Chapter 1

At the Beach House

“And don’t let them do anything stupid, Ron, I promised Madj they wouldn’t go out.”

“Yeah yeah, alright. I’ll make sure they get through their homework before giving them hot coco and tucking them into bed at 9pm. Jesus, Carla, they’re 16! Term’s almost over, let them cut loose a little.” The irritation was clear in his voice.

Carla threw him a dirty look.

“Just keep an eye on them and don’t let them sneak off - like you say, they’re 16...!” she hissed pointedly.

Typical Carla, he thought.

Ron rolled his eyes at his ex-wife’s pettiness as she drove off so see her newest lover - leaving him to chaperone their daughter Kirsty and her best friend Dahlia.

Ron shook his head and stepped back into the house.

As far as the muffled giggling indicated the girls had already taken refuge in Kirsty’s room.

On principle, Ron had no problem with the teens being left in his care, but he did take offence at Carla’s presumptuousness.Anyway...

He huffed a sigh and listlessly plopped back down on the couch to continue watching the game.

About half an hour later, though, he decided to try and make the best of the situation for all of them.

He killed the TV, went upstairs and knocked on Kirsty’s door.

The animated chatter that had been audible from inside the room abruptly stopped.

“Yeah?”

Ron opened the door.

Kirsty and Dahlia were perched next to each other on the bed parallel to the door and facing the window that looked out onto the ocean, phones in hand, evidently comparing Tinder matches or some such. Dahlia sat closer to the door, knees pulled towards her chest and the hem of her mini skirt had ridden up her leg far enough to reveal the roundness of her butt cheek and a flash of green panty.

Ron hurriedly brought his eyes up to look the girls in the face.

“I’m going to do a quick shop run, do you girls want anything?”

“Oh awesome, could you get us some Ben and Jerry’s? Any flavour. And some ready mac’n’cheese for dinner.”

“I actually thought we could have a little bbq.”

Kirsty’s face lit up.

“Wow Mr. G, that sounds awesome!” Dahlia’s enthusiasm took him by surprise.

“Sure, want anything special?”

“Hamburger for me!” Kirsty grinned.

“I’d like a Wiener”, Dahlia said innocently, tilting her head. “But I’ll be happy with hamburgers if that’s the menu.” she smiled gently.A ... Wiener ... sure.

Ron’s mouth felt dry.

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

With one more stealthy glance at Dahlia’s revealing outfit Ron closed the door.

“Oh my God-ah! Did you see how my dad was staring at you?!” came Kirsty’s hushed outrage not a moment later.

You fucking idiot! Ron could have kicked himself.

“I don’t think he was staring, Kiki.”

“Don’t be stupid, Dee, he was TOTALLY checking you out!”

“So what if he was?” Dahlia challenged.

Kirsty was silent.

Ron held his breath, ears straining.

“Would it bother you? Your parents are divorced after all”, Dahlia prompted again.

“Wouldn’t it be weird, though? He’s, like – OLD.”

Thanks kid.

“My dad’s 20 years older than my mom.” Ron cold almost hear the shrug. “Plus older guys KNOW things, how to DO things ... And your dad is actually handsome.”

“EWWWWWW!!!”

“No, c’mon, objectively. He’s got that old Hollywood look going on, and he’s FIT.”

“Urgh. You and your old Hollywood fetish.”

They descended into giggling.

Ron’s heart was racing.Old Hollywood, huh...

Fantasising about Dahlia now and then had been a very guilty pleasure ever since he’d seen her again after summer break last year. Over that summer, she had blossomed from a shy, awkward teenager into a much more confident young woman. She had a gorgeous figure, large perky breasts, small waist, wide hips, and a firm looking round ass, all walking around on long slim legs. To top it all off, she had the face of an angel, with ocean blue eyes, full lips, and long golden locks that now fell down to her waist.

And apparently she found him attractive.

Now he thought of it, he realized that whenever she had been around, even before last year, she had always tried to make a point of striking up a conversation, or even just greeting him.Don’t read too much into it, buddy, teens have a new crush every day.

Still Ron struggled to pull himself together. He needed to eliminate the beginning boner working against the fabric of his pants - fortunately it was a 30 minute drive to the shops.

When he got back, he unloaded the car and stacked the hamburgers, Wieners, and cutlets into the fridge, along with some deli salads, beer and several wine coolers.

He left the assorted buns on the counter and got to preparing his signature burger sauce that Kirsty loved.

As he cracked open a beer, he pondered what he had heard earlier. He didn’t know much too about Dahlia – then again, he probably knew more about her than any of Kirsty’s other friends since, as was customary for teenage girls, they didn’t usually engage with the dad. Dahlia had always been an exception. From what he knew, though, even Carla didn’t get included in their activities much, which gave him an odd sense of satisfaction.