Chapter 1

Divorce can be a funny thing. For many it means a failed experiment. For me it was simply moving onto a better situation, though I didn’t know it at first.

My wife and I were like everyone else I guess. We kind of fell in love, kind of got along, and had a child in hopes that it would make things better but it didn’t. I really gave it everything I had but I was also building a construction business as well and I don’t think I gave my wife the attention she was hoping for. After our daughter was born things got better, but eventually little Francesca (Rene named her) became a real daddy’s girl and that slipped away too. She had competition for my attention and that didn’t suit her well at all.

We separated and Rene got everything but the business. I didn’t blame her or get mad at her, you had to care to get mad and in truth I stopped caring about her before the divorce. I also didn’t mind that she took everything because that meant Franny, as I called her, had everything she would need. If there is one thing a man learns in construction it’s that you can always build again and better.

Well that is what I did. Over the next few years I rebuilt my life and made some changes as well. I knew I was no longer looking to make a new family. The idea of making that mistake again was learned and well. I was now in my forties and wasn’t looking to repeat the mistakes of my youth. Not to mention that most women in my age group were not all that excited to start from scratch either. I built a nice big house more as a model home that I could sell and build again later on. Sort of a short term relationship of home building.

On my other responsibilities I was able to be a weekend dad to Franny since we had split custody. I would always take any more time I was given but it was mostly weekends and the summer. Franny also liked helping me work on my latest conquest in housing as well. You see she loved coming to the work sites all her life. I still have her first pink hard hat hanging in my office. The guys who have been with me the longest have taught her everything from framing the first walls to laying carpet before handing it off to the owner.

Now it wasn’t always clear sailing. I don’t want to create the illusion that raising a daughter as a part time dad is easy. I didn’t toss Rene’s rules out the window when Franny came to stay with me. I didn’t criticize Rene in front of Franny nor was there any backstabbing sessions when she stayed with me. I didn’t say anything bad, in front of Franny, as Rene cycled through men at a regular rate. I just figured she was going through a cougar situation and would calm down eventually. This led to some rather harsh times between Franny and I over the years.

She liked her mom, but the two of them were more like roommates than family. Rene knew Franny loved me and rather resented that fact. She wasn’t harsh to her because of it, but something tells me Rene did some of the things she did to spite her. I didn’t always agree, but I rarely undermined her. Rene also knew that because I usually supported her she gave ground if I had a different opinion.

This meant from time to time Franny would try the old “divide and conquer” tactic of most kids caught in a divorce and it frustrated her that I wouldn’t cave to them. There were missed weekends, and one time Franny spent half the summer away before she finally came running to me and apologizing for being a brat. She knew I loved her more than anything else and would never do things to hurt her.

Of course there were also a few times in the last few years that threatened me. There was one of Rene’s flings that was looking serious. Not that I minded Rene finding someone again, it’s just that Franny had a connection to Roger that hurt. She would miss weekends to be with them, she would talk about him a lot when we were together, and I felt I was losing my spot in her life. At one point, just after her fourteenth birthday they went on a trip together and I didn’t see my girl for two months afterwards. Her visits were even sparser and there was something different about her.

Well that lasted until Rene was tired of him, and while it really hurt her relationship with Rene, it greatly improved her relationship with me. She never talked about Roger again, and the only times I missed a visit was when she was with her friends. Of course the downside of all that is Franny would make off handed remarks about her mother’s dating habits now and then. She would also question why I had never started dating again.

It was little things at first, comments that I could brush off easily. But as she got older, and the complexities of boy/girl relationships began to come to the front of her social life she had questions. I guess the schools were teaching sex ed or something because the questions began to get personal. One time we were painting an addition I had just built onto my third house since the divorce and shit got real.

“Dad, I can’t remember you ever talking about a girlfriend, or even a date since the divorce.” I smiled at her. “Oh Franny, you should know you’re the only woman in my life.” I joked with her but she seemed serious. “Dad, I mean it. It’s not good for people to be alone all the time. People need contact, interpersonal relationships, and they need sex.” I shook my head. I wondered if maybe she was just spouting something her mother had used as an excuse for her lifestyle. “I have friends, and I have lots of contact with the people I work with. As to sex and my sex life that isn’t anything you need to worry about.” That got me a stuck out lip and she let it drop. I wasn’t about to tell her that the closest I had been to sex in almost five years was my computer.

