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Just The Two Of Us

As much as I loved spending time with Evelyn and going to my first sleepover, I was glad to be back home with Darren. I had missed my bed while I was gone but, most importantly, I missed Darren.

I also missed my toys but that wasn't as important.

Darren told me about his trip on the way back home. He said his boss was so excited about how their meetings went that he drank too much alcohol and was late checking out of his hotel room. From the sounds of it, it seemed like an adult trip that I wouldn't have liked much. But it seemed like Darren had fun and that was all that mattered.

When we pulled up to the house, he shut off the truck but didn't get out right away. "So I was thinking of going camping again."

I turned to look at him. "Really?"

"I thought maybe we could use some time just the two of us. We haven't had that in a while."

"But aren't there people at the campground?"

"Not people that will hang out with us or do stuff with us."

"So... Ethan's not coming?"

"I know you weren't very comfortable with him last time so I thought maybe we wouldn't invite him this time."

"But that's not fair to you." It meant a lot to me that he was willing to give up time with Ethan or anyone else just to be with me. He was giving up a lot for me and it felt selfish on my part but... I didn't know what else to do. My fears weren't going to go away overnight.

"Don't worry about me, Aly. We'll have a good time this weekend, I promise."

I was just going to have to take his word for it. If he was okay with it just being the two of us then I would have to be okay with it, too. And, honestly, I was.

"When are we gonna go?"

"We can leave tonight if that's okay with you."

I nodded.

He smiled. "Great. We better get packing then."

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"Do you want me to pack an outfit for you to swim in?" Darren asked. He was going through my dresser of clothes and adding different pieces to the duffle bag that sat on my bed.

"I don't know. I can't swim."

"I can teach you. Besides, you won't have to get all the way in. You can just put your feet in."

I nodded. I wasn't super familiar with large bodies of water. I hadn't even been in a swimming pool. But I forgot that not all water was so deep. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to try it out.

"There's a t-shirt for you to wear and some shorts. I don't have any diapers you can use while you're swimming so I'll just have to change you once you're out of the water. It shouldn't be a problem."

I wasn't exactly sure why I couldn't just wear my diaper in the water and then let it dry on me. My normal clothes would if I wore them long enough. Maybe Darren didn't like wet clothes.

"I'm going to go pack my bag. Can you finish packing yours for me?"

"Sure, daddy."

His lips curved upward as he walked out of the room, leaving me to finish the packing myself.

I turned to my bag and bit my lip. Darren had packed most of the things I needed so there wasn't much left for me to pack. I glanced around the room, hoping that seeing whatever it was would spark something in me to help me figure out what was missing.

My eyes landed on the blanket I'd been sleeping with for the past few nights. I even carried it with me when I slept in Darren's bed. There wasn't anything special about it but I liked it so that made it special.

I did my best to fold it up before putting it on top of the clothes inside the duffle bag. I sat down beside it on the bed and let out a deep breath. My head was starting to hurt and I hoped it wouldn't ruin our weekend. I was really looking forward to camping with Darren and I didn't want anything to ruin it.

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Edited 7/23/2022