Chapter 13

In the morning, I woke up on my side, Jamie spooned up tight against me. Her fragrant blond hair caressed my face. She held my hand in hers, cupping a firm young breast, the nipple under my thumb. My morning erection was nestled between her buttocks, the upper side of my shaft pressing against her anus. There was no way I could get out of bed without waking her, so I lay there, remembering the passion and guilt of the day and night before.

She stirred. “Morning, Dad,” she yawned, pressing my hand more firmly against her breast. “Did you sleep well?”

“I guess. Honey, are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, maybe a little sore, you know, but yeah. Why wouldn’t I be? I woke up in the arms of the best man in the world.” She rolled over to look at me. “Please don’t tell me you feel guilty.”

“I’m supposed to feel guilty about what I did to you,” I said.

She sat up. “You are dead wrong when you talk about ‘what you did to me.’ That’s not it at all. It’s what WE have done FOR each other. All my life you’ve given me everything I needed, everything I wanted. Well, I needed and wanted to know about sex. Thank you. I’m happy with what’s happened, and I want it to happen some more.”

“I don’t know what to say,” I said.

“You don’t have to say anything. Keep loving me like you always have. You will always be in my life, in one way or another, and I’ll always love you. Now, we just have a new way to express it.”

She gave me a peck on the cheek, and got out of bed. “First dibs on the toilet. Meet me in the shower,” she said as she left my room.

I lay there, struggling to make sense of it all, and then followed her down the hall.

She was already in the shower. After a much-needed piss, I joined her. “What are you doing today?” she asked.

“Probably grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, and washing the car,” I said.

She squeezed past me so I could get under the water. “Kiersten texted me and asked me if I want to go to the mall. Do you mind?”

“Homework?” I asked, squinting through the shampoo in my eyes.

“I can have it done by lunchtime. Why don’t you go to the store while I do my homework? I’ll make burgers on the grill for lunch when you come home. If I can drive to the mall, I’ll wash your car when I get back.”

“Deal,” I said.

We both behaved in the shower. Of course, our bodies touched, but neither of us really responded. We dried ourselves off, and went to our own rooms to get dressed.

Jamie started her homework as she ate breakfast, and I worked on my store list. It was my turn to do the dishes, and when I was finished, I went back to the table with the Sunday paper. “What are you working on?” I asked.

“Filler stuff. The stupid crap they give you after your senior project is done. It’s easy, but there’s a lot of it. I’ll be finished by lunch.”

I read the paper for a while, finished my list, and headed to the store. When I got back, Jamie helped me put the groceries away, and then made lunch. It was a nice day, so we ate outside.

When Jamie left for the mall, she wore a tank top, jeans, and sneakers, and had her blond curls pulled into a ponytail that poked through the back of a baseball cap. She always dressed that way on weekends, but she looked so different to me now.

I was full from lunch, so I puttered around the yard for a while before getting out the mower. It actually started on the third pull and kept running, so I was done with our yard in decent time. I was glad, since it was unseasonably warm. Summer was almost here.

I was just getting dressed after my shower when I heard the girls come in. They were in the kitchen, chattering over their purchases. “You’re going to have to shave some to wear your new bikini, you know,” I heard Kiersten say.

“I keep it trimmed so nothing pokes out beyond my panties, but you’re right, these new bikini bottoms don’t cover a whole lot, and yours is skimpier than mine,” my daughter said.

“I’ve been shaving everything down there for about a year,” Kiersten said. “You know what they say, ‘A man doesn’t like burrowing through the jungle to get to the swamp.’”

“Oh, do you have a secret to tell me?” Jamie giggled.