Shortly after my daughter turned eighteen my wife and I divorced. It was quite amicable -- we'd just grown apart and were heading in different directions. Over the past few years my wife had returned to university, studying to be a lawyer. She'd graduated well and was now working in a lawyer's office and was earning a decent salary.
For my part I'd gone the other way. I was already quite wealthy and didn't see any reason to continue chasing the mighty dollar. I sold my company to a conglomerate who had come sniffing around and found myself with another small fortune. I split the money with my ex and started a new line of work.
I had been a keen carpenter for a long time and I was very good at it. When stressed out from running the company I'd go to my workshop and make something, finding that this always relaxed me. The things that I made were good enough to sell and I arranged to do so through one of the local shops. People appreciated my work and I was occasionally asked to do custom pieces, which I'd do if time was available.
I let the shop know that I'd be doing carpentry full time and Andy said he'd be happy to act as my agent and line up more custom pieces. Not surprising as my work was excellent and cost a bit which gave him a nice commission.
So both my wife and I embarked on new careers and all was right with our world. The only person even a little disgruntled about the new state of affairs was my daughter. Theoretically she now lived with my wife. Practically she lived at both our places, spending as much time with me as with her mother. She was of the opinion her parents should be married and dropped lots of hints about the advantages of us getting married again.
Still my daughter learned to appreciate having two places to live in. If she screwed up with either parent she'd just switch over and stay with the other for a while. Her mother found it useful, too. When she was working on a case and wanted some peace and quiet she'd just point Meredith in my direction and get on with her work. (Working with electric saws, hammers, and noisy drills I don't really need a lot of peace and quiet to enable me to concentrate.)
Meredith came around one Friday afternoon accompanied by her friend, Fee. I think Fee's name was actually Fiona, but that was just a guess. Meredith informed me that she and Fee were staying with me for the weekend. I just nodded -- it wasn't as though I had any control of the situation.
As a little aside I'd like to explain that I found Fee to be a little irritating. She was in rebellion against her parents, but really, she was now eighteen and should have grown out of it by now. Meredith went through the same phase but now accepted that her parents might actually have a clue. There again, having met Fee's parents I could understand where Fee was coming from. Her parents really didn't have a clue, so I had some sympathy for Fee, but not enough to tolerate her trying to urge Meredith to rebel. She'd grown out of that and I really didn't want her reverting.
After dinner the girls vanished and reappeared an hour or so later, all done up and ready to party. An inquiring look at Meredith drew the information that they were meeting up with friends for an engagement party. (That explained the gift-wrapped presents they were holding.)
"How are you getting there?" I asked.
"Duh, driving of course." A typical reply from Fee.
"Uh-huh. I assume that alcohol will be on the menu. Which of you is the designated driver?"
"Oh, don't worry. We'll be careful."
"I'm sure you will but that won't stop me doing a little bit of worrying. If you start drinking then use Uber to get home or give me a call and I'll come and pick you up. You can always collect your car tomorrow."
"We'll be fine. Don't worry," Meredith assured me.
"And I can do what I like. You're not my father." Fee just couldn't help herself with snarky comments at times.
"This is true," I said agreeably, "which is probably fortunate for both of us."
Meredith giggled at this and Fee just gave me a scornful sniff.
The girls left and I went back to my workshop. I had a project that I was working on that I really wanted to get finished. I spent a few hours working on it, finally calling it a day when I realised that it was past midnight. I was getting tired and if I continued I'd make a silly mistake that might take hours to correct.
I made myself a cup of tea, wanting something to relax me before I retired. If I tried to go to sleep the way I was my mind would continue working on my project and I wouldn't get any sleep. I was just finishing my tea when I heard a car pull up. Moments later the girls came in, giggling together. They barged into the kitchen and came to a stop when they saw me.
"Are you waiting up for us?" Meredith asked, looking guilty over something.
"No. I stayed up late working on the mirror finish of a wardrobe I'm making. I didn't actually expect you home this early."
"If you say so," scoffed Fee, "but as you can see we made it back safely."
It struck me that Fee sounded a little defiant which, when added to Meredith's guilty look, rung an alarm.
"How'd you get home?" I asked.
"Meredith drove," snapped Fee.
"Were you drinking at all?" Silly question. They were both a little tipsy. Not drunk, but certainly in deep trouble if the cops had pulled them over.
