The Fourth of July was right around the corner. It was July First and I was busy in my home office trying to do the shit I pay my secretary to do. I had given her two weeks off during the busy summer season, and now was kicking myself.

I run an earth moving business. When I bought into the company we were capable of doing two jobs at a time. Now we are capable of doing as many as ten jobs at a time, although I usually limit us to six, just to keep guys and equipment from being over worked. Usually my secretary does the bid processing and payroll stuff. Since I gave her two week's vacation I was having to do it myself on my own time. She usually takes a couple hours on Wednesday afternoon to get the payroll done. I wasn't as talented.

This is how I came to be sitting in my home office pouring over time cards and bills, using three different programs on my computer. I had a cold beer on the desk and a baseball game on the TV, for noise more than interest in said game. I wanted to get done so that I could go fishing at a high mountain lake for the next two days, and then spend my Fourth sitting on my front porch, drinking beer and lighting bottle rockets.

Most people don't seem to realize how hot it can get in Colorado during the summer. I have talked to folks back east who think we ski year round, and wear coats all the time. They think "South Park" is an accurate depiction of Colorado life. The temperature had reached 105 today and I was still sweating my ass off despite the swamp cooler hung in the window behind me.

I had just entered the final numbers on Jim Zimmerman's paycheck when I heard my doorbell chime. Most of the time when my doorbell rings, it is Jehovah's witnesses or Mormons coming to tell me I sin too much and they have just the pamphlet I need to change my hell bound ways. On many occasions I would answer the door naked with a bottle of Jack Daniel's in my hand when I thought it was these folk. I decided just to be rude tonight, and let that suffice. If it is someone coming to me on business, they use the side door directly into my office. As I approached my front door I noticed a car I had never seen before in my driveway.

I opened the front door and was greeted by the sight of a beautiful young lady. She was about 5'7, petite, with shoulder length light brown hair with golden highlights. Her blue and white checkered spaghetti strapped top nicely framed her tits, which were likely a large b or smallish c. Her Daisy Duke cut-offs and pink Pumas finished the look. I could have stared at her legs forever, muscular and tan, athletic legs. A cute anklet strung around her right ankle proclaimed she was a "hottie". I couldn't argue that.

She removed her oversized sun glasses to reveal her piercing blue eyes. "Are you by any chance Donny Wagner?"

I immediately dismissed her as a sales person or some cold caller, because she pronounced my last name properly. Most people pronounce it Wag, (like a dog's tail) ner. My grandparents, when they immigrated to the States in the early thirties kept the German pronunciation Vog-ner, just like the composer.

"Yes I am." I answered. I noticed family characteristics in her face. My brain scrambled to decide if I had a niece this age or not. You see, I was a late surprise for my folks. Daniel age 48 and Lisl Wagner age 45 already had Daniel Jr. age 23, Geoff, age 21, Sharon, age 18, and Trudy, age 14 when I graced them with my presence. By the time I was born my parents were grandparents three times over. It was quite often when I was growing up that I had to explain that I wasn't being raised by my grandparents. I can remember being three or so and my nephew John, who was five at the time, correcting me when I called my mother "Mommy". "No," he said "Her name is Grandma."

I am now 32 years old and have many nieces and nephews I rarely see. I see Sharon the most often since she lives in Denver, but the others all live back east and I rarely see them, let alone their kids.

"My name is Gayla Rafferty." She said sticking out her hand.

I shook her hand and said, "Pleased to meet you Gayla Rafferty, now I am a busy dude, so how can I help you?"

"You are Donny Wagner, from Blue Lake?"

"Yes."

"Well, I guess there's no other way to say this, but you are a father. My father."

This had to be a joke. The closest I had ever came to being a father was when my ex whore wife turned up pregnant when we hadn't had sex in almost a year. My buddy Roger had to have set this up. I stepped past her onto the porch looking around for Roger. I figured he was hiding nearby with a cam-corder. "OK fucko, I aint got time for this shit!"

