Chapter 2: Getting Ready and a Date with Daddy

I had picked up flowers for Ava on the way home from work but was surprised that she wasn’t downstairs waiting to go to the restaurant. We still had an hour before we needed to be there, and I wanted to leave the house within about thirty minutes so we wouldn’t need to rush. I called out to my daughter, “Ava, are you ready?”

“No, I can’t figure out what to wear.”

“Did you get home from school late?”

“No, I’ve been here since 3:30 trying to figure out what I want to wear. It’s my first date, Daddy; this is a very important decision.”

Since she had been at this for three hours, I offered, “Do you want me to come up and give you an opinion?”

“Yes!”

When I came upstairs, Ava met me at the top of the stairs in a blue dress. It wasn’t super tight, but it emphasized how skinny she was while still having ample curves, especially up top. She also had on a pair of white tights but was otherwise barefoot.

“That looks great on you, honey! Go ahead and wear that.”

“Wait, wait, I want to show you another one.”

Ava disappeared into her room and came out a few minutes later in a green dress with an open back. I reacted without thinking, “Wow! That one looks even more amazing. You should wear that one!”

“Hang, on. I want to show you one more. If that’s not the one, I’ll put this one back on.”

I smiled because I really didn’t think anything was going to look better on Ava than the open-back dress she had on right now. I was wrong; she came out in a pink dress that was a bit more form-fitting than the first one she had on. She looked amazing! Innocent and sexy at the same time. It was just tight enough across the chest to show off the size of her rack on her skinny frame without making her look cheap or that she was trying too hard. The color also made her cheeks seem to glow.

“That’s the one. I’m positive!”

“OK, but I just remembered I have a white dress I could wear as well.”

“Nope! It’s the pink. It’s perfect!”

“Are you sure, Daddy? For the longest time, I thought I was going to wear the white one, but it’s got buttons on the front, and I couldn’t tell how many to leave unbuttoned. It looked too stuffy with all of them buttoned up, but my bra would be hanging out if I left them all unbuttoned. So obviously something between those two extremes. However, every time I thought I had the correct number buttoned, I would second guess myself and then switch to another dress. Maybe you could look at me in it and tell me how far up I should button it.”

While that did sound interesting, I was spellbound by the way Ava looked in this pink dress. On top of that, her explanation of her thought process was just too adorable! “Seriously, honey, that dress is completely perfect on you. I’ll take a look at you in the white dress another time to give you some advice. In the meantime, these are for you.” I had been holding the flowers behind my back while I gave advice on the different outfits, and I revealed them to my daughter.

“Daddy! You bought flowers for me. I love them; they’re so pretty!”

“Not as pretty as you are.”

“Oh, Daddy ... I should put them in some water before we go.”

We didn’t really have vases, but a tall beer glass served as a substitute. As she placed the flowers in the water, she took another look at them. “I wasn’t expecting flowers, Daddy; this feels like a real date now!” My daughter’s high pitched voice always made me smile when she was trying to be extra serious, since it just didn’t seem to fit. “I’m going to have to up my dating game, Daddy! You scored some seriously impressive flowers while I couldn’t figure out what to wear. But don’t worry; I’ll be the most charming date you’ve ever had!”

I did the other things a date is supposed to do. I held the door of the house for her, and then I opened the car door for her, both getting in and getting out; and finally, I held the door of the restaurant open. We arrived at about 7:20, and even though we were a little early, they took us back to our table after just a minute or two.

At the restaurant, Ava was looking around at the dim lighting and small tables. There was a basket of bread and a small metal bowl filled with little chunks of butter. The waiters were all wearing black pants, white shirts, and black ties, even the women. The hostess who led them to their table was in a black dress and had on black stockings. “I feel kind of underdressed, like I should be in a fancy gown.” Ava whispered to her father.

“You probably would be if you were going to a school dance afterwards, but you’re dressed just right for tonight,” I reassured.

“I trust you, Daddy; it’s just a little strange never having eaten at a place like this before. Is it much different than the chain restaurants? Other than these adorable little butters, I’ve never seen anything like them at any of the places we usually eat. They’re so cute, I almost feel bad about spreading them on a piece of bread.” After taking a bite, my daughter added, “Well, maybe not that bad. It would be a shame to eat this bread without butter.”