The Art of Discipline: Running Toward Trouble (The Mockingbird Chronicles) (12 page)

“Thanks, Stevie, I’ll take it from here,” Emma quipped. “Do you mind running with her again tomorrow?”

Stevie chuckled. “Mind it? Nah, I’m enjoying it. I’ll see you at 6:00 tomorrow, Dani.”

Waiting until their friend left the apartment, Emma paced in front of Dani. “Okay, go shower, then you can wait for me in the corner of the bedroom.”

Eyes already tearing, Dani turned and flew down the hallway.

A few minutes later, Emma was sitting on the bed watching Dani fidget in the corner. She had discovered Dani had a low tolerance for corner time, and anything more than ten minutes was very unpleasant for her. By the time she called to Dani, she knew that, although she’d only been there about fifteen minutes, she’d had enough.

“Danielle, come sit by me,” Emma invited, waiting until Dani not only sat but also laid her head on Emma’s shoulder. “Want to tell me why you decided to try to ditch Stevie today?”

Dani shook her head.

“Use words, Danielle,” Emma encouraged.

“No, I don’t want to tell you.”

Emma smirked. “Then let me put it another way; you
will
tell me why you tried to ditch Stevie this morning.”

“But I don’t want to,” Dani whined.

“Danielle,” Emma warned. Her patience was beginning to wear thin after such an abrupt wake-up call.

Dani began tracing a pattern on Emma’s knee with her finger. “I wanted to see the kittens.”

Emma pushed Dani back and looked into her face. “You what?”

“I wanted to see the kittens and Stevie said no,” Dani whined again.

“What kittens, Danielle?”

“The kittens in the shelter, they had a sign that said they had too many kittens and not enough homes.” Dani put her head back on Emma’s shoulder. “I just wanted to stop our run to go look at them, but Stevie said we were out for a run, not to buy a pet.”

“So you tried to lose Stevie to do that?”

Dani sniffed. “Yes.”

“Tell me why that was wrong, Danielle,” Emma encouraged.

“Because I’m still grounded.”

“You are, so what do you think should happen, Danielle?”

Dani shrugged.

“Use words, Danielle.”

“I guess I should be punished,” Dani grumbled loudly.

Emma smirked, and kissed the top of her lover’s head. “Well, it just so happens that I agree with you. So, tonight before an early bedtime, I plan on giving you a spanking. You will also apologize to Stevie today and you will not try to ditch her again.” She tapped Dani’s nose. “Because if you ditch her again, I will let her deal with you. Do you understand?”

“I understand.” Dani slowly nodded her head. “But what about the kittens?”

Emma chuckled. “Get dressed, brat, and we’ll go look at the kittens. I think Atticus would enjoy a friend.”

* * *

Dani was practically humming as she entered the apartment. Sitting on the couch, she released the young gray cat in her grasp and stared into her blue eyes. “You are too cute,” she announced, before looking up as Emma entered.

Emma glared at Dani as she dumped the bags from the pet store in the middle of the living room. “Thanks for all the help, Dani,” she quipped.

Dani giggled. “You’re welcome.” Turning, she grinned, noticing that Atticus had appeared. “There you are, boy. I’d like you to meet Matilda.”

“Matilda? You are going to name her Matilda? Don’t I get a say in her name?”

“Nope. Besides, I loved that book as a kid, and I’m sure you did too.”

Emma moaned in defeat. “Yeah, I did.” She sat down on the couch next to Dani and opened her lap as Atticus jumped up to investigate the new arrival. “I hope they get along.”

Atticus sniffed at the new kitten, before turning his nose up at it and promptly jumping back down off Emma’s lap.

“Well, I suppose it could be worse,” Emma commented.

“They will be the best of friends, you’ll see.”

“Yeah, we’ll lock her in the bedroom today, just to be on the safe side,” Emma agreed.

“Why?”

“We have to go to work, silly,” Emma said, watching the pout form on Dani’s lips. “And no, you can’t bring her down with us. She’ll be fine until our shifts are over.” Emma then reached over and took the kitten from Dani’s hands, giving it a playful scratch before putting it down on the floor. “Let her get acquainted with her new home for a bit while you help me set all this stuff up. We only have about twenty minutes before we need to be downstairs.”

Sighing, Dani nodded as Emma helped her to her feet.