To tell you the truth I just didn’t want to have a relationship. Too damn much trouble for too little in return. I had Franny on the weekends, and work the rest of the time. I wasn’t going to go to that much trouble to fill in a few hours every night with company. Between my computer and Gaming console I was doing just fine, and a lot less cost.

Well for some reason she would not let it drop. I don’t mean she was constantly harping on it, but every visit it would pop up in one way or another. She began to ask what kind of woman I found attractive, if I liked woman my own age or if I liked them younger like her mother did. I would give her a quick answer and she seemed to file it away and drop it for the rest of the visit. Then she changed tack and began to ask me things about relationships. She never focused on me as much as she pretended to ask about them in general.

Then when we were talking about what she would like to do for her birthday weekend she asked if we could go camping. I realized we hadn’t done that in a while and being sixteen I doubt she would want to all that much as she got older. I readily agreed and began to get ready for it. It was late spring so while it would mean warm days, the nights were going to get chilly. I asked her where she wanted to camp and she mentioned that since it was off season on of the national parks would be fun.

I thought about it and decided that between the cold, and my age I didn’t want to sleep on the ground and wait for things to get warm enough to crawl out. So when Franny showed up at my place she was stunned to see a rental RV sitting outside. We tossed her pack into the small monster, a class C would sleep four with comfort, and headed out for a fun weekend. She instantly fell in love with the craft and couldn’t help playing with everything.

By the time we reached our destination Franny was taking a nap on the large bed in back. I registered and paid the fees for a nice spot with all the connections we would need. It turned out that off season also meant abandoned parks. The RV area had one other occupant and they were at the other end, about a half mile away. I began to set up and eventually a sleepy eyed girl got out and looked around. “Wow. That rocking really put my lights out.” She said and stretched.

We set up a nice little camp and since there was a grill and a stack of wood supplied we had a good time roasting hot dogs. As we learned more and more about the RV the more we both liked it. Oh there was the usual problems of tiny everything, but overall it had all the comforts of home while being able to adventure as well. I took the big bed while she took up the fold out. That weekend was so much fun I began to think that this would be a good way to have fun this summer.

Well I was right. The RV bug had bit the both of us as we talked about how fun it would be to travel around this summer and visit different parks on the weekends. The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea. As the time for our summer visit got closer I began to set a few things in motion. By the time Franny was dropped off for the summer with a trunk load of goodies I had everything in place for my surprise.

I asked Fran, she was now a young lady and wished to be referred to as such, if she was ready to go pick out an RV for the summer. She was giddy and acted far more like a Franny than a Fran at that moment. She was ready to go with a model like the one we had but I decided for a slightly larger, but in the same class, as the last one. We took it home and we began to shift everything we could need into the new rig.

Once we were settled in I broke the news of my surprise. “So Fran, have you thought of where you would like to go touring?” She began to list the places and times that would be close to home. I then looked around and wondered what Yosemite would be like. She gushed a little but knew it was far off the mark for just a weekend trip. “Well then how about we make Yosemite our first adventure. I worked things out so Joe would run the crews this summer so you and I could have the whole time together just having a little fun.”

She looked at me with such love I felt a little afraid I had done something wrong in some way. “That’s ok right?” she jumped into my arms and buried her face against my neck. “It couldn’t be better dad.” She held onto me and for the first time in a long while I felt love. Yeah she and I weren’t bashful about hugging or loving on each other, but this was something far more.

Then I realized why. In all these years she had always been foremost in my heart, but this was the first time I had really set work down and focused on being a father. Suddenly I really couldn’t fault Rene for leaving me, and I felt like a heel. How could I have been so focused on making a living and not having a life? This warm bundle of love had put up with so damn much from me. Or maybe I should say she put up with so little of me.

I held her a little tighter and just absorbed it all. Suddenly I could smell her. A warm scent filled with sweetness and flowers. How could I have spent so much time with her and not noticed how good she smelled and felt? She had the best of her mother and I. More than once some of the old timers had joked I was going to have to get a shotgun to keep the boys away. But now, holding her in my arms I understood the beauty they had seen. She was an arm full to be sure, but beneath all that girly physique was real muscle from years of working alongside me. I felt her nuzzle the side of my neck and she quietly said “I love you so much daddy.” I almost felt like crying I was so overjoyed to hear her say that right at this moment.

We did a little shopping after the reveal and the whole time Fran seemed to be walking on air. Her smile when she looked at me warmed me up inside and I wondered how I had spent so long without seeing it, or seeing her like this. We even picked up a pair of mountain bikes so that we wouldn’t have to drive the rig around if we just needed to make a small trip. When we got back and finished packing we went to dinner and worked out all kinds of plans.

