by S. L. Finlay
Hearing those words, my face flushed hot with embarrassment. The idea of his mother encouraging romance was embarrassing to me, as nice as it was to hear that she didn't totally hate me, even though I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life.
Billy's mother was strict but gracious. She was kind and funny and made me smile.
William, Billy's father was also kind, but spent less time with me as he always seemed to be keeping himself busy doing other things. His wife didn't seem to mind that he was heading down to the bar, or off to dinner with some friends, or anywhere else.
They lived reasonably separate lives, it made me wonder if Billy and I would be like this when we were their age, but then I didn't want to think too far ahead, and get concerned about things that may or may not happen in the future.
I wasn't sure what was going to happen, and besides, I had a visa that would run out soon.
I wondered about looking for work in New York. Billy's parents were letting me stay with them without cost. They would feed me and often would pay for me to get into attractions when I went with them.
When I did offer to pay for things, they would wave my money away and tell me that I wasn't working right now, and they would look after me.
The money in the envelope – that was more than a month's wage – had sat untouched since I had arrived and paid the cab driver with some of it. I had thought about what to do with the remainder, but had come up short.
Should I ask Billy why I had more money in there than I earned? Was the money extra from the ranch owner as a thank you? Was it some sort of severance pay? Was it Billy's money that he had put in there to make sure I would be okay?
It seemed the perfect way for your daddy dom to make sure you were alright, to give you a little extra cash and send you off to live somewhere rent free so you don't have to work for a while. Billy was kind and sweet, the perfect daddy.
I missed my perfect daddy though, and no amount of free rent and sightseeing would make up for that.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
I had gotten myself into a routine since coming to New York. I would wake up by nine am and go down to have breakfast with Billy's family – American sitcom style – when we were at breakfast, usually his mother would talk about things we could do together that day. It was the most relaxed sight-seeing schedule with maybe one or two things mentioned in a day.
One day we went to an old railway line which was turned into a park before going to a museum of biblical art. The former was lovely, and somewhere I can see plenty of people visiting with their friends from interstate and overseas, the later felt pretty random as neither of us were very religious.
Art though can be appreciated even by people who are not of the same way of thinking as you, it can be beautiful or thought provoking or whatever you want it to be.
As we left the museum in the late afternoon for a local coffee shop, we both agreed that we were running out of museums.
"I sure hope Billy gets here soon!" She said from across the table.
I rolled my eyes and reached for the sugar that sat between us, "So do I!" I said before sighing.
When I thought about that moment some time later, I would realise that his mother was quiet after I said that, a little too quiet.
But in that moment, I was too busy turning towards the person standing beside me who had tapped on my shoulder.
When I turned, Billy came into full view.
It took me half a second to jump up, wrap my arms around him and pull him in close.
"Billy!" I cried excitedly.
He picked me up and leaned back, taking my full weight on his body.
"No!" I cried, "I don't want to break your back!"
Billy was laughing as he put me down, "You ain't breaking nothing!" He told me, his funny Southern accent sounding a bit off in this atmosphere.
He was still wearing his cowboy gear which made me laugh to see him in a New York diner. I shook my head as I looked him over, pulling at his clothes as I laughed, feeling too euphoric to say anything at all.
Billy and I laughed and joked a little before his mother swept in to give him a big hug, "Sorry sweetie, I just want the one." She told him in way of apology for breaking up our conversation and cuddling her son.
Everyone in the diner was looking at us but I hardly cared.
We were in the wait staff's way however, and that encouraged us all the sit back down.
Billy's mother sat across from us and I sat beside Billy, our hands inter-twined.
I was too excited to have Billy there to think about much else. Mostly we just sat together and I told him how great it was to see him, how I had missed him, and his mother asked the practical questions – how his flight had been, how long it had taken to get here from the airport, if he had stopped off at his parents' home first.
It turned out he had stopped off at home just to drop off his bags and see his father briefly before getting in a cab and coming here. He said the flight was fine but a little hectic.
"Why hectic?" I had asked, the first serious questions since he had sat down.
Billy smiled at me, "Turbulence, over-booked plane, there was too much cargo on the plane so they had to shift some of it off so they could get our bags on board."
I nodded along. "Fair enough." I told him.
When we were finished with our drinks, we paid our bill and went out onto the street. I had forgotten how intense this had been after life on the ranch, being surrounded by all these people, but when I saw that look on Billy's face, I recognised it right away.
As I was assessing his face though, his mother was making her excuses to leave. "I should go." She told us, "I have got a meeting this afternoon."
Neither of us were listening too much to her excuse and we both said our polite goodbyes before I took Billy by the hand and dragged him onto a bus.
"Where are we going?" He asked as we climbed aboard.
"To the park." I told him without missing a beat.
"Why?" He asked.
