Disciplining Little Abby (24 page)

As promised, her father was waiting by the park just across the street from
Three Sixty
’s office. Abby had been surprised to learn it wasn’t run out of the owner’s house. She’d always envisioned him huddled in his basement, churning out copies.

Chris parked the car and then led her across the street to meet up with her father. “You ready for this?” he asked, and she was touched at the concern in his eyes. “I can go in with you if you want me to. All you have to do is ask.”

Abby shook her head. She would have loved to have him come with her, but she was determined to do this on her own. “I’m ready,” she whispered excitedly. “I got my big girl clothes on, remember?”

Her father hugged her tightly when they reached him. “You remember what I taught you?” he asked.

Abby grinned. “Every word.”

Chris squeezed her hand as her father beamed. “Good girl. And good luck.”

Before she could chicken out, Abby turned and hurried across the street to
Three Sixty
. She’d planned and practiced for this moment for weeks. Now it was time to act. Her hand stole inside her tote and gave her blankee a tight squeeze.

I can do this
, she thought. Taking a deep breath, she pulled the door open and stepped inside.

He was waiting for her at a small desk just a few feet inside the room. Before she could introduce herself, he stood up and handed her a piece of paper. Abby’s mouth fell open as she looked down and saw herself fully airborne on her skateboard after coming off a stair rail at the library.

“Mal Willis,” he chuckled as she took the photo. “When you called you said your name was Abby, but that last name kept nagging at me, so I did a little digging. I wasn’t sure it was you until you walked through the door though. My goodness, girl,” he exclaimed, shaking his head in wonder, “you haven’t aged a day.”

“I remember this,” she marveled. “I wiped out on the landing.”

“Ahh, but I didn’t print that photo. It was the air everyone saw.”

“I wanted to pin it up in my room, but I was afraid my mom would get mad.” Abby frowned slightly at the memory. “She didn’t like me skateboarding.”

He nodded and motioned for her to take a seat. “You said you wanted to discuss
Three Sixty
?”

This is it
. “Mr. Jamison, I’m interested in buying
Three Sixty
from you.”

* * *

Outside at the park, Chris and Abby’s father sat and waited. Mr. Willis was the first to break the silence.

“The offer I told her to make was pretty low,” he fretted. “I just hope Abby can keep her cool if he gets mad about it.”

“She’ll do fine,” Chris assured him. “She’s getting a lot better about managing her temper.”

“Yes, she is,” he agreed. “Something tells me I have you to thank for that.” The older man turned and faced Chris. “You have a calming influence on her. Not just that, but she seems so much more confident about herself now. Used to be she’d go screaming and throwing fits when she got nervous. She was just so unhappy. That’s all changed now. Whatever you’re doing, don’t stop.”

Chris bowed his head to hide a smile. He wondered what Abby’s father would think if he knew the truth. “I just try to be there for her, Mr. Willis,” he replied. “She’s an amazing person, with a lot of potential. I’m just helping her see it is all.”

Mr. Willis nodded thoughtfully, then the two fell back to silence.

Nearly fifteen minutes had gone by when Chris nudged Abby’s father and pointed across the street.

“That was fast,” Mr. Willis said uneasily. “I’m not sure if that’s good or bad.”

Chris tried to read Abby’s expression, but with the oversized sunglasses Kali had given her, it was impossible to see her eyes.

“Well?” he asked as she reached them. “How did it go?”

“I did everything you said, Dad,” she said softly. “I told him I wanted to buy the magazine, and he laughed at me.”

The slight tremor in her voice made Chris’ heart sink.
I should have gone in with her
. He swore inwardly. The last thing Abby’s fragile self-confidence needed was some jerk laughing at her.

“So while he was laughing, I pulled out my pen and a piece of paper, and I wrote the number you said on it. And I wrote my phone number and name under it, just like you said. And then I pushed it across the table and waited.” Abby paused to shove her sunglasses up and over her hair, and Chris’ breath caught at the excited gleam in them.

No way
.

“You’re looking at the new owner of
Three Sixty
!”

