Shari heard the knock on her door. Damn, the fucking doorbell is not working again, she thought. She glanced at the wall clock, They're early, ten minutes, oh well, a job is a job girl's gotta earn. She thought she was lucky she had prepared early, just in case.
Opening the door, "Dad!" she was surprised, "What are you doing here?"
"What? I can't come and visit my daughter?"
"Oh, no sorry," she replied. "I'm surprised you're here. Why didn't you let me know you were coming?" Shari asked as she ushered him in through the door.
"I did, but you don't reply to your messages." Dad looked around at his daughters' apartment.
"I'm sorry, that was today?" Shari's mind was racing now. Fuck! With a major F!
"Yes, here today, tonight, tomorrow and tomorrow night too. My conference morning session finished early and my next one doesn't start until two. Just thought I would come and take you for lunch."
"I'd love to, but look, I really am sorry. If I had been paying more attention I would have moved today to tomorrow."
Dad shook his head, "What?"
"I've got a work meeting in about ten minutes then after that, an on-line meeting and that's going to last at least an hour and a bit. Damn it! I really am sorry."
"So, you're saying?" Dad raised his eyebrows as he always did when he wanted an answer.
"My boss lets me have meetings here, ever since the pandemic, work from home and on-line is apparently good for the Company. Productivity increases and all that."
"Oh, okay, so you're saying that I gotta go, and I won't see you until tonight then?"
"Yeah, 'fraid so," Shari replied, "But I got Chinese ordered for tonight, which usually does me for a few days. Want to come back about seven-ish?"
"Okay," Dad replied, and he knew Shari knew he loved Chinese. So even if she did not already have it ordered, she would have it here tonight. "Well, I suppose it is what it is, so I'll see you tonight." Dad knew Shari's day job was somewhat confidential, but it was her night job that he was more interested in. He left, going outside again into the harsh late morning sun. This heat, he thought, you can feel it coming off the pavement. As he walked from the apartment building, Dad saw a car pull up, two people, man and a woman, got out.
At first, Dad thought it might have been Shari's work people, but they were too casually dressed, no laptops, no brief cases, nothing. He moved on, passed the couple, who seemed to be, likely late thirties, early forties, maybe. There was something about them that Dad knew said "married" so not Shari's meeting. He went to the waiting Uber, returning to the Marina where the conference was being held.
Bored out of his brain by a pedantic speaker fucking up what could have been an imaginative topic, why did he pick this session? Sounded better than it was. His cell phone went off, which drew looks from the people around him. A text, he knew from the ring tone. He quickly silenced it, saw it was from Shari saying that he was expected any time after six. He replied with a quick okay and went back to post-luncheon sonambulance.
Just after six-thirty, he arrived at Shari's apartment bock again, damned LA traffic. Took him twice as long to get here than it had at lunch time. He knocked on the door and Shari answered quickly, welcoming him in. Dad noticed the smell of air freshener in the apartment that Shari had obviously been spraying, rather abundantly.
Shari had laid the table and had a number of Chinese take out boxes in the oven, with plates all ready to go. She sat him down and they quickly attacked the food as it cooled. All too soon, they were replete, stomachs full, the swill Shari called coffee, hot, pungent in front of them. They had made small talk, caught up on Mom and Aunt Edie and other family doings. Talked about the conference, about her work, what she could tell him, anyway. Then Dad raised the topic that he wanted to discuss.
"So, all seems good then, but no boyfriend?"
"Not at the moment. The last guy was such a dick, I mean seriously. I thought he was a good guy, but he turned into an asshole once he thought he had me eating out of the palm of his hand. Charming, but such a loser."
"Is that why you opened an OnlyFans page then?"
Shari's jaw dropped in surprise, her face paled then flushed with embarrassment. She staggered an "um-um-um-" but had no answer.
"I got an anonymous email with a picture and an address. I had to go and look. Really, a lesbian page?" Dad asked, "Is that why there is no boyfriend?"
Shari was totally lost now, she was deeply shaken. The thought surfaced.
"Who-who?" she started.
"It was anonymous, I said. I thought we had raised you with good Christian values," Dad stated looking at his daughter. Shari was still too stunned to reply, she just nodded. "I really think I am glad to see you've outgrown that bullshit and are just as hypocritical as me," Dad said, calmly.
"Dad! What are you talking about?" Shari had one shock after another tonight, but she was coming back to herself. As long as he didn't know about her other activities, she thought, a girl's gotta eat.
"Well it's simple darling. Three things are going to happen tonight. First we are going to be completely honest with each other, probably for the first time in our lives. Agreed?" He raised his eyebrow at her, and Shari felt she would have no choice here, she had to agree. "Second, we will tell each other about our fall from grace," he smiled, "And lastly, our elevation to honesty." Again Dad raised his eyebrow and Shari, nodded again.
Dad took a deep breath and said, "For me, It began when I realized that I am human, with human needs and desires. What I was feeling was a part of me. I am not an evil person, I know it, so how could what I believed to be evil be a part of me?" Shari listened, not knowing what to say. "Then the priest at the Catholic church was arrested. That was the true face of evil, fucking children, and from that moment, I knew that what I was, wasn't evil, but a natural desire, a natural part of me. I saw through the hypocrisy of others and realized I wasn't alone."
Dad waited for Shari to say something.
She thought furiously, "I have known I was different for a long time, since before puberty. I knew I wasn't normal but I kept it to myself for years."
"And?" Dad asked.
"Remember Clarrie, the cheerleader?" Dad nodded, "She understood me, recognized me for what I was. She made me orgasm for the first time in my life, then shared me with her boyfriend. She gave me such love, it ignited a flame that is still burning in me. So yeah, I really like both men and women. Then I came here, left home for college, to work, I found an environment where I could be whatever I wanted to be."
"Well, that, you get from me. My desire was to suck dick, to be sucked, to experience same sex relationships is a revelation. I knew that's what I wanted the first time I saw another guy's dick. In the showers at school. I too hid it, didn't even admit it to myself. Then one day, I met a guy who was pretty much like me. We ended up in bed, and that was such a defining moment for me. I loved having his cock in me, my mouth, my ass, I didn't care about anything else at that moment."
Shari knew he was being as honest as he could with her. "I felt that too," she couldn't be anything less, but was still shaken that her father knew of her sexuality and was puzzled by his openness now. Why?
"Okay, once I had my first man, I knew that the teachings I grew up with, and I had inflicted upon you, were wrong. They didn't even try to cover what I was feeling, what I knew was right for me. At first, I thought I was being a real hypocrite, but then I came to understand that the real hypocrisy is in denying what I am. I saw others, one who abused their children, claiming God's love, a drunk who hid it well, but not entirely. I saw women having affairs with the husbands of their friends, and husbands doing the same with other women. All while claiming they weren't hypocrites. Of course they were; liars, the lot of them. I stayed with our Church, the Gospels, tried to talk to the preacher, but he was just a closed, limited person. I had to find a better way.
"I came to understand that there is deep grace in honesty with yourself. I grew a sense of calm and my love for your mother, for you, grew to a new dimension."