No laughing Roger appeared before my eyes so I turned back to Gayla. "Ok, you look to be well over the age of 16, and I am 32. I've been divorced for 5 years now and think I would remember the cheating cunt delivering a kid. So if you aint got a better story to tell, I need to finish my shit so I can fuck off for the weekend."

She seemed nonplussed as she answered. "My mother is Candy Rafferty. Of course you might remember her as Candy Thomas. I am 18 years old and according to my mom, one Donny Wagner, from Blue Lake Colorado is my father."

Candy Thomas ... now there's a name I hadn't thought about in years. We'd had a fling when I was14. I remember her leaving about two weeks before school started never to be seen again.

She was a senior in high school and participated in a Big Brothers and big Sisters program for under privileged kids. I wasn't exactly under privileged, but since my parents were in their sixties, and considered too old to give me a normal upbringing, I qualified. I got lucky on two fronts. One was the fact that there weren't enough big brothers for all the boys so I got a big sister instead. The second was because when most of the other big brothers and sisters forgot about their charges, Candy figured out she could drive me to Grant's lake. I would fish from the time we got there, take a quick break for a picnic lunch, then I'd fish until dark. Candy meanwhile would have her boyfriend Greg come visit her. I caught them a couple of times, but I never said anything.

One late July day when she picked me up she looked as if she'd been crying. I asked her if she was ok, and she told me she was. That day we went to Redhawk reservoir. She pulled out a pole and actually fished with me that day. An hour or so before lunch she asked me if I wanted to go swimming. I told her I didn't have a swim suit.

"Neither do I sweetie, but we can swim in our underwear."

Now a 17 year old high school hottie telling a 14 year old human tripod, that he'd see her in her undies is likely the same type of response the good folks that came up with Viagra were trying to achieve.

I spent a good deal of the time we swam trying to hide the raging bone on I was sporting. After a while we climbed onto a rock to sun ourselves. We chatted for a while and she told me she had a fight with Greg. I told her that he was not good enough for her and she could do so much better. She asked why I thought that way and I blushed, then I began babbling about how beautiful she was, and how I wanted to marry her when I got old enough, and I went on and on until she shut me up with a kiss. And that was the beginning of the end of my virginity. That day was a one off since she got back with Greg the next week. She left in September and I never saw her again. And now this beautiful young lady was standing on my doorstep telling me that I fathered a child that summer day.

"Would you like to come in?" I asked. She followed me through the door. "I know I need a drink, can I get you something to drink?"

"I'd like a glass of tea if you have some."

"I think I do. Toni usually keeps stuff like that made and ready. And yes she has some made." I found a pitcher of tea in the fridge and poured her a glass.

She took a sip, "Thank you. Toni makes wonderful tea. Is she your wife?"

"No, she's my secretary. My office is in the back and she has free reign of the house while she's at work."

"What kind of business do you run?"

"Construction, mainly earth moving and roads."

I walked to the office in the back of the house and she followed. I pointed to the small couch in my office and asked if she'd like to sit. She sat and I took my place at the desk where I had been working. I finished my beer and opened a drawer and pulled out my bottle of Jack and took a healthy pull. I grimaced as the harsh brown liquid lit my esophagus on fire.

"Are you a heavy drinker?" she asked.

"Not usually, but Heir Daniels helps me wrap my head around certain things. You obviously have an advantage. You have had at least ten minutes to get used to the fact you have a long lost father. I've known I was a father for two minutes."

"Oh, I am sorry. I didn't mean to freak you out. But I have wanted to meet you for several years now and just a few days ago got enough info to put it all together."

As she was about to start her end of the tale my cell rang. It was Jack Erickson, one of my foremen on a major job. Some new dipshit had done something and I was needed there ASAFP. I told him I'd be there soon. "Feel like taking a ride? I gotta go deal with something and I definitely want to hear your story. We'll go take care of this and then dinner will be on me. Do you like Mexican food?"

Sure I'll go with you, and yes I love Mexican food."

I finished the stuff I had to do and we went out and got into my truck. She told me about most of her life as we headed to the jobsite.