The next two months went by in a blur. True to his word, Abby’s father handled every aspect of the sale, leaving Abby free to explore ways to turn the magazine around. One of the first things she’d done was ask Amanda to come on board and take control of
Three Sixty
’s online presence. The magazine’s current advertising income was barely enough to cover expenses, with nothing left over for hiring additional help, but Abby convinced her father to float her enough operating cash to cover Amanda’s admittedly pitiful salary for the first three months.

Although Abby hadn’t been able to pay Amanda more than minimum wage, her friend had eagerly accepted the offer. The newspaper didn’t pay her any better, and with
Three Sixty
she’d be able to set her own hours and do the bulk of her work from her smart phone. Knowing she had Amanda in her corner allowed Abby to breathe a whole lot easier.

The magazine published the first Friday of every month, and Abby had wanted to implement major changes in the upcoming issue. However, her father and Chris managed to convince her to use the issue already laid out by Mr. Jamison and use the additional time to ensure that the first printing produced under Abby’s direction was a complete about-face for the stagnating company. It didn’t take long for her to be grateful she’d listened to them. Even with the extra month, she’d been hard pressed to have the revamped issue ready in time to go to print. It had taken both her and Amanda frantically working every available hour to meet the deadline, but they’d made it, and now all that was left was waiting for the finished magazine to come back from the printer.

Luckily Julia had insisted on taking over the relaunch party. Abby didn’t know if she could have pulled everything off if she’d had to worry about that as well. She’d provided her sister with a list of contacts, local skaters, and related businesses to invite, as well as a few area bands that might be up for providing musical entertainment.

Throughout it all Chris had been her rock, always supportive and willing to offer advice when needed, and equally willing to step back and let her make her own decisions. He also made sure Abby adhered to her schedule, escorting her to the tub every weekday at 5:30 p.m. to signal the end of her “big girl time”. Although she often protested and claimed she had too much work to do, she secretly loved the fact that he never gave in to her complaints.

That didn’t mean she’d given up the occasional bratty behavior to score some over the knee time, however, and at the moment, Abby was parked in the corner with her nose to the wall, thanks to her most recent disobedience. Chris had tried for nearly fifteen minutes to get her to set down her phone and get into the tub, but Abby kept putting him off. It being Friday meant that once she hit the tub, big girl time was over for the week. She would not be allowed to work on the magazine until eight o’clock Monday morning, but with the relaunch party scheduled for the following day, she was determined to get a few calls in before Chris took her phone for the weekend.

“Abby, I want you off that phone and in the tub in one minute, or I promise you, you’ll wish you had,” he’d warned. The look on his face had made it clear he would not be asking again.

“Just one more call,” she’d argued, trying to find the contact number for a custom skateboard shop she wanted to check out. Before she could find it, Chris had pulled the phone from her hand. She’d started to protest that her minute wasn’t up, but the look he’d shot her warned her to be quiet.

“Pull your jeans down and bend over the couch. Now!” He’d pointed to the couch and raised an eyebrow at her, and she’d obeyed at once.

Now stuck in the corner, Abby scowled as she imagined how she must have looked to him with her bare bottom in the air and her jeans in a puddle around her ankles. Gingerly rubbing her bottom, she wished she’d put the phone down and gotten into the tub when he’d told her to the first time. The spanking itself wasn’t that bad, but her bottom was still sore from the last two spankings she’d gotten for not minding him.

“At least it’s almost here,” she mumbled to herself. The anticipation had been killing her for weeks, but by noon tomorrow, she’d finally be able to show everyone what she’d spent the last two months working so hard on. Julia had been fairly secretive about the party she’d put together, and Abby was dying to find out what all she’d come up with.

“Abby, time’s up. Come get in the tub, now.”

This time she didn’t argue. Still rubbing her sore backside, Abby hurried to the bathroom and carefully stepped into the bubble filled tub. Easing slowly down into the warm water, she breathed a sigh of relief as the heat worked its way into her body.

Kneeling next to the tub, Chris reached across for the soap and began to gently scrub her body, starting with her fingertips and working his way across every inch. When he got to her back she began to giggle and wriggle about.

