29. Chapter Twenty-Nine
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
MAYLEE
T hree days had passed since Daddy had left. To say Maylee wasn’t doing well was an understatement. She had called out of work for the rest of the week, she was so out of it.
Justin had come to check on her every day like he said he would. And with each day, she just got worse and worse. Justin had asked her several times if she was okay and needed anything, and each time, she replied with she was okay.
Obviously, he could tell she wasn’t okay because he had been messaging her more often. But there was nothing she could do about it. No matter how much she tried to get out of this funk, she couldn’t. The only thing that would help her was her Daddy coming back.
And she didn’t know when that was. Once a day, Maylee asked Justin if he knew, but he told her he didn’t. If she knew how long Daddy was going to be away for, it would be better for her, but not knowing was making it worse. A month could go by, and he could still be working, which scared her. There was no way she could survive a month without Daddy.
If Maylee was able to contact Daddy, everything would be better. She just needed some sort of contact to know he was okay, but she didn’t. She was living in the unknown again, and it was making her anxious.
Maylee was sitting on the kitchen floor, drinking her chocolate milk. She had no clue what time it was or how long she had been sitting there for. Not that she cared because she didn’t have anything else to do.
She had no desire to get up. Before she sat down, she had filled two glasses of chocolate milk because she knew she was going to be sitting here for a while. And she was right. Her bladder was protesting, but she didn’t care.
The funk had taken over, and she couldn’t get out of it. Tears dripped down her cheeks as she felt her bladder let go. If only she had been wearing a diaper, then it wouldn’t have mattered, but she wasn’t. She couldn’t put a diaper on herself. She had tried, and Daddy wasn’t here to do it for her.
But even though she was sitting in her own pee, she still couldn’t bring herself to get up. She sobbed as she swallowed another mouthful of chocolate milk. This was her life now. Drinking chocolate milk and sitting in her own pee, not having any motivation to do anything.
Maylee’s phone went off, which was sitting on the kitchen counter. She cried even harder as the doorbell rang. It couldn’t be Justin because the text had come too close to the doorbell ringing. But she also knew it wasn’t her Daddy because he said he wouldn’t be able to contact her. So, then who could it be ?
Abruptly, the door opened and footsteps coming closer. She should be scrambling to get up and clean everything, but she still didn’t move. What was wrong with her?
She knew what was wrong with her, but it shouldn’t be affecting her this much. She should be able to still function, but it brought up so many memories. Daddy being deployed had been one of the hardest times in her life with the constant worry of not knowing whether he would come home.
And this was the exact same. Not being able to reach him because it was a high-profile case. Which meant he could die. Something could go wrong, and he could die. Would she be able to live with herself if he died?
Probably not. She would probably get so depressed and slowly wither away. Like she was doing now.
Justin entered the kitchen, and she sobbed. He made eye contact with her, and his face creased with worry. There she went again, causing someone worry.
She cried even harder at that thought. She had been trying not to worry people, and yet she couldn’t stop. It was like it was in her DNA to cause people worry.
Justin knelt in front of her. “It’s pretty hard for Daddy to be gone, ain’t it?”
Maylee nodded and continued to cry. She just wanted her Daddy. She wanted him back so he could take care of her, love on her, and just keep her calm and relaxed. She didn’t like not having him here, not having contact with him, and worrying about his safety.
“Maylee,” Justin said, gently. “Can you pay attention to me right now? ”
Tears were still streaming down her face as she looked at him. She didn’t know how well she was going to be able to pay attention to him.
“Do I have your consent to help clean you up and put you in a diaper?” Justin asked.
Everything in her should be so embarrassed by what was happening right now. She had peed herself and was sitting in it, not a care in the world. Justin, Daddy’s boss, had walked in and found her this way. Everything about the situation was embarrassing, and she should be mortified, but she didn’t care.
“Maylee, I need you to pay attention to me right now,” Justin said. “Just focus on me for a couple more minutes. Then you can let go.”
“What?” she whispered.
“Do I have your consent to help you clean up and put you in a diaper?” he asked.
“Yes.” Maylee wouldn’t be able to do it herself. She had been sitting there for several minutes before he had even come.
“All right. I’m going to pick you up, and we’re going to go get you a bath, and then I’ll put you in a diaper,” Justin said.
She wanted to protest about the bath, but merely wiping her down wasn’t going to be enough. She was feeling yucky and would continue to feel yucky until she took a bath or a shower. Which she didn’t know when she would be able to. Well, more like when she would have the energy.
“I’m going to take your glass now, and then I’ll pick you up.”
