The Art of Discipline: Running Toward Trouble (The Mockingbird Chronicles) (3 page)

Crossing the room, she laid her bag on the nightstand and put her hand on Dani’s shoulder. “Hey you didn’t fall asleep on me already, did you?” she teased.

Dani rolled over. “No,” she sniffled. “I’m sorry, Emma.”

“Hey now, why the tears?” Emma asked, running the back of her fingers down Dani’s cheek.

“I heard the door, I thought you left,” Dani sniffled again.

“I did, for a minute. I had to run down to the store. I have a present for you.”

Dani wrinkled her brow in confusion. “But I don’t deserve a present.”

“Well, that’s too bad, cuz I got one for you anyway,” Emma grinned as she handed the bag to Dani.

Dani shifted so that she was sitting up. Taking the bag, she opened it and pulled out a novel-sized, leather-bound journal. Flipping through it, she noted the pages were blank. “I don’t understand. Are you going to spank me with it?”

Emma threw her head back and laughed. “No, where would you ever get that idea?” Fingering the journal, Emma shook her head; the thought would have never occurred to her, but perhaps there was a possibility there. After all, it was made of leather.

“Stevie… Anna, never mind,” Dani blushed slightly, thinking of their two employees and their sometimes playful antics inside the store. “It’s very nice though, thank you, Emma.”

“I don’t know if you should be thanking me yet. There is a reason why I picked up that journal for you. I’m giving you a little assignment.”

“Assignment?”

“Uh-huh. What I want you to do is create a food journal. What that means is I want to you write down everything you eat every day.”

“But you know what I eat, you feed me…” Dani started to argue.

“Obviously I don’t, Danielle.”

Dani shifted. “Oh.”

“Here is how it’s going to work. As long as you are honest and record things accurately, you will not be punished for anything you write in this book. You will show me the book anytime I request it, and we will talk about it from time to time. Do you understand?”

“I think so, but what if I’m not honest? What if I don’t write something down?”

“There are two ways this book can get you into trouble, Danielle. One, if you lie about writing or not writing something down, and two, if you fail to write anything down at all. Obviously if I see blank pages, I can assess that, but only you know if you are lying to yourself, and by extension to me. If that happens, I expect you to tell me, and then ask me to punish you for it.”

Dani blinked, her face growing pale. “You want me to ask for punishment, like ask you to spank me? I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Well then, I suggest that you don’t lie,” Emma replied evenly.

Dani chewed her lip for a moment. “So, even if, say I eat six candy bars, as long as I write it down I can’t be punished for it?”

“No,” Emma smiled. “It’s my hope, Dani, that this will help you so you don’t need to hide food. I’m going to clear out a cupboard in the kitchen to put all your junk food in. I expect that you use that instead of your sock drawer from now on.”

“You’re not going to throw it away?”

“No, I’m not.”

Dani smiled. “Is it okay if I start tonight?”

Emma couldn’t help but return the smile. “Sure, but then straight to bed. You still owe me the early bedtime from this afternoon.”

“Okay, Emma,” Dani replied as she bent forward and kissed Emma on the cheek. “Love you.”

“Love you too. I’m going to give you a few minutes while I go clean up the kitchen, then I’ll be back to tuck you in, okay?”

Dani nodded, already digging through the nightstand drawer for a pen.

Chapter Two

“What are you doing, Dani? The sun isn’t even up yet,” Emma scolded from the door of the study. Dani was sitting on the floor looking through the box of toys that they’d put in there during her grounding a few weeks ago.

Dani looked up and shrugged. “Not sure. I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d look through this box.”

“Oh?” Emma asked, coming into the room. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Dani again shrugged. “I’m not sure. I just got to thinking about them and wanted to look at them again.”

“You had fun playing with them, didn’t you?”

Dani frowned slightly. “I guess so. At the time I wasn’t really thinking about it, it kind of just happened. I mean, I knew that I was being naughty by ordering them and then making a mess, but I guess it was fun.”

Emma sat cross-legged next to Dani. “It’s okay if you want to play with them. I don’t think it’s silly.”

“You don’t?”

Emma smiled and leaned forward to give Dani a kiss on the cheek. “No, I don’t. In fact, I think it’s good for you to let your inner child out sometimes. I, for one, had a lot of fun with that fingerpaint.”

