Jack Hammond was forty years of age, a successful businessman who'd made it big on the internet, and in doing so, had gone into business for himself, working out of his own home which saved him a lot on overhead. He was still considered attractive too, kept himself in reasonably good shape, working out during the day on his treadmill while on the phone doing business. With dark hair, just a touch of grey beginning at the temples, almost emerald green eyes, he'd had more than enough women take an interest in him. And under normal circumstances, he might have responded to that, but he had lost his wife just under two years ago, and hadn't found it appropriate to begin dating again. Something his own eighteen year old daughter had urged him to do.
Chris was his one and only daughter, being both mother and father to her had proven to be a full time job in and of itself, and though he tried to be a fair disciplinarian, he found himself caving into his daughter's wishes more often than not. It was simply too hard telling her no, especially when she gave him that cute little frowny faced expression she often did, though she did it knowing full well that Jack would most likely give in to whatever whim that she had, provided it didn't cost him a small fortune whenever she did that.
And to make matters worse, she reminded him a lot of Christina, his wife. Like her, Chris had blue eyes, almost a cobalt blue in color that was further enhanced by her nearly coal black hair, which she'd inherited from her mother. With an olive complexion to match, she looked very exotic, especially for her age, which often worried and concerned him with the number of boys that Chris seemed to be entertaining at the time, though luckily, she hadn't seemed to settle down seriously with any one of them...yet.
And in a way, he was also thankful for Chris's best friend Rachel, who spent most of her time over at their place as she had a house full of brothers and sisters, and loved the solitude that the two of them very often enjoyed together, even though Jack was usually home most of the day. So when the weekends came, and Chris wasn't in school, Jack usually found the two of them hanging out together around the house, with Rachel very often spending the night.
So in a way, it was as though he had two daughters, treated them very much the same, expecting them to be grown up enough to clean up after themselves without his having to chase them down in order to do something. And, as discussed and agreed to, Chris did most of the cooking on the weekend while Jack handled it during the week, ensuring Chris as well as Rachel, as she very often came over then too, had no excuses for not doing their homework.
It was early on the following Saturday morning when Jack received a call informing him that there had been some kind of foul up at the small manufacturing plant he processed his orders through. It didn't happen often, but when it did, he most often found himself staying late sorting everything out, and this sounded like it was going to be one of those nights. Jack had just hung up the phone when Chris as usual came racing around the corner heading upstairs to her room. He stopped her in mid stride just as she was about to bound up the stairs.
"Chris honey?"
"Yeah?" she immediately responded, somehow pirouetting perfectly on the steps just as though she'd choreographed the move.
"Looks like I'm going to be working late tonight," he told her. "So don't go to any big effort for dinner, whatever the two of you want to do tonight is fine, I'll pick up something later for myself." Jack was already assuming Rachel would be coming over, and by the look on his daughter's face, he knew that she was as Chris smiled broadly, meaning "Pizza" whenever that happened.
"Sorry dad," she honestly stated meaning it. Though he knew she was also delighted that she and Rachel would have the evening alone together, which meant they'd most likely being turning their music up considerably louder than he allowed them to do whenever he was home. And though there was also a good possibility of boys coming over now too, he had also put a great deal of trust in the two of them to behave themselves, "within reason anyway," he considered remembering how he was when he was their age.
He watched as Chris bounded up the remainder of the stairs, once again reminded of his own wife who very often did the very same thing.
Jack slowly followed Chris up to his own room, which was just down the hall from hers, though doing so at a significantly slower speed. Even as he reached the top of the stairs, he heard Chris closing her bedroom door, thus invoking the one rule they'd agreed on, and which he'd never broken. A door closed meant plain and simply, they weren't to be disturbed. Even Jack appreciated the fact that Chris honored that one herself, never bothering him whenever she found his own bedroom door shut. Not that it was very often, especially lately, but even though he hadn't been seeing anyone, Jack still had natural urges and desires, that he very often took care of himself. And in addition to that, he had kept and maintained a small collection of x-rated movies and a few pornographic magazines that he also kept in a safe place within his own room that he very often watched, or looked through whenever he did that.
Seeing her closed door, he couldn't help but wonder if his own daughter did that at times as well, and though he figured she probably did, usually for her closing her door meant that she wanted some privacy while on the phone. As he neared her bedroom, he in fact could hear her speaking and knew she was doing just that. Normally Jack would have walked right on by towards his own room, he'd never been in the habit of listening in on his daughter's phone calls before, and he wasn't considering it now. Until he heard her speak, unavoidably catching the words, stopping him cold just outside the door to her bedroom.
"Yeah, daddy's got to work late tonight Rachel, so yes...bring it over with you, I've always wanted to try it, so now would be the perfect time to do so!"
Jack had never feared that his daughter would ever involve herself with drugs, he had certainly worried about it to be sure, but he'd also candidly discussed it with her as well, receiving her assurance that she wouldn't as she had no interest in ever doing that. What he couldn't say the same thing for was Rachel, he also knew that one of her brothers had in fact been busted for smoking grass, and had always wondered then if Rachel herself had ever tried it, though he'd never asked her about it.
And that was another one of those, "Do as I say, not as I did things," which caused him a little grief as well, once again remembering what he'd been like at his daughter's age.
Jack was just about to leave when the phone rang again, he was relieved to hear that they had managed to sort out the invoicing/shipping problem and he wouldn't have to come in after all. Jack headed towards the kitchen to inform Chris of the very same when Rachel arrived, walking in carrying an overnight bag, which she very often did. Except that this time, he saw a subtle nervous expression showing on her face as she entered, and once again couldn't help wondering what it was she had brought over with her that he now knew they were being so secretive about. In the blink of an eye, Jack knew what he was going to do. And again, it wasn't because he didn't have faith in, or trust his own daughter, and as much as he really did like Rachel, he didn't have the same level of trust for her.
"Alright sweetie," he said speaking to Chris. "I'll most likely be home really late, so you two go ahead and order in Pizza, or whatever you'd like, just save a slice or two for me for later will ya?"
"Ok daddy," Chris said giving him a hug and a kiss, just as Rachel likewise did, seeing him out.