I gave Meredith a laser glare and she went pale. She was now in deep doo doo and she knew it.
"Um, Fee," she said with a bit of a wail in her voice.
"My fault," she said cheerfully. "I made her do it. If you're going to blame anyone, blame me."
"She still chose to get behind the wheel but don't worry. There is sufficient blame to spread around and neither of you are going to enjoy the result."
"Don't panic, Meredith," Fee told her. "What can he do? Ground you? All you need to do is go around to your mother's place. He's not my father so he can't do anything where I'm concerned."
Meredith didn't look any happier. She knew what was going to happen.
"Meredith, driving after drinking was idiocy and you know it. If you'd been pulled over you have a fine, a DUI on your record, and you'd have lost your license. It's fine for Fee as she was just the passenger and wouldn't have suffered any consequences."
Fee gave me a killer look at that summation as it painted her as a selfish asshole quite willing to get someone else into trouble.
"Hey, I offered to drive," she snapped in her own defence.
"I'll speak to you in a moment," I said softly. "First I'll finish this little conversation with Meredith."
I'd had occasion to spank Meredith before, but not recently. The last time had been several years ago, during her rebellious period. She'd heaved a rock through one of our windows while in a temper. The subsequent lecture and spanking and persuaded her to keep her rebellions to verbal retorts and minor disobediences.
I stood up, turned my chair so it faced away from the table, and sat down again.
"But Fee's here," she pointed out rather desperately.
"It'll be an education for her that consequences do flow."
I reached over and took hold of Meredith's arm. A quick pull and she was facedown over my lap, protesting all the while. Unfortunately for her she'd chosen to wear Capri pants for her outing and while they undoubtedly suited her the material in them was rather thin and offered no real cushion for a hand that came down very firmly upon her bottom.
As I spanked her I repeated the disadvantages inherent in driving while under the influence, the spanking being added as one of those disadvantages. Spanking over I swung her back to her feet and she stood there, hands clutching at her bottom and giving me dagger looks. I raised an eyebrow, daring her to say something, but she very wisely kept her mouth shut. Not so Fee.
"You're a brute," she yelled at me. "How dare you spank her? You're nothing but a great bully."
"Actually, what I am is a concerned parent," I riposted. "I don't want to find myself explaining to her mother that Meredith's in hospital because she was driving drunk. Anyway, instead of you worrying about Meredith you should be more concerned about yourself."
"What do you mean? You're not my father. There's nothing you can do to me."
"Ah, Fee..." Meredith began but it was too late. I'd already reached over and caught hold of Fee and was pulling her across my lap.
"What do you think you're doing? You wouldn't dare spank me. You're not my father and he wouldn't dare do it either."
"I think we already agreed earlier that I'm not your father and that that was a fortunate thing," I said. "However I am a responsible adult, unlike you, and as such it falls upon me to deliver a little bit of remedial retribution."
Unfortunately for Fee she was wearing a dress rather than slacks. Also, she wasn't my daughter as she'd so loudly pointed out. I had no qualms about tossing her dress up, leaving her bottom on display. Quite a bit of bottom was displayed, I might add, as she didn't seem to be wearing much in the way of panties. Oh, she had some, and the essentials were covered, but not much else.
My hand came down smartly on a nice white buttock, leaving a nicer red hand-print.
"In case you weren't listening when I spoke to Meredith I'll just repeat my little lecture," I told her, and proceeded to do so, happily spanking her as I went. She was way over-due for this in my opinion.
Lecture and spanking finished I swung Fee to her feet and now there were two young ladies standing there, clutching their bottoms, and glaring at me.
"Well, unless either of you has something you want to say, I'm going to bed. It's late, so I suggest you do the same."
They apparently didn't have anything to say, at least nothing that they wanted to say in front of me. Undoubtedly they'd have quite a bit to say once I departed.
When I got up in the morning the house was quiet. Not surprising. I doubted that the girls would show before noon. I made myself some breakfast, watching the news while I ate. I was just finishing up when Fee surprised me by wandering into the kitchen, yawning as she came.
She was still in her pyjamas and I idly wondered if she realised how lovingly the silk-like material clung to her. She looked at me and gave me a half-hearted scowl as she flopped down onto a chair.
"Good morning," I said, and waited.