"Because you've been on the ranch then come right here, it's hard to get used to. When I first got here, the park was my favourite place, because I didn't feel too out of place there being close to nature with fewer people around after life on the ranch."
Billy smiled down at me and leaned in to give me a kiss, "You're very sweet, you know that?" He asked.
I nodded, "I know." I told him before giggling.
When our bus arrived, we jumped off and walked into the park. Central Park did still have people running around all over the place, but it was quieter than standing in the middle of a New York street.
We found a quiet patch of grass and cuddled up, as we used to on the ranch by the stream.
We spent ages just gazing into one another's eyes and smiling at one another without really speaking, then when we did speak the conversation was filled with us telling one another how much we missed the other.
I sighed, he sighed. My heart that had previously felt sore and lonely now felt full of love again. Touching him after the absence had felt like the sweetest thing, as if touching no other human, and holding no other humans hand would be quite the same as holding his.
The afternoon passed in a haze and it felt like no time until we were both hungry.
Billy made a point of looking at his own clothes, "Guess there's a lot of places I am not getting into here." He said with a smile on his face.
I shook my head, "Nope, you're not looking very New York at the moment!"
Billy chuckled, "Bah! That's a shame! I always wanted to look New York!"
We shared a giggle and stood up from our patch of grass. I had no idea where to go for dinner as I had always eaten with Billy's parents in their home. Billy didn't want to go home yet though, he wanted to stay out, he as here to see me and that's what he'd do.
"I've already said hi to my parents." He told me, "And they knew I was here for you. We will spend time with them tomorrow. We have the time now."
I nodded,
not knowing what to say as they were not my parents after all.
"There's a place..." Billy started before drifting off into thought, "I think it's near here. Really amazing place! They do 'American food', it's a bit touristic, but you'd like it."
Billy knew how much I had been embracing being in America from when we were on the ranch. The first time someone had gone into town and bought some 'candy' (we call them lollies in Australia) they had pixie sticks, something I had never tried before. I tried one and was so excited by this American candy that everyone thought me a little odd, except Billy who thought my foreignness was charming.
I followed Billy's lead now as we went to the American place.
The décor was much like any other diner out here, only it was a little more hammed up for tourists.
The menu though, was pretty bad. As an Australian who visited outback jacks and was genuinely disappointed by the lack of actual Australian foods and the fact things were just named Australian sounding names, I was a little disappointed that all the normal American foods were now just given more American sounding names.
Billy was adamant though that this place was good when he saw my face, "It's amazing!" He told me, "Trust me, you'll love it!"
I looked down at my menu for a moment, unsure which food I wanted the most: Did I want a burger? A steak? I guessed burgers had to be the most American of American foods. Or maybe hot dogs, but they were more of a New York food than a general American food and I had had so many hot dogs since I had arrived in New York.
Billy must have seen the confusion written on my face as he told me, "You have to try the fries, or maybe the onion rings. The onion rings are good. With some ketchup."
"Why don't you order one and I'll order the other and we can share?" I asked.
"Good idea!" Billy said as he looked the menu over a little more.
My eyes were on him, I didn't care about the food as much, as I didn't want to miss a moment with him, not missing one smile on his face or the look he got in his eye. I didn't want to miss a thing, and I wasn't going to.
But then I didn't know what I would order either.
The waitress came over to us and asked what we would like. I rushed to look at my menu then, and Billy seemed to be taking a bit longer to work out what he wanted to drink. Quietly I was thankful for that.
We ordered some drinks then Billy waited for the waitress to leave before offering, "Do you want your daddy to order for you, baby girl?"
At the question, my heart swooned inside my chest. I was his baby girl and he was going to look after me again. I had missed that feeling of being looked after.
Quietly and shyly I nodded.
For the rest of the meal, I was back to being his baby girl again, and it was wonderful.
When I was 'little' as we called it, I would regress in age. Being little with my daddy at a restaurant that served all the food that littles liked was perfect. When the food arrived, I understood why Daddy had chosen this place.
Daddy had ordered spiders (cola with ice cream in it) for drinks, had ordered burgers for each of us then some onion rings and cheesy fries that had cheese and bacon inside.
I loved cheesy fries and knew that if and when I went back to Australia I would miss them immensely. They were such great food! Sure they were bad for you, but they tasted so good!
As we ate our food, I relaxed into my role of baby girl and Billy relaxed into his role of Daddy. I was surprised by how much I had missed this. It was so easy to be with him and to be like this that I couldn't imagine having the romantic and friends parts of our relationship without having this too.
"What do you want to do tomorrow?" Daddy asked me and all the ideas in my head were buzzing around.
"I want to do everything!" I told him, "There is so much I have wanted to see, that I have waited for you to come to see together!" I cried.