“I had more fun after we were done fingerpainting,” Dani smirked.

“Well, yeah, and then cleaning up afterwards…”

“Soap… I’ll never look at soap the same way again.”

Emma chuckled. “Human canvases are always more fun.” She patted Dani’s knee supportively. “I’m gonna go back to bed.”

Dani looked at her box and then back to Emma. “You’re not going to make me go back to bed too?”

“No, but if you wanted to join me, that might be nice.”

Dani grinned. “Can we take a shower afterwards, with soap?”

“What’s a shower without soap?” Emma teased. She then got up and offered a hand to Dani. Dani gladly took the hand and let Emma escort her back to bed.

* * *

It was morning, the next day, when Emma called out to Dani from the bathroom. She had just stepped out of the shower and was getting ready. She and Dani were planning on going out for brunch, as they were both working a later shift at the store today. Tonight they had plans to go to Stevie and Anna’s for dinner and a movie, so their two employees had asked to work the earlier shifts and open the store.

“You bellowed?” Dani smirked as she peeked into the bathroom, thoroughly enjoying the sight of her girlfriend toweling herself off.

“Is your journal up to date? I want to see it before we go.”

Dani’s smirk melted into a frown, but she shook it off quickly. “Ah, almost. I’ll go update it now.”

Dani slipped back into the bedroom, where she retrieved her journal off the nightstand. It had been almost three weeks since she’d started to keep it and so far it had been working nicely. Emma had checked it twice, and each time they’d discussed it. True to Emma’s word, Dani hadn’t been punished for anything she wrote down. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she flipped to her entry from the night before. Last thing she recorded was dinner. Skipping down a bit, she wrote the date, and then added the bagel she had with peanut butter after her run. Pausing for a moment in debate, she regretfully decided not to add the 3:00 a.m. candy bar she’d had.

She hated the idea of lying about it, but at the same time, Emma would question the entry, and she’d be forced to admit that she was up in the middle of the night again, something that Emma had been working with her on. Emma knew exactly when she’d fallen asleep the night before, as they’d both been rather exhausted by the time they actually got to sleep. She also had been up unusually early this morning, surprising Dani when she’d returned from her run. Either way, Dani was screwed.

“Done?” Emma asked, appearing fully dressed from the bathroom.

“Yeah,” Dani admitted, handing the journal over to Emma as she sat on the bed next to her.

Emma opened the journal and turned back to look over the last three days. Approving, she nodded and then put her initials at the end of the list. “It looked good, sweetie. I’m proud of you. You’ve been doing really well.”

Dani shifted a bit, managing a half smile. Why, of all the mornings for Emma to check, did she have to pick this one? “Thanks,” she commented, accepting the journal back and returning it to the nightstand.

“Come on then, I think you’d be starving by now. I know I am, and I know of a little diner around the corner that has some French toast with your name on it,” Emma teased, pulling Dani to her feet.

* * *

Opting to walk to the diner, Emma found herself carrying most of the conversation. Dani was unusually quiet, and Emma was beginning to wonder if she wasn’t feeling well again. Brunch wasn’t much better as Dani had done nothing but pick at her meal.

Growing more concerned, Emma reached across the table and squeezed Dani’s hand.

“You okay, honey? If you’re not feeling well, we can always cancel tonight.”

Dani looked up, meeting worried green eyes. “I don’t want to cancel; we’ve all been looking forward to it.”

Emma frowned. “If you want to go back to bed, we have the new guy working today…”

“No, I’m not sick,” Dani insisted. “I’m just not hungry.”

“Dani, I’m worried about you. I’ve never known you to turn down French toast before.”

Dani sat back in the booth, pushing her plate away. “Can’t I just not be hungry?” she snipped.

“Danielle,” Emma’s voice lowered. “You don’t have to eat, but the attitude needs to go. I was hoping to spend some time with you this morning, but if you’d rather spend it standing in a corner, that can be arranged.”

“Sorry,” Dani tried. “Maybe I’m just a little tired.”

“Maybe,” Emma agreed, studying Dani carefully. “Anyway, if you’re done, we should head back. If you’re tired, maybe you just need a nap.”