She was raised mainly in Florida. Candy had gone to live with an aunt there when she discovered her impending child. After giving birth to Gayla, she began to work her way through school, eventually earning a degree in accounting and getting a job at a large Miami firm. When Gayla was three, Candy met Brad Rafferty. They married a year later and he adopted Gayla. They had another daughter before Candy decided her career took precedence. Gayla knew from a young age that she and Michele weren't full blood sisters. As she grew she asked more and more about her father.

Candy was embarrassed to have been knocked up by such a young boy, she hid the truth from her daughter. Gayla had from time to time visited her grandparents in Colorado, and had decided she wanted to go to college in Colorado.

Since this summer was the summer between her graduation and her freshman year, she decided to head out to Colorado early, and find a job and a place to stay. Blue Lake is a forty mile drive from her school so she stayed with her grandparents while she hunted for jobs in town. One evening while shopping at a small boutique, a local lady mistook her for one of the Wagner grandkids. Gayla of course had no idea who the Wagners were.

On the phone with Candy later on Candy admitted that Gayla's biological father was me. The next day Gayla tracked down my parents, of course she thought they were my grandparents, and mom gave her my address. By chance, the university Gayla was attending is a twenty minute drive from my home. She mulled over her new found information for a couple of days, and with her mother's blessing, decided to contact me.

I was still trying to get it all straight in my head as we got to my site to find one of my new dump trucks turned over on its side. The kid who had been driving was shaken and scared, but he wasn't injured. Since the accident was on a site not on a public road, we didn't have to involve the law. I did have to take upwards of fifty pictures for OSHA and insurance purposes. I told the kid to go home and to be at my office first thing on the fifth.

When Jack showed back up I blew his mind. "Jack, I'd like you to meet my daughter Gaylene."

She shook his hand as he looked dumbfounded. "Actually my name's Gayla"

From the look on Jack's face I knew I was going to have a lot of explaining to do later on.

Four hours and an eight thousand dollar crane job later, my truck was on a tow rig heading to the shop and Gayla and I were headed to dinner at Juan's. I had enchiladas smothered in green chili, and Gayla had the taco combo plate. After dinner we headed back to my house. I asked her if she was planning to drive back to Blue Lake tonight. She had thought about it but asked if she could hang with me for a few days. I had no problem with that as long as she knew of my plans.

"I would love to go camping with you. As long as you aren't an axe murderer or something." she said when I informed her.

"Nope. But I am a new father."

We sat and talked for a while. We filled each other in on aspects of our lives. We were chatting merrily along when my cell rang. Usually I check the caller ID before I answer, for some reason I didn't and I heard the voice of my ex wife. Immediately the headache that usually accompanies her intrusions into my little piece of the world hit like a freight train. I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose; this had become habit when she called.

"Hiya baby what are you doin?"

"Nothin." She hated short one word answers, so I made sure to try to keep them all that way.

"Come on baby, I just want to be civil. You don't see me bein hostile to you."

"Not hostile. Not into conversing."

"Donny," she whined, "I want to work on us. Don't you care about us?"

"Bitch! I quit caring about us when half of us was fucking Blaine and Elbert. Damn it Kimberly you talk to them, maybe they'll work on y'all. Now I am visiting with my daughter so bye." I hung up before she could say another word and then turned my phone to "silent." I sat there with my eyes closed for a few minutes, willing the pain to go away. Gayla moved over from the couch to the love seat and put a hand on my arm.

"Is she that bad?"

"My head seems to think so."

"Care to talk about it?"

"Not tonight. If torture is your game I'm sure I can find pliers or something for you to use on me, less painful than talking about her and her ... Never mind."

We laughed and I showed her to my guest bedroom.

Sleep was hard to come by that night. My mind kept running thoughts about Gayla. I realized how much of her life I had missed, but knew I could do nothing about it. I kept wonder as well, if it was normal or wrong that I would fuck her in a heartbeat. Images played through my head. Her smell, the way her skin and hair reflected in the sunlight. I felt bad that I couldn't picture her mother. I finally drifted off to sleep around two.