He quickly took her glass and picked her up before he started for the bathroom. She pushed her face into his chest and tried to relax. Maylee was exhausted. She had not been getting the sleep she needed while Daddy was gone. It was hard when the only time she slept well was when his arms were wrapped around her.
“Shhh, you’re okay,” Justin whispered. “Everything is going to be okay now.”
She cried even harder because she knew everything wasn’t going to be okay. She had wet herself, she hadn’t been sleeping, and she didn’t know when Daddy was going to come back. No one knew, and it was taking its toll on her.
Maylee had become so used to him being around or having contact with him that it immediately sent her into a dark place. More than five years had passed since he had been deployed and retired from the Army. She grown so used to him being around since then and not having to worry about him leaving for long periods without any contact.
“I know you miss him. Everything is going to be okay. We’re going to get you cleaned up, put in a diaper, bed, and then you’re going to take a nap,” Justin said as he sat her down on the toilet seat.
She zoned out as Justin started to mess with the bathtub. She didn’t have the capacity to pay attention to what he was doing.
“I am going to help you undress and put you in the tub and quickly wash you before taking you out and putting a diaper on you,” Justin said as he turned toward her. “You’re just going to sit in there and relax. I’m taking care of you right now.”
Maylee nodded. There was no way she would be able to wash herself, and he recognized that. If she couldn’t stop herself from peeing her pants on the kitchen floor, then she couldn’t wash herself.
Justin helped her stand before he quickly removed her clothes and helped her into the bathtub. The warmth of the water surrounded her, and she released a sigh. It felt amazing.
“Such a good girl,” Justin said. “This is going to be quick. Just a quick wash.”
And that was exactly what it was. Before she knew it, her bath was done, and Justin was putting her in a diaper.
“All clean. Now I’m going to quickly get you a bottle and rock you to sleep as you drink it,” he said.
“You don’t need to do that,” she whispered.
“Not happening. I know you haven’t been eating, so we need to get nutrients into you. Right now, I’m not gonna make you eat a full meal, but when you wake up, you will be.”
She sighed, knowing there was no arguing with him. Justin was like her Daddy—stubborn, and when he set his mind to something, there was no changing it.
Maylee watched as he left the room to go get her bottle. She didn’t know how she was going to tell her Daddy. She didn’t want him to go on missions like that again. It was his job, and she knew he loved it. Maylee had no right asking him to stop going on those missions.
But at the same time, she felt like she had some say. She was pretty sure they were dating. Couples talked about things and made compromises. Maybe once he saw how bad she was with him gone and not having contact he would stop going away.
She didn’t want him to stop. She wanted him not to go on any missions where she couldn’t talk to him. Was that too much to ask? There was only one way to find out, and that was by asking him, but Maylee didn’t know if she was brave enough to.
“Maylee?” Justin called.
She flinched and looked at him. Either he was walking really lightly, or she was so zoned out she hadn’t heard his footsteps. It was probably the latter.
“I’m going to stay here until your Daddy comes back.”
She immediately stood up and shook her head. “That’s not needed.”
He gave her a ‘are you serious’ look as he sat her bottle down on the table near the rocking chair.
“It is needed. I promised your Daddy I would look after you, and I thought checking in on you once a day was enough, but I was wrong. I’m not going to make that mistake again. I will be staying here until your Daddy comes back and not a second sooner. It’s not up for negotiation. I’m letting you know what’s happening.”
Maylee nodded. So, he had promised her Daddy he would look out for her. That didn’t mean he needed to babysit her twenty-four hours a day. And sure, she had declined, but that still didn’t mean he needed to watch over her every second while her Daddy was gone.
She had no say in it. Daddy had told her that Justin was in charge. She had figured it would be for minor things only. But she couldn’t help but feel a little relieved that somebody was taking over. She obviously wasn’t suited to take care of herself like this.
Even before she had got back together with Daddy, he had still been taking care of her. She hadn’t realized how much, but he had.
“Now, we’re going to rock on the chair, and I’m going to feed you the bottle,” he said. “I know it’s not the same, but we’re going to do it because you need to relax and get some sleep. You need somebody to take care of you right now, and I’m that person. Until your Daddy comes back, I will be taking care of you.”
Justin sat down and patted his lap. Slowly, she approached him and got into position. So gently he started to rock and feed her the baby bottle. She immediately started to fall asleep with the rhythm of the rocking chair while sucking on the bottle.
“Everything is going to be okay. I’m going to be here making sure everything is fine until your Daddy comes.”
How long was Justin going to have to take care of her? A week? Month? Several months? Maylee didn’t know if she would be able to survive that.
“He’ll be back soon,” Justin said, gently as her eyes started to flutter shut.
‘Soon’ was a relative term. They didn’t know when Daddy was coming back.