Disclaimer: All sexual activity is between consenting adults. This story builds slowly, for reasons that will become apparent. I hope you enjoy.
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The phone rang on the second Friday in June. Caller ID said it was my daughter Suzy. "Hi, honey, what's up?"
"Daddy, can I come stay with you early?" Daddy only came out with her begging voice, which she was using now. Otherwise she had only called me Dad since starting high school. She used to use the begging voice a lot back before her mom and I divorced, when Suzy was 15 and her sister Amanda was 13, but now that she was 20 and done with her first two years at college, I hardly ever heard either one any more. It felt both good and bad to hear it again, as I knew I was about to get manipulated. Sweetly, but still manipulated, even if the answer would have been 'Yes' regardless.
I chuckled under my breath. "Honey, I was just about to buy the plane tickets tomorrow so you and Mandy can be here the first of July, so I'm glad you're asking now, before it would cost me extra to change it." I had moved from Minneapolis to Dallas for a promotion during the divorce, making weekend custody difficult, so had settled on having my girls for a month each summer, and a week at either Thanksgiving or Christmas. It sucked not seeing them more often, but I was working hard at my job to provide for them, which seemed more important at the time.
Mandy's birthday is July 5th, while mine is July 9th, while Suzy's in April 18th, so we had chosen July as the month they would stay with me, and always observed all three birthdays together in a combined party on Mandy's birthday. This would be the year Mandy turned 18 and I realized this could possibly be the final summer we had together, as either girl could opt out of these visits after that. This was the third summer since Suzy turned 18 that she'd voluntarily continued coming to visit along with Mandy, so I was certainly happy she wanted to spend more time here, rather than less. She didn't need to beg to get a 'Yes' on that. "Why the change?"
She sighed, a bit over-dramatically, "Mandy's being even more impossible than ever. Since I got home from college, she's been stealing my clothes left and right, stole my iPod twice, and yesterday she even stole my car, although she calls it 'borrowing'. She knows you and Mom are getting her a car of her own once she graduates next week, like you did for me, but she can't wait, and the butt-nugget decided to ignore me when I said she couldn't drive mine. I need to get out of here, or I'm going to kill her, I swear."
"Have you asked your mom?"
"Yeah, she's not entirely happy about it, but since I'm an adult, she knows I don't really need her permission to leave, just yours to be at your place. She does want me to wait until Mandy's graduation, but since you're coming here for that next Friday, I thought I'd just go home with you on Sunday. Can I, please, Daddy?" Oh, that voice.
"You know you're always welcome here. It's just that I won't have any vacation to spend much time with you until Mandy arrives in July. Are you going to be okay hanging out for two weeks alone, while I go to work?"
She giggled, "Your condo complex still has that great pool, right? I'll have the awesomest tan before Mandy gets there."
A mental image from the previous summer of a tanned Suzy in a yellow bikini lying in one of the pool chairs flashed in my head. Stop it, you pervert. She's your daughter. "Yeah, and they just enlarged the hot tub this spring."
"Cool. I'll be better off by myself, rather than wringing Mandy's neck, at least. Hopefully, that will let me calm down by the time she arrives."
"Okay, sweetie, I'll get all the airfare set up for both of you, and I'll see you next Friday for your sister's graduation."
"Bye, Dad, love you! Let me know your flight info, and I'll pick you up from the airport."
"No, I've got a rental reserved. I'll see you at your mom's house Saturday morning. Bye."
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I shopped the next day for some additional non-perishables, so the fridge and pantry would be well stocked for Suzy to be here, including some chicken breasts thrown into the freezer so I could make my Garlic Chicken Fettucine Alfredo, her favorite dish, to welcome her home. I'd shop for the birthday party later. Then I straightened out the guest bedroom where I kept fullsize bunkbeds for the girls.
The next Friday after work, I flew from Dallas to Minneapolis, and checked into a Marriott near my ex-wife Paula's house, and sent my girls a text message saying I had arrived. I ate a late dinner in the hotel's restaurant, then went to sleep.
The next morning, I drove my rental over to my former home, four hours before graduation, to pick my ex up, so we could go take delivery on the used silver Accord we'd bought Mandy as a graduation present, to complement the gold one we'd gotten Suzy two years earlier. Paula answered the door. "Hi, Steve. How are you? Still married to your job?" she asked grumpily, as we walked towards my car. The time demands of my career, particularly when I was working towards the promotion that took me to Dallas, had turned into the primary wedge that broke up our marriage. I hadn't seen Paula face-to-face since Suzy's graduation, and this is what she leads off with?
