from the knee to bunch at the hem atop a pair of tan cowboy boots. His button up shirt was slightly wrinkled in the back where he’d leaned against the chair, and the top two buttons were undone, revealing a tanned chest with a light haze of golden brown curls.
It was his face that caught her interest though, tanned and weathered, but still young and handsome. Twinkling blue eyes set deep, the whites almost shocking against the brown creases that surrounded them. His nose was straight and even, and he wore a well-trimmed moustache and go
atee, his shoulder-length brown hair streaked with gold. Whereas Mr. Green looked like he belonged on a yacht, Josey could clearly picture this man atop a horse on a vast ranch.
“You’ve been one seriously naughty girl,” he scolded her. “I am very disappointed in you, Josey.”
Mr. Green retrieved papers from his briefcase and pushed them across the desk, one set for each of them. Josey read through them quickly; this was the agreement he’d spoken of that would be between her and the man beside her. It was fairly straightforward. By signing it, she would be agreeing to be completely obedient to him at all times, and if she disobeyed, she would be punished. In return, he would assist her in day-to-day life—helping her organize her responsibilities such as bills and deadlines, direct her towards a healthier lifestyle including diet and exercise, and—
“Bathing and medical examinations?” she asked. “I’m twenty-eight years old, I don’t need someone to bathe me, and I already have a doctor.”
“Simply part of this agreement, Josey, included per Mr. Black’s request. I assure you, you won’t find it unpleasant.”
“This says he’ll be able to monitor everything I do,” she pointed out uneasily. “You knew everything I did today. I looked everywhere. I didn’t see any cameras at work.”
“As I told you before, Josey, little birds. You may not see my eyes, but I assure you they’re all around, particularly in the beginning when my little girls are so busy testing boundaries and pushing buttons. This arrangement is all about discipline and obedience, and since the two of you will spend so much time apart, it falls to me to ensure Mr. Black has a way to be sure you are minding your manners.”
Disciplining Little Josey Page 2