That evening, as we wound down from the excitement of spending a whole summer with just the two of us, we cuddled up on the couch together. Now this wasn’t anything new for us to do, but it seemed to be. There was a new energy there and I loved it. As I sat there with her curled up under my arm, resting her head against my side, I felt so good I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt this way. I began to wonder if maybe it was time to change.

I’m not talking about the whole “mid-life crisis” thing of trying to be something I wasn’t, or trying to recapture my glory days. I mean just stepping back and living. I had paid my dues in more ways than one. Maybe it was time to stop busting ass and just sit on it a little bit more. Who knew how many years I had left to enjoy my life? Yeah I wasn’t that old, and I was in great shape compared to most guys my age, but I stood as a pallbearer for friends and coworkers who had accidents. Construction could be a damn dangerous job.

I heard Fran’s light snores and I looked at the sleeping angel next to me. When had she become a woman? How had I missed it? I saw her every weekend, but I never gave her the attention to see it. What kind of a father does that? She was beautiful and I hadn’t really seen it. She was a cute child but I had stopped seeing her as she grew. This young woman next to me wasn’t that child, and I was a fool for not seeing it.

I eased her up and then carried her to her room. She woke up a little when I did, but she saw that it was me lifting her up and her eyes smiled at me. “Can I sleep with you daddy?” She said with so much sweetness I simply kept walking past her room without a thought. I laid her down, went back to shut the house down, and then headed to bed.

I debated doing something about the fact that she was still in shorts and a shirt. I reached over and quickly unbuttoned her shorts so she would be a little more comfortable. I slid into a pair of light shorts and laid down next to her. It felt good have her next to me and I drifted off easily. I woke up to movement and saw Fran sitting up. She was pulling her shirt off and then she laid back down and wiggled to yank her shorts off. I simply went back to sleep not giving it a thought.

When I finally did wake up I felt a warm body wrapped around me from the side. I loved the feeling and just absorbed the warmth. Her head was on my chest and an arm was thrown over my chest. I also noticed her leg was draped over mine and I felt better than I had in a long time. I just laid there and just drank in the feeling of her next to me. I could feel her small breasts pressed against me and then it hit me I hadn’t woken up next to a woman in far too long. My mind then began to catalogue every point of her body touching me and I was starting to react to it.

I turned my head and inhaled the wonderful smells of sleeping girl and my pulse quickened. Damn this was good and I was just sleepy enough that I didn’t care that she was my daughter. Maybe later I would feel guilty, but right now I just felt and absorbed the young woman next to me. My cock was hard as a rock and trying to stand up to see what had caused all the commotion but I ignored it. I was having too much fun to let that monster ruin this glorious moment for me.

Then nature was telling me that my erection was also due to a painfully full bladder so I slid out of bed and took care of that demand. When I came out I was greeted with everything I had been ignorant of before. In my absence Fran had pulled my pillow over to take my place and had her arms wrapped around it. This let me see her laying there without worry. She was starting to show the woman she was growing into.

Her mother’s dark hair had a lazy curl to it and extended to the middle of her back. For a girl her age she was already showing the definition of labor. She had muscle accentuating her increasing curves. Her long legs were probably thicker than most girls her age, but her hips were also spreading to make them seem equal. Unlike her mother, Fran had a bubble butt that I had somehow not noticed. Fran also had much broader shoulders that would no doubt support the growing breasts she was destined to have. I had to admit that she was not just beautiful, but she was going to be one sexy woman in the near future.

Rather than wanting her to stay “my little girl” I simply saw that she was going to be dating soon, which meant I had better get all the time I could with her before losing her to a new guy and dad was just the guy who wrote the checks. One day some other man was going to be looking at this woman and he had damn well better love and appreciate her a hell of a lot more than I have. I then turned and left her to sleep some more. I’m sure she didn’t mean to sleep next to me in just her panties and this would save us both some embarrassment.

Well when we got on the road later that day Fran was glowing and smiling to beat the band. As we got onto the freeway she had eased her seat back and set her feet up. It was going to be a two day drive at least and I for one was wondering what the hell we were going to talk about. Fran of course had no problem with it. First we talked about how I had set up the crews so that we could have this time together. That alone went on into the late afternoon as she didn’t just talk about the how, she also asked why I chose who to run the crews. Before I knew it we were talking about the guys and how I evaluated them.