I was up at 5:30 hooking up the trailer to my truck. It's just a small two person rig, but it suits me. I only use it three or four times a year, when I go fishing or hunting. I always keep its larder stocked with all of the necessities, all I have to do is stock up with meat and other cold items that would spoil. I loaded the fishing gear into the truck and went and rousted Gayla.

I knocked on the guest room door and got no answer. I knocked again and waited. Last summer I had my sister Sharon's twin 16 year old boys stay a weekend with me to go fishing. I had to walk in and turn the light on to even begin to roust them. Figuring it was a family thing I opened the door and hit the light. My heart jumped and my breath seized in my chest when I saw Gayla on that bed. She wore a t-shirt with the collar cut out of it and a tiny thing panty. The shirt was pulled down to the top of her awesome tits and one areola was exposed. Her leg was kicked over so that her ass was entirely exposed. I'm sure if I looked close enough I would have seen her rose bud. "Quit checking her out asshole!!! She's your fucking daughter!!" screamed the voice in my head.

As she started to stir I killed the light and closed the door. I knocked really hard, after taking a moment to compose myself, and this time was rewarded with a sleepy sounding "I'm awake. Gimme a few minutes. Do you have coffee?"

"Coffee's brewing!" I answered cheerfully hoping she couldn't hear the shake in my voice.

"Oh, you're an angel!"

I walked down the hall to the kitchen and filled my thermos with coffee. There was enough in the pot to fill two travel mugs with the delicious pick me up brew. Ten minutes later, Gayla came into the kitchen. I tried not to stare, but she was a knock out, even just barely awake. I handed her the other travel mug which she took gratefully. "Oh what an angel!"

"Nah, just a guy who also requires a brown liquid jump start in the morning."

Half an hour later we were on the road. It was a four hour drive to where I would set the trailer up, and another hour hike to the lake itself. Luckily she had planned on spending some time with me when we met, if all had gone well that is, so she had plenty of clothes and a pair of good boots packed in her car.

We chatted about our lives as we rode along the highway. She was a captain of the school's dance team. They had won a national competition, and she had earned a scholarship for her efforts. Her boyfriend Jason had demanded that she choose a local school, and had lost it when brochures and letters from schools in the west had arrived.

She packed her car and headed west without telling him. When he called her once, she told him if he was lucky she'd be back in Miami before school started. I think about then I felt my first fatherly instinct.

"Tommy sounds like a controlling dickhead. You can definitely do better." A smile came over her face and she slid across the seat, lifted the console and slid right up next to me.

"Daddy said I should appease Tommy and stay closer, Mom said I should take a break from Tommy and think it over. You're the first one who supported my side." She hugged me closer. I tried to keep the image from earlier out of my head and did a so-so job. At least I don't think she noticed my raging hard on.

As we drove on she got silent. I noticed she had fallen asleep. She was snuggled up to me like a lover. I should be so lucky to ever have someone like this on my arm. Temporary as it was, it made the rest of the drive much more pleasant. She slept the rest of the trip, only waking three hours later when I turned off of the black topped county road onto the washboard like wagon track that led to where I like to camp.

"How far do we have to go on this rough stuff Angel?"

"Angel? I've never heard of a father being called Angel before."

"So far you have been more than I could have wished for in a father. You're my angel."

"Anyhoo, we have about another half hour on this track before we get to the spot."

"Won't this road tear your camper up?"

"It hasn't before. I have everything pretty well secured, as long as the refrigerator or heater don't get shaken apart we'll be ok."

We finally arrived and I backed the trailer to where I wanted it. Twenty minutes of digging and maneuvering later I had the trailer level and set up for the night.

We grabbed a quick sandwich and then hit the trail that led to the upper lake. We hiked and chatted for the entire hike. The more I learned about her the more I liked her. She told me about all of her friends back home and how she thought many of them would end up dead, knocked up or incarcerated within two years. I for one was happy that Gayla was making wise choices.