"At least my bosses appreciate my hard work." I stopped myself. "Look, I'm not here to have a repeat of the same old arguments, okay? Today's about celebrating Mandy. Can we at least be on the same page about that?"
"You're right. I'm sorry," she replied, in a tone I half-believed was sincere.
We got in the car, drove over to the dealership, dealt with the final paperwork, then Paula drove Mandy's car home, while I followed in the rental. We parked the cars in front of the house, and were in the middle of attaching a big green and white bow (those being the high school's colors) to the Accord's hood, when we heard the front door flung open.
"Daddy!!" screamed Mandy, running down the walk in her pajamas. I was still Daddy to Mandy, perhaps because she'd been younger during the divorce. "You're here! Oh, Mom, I love it. Can I drive it right now?"
Suzy followed behind her, smiling at her sister, in a navy blue T-shirt and jeans shorts, and Nike sneakers. The forecast for the day was upper 70s. I felt my eyes drawn to her long legs, before I forced them away.
Paula answered Mandy, "You need to get dressed, and have your license with you. And we only have a little while, before we have to get ready for Graduation, okay?"
"Okay Mom. Thank you both so much!" She ran back to the house, but I caught sight of her sticking her tongue out at Suzy as she passed. Suzy got back at her with a backhanded swat of her butt.
Suzy reached the sidewalk and said, "Hey, can I 'borrow' her car right now, to make up for Mandy doing it to me? Pretty please?"
In accord, Paula and I both said "No!" Paula continued, "Mandy just got done being grounded for that, so letting you do after she was punished for it sends the wrong message. You'll be out of each other's hair tomorrow. I want the fighting between you two to stop, do you hear me young lady?"
"Yes, mom..."
She turned to me. "Hi, Dad," she said, before giving me a tight hug. I felt her breasts press into my chest, and had to push the thought out of them out of my head. They seemed a little bigger than the last time I'd been hugged by her, at Christmas. When she stepped back, my eyes confirmed that she looked like she'd gained about 10 pounds, mostly muscle from volleyball, some not, and it had all settled in the right places. 'Okay, enough checking out your daughter,' I thought.
Suzy and I sat at the front window in the kitchen while Mandy and Paula went for their drive. I said, "So, it doesn't sound like the conflict between you and Mandy is as one-sided as you made it sound. What's actually going on?"
She signed. "Really Dad, that's just Mandy trying to convince Mom that I'm provoking her into stuff, when I'm not into playing those teenage games with her at all. I think she just got used to my being away at college, and having Mom's attention all to herself. And while coming to stay with you early was my idea, she's even convinced herself that she got me to do it."
"Okay, I'll have to take your word for it. But I don't want the fighting in Dallas, either. Clear?"
"As crystal," she replied. "I really don't think it will be a problem. The same thing seemed to happen last year, to a lesser extent, but cleared up as soon as we were with you. It really does seem to be about her time with Mom versus my time with Mom, so that gets neutralized when we're with you. Maybe after Mandy spends a year at college, she'll be better about it."
"I hope you're right. So, are you all packed up to leave in the morning? Best I could do when I booked for myself a month ago was an 8 AM flight, then got lucky that they still had seats to add you and get us side by side on the same flight. I'll need to pick you up around 5:30."
"Ugh, that's early. Except for my toiletries bag and some stuff to go in my purse, everything's been packed for a couple of days, though. I'll be up and ready."
We saw the Accord pull back up to the curb, and Mandy and Paula got out and Mandy ran up to the house. "Daddy?" she called from the entryway, before spotting me in the kitchen. She ran and gave me a big hug, and a peck on the cheek. "Thank you so much for the car, Daddy! I love you!" Before I could respond, she ran for the stairs, saying, "Gotta get dressed."
While Mandy was getting changed for Graduation, Paula's younger sister Nancy arrived. Suzy hugged her Aunt Nancy, then headed upstairs herself.
I gave Nancy the polite brother-in-law hug. "What's it been, ten years, Nancy?" I asked.
"It was when Larry and I came out to visit ten Christmases ago, so nine and half?"