As I pulled into a RV park along the route we were still talking business and how I ran it. The town we stopped in was small and so we rode our bikes to a recommended diner and enjoyed our meal. Fran thought it would be fun to go for a after dinner ride to work out the energy from sitting so long so we just had fun cruising around and enjoying ourselves. There wasn’t all that much traffic so we rode through the homes and talked about the houses we saw. For a small town they had some beautiful old homes that dated back to turn of the century at least.

I had connected the TV to a hard drive full of movies so when we got back we simply relaxed. I let Fran take the first hot shower and then I took a nice warm shower afterwards. She was curled up on the couch in a long shirt and I wore my usual shirt and PJ shorts. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you without a shirt dad.” I chuckled. “That’s because I didn’t want to traumatize you. Women should never see chubby old men without a shirt, even on a beach. It can lead to involuntary lesbianism.”

Fran curled up next to me. “If a girl only thinks about how a man looks on the outside she won’t ever be happy.” She nuzzled me and hugged me. “Guys who look good all the time are only interested in themselves. We learned about a Greek god or something that fell in love with himself, I think that’s what the guys who work out all the time and dress fancy are doing. They are in love with themselves and just want you around to tell them that kind of thing.” I was impressed.

“The man was Narcissus. He was a vain man because he was the son of a god. Then a goddess set a trap for him with a reflective pool. He saw himself and found the reflection so mesmerizing that he died looking at himself.” Fran sat up and looked at me with wide eyes. “How do you know all that?” I chuckled. “I know a lot more than just how to swing a hammer. I was in college earning a degree in history when I began working construction. We had to pay for school ourselves back then and it was hard just to get into one.” She turned around and sat looking at me with curiosity. “Why did you leave school?” I gave a long sigh. “Well I found out that a degree in history only lead to education. I looked at how much they made a year and realized I was making almost as much as a journeyman carpenter as a teacher. If I made it to master then I would make twice as much as a teacher.”

Fran seemed to look at me as if I was someone she had never met before. “That’s where I met your mom. I was a TA in a history class and she asked me to tutor her.” She licked her lips and her eyes seemed to dance. “I guess your mom doesn’t talk about those days.” She shook her head. “Well I have a B.A. in History, another in political science, and an A.S. in math.” Her eyes grew soft and filled with love. “There is so much I don’t know about you dad. I guess I never tried because you have always just been “dad”. I think this trip is going to be about a lot more than just camping.”

As we got ready for bed Fran asked if she could sleep with me again. I didn’t think anything of it so I went to sleep with her curled up against me again and loved it. The next morning I woke up feeling more rested than ever. I was warm and happy with Fran almost laying on top of me. I found her presence calming, wonderful, and something I could easily get used to. As we got ready to hit the road again we stopped in the same diner we ate at last night and had a great breakfast.

That day was very different than the day before. The whole time Fran had questions about my life. Not the one she was in, but the one I had before she was born. She wanted to know more about her paternal grandparents since they had both passed away before she was knew them. She wanted to know what I was like, what I had studied and why. She even went into an area she had never gone with me. She asked why her mom and I even got together and why we separated.

That was the most difficult discussion I had ever had with her and it helped that I was able to focus on the road while doing it. I told her how we met, how we felt when we were first together, and how we had tried to keep those feelings. Eventually we both realized we were just staying together so we wouldn’t be alone. It had been Rene’s decision to finally go our separate ways, and I didn’t want to hold her back. I didn’t blame her then or now. “I guess in a way I had been cheating on her for years and didn’t know it. I was in a far deeper relationship with my company than I had been with her. I thought that by giving the two of you a good lifestyle I was being a good husband and father.”

I took a long breath. “Then when your mom asked for a divorce, and told me why, I realized I hadn’t been one. I also knew that, like some houses, it was better to tear it down and start over than keep investing in a money pit. What we had was gone and the repairs were just too much to save anything.” I felt lighter, but also emptier. “The only thing left for me was you. If I couldn’t be a good husband I was determined to be a good father.” I chuckled humorlessly. “And lately I have realized I didn’t do nearly as well as I should have.”

In a strained voice Fran asked if we could please take the next off ramp and find a place to park. Then she got up and went to the rear. I guess I had said too much, or said it all wrong. I was too used to dealing with people in an upfront manner that I wasn’t that subtle or gentle. It took a while before I found a way off the highway and I wondered if this meant our trip would be coming to a premature end like my marriage.