"This is beautiful!" she exclaimed with aplomb as we reached the lake. Indeed it is beautiful. Crystal blue water nestled in a little dell surrounded by aspen and pinion trees. "Can we swim in it?"

"You can," I said, "It's a bit too cold for my taste. It's fed from a glacier so it dint too warm. Tomorrow we can hike up to the hot spring if you want."

"That sounds absolutely divine!"

She lay out on some rocks and got some sun while I fished. I had bites here and there but didn't catch any fish. Around five we headed back to the camp. I built us a fire and got ready to cook up some steaks. While we were waiting for the fire to get going, I told Gayla In needed to check her for ticks.

"Ticks? Do you think we picked any up?"

"No, but there are some spots on the trail where we could have. Check your boot line, and clothing gaps, and I'll check your hairline and head."

As I was checking her hairline and scalp, I would have sworn she moaned a couple of time and seemed to be writhing as I checked her. I found no ticks and she seemed disappointed when I was done. I then asked her to check my scalp. I did my best to not sprout wood as she sensually massaged around my head. She checked for at least ten minutes before proclaiming me tick free.

We ate our steaks and roasted corn on the cob and chatted. I had hoped the questions about my marital failures would go unasked. My luck held until after we had tossed our paper plates into the fire and had opened a beer for me and a soda for her.

"So Angel, how is it your home shows no sign of a Mrs. Angel?"

"Mainly because Toni undid anything the previous Mrs. Wagners did. She actually made me go buy shit for my home that she thought fit me."

"Ok, so how many exes has Toni had to undo?"

"Three, but let's talk about your exes for a while." I said trying to deflect this conversation. She was having none of it.

"I've been with Tommy since I was a junior. Never dated before him. Now to your exes."

"Well I married Steph right out of high school. We went to the same college, Colorado Southern, a school I'm sure you know of," of course she did. She was going there in the fall. "We hung in pretty well until mid sophomore year. She became a cheerleader that fall. At first I was cool with her traveling with the teams to the away games. I trusted her completely. We had an off-campus apartment together so we didn't have to sneak around to pleasure each other."

"How did you manage your freshman year? I was told all freshmen lived in dorms unless they had family to stay with."

"We parked a lot. Once in a while I could spring for a motel, but we managed. We got jobs that summer, she at Dairy Queen and me at the very earth moving business I now own. We saved and got our own apartment that fall. Like I said I trusted her, but I noticed a change in her when basketball season started. Our sex life started to wane. She was constantly picking fights with me. One night after a home game, I waited for three hours for her to come home. I had candles to light and had a 21 year old friend buy me a bottle of wine. I had romance ready to roll when she got home. Around midnight I went to the campus to see if I could find her. Some guys told me about a victory party at a near by apartment complex where most of the athletes lived. I found the apartment, and went into the party unchallenged. There were three bedrooms in this particular apartment. When I couldn't find her I the main room I went to check the bedrooms. In the first two bedrooms I found couples engaged in sex, including one pair I wish I hadn't seen. That poor bed." I chuckled, really wishing I hadn't seen the two very large individuals naked. "Then I came to the third room. I opened the door to find Steph servicing three black dudes. They didn't see me so I headed back out and went home. I snapped all of the candles in two to three pieces and piled them on the table. I then drank the bottle of wine and went to bed around three. I don't know what time she finally came home. I just know that when I got up at four thirty to pee she wasn't home yet. When I finally woke up around eleven she was passed out in the bed next to me. It made my skin crawl to look at her. I went to the kitchen and made a pot of coffee. Some time after noon, she finally came out. She tried to tell me she had been home at one."

"Bullshit, ' I told her, 'You were likely still sandwiched between the front court trio at one.' Her jaw dropped and her face went pale. I told her that I wanted a divorce, and told her that she could have the apartment after I moved out in a week or two. I filed the papers the next Monday, and went and got my job permanently at the company. I quit school and joined the workforce. Steph tried to change my mind several times, and even had her black fuck buddies try to threaten me."