Knock knock knock.
I set the newspaper down and headed for the front door. My daughter, Marie, was coming to dinner. She was a lawyer out-of-state, so when she comes back to town, maybe a few times a year, she has dinner and stays at least one night with me. The rest, she was with her mother.
Her mother and I, we didn't end up working out. Irreconcilable differences, to be sure. Do the specifics matter? More relationships fail than work. Yes, I cheated. I know it was a terrible thing... but was it? I wasn't happy, Sarah wasn't happy. I just wanted to do something that made me happy. Life's short.
I opened the door.
"Hello, sweetie." There she was. Marie was short, about 5'2". She had an average size figure for a girl, i suppose. She had two things physically that made her decidedly non-average. She had long, curly red hair, about midway down her back. Neither her mother or I had red hair, thank god I didn't, but Marie had this dark red hair like the girl in Titanic, a movie she could stop watching as a young girl.
"Hey, Dad" She gave me a stiff hug. Her arms were around my chest and she pulled herself in close, but there was something a little stiff about her. Her tits pressed into my chest. That was the other thing- my girl had huge tits. I didn't know the exact size, but they were much bigger than her frame should have had. Ever seen that show Mad Men? Picture the tits on the redhead (what was it about redheads), and that was Marie. Didn't get them from her mother, that's for sure.
"How was the drive?"
"Not bad," she said, pulling away quickly.
"Want some lunch?"
"Uh, sure. Let me go put my bag down." She gave me a soft smile as she headed up the stairs.
I started pulling some sandwich materials out of the fridge, wondering was possibly wrong with her today. There was always something wrong with her, she always seemed to have an attitude when we visited, whether or not her brother was around. He usually helped keep the peace, actually, which was nice.
During lunch,I tried to steer clear of topics I knew we would argue about (her mother, her career, her art classes), so we had a pleasant time. Neither of us try to fight about anything, but we always seem to get into these disagreements that tend to explode out of control. She was just so damn mouthy, always had something to say. Probably why we haven't had a great relationship... well, since she became a teenager. She was just so independent. She made it clear she didn't need me or her mother... so fine.
She also didn't seem to be invested in the conversation; she kept texting on her phone. Every few minutes, the phone would vibrate in her lap. Keeping the phone under the table, she smiled as she texted back. The first few times, I let it slide, but after about 15 minutes, I had to say something.