Chapter 10

I was sitting in my recliner when my daughter came bouncing back into the living room. She zeroed in on my lap.

"I've been soooo looking forward to this, Dad," she said.

"Me too, Sandy. Nina, too."

"I like 'er, Dad," she admitted. "She talks to ME. Like, she calls me to talk to me, just like that." She sighed. "An' it's kinda like she's a grownup, but she's kinda not. She's fun to talk to."

"That's why I married her, baby," I admitted. "She's very smart and good."

"Pretty, too," Sandy said. "I like her smile."

"Like your smile, little one. You use your whole face."

She batted her lush eyelashes, a guaranteed 'melt your daddy's heart' move. "I'm glad you married 'er, Dad. I wanted you to be happy."

"I am, Sandy. And even happier with you here." I smiled. "I love you, little girl."

"I love you too, Dad," she said, arms around my neck. She released me and sat back. "So I guess since you're married, I won't be able to crawl in your bed in the middle of the night if I get scared, huh?"

"Do you still get scared, baby?" Nightmares used to wake her up crying.

"No, but that doesn't mean that I wanna sleep by myself all night." She sighed. "But you're married, and a husband's s'posed to sleep with his wife..."

"A husband and wife are supposed to have private time together," I said.

"I kinda know about that, Dad," she said matter of factly. "But..."

"But why don't we talk with Nina about this, okay? She's my wife. She gets to help decide, right?" I smiled at her.

"Yessir," she agreed.

I heard the shower stop, a brief period of bumping around, then the hair dryer started. Normally I'd be in the bathroom starting my own shower now, if indeed we hadn't showered together, a more likely occurrence, but I decided to wait so Nina would be there with Sandy. Not that I didn't trust Sandy. I just thought she'd be happier if one of us was with her.

"So what's this about you wanting to take piano lessons, sweetie?" I asked.

"Dad, I want to make music, don'tcha think?" She gazed into my eyes. "I like our music. I wanna be able to play some of it."

"Baby, it takes years of lessons and practicing a lot, not just a lesson a week, you know."

Exasperated. "I KNOW that, Dad. I have a friend who takes lessons. For TWO years. And she's starting to be able to play stuff I can recognize." She got her serious look on. "But Dad, I think I can do better than her. I tried on her piano. And I just think I could do better."

"So what's your mom say, sweetie?" I asked.

"Mom an' Harry BOTH said we don't have enough money to do that right now." She sighed.

I filed that bit of information for further consideration as I heard the hair dryer shut off in the bathroom. Nina swept in, her nightshirt ending just at mid-thigh. I could see the traces of panties underneath it. But then I looked, okay? Close.

"You got it now, Dan," Nina chirped.

Sandy got off my lap. I stood and Nina kissed me, a quick little peck.

"You don't get away that easy," I laughed, catching her waist with my hand and stealing a longer kiss.

"Go get your shower!" she said. "We wanna get a game of cards in before we go to bed. We need to get up early in the morning!"

"Yeah, Dad," Sandy added.

I was done in twenty minutes. I joined them in the living room. They were sitting cross-legged on the floor and Nina was shuffling cards, smiling.

I joined them on the floor as Nina started dealing cards. "Sandy wanted to know how I felt if she crawled in bed with us, Dan."

I looked at first one, then the other, one dark brown, one blonde, one a half a head taller, two sets of blue eyes. "Yeah, she talked to me about it. I told her that you got to sleep with me."

"Dad," Sandy said, "I told you that I understand about people bein' married an' stuff, but I used to ... When you were still with Mom..." She glanced at Nina. "I'm sorry ... I didn't..."

Nina smiled at Sandy. "Sweetie, I know your dad was married. I know how you got here, you know..."

Sandy said, "Uh-huh, but like, you know, when it's time to go to sleep ... Last night I wanted to. But we didn't talk about it, so I didn't."

"Sandy, do you still sleep with your mom?"

"No, Daddy..." she said. I knew when she shifted from 'Dad' to 'Daddy' I was being manipulated. "But I don't get to see YOU very often..." Big blue eyes. "An' I miss you..."

Nina said, "Dan, I don't think it'd hurt, once in a while, honey."

"I guess not." I was beat. And not just the conversation. I lost the card game, too.

Sandy skipped off to the bathroom.

"Babe," Nina smiled, "we'll have our time. I don't want you to be deprived, you know..."

"Do I still get to see you smile? Then I'm NOT deprived."

Nina continued, "But she misses her daddy, and it's okay, babe! Really! We just have to wear clothes, okay? Just go with it."

I reached over and pulled her to kiss. I heard footsteps. Sandy. Caught us kissing. And she was smiling.

"Baby," I said to her, "If you want to sleep with us, it's okay. But not every night, all right?"

Squeal! Group hug. "Dad! I know you an' my Nina get time together, 'kay! But I miss you!"

"Okay, little princess. I guess I get the middle, then. Tonight." We retired to the bedroom, me, Nina, Sandy and Sam the cat. I got in the middle. Since we started sleeping together, Nina was always on my left, so that sort of set things up. I got the middle and Sandy crawled in on the right side. And Sam crawled in between my feet. I'd tolerate him there until I needed to roll over, and then he'd begrudge me a move before re-anchoring himself.

Nina reached to the bedside table and set the radio for an hour of late-night classical music. I got a chaste good night kiss from her, then another little hug and kiss and "I love you, Dad," from Sandy. And we went to sleep.

By this stage of the game, Nina and I had found a way to sleep together, adapting to each other's movements without waking up too much. We seemed to exchange touches and caresses as we moved while we slept together.

Adding Sandy to the bed, though ... When I rolled in the direction of Nina, I felt her butt push back against me and I wrapped her in my arms and she reacted by purring. I was cuddling my lover.

