Introduction
Sandie had just turned eighteen a month ago but she was so tiny β barely 5' 1" β and with such a pixy face, that she could have passed for 12 or thirteen. Adding to the image of youth was her long sleek black hair, which hung straight to her waist. Whenever I saw her lounging by their pool in her one-piece bathing suit over our neighbouring fence, I swore she had no breasts to speak of.
She was a very shy girl and even when I initiated a casual wave or hello while I was working in my garden or cutting the grass, the best I would receive in return would be a wan smile or slight wave. She never had friends over that I could see.
Chapter One
One morning (as a semi-retired man in my early fifties having made a small fortune before the dotcoms' took their dive, I had lots of home time), there was a knock on my front door. I put down my paper and coffee cup and walked from the kitchen to answer the door. Standing on the stoop was Samantha, Sandie's mother. I had met Sam at a couple of Neighbourhood Watch meetings and a few times in the mall or grocery store and we had even stopped to have a coffee together after one such meeting. At that time, she told me about Sandie and her loneliness since her father had left the scene some three years before.
"Good morning, Charles. Have you a moment to spare?"
"Of course, Sam. Would you like a coffee β it's fresh in the pot?" I offered.
I pointed her to the kitchen and followed her nicely turned out form down the hallway. Samantha is a well-proportioned woman in her mid forties with short blond hair (slightly streaked with grey) and sadness in her eyes. The hurt from her husband's betrayal with his much younger secretary (a tale so trite but so often true) was still obviously hurting. I had never become more than a friend to her since I wasn't ready for a relationship of any kind nor was she. Besides, I was quite content with my lifestyle; I was well off financially and I occasionally accepted short-term consultancy contracts that often involved travel to exotic locales.
After we were settled at the butcher-block kitchen table with the warm sun streaming through the open patio doors, I asked what was on her mind.
"I hope you don't mind me unloading on you Charles but I am worried about Sandie"
"Please tell me about it and I will see if I can help. You know that I think the world of that little girl. She has a great future before her"
"That's partly the problem" I refilled her coffee mug as she continued. "Sandie is still so naΓ―ve and shy and afraid of her own shadow that I am truly afraid for her when she goes off to college in the fall. She has been in a blue funk since her father left β she worshipped the bastard β and since then she has retreated so far into herself that we hardly talk any more. I fear that she will be taken advantage of in so many ways"
"I must admit Sam that I don't see how I can help you out"
"I am embarrassed to ask this favour of you, especially since we are not that close but I am truly desperate. My baby needs a father figure - a man she can talk to and learn from. I was hoping that since you at least know her β we have been neighbours for 8 years β and she knows you that you might be willing to try to connect with her. If there were any other relatives I could turn to, I would"
Sam looked so distraught that I thought tears were on the way so I handed her some Kleenex and let her work it out.
Once she had recovered, I asked what she had in mind. Since there was three months left before Sandie left for college back east, Sam was thinking that I might start with visits to their place and engage her daughter in some grownup conversation and then progress to the point of going out for coffee or dinner until she finally opened up. This was not a bad plan in as far as it went but I had my doubts as to its success in such a short time - to undo three years of harm in three months?
We agreed that I would come to their place for dinner the following night at 6:00 and stay for a few hours into the evening to try and see what happened. I was willing to invest the next three months in such a challenge since I truly felt sorry for the deal mother and daughter had been dealt. So the deal was struck β I was soon to be a father figure, something completely foreign to me since I had never married and had children of my own. I guess I was just too tied up in business and making money to have the time or inclination. Dating (with the occasional overnighter) had suited my purposes to now.
Chapter Two
The next evening, I arrived at their door at 6:00 as agreed. I was wearing tan slacks and a black turtle neck sweater with black loafers. Sandie opened the door and I was once again overcome by her natural radiance. She was wearing a light green sundress with her hair shining in cascades down her back. She was barefoot and shyly smiled a greeting to me "Good evening Mr Roberts"
"Please, Sandie. Mr Roberts makes me feel so old; please call me Charles?"
I thought for a moment she almost smiled and I could see the words forming on her lips 'But you are old' but instead she bespoke in the sweetest soft voice "of course. Charles"
She closed the door and we went together into the kitchen where the smells of home cooking invaded my senses and started my mouth watering. I'm a pretty good cook but it seemed that Sam had gone the extra mile to make me feel at home. We spent a very pleasant evening discussing a whole bunch of relatively innocuous subjects until around eight-thirty. I left but was invited back several more times in the next couple of weeks. Each time, Sandie became more and more animated and open and once even sat on the front porch with me after dinner (while her mother cleaned up) and told me a little about her father and how she felt lost about his leaving. She cried openly that night for the first time (as I learned later from Sam) and I held her and comforted her until she stopped sobbing. She kissed me on the cheek and ran into the house with a whispered good night.