“Oh, come on, Emma,” Dani protested, suddenly stopping as she saw a mischievous twinkle in Emma’s eyes. “Oh,” she suddenly blushed. “Maybe I could use a nap.”

Emma grinned. “Me too.”

* * *

“So, you guys have a movie already picked out for tonight?” Will asked as he came to the counter to bother Dani.

“Don’t know, it’s at your place tonight.”

“Now, you know that’s only kind of true, it’s at Stevie and Anna’s tonight,” the young man smirked. “I will be busy with my study group in my garage apartment.”

“Ah, that’s right, I’d forgotten they finished the construction and let you move in.”

Will smiled. “Yep, it;s way better than my room in the house. And if I keep my grades up and don’t have the cops called, I can even have friends over.”

Dani laughed. “The cops called?”

The young man blushed. “Well, I was sixteen, they were out of town; let’s just say I think I’m still grounded, not to mention all the chores they found for me to do. Those two can be very creative with punishments.”

“I didn’t know you lived with them at sixteen.”

“Nobody bothered to fill you in?” Dani shook her head and he laughed. “It’s a sad, sad story of a young waif, a disappearing mother, and two neighborhood women who wanted a free dog sitter.”

Dani punched him playfully in the arm. “Come on, you’re more than a dog sitter.”

He grinned at her and ran his hand through his hair. “That’s right; I’m a cat sitter when you guys are out of town.”

“Very funny, Will,” Dani smiled at him. “Seriously though, how long have you lived with Stevie and Anna?”

“I was twelve when my mom split. When they found out, I moved in with them and have been there ever since.”

“Ah, so then how did you come to work here?”

Will slumped against the counter and shrugged. “When I was thirteen I got in a little trouble playing hooky from school. The problem was I came here, to read.”

Dani laughed. “Didn’t anybody tell you that skipping school was supposed to be for fun things?”

The young man smirked and nodded. “Yeah, your uncle Sean. He managed to get out of me what was going on and he called the dynamic duo. He started to hang out with me on weekends, doing guy stuff. Anyways, one thing led to another, and before I knew it, we were all working for the old man.”

Dani shook her head. “Leave it to Uncle Sean to turn a truant into a responsible kid.”

Will laughed again. “Well, it didn’t go quite that smoothly, but it was nice having him around. I really miss him, Dani.”

Dani placed her hand on Will’s, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I miss him too, Will.”

The moment was interrupted when a lanky man with chiseled good looks and dark brown hair came up to the counter. “Hey, Dani, I have no idea where to put this book, it’s by a chef, but looks like a how-to book.”

Dani laughed and took the book from him, looking at it briefly before entering the information into the bookstore’s computer. “It goes with the cookbooks, Jason.”

“Thanks, Dani.” He winked at her before acknowledging Will. “So, Will, help me find the cookbooks again?”

“For an English grad student, you sure are having a hard time catching on,” Will teased.

“Yeah, well, I’m used to reading the books, not shelving them,” he joked as Will led him to the right area of the store.

Watching the two go, Dani saw Emma coming out of her office. “Time for us to leave already?”

“Yes, Will and Jason are closing up tonight, and I thought we might chat for a few minutes upstairs before we go.”

“Chat?” Dani asked, her face suddenly falling.

“Talk, you goofball. Unless there is something we need to chat about?” Emma asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Um, no,” Dani shook her head.

Emma stood on her tiptoes so that she could bend enough across the counter to give Dani a peck on the cheek. “Come on then,” she winked. “Will, we’re going. Call if you need anything.”

“Sure thing, boss. Have a good time,” Will responded as he stuck his head out of the cookbook section. “You too, other boss lady,” Will grinned, earning a chuckle from Dani.

* * *

The car ride over was quiet. Emma wasn’t sure if something was going on with Dani, or if it was due to the conversation they’d had before they left. Emma wanted to make sure that Dani was prepared for ‘movie night.’ She, Stevie, and Anna had been doing this for years, but this was the first time that Dani would be joining them. Knowing about Emma’s preferences and attitudes, Anna and Stevie didn’t hide anything from her. Anna would probably be in full brat mode tonight, and Emma wanted to make sure Dani wasn’t shocked or frightened if Anna ended up with a sore bottom.