* * *

Hearing the gentle rapping of knuckles on her door, Emma looked up from her tax records to see Stevie. “What’s up?” she asked.

“Hey,” Stevie replied, coming into the office. “I just wanted to know how it went with Dani this morning. She’s moping behind the register like a five-year-old who popped her balloon.”

Emma laughed. “She’s just a little upset that I made her come to work.”

“Ah, Anna hates to work with a sore backside too…” Stevie trailed off, noticing the look in Emma’s eyes. Suddenly groaning, she shook her head. “What did you do? I know you didn’t paddle her. She was sitting just fine on the register stool.”

Emma smirked. “No, I didn’t paddle her. I bought her a kitten.”

“You what?” Stevie exclaimed. “Emma Renee, you can’t let her get away with…” Stevie again trailed off her lecture as Emma began to laugh.

“God, Stevie. You should see your face.”

Stevie wrinkled her brow in confusion. “Please tell me you didn’t reward her behavior by actually buying her a kitten.”

“Don’t worry about Dani. She and I will be having a long discussion tonight, before bed. I did fold, however, and we did buy a kitten. She named it Matilda, after the book character.”

Stevie groaned. “You’re going to regret this.”

“I don’t think so. She once told me she always wanted a cat, but was never allowed to have one. Besides, since last weekend when we found out about her god-family, Dani has been a little down. I think surprising her, in this case, was a good choice.”

“Maybe so, but I still say you’ll regret this.” Stevie shook her head. “In fact, I’d be willing to bet on it.”

“Oh?” Emma eyes twinkled. “And just what, my dear friend, would you be willing to part with?”

Stevie raised an eyebrow. “You wanna play? Let’s see, say if you can go one week and honestly say you didn’t regret getting her a kitten, Anna and I will treat you and Dani to dinner.”

“Alright, and if I can’t, we’ll treat you.”

“No,” Stevie shook her head.

“No? That’s fair, isn’t it?”

“No,” Stevie repeated. “If you can’t, during our next session, I’ll add six strokes with a cane.”

Emma paled a bit, her confidence all of a sudden not so sure. “I don’t know…”

“So you admit that it wasn’t the best idea,” Stevie taunted.

“No, I stand by my decision,” Emma insisted, not willing to let Stevie intimidate her into submission. She held out her hand, inviting Stevie to shake. “It’s a bet.”

“A bet,” Stevie repeated.

Emma then raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t Dani out there alone?”

“Ah, yeah,” Stevie answered.

“Then maybe you need to get back to work.”

Stevie rolled her eyes. “Yes, boss,” she chuckled before leaving Emma to return to her taxes.

* * *

Dani opened her cell, groaning as she checked the time. It was only three; she still had at least three hours before the store closed and she’d be allowed to go back upstairs. She didn’t have anything pressing to work on, and even if she did, her mind kept wandering to the kitten upstairs. Emma had been kind enough to give her five minutes, exactly, to check on the kitten an hour ago, but she hadn’t really had time to play with it yet.

“Hey, Dani,” Will interrupted her thoughts. “Ah, Emma must be in the back. I just wanted to let her know that I just relieved Stevie.”

“She’s up in the loft with the tax books. Too crowded for both of us to work in here at once and that way she can help if she’s needed. I’m off duty,” she added with a wink.

“Ah, great, I’ll go find her.”

Dani nodded to Will as he slipped back out of the office. Turning back to her laptop, she checked her mail for anything new before her thoughts again returned to the upstairs apartment. Getting up out of her chair, she peeked out the door, noticing that Will was dusting some shelves and the store was empty at the moment. Knowing that Will probably wouldn’t notice, much less care if she left, and Emma couldn’t see the back of the store from the loft, she decided that if she was quick, she could check on the kitten and be back before she was missed.

Taking the stairs two at once, she made it to the apartment in record time before making a beeline for the bedroom. Opening the door, she smiled at the puff of gray fur curled up on the foot of the bed. Not being able to resist picking it up, she kissed the top of Matilda’s head, and smiled as the kitten started to instantly purr.

Lying back down on the bed, she let the kitten curl up on her chest as it continued to purr. “I should have named you fur-puff, cuz that’s all you are,” Dani cooed to it, scratching its head and making the kitten purr even louder. Letting the kitten settle, she continued to stroke it gently as she let herself get lost in thought.

