A Little Love (1st Draft)

Chapter 19: Phone Calls at Lunch

Trying to change the subject I wanted to check in on her progress with her food.

"How much have you eaten?" I inquire.

She lifts her box and I look closely at the screen to see that all the chicken was gone and there was still some rice remaining. The assortment of steamed carrots and broccoli were eaten. But there was an absent touch to the steamed zucchini.

I frown at her. Before I could say anything, she talks first. "I really don't like the taste of the steamed zucchini... it's the texture..." she mentions as I gauge that there were six zucchini chunks. "Do I really have to eat the zucchini?" she asked.

I nod my head at her. "We don't waste food, and you are supposed to eat everything I give you. You still have lots of rice there. Eat the chunks with some rice and bear with it, alright?" I tell her sternly, and she pouts. "Would you like me to include it in tonight's meal as well?" She let out a soft groan that I could barely hear, but I caught it. "Ariana," I say sternly. "You need to drop this attitude."

"Sorry..." she says slowly and I see her looking around. "I'm sorry Daddy," she finishes and a smile curls on my lips.

"You know... you've shown a lot of disobedience to me this last little bit. And I've been trying to figure out what you can do to make up for your actions that's significant enough. Even though we were on the phone, I could tell she was blushing.

"To start off with. You are going to bed early tonight, no playing around. And when we get home from work you are going to go straight into cleaning the bathrooms."

She looked at me astonished. We had established that she hated doing bathrooms. So, I said I would do them. But I figured this was the perfect opportunity to use it as a trump card. "But I thought you said you would do them," she asked shocked. I shook my head at her.

"Then maybe you'll think of that when you choose to have a third and fourth drink, or talk back to me," I tell her firmly. "Which by the way, we are going to have a very long discussion about that when we get home."

She tells me she knows, and then finally shows me a lunchbox with everything eaten in it. She sighs. "I have to go," she tells me. "I have a class coming... I can hear them in the halls." I smile at her. A bit of my gruffness was receding.

"Alright sweet heart. Good job on eating all your food," I praise. "Have a good rest of your day baby girl." I wave good bye to her and she does the same to me. I placed my eaten lunch away and feel a bit better having talked to her. Especially after the rough morning we started with.

I was thankful the day ended with some form of a win for the company. I managed to deal a deal in managing three new companies with a 51% stake in their company. I left work happy and drove to J Language and Exchange to pick her up. She flopped in the vehicle when she arrived.

"Rough day?" I grin because I know why she's tired.

"It just felt long," she replies tiredly.

"I wonder what would have made your day easier?" I say mockingly. She tilted her head back.

"I know," she whined and I laugh as turn on the street that I lived on.

"Alright, Ariana, this is how it is going to go down when we get home. You're going to put your stuff away and then you are going to get the cleaning supplies to clean all four bathrooms. And when I say clean, sweep, mop, and scrub the toilets and spray down the bathroom sinks and tubs. Do you understand?" I explain to her and I hear her grumbling.

"Is this going to be a problem?" I ask. She could hear the tone in my voice because she quickly shook her head.

"No Daddy, it isn't."