Sometimes when fires start in a house, they begin burning in concealment. They might start as an electrical fire in the wall... slowly spreading... slowly growing out of control long before anyone sees the flames or smells the smoke. By the time the fire is discovered, there's no extinguishing it. There's no controlling it. You flee... or you get burned.
In my case, the fire that spread through my house that year was mostly concealed from me. I didn't find out until months later that my wife had been seduced. And before Emmanuelle's fire reached me at the end of her stay, it had already become a uncontrollable blaze.
*****
On Friday night, the night before Em was to leave, I walked into the laundry room at about 10:00pm with a basket full of clothes. I opened the washer and found it was full of towels. When I opened the dryer to transfer them there, I found that it had some clothes in it waiting to be folded.
I set a fresh basket down, pulled the items from the dryer, and noticed right away that they were Em's. She'd washed clothes before heading back home. And as I rifled through them, I felt several pair of her silky, lacy, thong panties. I picked up several of them, feeling the soft material in my hand.
I looked back at the door for a second, and, realizing I was alone, brought them to my nose and smelled them. I stroked them across my face, feeling the silky material against my skin. It was... heavenly. It reminded me of her and I could envision her wearing them, looking so incredibly sexy. Damn! She was so hot!
"Um..." I heard Em from the doorway.
"Oh... uh... I was... um... just taking your clothes out of the dryer," I stammered, knowing I was completely busted.
"I can see that," she said smugly.
I put the handful of panties back into the basket and finished with the few items remaining in the dryer. Then I turned and handed her the basket. She was smiling at me as if she knew exactly what I was doing and thinking.
"Here... uh... take... um... take the basket," I said. My hands were shaking. If she mentioned anything to Beck, I'd be a dead man. I just knew it. I suddenly felt so guilty for perving on my friend's daughter like that.
Beck was wearing the long t-shirt that she slept in, obviously getting ready for bed, and I suddenly wondered if she were wearing panties now. And, if so, would they be wet? Would I ever get the chance to smell them?
"Thanks, Uncle Vince," she smirked. "I appreciate your... help. Do you like my... clothes?"
"Oh, uh, yeah," I stammered. "They're nice. You have good taste."
"Good taste... yeah," she giggled. "Thanks. Maybe we can talk about my... good taste... sometime."
"Yeah... uh... yeah," I stammered. God I was so flustered.
"Good night," she said, giggling, and turned and went back upstairs.
I put both hands on the dryer to steady myself, shaking my head.
*****
On Saturday, the end of her stay, Em and Sarah were downstairs, while I was still upstairs. Em had packed her bags, lugged them down the steps, and was waiting for the time for them to leave. Sarah had originally planned to take Em to the airport, but I had noticed that Sarah seemed upset with Em for some unknown reason. I assumed that maybe she was sad or mad that she was leaving... maybe she was jealous because Em was going back to someone else. I really didn't know.
I was up in my bedroom getting dressed to go in to work for a few hours. We'd won our proposal and we had started to ramp up on the work creating print and video content. At the moment, the bedroom door was open and I could hear everything going on in the foyer area.
"Have all your stuff?" I heard Sarah ask, sounding a bit disinterested.
"Um... yeah... I just need to text my mom about my flight," Em replied.
"Ok," Beck said. "I think it's a good idea to leave early in case there's traffic."
"Uh... where's Uncle Vince?" Em asked as I was just putting the last of my notes into my briefcase.
"Oh, in his room, I guess... Why?" Beck asked.
"I'd just like to see him before I leave," I heard Em say.
"Of course you would," Sarah said. "I'll go get him."
"Thank you," Em said.
I heard Sarah start up the stairs. "Dad... dad," she yelled. I was just slipping my shoes on and came out of the bedroom door, meeting her at the top of the stairs.
"Sorry about that," I said, meeting her just outside my bedroom door. "I was just getting ready." Sarah started descending and I was right behind her.
"Oh, it's ok. I'm about ready to leave," Em said, smiling at me as I descended.
"I know."
She came towards me, her arms open wide. "I would like to say good-bye and thank you." She slid right into my arms and we hugged. Her body felt so good against me, so soft and warm. Damn, she was truly a beautiful young woman. "I had such a fun time."
"Well you were such a big help," I said, smiling as she backed away again. She grabbed my hand and held it in both of hers.
"Really? You think so?"
"Yes, yes... you were really helpful helping me move all that stuff to the office," I said. "Just... really, really, it was great to have you here."
"I'd love to come back," she said. For some reason, I got the impression she was flirting with me.
"Well, you know, any time, please," I said. She was going to be pretty close by once she moved into college, so she really could pop in pretty much any time she wanted. "You know our home is your home. Right Sarah?"
"What? Yeah, yeah... sure..." she said. She was busy on her phone, not even paying attention to us.
"Sarah, Rebecca, and I are going to miss you so much," I said.
