Deena: A Shared Passion
As I sipped my coffee at the kitchen island, I saw my phone flashing, indicating I had a text message. Checking my phone, the message was from my 20-year-old daughter saying, "Dad, can you hook up the TV in my room when you get home from work?"
I had spent several months putting an addition on the second floor of the house and re-designing the bedrooms and bathrooms. Taylor's room took the longest, as she wanted to help in the designing the final look. Her room has a farmhouse look with clean lines, painted wood siding to include a sitting niche complete with a metal roof. All in all, we were both pleased with the final result. She was planning to have friends over Friday night for a sleepover, and to show off her new room.
I left work at lunchtime to make sure I got the TV hook up done before Taylor got home and her friends arrived. Grabbing my tools (and a beer) from the garage, I headed upstairs to Taylor's room to get started. Although her room was recently completed, it was a mess with clothes strewn on the floor, as well as blankets and comforters piled on the bed. Sliding her dresser out of the way, I began to feed the cable from her room to the garage below. The entire process took about an hour, and once the cable was connected, I mounted the TV on the wall, grabbed the remote to turn the TV on, and tested everything. "Mission accomplished," I said to myself as I slid her dresser back into place. Gathering up my tools, I noticed a foot sticking out from beneath the pile of blankets on her bed.
Figuring it was Taylor's foot, I gave it a pat and said, "Hey sweetie, your TV is hooked up and good to go." There was no movement or response, so I headed downstairs. I took advantage of the nice weather to cut the lawn, then grabbed a beer, and sat on the patio to cool off.
As Taylor's friends began to arrive about 5:00pm, her best friend, Deena, sat down on the patio near me and opened a cider. Looking at me and raising her drink, she said, "Cheers."
"Back at ya, Deena," I said.
"Deena, now I'm Deena," she said.
"Um, well, yeah, that's your name, isn't it?" I replied quizzically.
"I'm asking as earlier, you called me, sweetie," she said, as he winked at me.
I looked at her dumbfounded for a second, then it dawned on me. "So, it was you on Taylor's bed beneath the blankets," I asked.
"Yeah, I needed to crash and figured it would be easier to come straight here than go home first."
"Well, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding," I said. "And, by the way, I've been calling you sweetie since you were 3 years old, that's nothing new."
"Well, coming from you, I like sweetie better than Deena," she replied.
Sensing the conversation may get uncomfortable or awkward, I excused myself to get another beer.
A bit of history on Deena... she is like our second daughter, having known Taylor since preschool. They became fast friends and have remained 'besties' through the years. She has slept over countless times, spent half her life at our house, and gone on vacation with us over the years. Having her around is second nature and it has been a pleasure watching her grow into a beautiful young woman.
Once all Taylor's friends arrived, they changed and headed out to dinner before going to a club. As they were leaving, I noticed how each of them was dressed to kill... particularly Deena. Her skirt accentuated her legs and her open-toe heels got my mouth watering. A few years ago on a week-long vacation, Deena was barefoot much of the time and as the week progressed, she caught on that I was eyeing her pretty feet. She changed the color of her polish a few times and always made a point to ask my opinion of the color and how it looked on her. I could tell as the group left, that Deena had something in mind.
I was sitting outside on the patio, like earlier, enjoying the warm temperature when Deena sat down on the chair across from me. "Where are Taylor and the others?" I asked.
"They are still at the club. I am not feeling great and these new shoes are killing my feet," she said.
Suddenly, I felt a lump in my throat, before asking her, "Can I get you anything since you're not feeling well."