All characters are over 18.
Author note: You need to read the other chapters in the series before reading this one. My apologies for not numbering the others. The order is:
Katie Explores Her Sexuality
Katie at College
Katie's Mom Finds Out
Katie continues, ch. 4
Hope you enjoy and please vote if you like!
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THE TALK:
"Katie, we need to talk about our future. I need to know what you want."
"What do you mean dad?"
"Well, I've been thinking about a few things. Do you want to continue to live together until you're done school? If so, I would like to buy or rent something bigger. This apartment was never meant for two people. I'm also worried that I'm holding you back socially and that our situation might hurt you in the future. You seem to have a grudge against your mother but we definitely wronged her big time. You have to try to see this from her viewpoint."
Katie thought, oh I've definitely seen things from her viewpoint, about twenty times watching her little video!
"You've already lost your mother because of me and I don't want our relationship to damage you in the future. What if someone else finds out. What if you start going out and the person finds out about us. I'm just worried about you."
"Dad, nothing happened because of you! I initiated everything that happened! Remember?"
"Yes, but I didn't stop it and I should have known better, I'm your father."
"Dad, stop beating yourself up! I have no regrets on what we did and are still doing. I'm sorry about what happened with mom but I've gotten closer to you than probably any daughter ever has and I love it! As far as the others go, we just have to be careful. No one will find out."
"To answer your first question, I would like to continue together until I'm done school and if you can afford a bigger place that would be great."
"Money is not really a problem, especially since your mom said I don't need to send her money anymore."
Hearing that made Katie completely forget about the weeks it took to get over the bruises and cuts from her fight with her mom.
"I'm still worried that you hardly ever date though."
"First of all, I'm really busy with school. Secondly, guys have asked me out and I always go out at least once but I'm not going to go out again if I don't like them."
"Okay, well promise me you'll keep looking. I don't want to side-track your life. Someday you're going to want to meet a nice guy and have kids."
"I promise dad."
KATIE PICKS A HOUSE:
We decided to move out of Katie's apartment into a bigger place and we were going to continue to live together until Katie was done school. I wanted to buy a place instead of wasting money renting for several years plus I was used to living in a bigger place of my own and missed it.
The problem was, I was super busy at work, in the middle of a couple of huge projects and could not take the time off to go house hunting. Katie on the other hand had just finished her fall exams and had almost a month off before she had to be back in the new year. Plus, I hated shopping and definitely hated looking for houses.
So I made her a proposal.
"Katie I'm really busy and would like you to look into buying our new place."
"You want me to buy the new place?"
"Well, I want you to do all the work of looking for a new place and ending our existing apartment lease and I'll do the buying part. I have a few requirements such as a separate room for my office but in general you can pick the place and I get final approval of course."
I showed her the upper limit on what I wanted to spend and told her I preferred a house in an older neighbourhood. I also wanted one that we could immediately move into and not have to spend a fortune on changing everything.
"We can spend that much?"
"Yes, but keep in mind we need to live in it and will need to buy some furniture to get started."
"Wow, you want me to do all that?"
"Honey, think of this as a very practical, very large, school project. Most of what you to take in school you won't use but buying our new place is as useful as it can get and a wonderful learning experience. I'll try to answer any questions you have but basically it's your show. To be honest, your mother used to do this kind of thing. I'm not very detail oriented and don't notice household or neighbourhood issues, so trust me, we're both better off with you doing this plus I have absolute faith in your abilities."
Katie was terrified and excited and emotionally overwhelmed all at once, terrified of such a big responsibility, excited at such an opportunity and emotionally overwhelmed that her dad had such confidence in her. She jumped up and hugged her dad so hard that it almost broke his ribs!
"I'll do it."
"Katie woke up the next morning nervous but primed for action. She had signed a two term lease and only used the first term so they might be on the hook for the second term. The first step was to visit her landlord.
Mr. Klimowicz was an old Polish man, a bit grumpy at times but usually friendly towards her. She explained their situation (leaving out the incest details) about her mom and dad getting separated and her dad coming to live with her and the need to get a larger place.
In broken English he said, "You stick up for your dad, ya? You let him live with you?"
"My dad and I are really close. I wouldn't have him anywhere else."
"I married 25 years, make one mistake and then everyone turn on me, even my daughters! You good girl taking care of your dad! I look at your place today and if it okay I have no problem getting new student for January, it still early December. Lots of time."
He came to my place and looked around. I wasn't worried. Both my dad and I are very neat and the place was spotless with no damage.
"Look okay, good. You be out be end of December, ya?"
"Yes sir."
"Good girl, we have a deal, no extra charge. You take good care of your papa." and we shook hands and left.
One down, but the hard part was ahead. I only had a month to find a new place and December was not prime real estate turnover time in most cities although the university that I went to was huge and had a lot of students so the turnover was higher than normal.
She told her dad to go the bank the next day and get pre-approved for a loan because they had to be ready to sign at the drop of a hat. Then she went to REMAX with her dad to pick a broker. She wanted her dad present the first day to let the agent know they would be dealing with her which was unusual given her age. It was important though because she needed the agent to work hard for her which they might not if they thought she was a university student with no money. She did not want a newbie and did not want a person with a zillion clients. She wanted someone with experience who had the time to work for her. She also wanted a woman to bounce ideas off on house features because most guys would be clueless about that.
I had my first meeting with Katie and her dad. It's a good thing he came in with her as I likely wouldn't have given her the time of day. She was dressed sharp but she still looked young. Her dad showed me the bank pre-approval though and was emphatic that he had absolute confidence in her and didn't have the time himself so I said okay. She also made a good first impression. Confident and friendly and knew what she wanted but not cocky or condescending. Plus their price range was quite high which would make for a very nice commission.
Time was the problem though. We needed to get going right away to seal a December deal. Fortunately there was quite a bit of turnover due to the University and all the students coming and going. A lot of the students were loaded and their parents actually bought places for them to stay and then sold when they left.
I called Jean once after a few days to make sure that things were going okay. I did trust Katie but this was new and huge and I just wanted to have piece of mind before I dived back into my deadline project.
Jean the real estate agent showed Katie quite a few places over the next two weeks. Most were in the price range but were not big enough or too big or in bad shape or bad neighbourhoods or the layout was bad. Jean got to know Katie quite well and really started to like her. The girl had a good head on her shoulders and was not some spoiled university brat. She was punctual and never wasted Jean's time. She was ready at the drop of a hat if an opportunity came up. After a few house visits Jean could tell Katie knew exactly what to look for and didn't waste Jean's time. Katie was definitely a quick study. Sometimes she didn't even bother with a house visit based on the spec sheets. Jean appreciated that.
Katie was starting to get really nervous. Jean had been everything she could have hoped for but they were running out of time. She needed to talk to her dad.
"Dad, I'm starting to really worry. I have not found a place yet. Jean has been really good but nothing acceptable has come up."
"Have you learned a lot?"