When I rolled in the opposite direction though, it was a smaller form, and I was a father again, protecting my offspring. I think Sandy was doing calisthenics all night, though, and the elbows and knees of a ten year old girl are BONEY.

In spite of that obstacle, we slept. The alarm went off at six, we filled Sam's food and water dispensers, hauled out the trash, loaded the rest of the bags into the car, and off we went.

First stop was the McDonalds drive-through, and then it was onto the open road, looking at four hours of driving, good music on the car stereo, two passengers who had the astonishing habit of READING, and I had to start a conversation or two on the way. An hour out from our destination, I called the manager of our week's domicile and arranged to meet her upon our arrival.

Wasn't a 'beach house'. Was a condo. With a boat dock on the canal behind the building. And moored at the dock was a twenty-six foot sailboat. And the beach was a short walk across the beach road from the building. And my two passengers were excited. Nina and I'd talked about what to expect, but she still acted almost as giddy as Sandy.

The manager showed up, a lady a few years senior to me, hair somewhere between blonde and platinum, unquestionably enhanced, and just little too tan, but she was a businessperson and she smiled and took us through the sign-offs and took my money while Sandy and Nina unloaded the car.

"Are you familiar with the boat?" she asked.

"Boats in general. I have a certification for bare-hull in the Caribbean," I said. "Is there something fancy?"

"Oh, no," she said. "Little diesel inboard. After that, it's just a little sailboat. The forty-four footer tied up in front of 'er is mine and my husband's."

"Nice," I said, peering out the balcony doors overlooking the canal.

"You're welcome to come visit this evening. We'll be there for drinks. You can bring the girls along."

"Okay," I said. "The tall one is my wife. The short one is my daughter. From first wife."

"Oooo-oohhh!" she said. "Kinda young, huh? Not meanin' to be nosey..."

I ran my hand over my short hair. "Yeah, I'm amazed sometimes myself. She's some kind of dream, though."

"Oh, I suppose. Seriously, come visit us ... Our granddaughter will be there. The youngster? Ten? Eleven?"

"Almost eleven. Just ask 'er," I laughed. "We'll come visit," I said as I was joined by Nina and Sandy.

"Hi," Nina chirped. "I'm Nina! Dan's wife! And this," she said, putting her arm around Sandy, "is Sandy. Dan's daughter. My stepdaughter and new best friend."

Sandy's grin was trophy grade.

"I'm Brenda Haslett. My husband and I own this building. And those boats. I just invited ya'll to come visit our boat this evening."

Nina didn't miss a beat. "Why, thank you so much! We'd LOVE to..."

Brenda left.

"She seems nice, Dan. Uh, lunch?"

"Yeah, lunch, Dad!"

Part of the load included the starter package of snacks and groceries and we fixed sandwiches for lunch.

Naturally, the next thing on the agenda was to change into beach attire, slather on sunscreen, and head out the door to the beach. We walked onto the hot sand with me in the middle, holding hands with a five-foot blonde Sandy and a five-seven dark brunette Nina, and headed straight for the cool sand at the edge of the water. We 'frolicked' in the surf, because that's what you do with warm surf: frolic.

Naturally, the appearance of two bikini-clad females attracted a stream of feral males who had to get close enough to check out the scenery. Okay, when you got close, it was obvious that Sandy was a little girl. Blonde, laughing. Promising, but still, "Dude! She's TEN!"

Nina, on the other hand ... healthily tanned from our kayaking and biking, activities which coincidentally toned her curves nicely. She wasn't one of those top-busting D-cup bikini babes, and her bikini was conservative, but every time I saw her I thought she was a doll. However, the presence of a gold band on her finger, coupled with her hand in mine and a sweet kiss in the Gulf sunlight announced to the predators that the prey was off limits.

Inwardly I was glad I'd maintained my own healthy lifestyle. I wasn't one of those 'chiseled muscle' types, but I had avoided the 'engineer spread' and love handles successfully. The three of us made a nice-looking set.

By late afternoon we'd had enough and headed back to the condo, taking turns in the shower, rinsing the salt off our bodies. That left us pushing five PM and dinner, and naturally, beach town, that meant seafood, and then we were back at the condo, walking down the dock alongside a brightly lit boat.

My ten year old daughter joined a couple of similarly aged kids, a boy and a girl, playing in the lush green grass on the banks of the canal, and Nina and I approached the boat.

"Hi, ya'll, come on aboard," Brenda said.

I held Nina's hand to assist her over the rail, and then followed her.

Brenda said, "Ya'll introduce yourselves. This is my husband, Jake!"

"Hi, Jake, ' I said, "I'm Dan Gleason and this is my wife, Nina!"

Jake stood and shook our hands. "Brenda says ya'll are renting the condo?"

"Yessir," I said. "Vacation, for a week. Here from Louisiana."

"Ah," he laughed, "then the heat's not a surprise, is it?"

"Oh, no sir," Nina said. "but this breeze is so nice."

"Yeah," he said. "it gets pleasant when the sun goes down."

Brenda asked, "Would you like a glass of wine?"

I looked at Nina. "You?"

"Why not?" she smiled. "I'm eighteen. And married."

"Eighteen?" Brenda said, eyebrow raised. "I thought you looked young..."

"We've been married a month. It's a short, happy story." Her smile was dazzling.

"I'm sure it is, darlin'," Brenda said. "So, you're goin' to college?"

"In the fall," Nina said. "Scholarship. Electrical engineering."

"Wow," Jake said. "That's a step!"

"Yeah," I said. "She was number three in a graduating class of over three hundred."

Jake cut his eyes toward his wife. "Your niece..."

Brenda said, "Jake's upset about our niece, my sister's kid. Sixteen. Bright. Pretty..."