Daddy just nodded, "Okay." He said.
"Yeah! Like, like, I wanted to see the statue of liberty and cony island and the empire state building, and, and, I want to spend some time kissing in the park like all the couples do. I want to do all the couple things!" I cried, feeling a little over-excited.
"Okay." He agreed, barely able to hide the smile from his face.
"How long have you got Daddy?" I asked.
Daddy blinked and looked away modestly before looking me in the eye and telling me, "For you baby, I have got forever!"
I felt the smile run away from my face, was he teasing me?
"What do you mean?" I asked, "You've got forever?"
Daddy smiled as he told me, "I left the ranch sweetheart, I told them that I had had enough. I have found you now after waiting so long and now I just want to spend my days with you."
It felt as if my heart stopped. Inside I was crying out with joy but what came out of my mouth was concern for him, "But what do you mean? You love that job!"
Daddy was shaking his head, "There will always be another ranch, there won't ever be another you."
His words, and his sincerity made me want to cry.
That night when we got home, we made love like we never had before. It was sweet and vulnerable in turns and rough and hard in turns. We were each trying to give the other exactly what we thought they needed.
Then after when we realised we were too busy giving to one another and not taking for ourselves enough to enjoy it, we both laughed and made love again, this time in more of a balanced way.
We could do this for as long as we pleased, I thought as I lay in his arms about to go to sleep. Except that the Department of Immigration would have something to say if I overstayed my visa.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Billy quitting the ranch life was a shock to everyone. When he told his parents neither of them knew what to do with the news.
"But you love your ranch!" His mother cried, sounding more disappointed that anyone could have expected.
His father took a little longer to respond when he was told the news but when he did he asked, "Are you sure you have made the right decision?"
Billy knew he had made the right choice, and wanted everyone to know it. He loved the ranch, he told us when we asked, but it was time he moved on from there.
Quietly, he had told me that part of the reason why he was so happy to be off the ranch – aside from me, which was the main reason – was that if he lived in a big city like New York, he could explore the BDSM scene here, meet other age players and learn more about his fetish.
In truth, his fetish was now our fetish as the more I played this way, the more I wanted to play this way and calling my partner daddy, which had felt odd at the start, was now the most normal and natural thing in the world.
It even felt hot when I said it sometimes, like when we were in bed together and I'd say something especially naughty like asking if he would like me to swallow his cum or if he would like it if I bent over for him so he could fuck me.
I did love bending over for him!
Something I liked about not being on the ranch as well was that we had the freedom to share a bed without feeling odd about it, and we could live more the way we wanted.
Except that we were still under his parent's roof, that wasn't ideal.
But, we both deserved a holiday after all the hard work we had done, so we took this opportunity to explore New York together.
I had heard someone say once that Paris was the most romantic city in the world. I had never been to Paris, but I couldn't see how it could be any more romantic than this. Sure New York wasn't pretty, it had that feel of the sweaty skin of five o'clock shadow on a tycoon, but it was beautiful in its own way and romantic.
I guess it just depends on your perspective.
When I was with Billy we explored some of the places I had been to on my own together and he made them feel completely different.
Central part for instance, had all these things in it I hadn't noticed, or if I had noticed, I hadn't seen them in quite the same way.
Billy had been a
Beatles fan as a teenager (like every teenager since the group had been a big thing, I am sure) and he wanted to show me John Lennon's memorial and tell me the story about how he got shot.
First we walked down a street off the park and Billy showed me where it happened. I was sad to see that spot, even though I wasn't a huge Beatles fan myself. Then when he showed me John Lennon's memorial in the park and told me how Yoko Ono had made it this big tiled area with the word 'imagine', because she didn't think he'd like to be a brass statue to be pooed on by pigeons, I had to laugh. That girl had a sense of humour, or at least know how to put a great image in your mind!
Billy and I had a photo taken by a tourist who didn't mind taking us a photo with Billy's smart phone (a new smart phone he had gotten himself in preparation for city living, he hadn't had quite such a nice phone when he was on the ranch as he hadn't needed one).
We then wandered around the park some more, Billy telling me stories about the park and stories about the things he loved here. We both laughed together and kissed in all the most beautiful and picturesque spots.
Of course they were filming a movie here while we were in the park, and of course we would have to come back some other day to see everything, as always happens with the park.
Billy had promised me we would go to the top of the empire state building, but as it was better at night – or so he said – we spent that day exploring New York as he knew it.
We went to the East Village and explored thrift stores and great coffee shops, we went to Wall Street and people watched there. When we had done people watching on the street, we got photos taken with some famous brass figures.
I felt like a tourist, but not in that frenzied way that tourists often feel, more in a relaxed 'let's see things and actually have experiences here together that we can take away from this' sort of way, which was beautiful and something I had never experienced before.