“It tickles!” she squealed, splashing Chris as she tried to keep him away from her ticklish spots.

Finally he gave up on her back and switched to her hair. As his fingers worked shampoo into her hair, Abby melted against the back of the tub. Closing her eyes, she let her mind clear until there was nothing left but the scent of coconut shampoo and shivery sensations radiating from her scalp to her toes as his fingers massaged her scalp. No matter how many times he washed her hair, she could never get enough.

“I spoke to Mr. Jingles today.”

Abby’s eyes snapped open. Earlier that week he’d taken the torn stuffed dog away, promising to get him fixed. Abby didn’t want him to, fearful the shabby old stuffed dog would not survive the repairs, but eventually Chris managed to convince her it would be okay.

“Is he all better?”

“He said he’s getting better and he misses you very much.” Chris pulled her back up, then tilted her head back to rinse the shampoo out. “I’ll pick him up tomorrow before the party,” he promised, quickly applying conditioner to the ends of her hair. “I know you want him to be there. Now hop up.”

“Thanks, Daddy,” she said excitedly. She always felt better with Mr. Jingles around, and given the nervous fluttering her tummy was already doing whenever she thought of the party, she knew she would need all the support she could get.

“What else did he say?” Abby stood up and turned around so he could wash her bottom. As he began gently washing between her legs, paying extra attention to her privates and between her cheeks, a rash of goose bumps rose on her arms. Blushing, she spread her legs a little more to allow his soapy fingers better access.

“He said you need to stop arguing with me when it’s bath time.”

Abby giggled and swatted playfully at him as he ran his palm down her thigh and gripped her calf. Relaxing her knee, she let him pick her foot up and work the washcloth between each toe. “This little piggy,” he said, making her laugh again.

The ritual was the same every night, and she looked forward to it eagerly, even when she argued and pretended otherwise. Being bathed by Chris each night helped her let go of her big girl time and return to what she was finally viewing as her normal life. With Chris, she didn’t have to worry about bills or deadlines. The rules were clear cut and easy to understand, as were the consequences if she didn’t obey them. The stability gave her a confidence she’d never known. It was the reason she felt strong enough to take on the challenge of running
Three Sixty
, and she had Chris to thank for that.

At last she was clean enough to pass inspection. She took his hand and let him help her out of the tub. Standing on the fluffy bathmat, she held her arms out while he patted her dry with a towel. Next came the hair dryer, set on low and slowly waved over the places the towel didn’t quite get, such as between her fingers and toes. Abby loved how it left her feeling nice and warm afterwards. The only embarrassing part was when he ordered her to spread her bottom so he could dry the cleft between them. She closed her eyes and did as he said, blushing as the warm air tickled her bottom hole.

When she was completely dry, Chris took her hand and led her to his room, where he had her lie on her tummy on the bed. Once more he told her to spread her bottom, this time so he could put a special cream on it and then powder it so it would stay nice and dry. Abby always buried her face in the bed when he did this. It felt nice, but it was so embarrassing that her whole face felt hot the entire time she held her cheeks apart. When he finally finished and told her she could get up and get dressed, she rolled over and sat up so fast she nearly slipped off the bed.

Skipping down the hall to Kali’s room, she dug through the bottom dresser drawer that held her clothes. She’d spent so much time at his house over the past few months that her big girl clothes had taken over half of his closet. Since Kali was off at college, Chris had cleared out a few drawers and filled them to capacity with adorable new clothes, including a bunch of panties with Angry Birds on them that she’d been dying to wear. She grabbed a pair now, then pulled out a red tank top and a pair of red socks to match. She would have gone barefoot but Chris always worried she’d get a splinter from the hardwood floors and insisted she at least wear socks.

Padding down the hall to the kitchen, she found him fixing dinner. “Mac n’ cheese?” she asked hopefully.

“Spaghetti and meatballs,” he said. “Where are your pants?”

Abby shrugged. “Will you paint my toenails after dinner?”

“Only if you eat all your salad. Nervous about tomorrow?”