A short time later, she reluctantly sat up, replacing the kitten back on the bed. With a sigh, she closed the bedroom door once again before heading back downstairs. At the back door to the store, she paused, peeking around the corner stealthily. Last thing she wanted to do was accidently run into Emma or Will on her way back. Seeing that the coast was clear, she managed to get back into the store and Emma’s office without being spotted. Giving a huge sigh of relief, she sat and pulled out her cell. Checking the time, she smiled. Twenty minutes, and no one was the wiser. Putting her cell down, she had just pushed the button to refresh her e-mail when the cell buzzed. Looking at the screen, her heart suddenly got stuck in her throat; it was a text message, which simply read:
How’s the kitten?

Panic suddenly set in, and she wasn’t sure if she should reply, when she got a second message:
You have 30 seconds to get up here.

Frowning, Dani fought the urge to flee, and instead willed herself to answer the summons. Exiting the office, she managed to drag herself up the stairs to the loft, only to be met with the eyebrow and a finger pointing to one of the overstuffed chairs. Flopping down with a huff, she crossed her arms over her chest.

Not getting a verbal affirmation, she started to squirm almost instantaneously. Not being able to stand it any longer, she whined, “Emma.”

“Not a word, Danielle,” Emma replied evenly, not bothering to look up from her records.

Dani frowned. “But you can’t make me sit here all afternoon,” she couldn’t help returning.

Emma looked up. “I can, and I believe I told you not to talk.”

Dani huffed again as Emma returned to her books. She managed to last another two minutes before interrupting again. “Come on, Emma, I’m bored.”

Emma grumbled and looked back up. “Do you have anything pressing that you need to do for Ryan’s Events?”

Dani pressed her lips; she was half tempted to say yes, but wisely decided not to dig her hole any deeper with a lie and shook her head.

“Fine, you can work the store until we close. But,” Emma emphasized, pointing a pencil at Dani, “unless you’re with a customer, if I see you leave where I can’t physically see you from up here, I will close the store, and we will go upstairs. Understand?”

Dani paled, but nodded. “I understand.”

“Good, go on. And I better see you being productive.”

Dani frowned, but was glad of the release, regardless of the conditions. Anything was better than being forced to sit still and be bored out of her mind all afternoon.

* * *

The rest of the afternoon dragged by, but Dani tried her best to appease Emma. Maybe if she worked extra hard, Emma might show her some mercy. Six o’clock came too soon, and before Dani knew it they were locking up, and then heading upstairs. As they crossed the threshold to the apartment, Dani hesitated for a moment, waiting for Emma to give her directions. When nothing was forthcoming, and Emma went about her normal routine, Dani became uneasy.

“Emma?” she asked, following her into the bedroom. “Do you want me to put on my pajamas?”

“You can change if you want to, Dani,” Emma replied, slipping into a t-shirt and a pair of sweats herself. “I’m going to go see what I can rustle up for dinner.”

Watching Emma leave, Dani shifted nervously. Trying to blink back the tears, she decided to go ahead and change. Not sure what else to do, she spied the gray ball of puff in the middle of the bed. With a small smile, she picked Matilda up and scratched behind the kitten’s ear.

Lying back on the bed, she continued to stroke the little ball of fluff. “Hey, Matilda. I really screwed up today. Emma’s really mad at me.”

The kitten only answered by increasing her purr, and pushing her head into Dani’s hand.

“I guess you don’t care, huh?” Dani couldn’t help but smile before her face grew dark once again. “Sometimes I feel like that too. All lost in your little world, only caring about what feels good at the moment. I envy you, little Tilly.” Stroking the cat again, Dani noticed Emma standing in the doorway.

“Thought you’d come out to help me with dinner.”

“I didn’t know I was invited,” Dani returned.

“Dani,” Emma started. Crossing the room, she sat on the edge of the bed, before reaching across Dani to stroke the kitten. “She is cute.”

“Yeah,” Dani agreed. “Just like you.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Sweet talking will not get you out of trouble, Danielle.”

“I know, but at least it got you to talk to me again.”

“I wasn’t ignoring you. I was just a little too upset to deal with your behavior.”

“Was? Does that mean that you aren’t anymore?” Dani asked.

“Yes. I guess we need to talk. Sit up, Danielle.”

Dani frowned, but did as she was asked.