CHAPTER THREE
Sybil
“Are you sure it’s okay for me to go?” I ask.
Both Lynda and Karrie look at me like I’m crazy. “Why in the world would we invite you if it wasn’t okay?” Karrie asks.
“Well,” I say. “I mean, I’m not a little girl.”
“You’re not a business owner, either,” Lynda says.
“Yet!” I reply. “Another six months and I’ll have all the money saved and…” I groan. “Okay. I get your point. I’m not a little girl… yet.”
Lynda and Karrie giggle and their laughter are infectious. By now we’re pulling up to the house and I have to admit, it’s pretty difficult to contain my excitement. I really, really, really want a Daddy.
But I also think it’s probably a bad idea.
Not in general. No. The lifestyle really appeals to me. I think I probably know more about DDlg than anybody not actually involved in the lifestyle. I’ve been soaking up information like a sponge from the moment I learned about it from Karrie. For a few months after the discovery, I peppered her with question after question just from things I read online.
The reason I think it’s a bad idea is I don’t want anything to distract me. I’m just a few months away from having fifteen thousand dollars saved up. That fifteen thousand will be leveraged to buy four buildable lots of land with a ten percent down payment. I would already have it but I also put an option down on a shop that sells gifts to tourists. I’m going to transform it into a real destination shop, the kind everyone on vacation makes part of their plans. That option can’t be exercised until seven months from now. I already have financing lined up. I really want the real estate, though. Once I have title to the lots, a hard money loan secured by all four lots will get a fourplex on one lot. Traditional refinancing of the fourplex will pay off the hard money and get cash flow running. It will also triple the value of the adjacent lots.
The increased value and cash flow will allow me to get a traditional construction loan on the next fourplex. I will be able to build the next two at the same time. In about a year and a half, my business will have sixteen units producing about eighteen thousand dollars a month in revenue, giving me almost four thousand dollars a month in profits. That will all happen with only the fifteen-thousand-dollar investment.
And work.
A whole lot of work.
And that’s why it’s probably a bad idea for me to have a Daddy right now. For the next six months, I’ll be going crazy to earn the salary and tips it will take to get the place. Then, I’ll be going crazy managing the financing and the construction. I won’t have time to be a very good little girl and I certainly don’t want to be distracted by a Daddy, no matter how good a Daddy he might be.
On the other hand, maybe I can enjoy a Daddy like I enjoyed the hot customer at the Bubbler. Maybe just a night of excitement that leaves me wanting more but doesn’t screw up my plans. Maybe I could find a Daddy willing to enjoy a night or two a month but not a real relationship. Lynda slips her hand into mine and Karrie takes the other as we walk to the front door.
The other little girls shriek in delight when we arrive and there’s a minute or two of pandemonium as we all greet each other. Lynda introduces me to Joanna, another single little girl and we hit it off immediately. Joanna is shy and a little more timid than the rest of us but she opens up quickly when the littles all separate and head to Karrie’s playroom while the Daddies drink beer on Harris’s porch.
Joanna, Karrie, Lynda, and I sit around the table and color while the other little girls read books and play with toys.
I’m surprised at how much fun I have just coloring and talking. It’s like all of the stress of making money and starting the business just goes away and I get to just unwind and have fun for a little while. After a while, I feel this strange sense of safety come over me. It reminds me of the way I felt when I was a little girl and I would hang out in my room and color while he watched the baseball game downstairs. I wonder if this is what Karrie and Lynda mean when they talk about little space.
An hour or so later, Harris comes up and calls the little girls down for dinner. I prance downstairs and though I’m aware that I’m skipping and not walking I don’t feel the slightest bit awkward or embarrassed.
That comes a moment later when I see Charlie and Harris talking to a third man who looks very familiar just outside the dining room.
“Sybil!” Harris calls, waving me over.
I stand shyly in front of him and he says, “Sybil, I’d like you to meet my friend Clint.”
The third man turns around and we stare at each other silently for a moment.
“Billie?” he asks.
“Clint?” I whisper.
“So, you two know each other,” Harris says, smiling.
“Well, um, so to speak,” Clint says and my one consolation is that he is as awkward as I am.
Harris and Charlie exchange a look and Charlie says, “Hey, Harris, you want to help me with the steaks? The rest of them should be just about finished.”
“Sure thing,” Harris says.