Best friend's daughter
I set the satnav for my destination, put on my favourite 80's playlist and set off for my weekend away, this time with even more anticipation than usual.
Every year we met up at around this time of year, all our old group of five friends from school (myself, Kate, Bess, Kim, Pete), plus their partners and children (too many to name here!). We were always an odd collection of friends, we all left school at different times and chose different paths for ourselves, spreading to all four corners of the UK at one time or another. But hook or by crook we all stayed in touch and then about twenty years ago we decided to meet up for a weekend at Kate's house in Scotland. She was the most organised and assertive of our group, she always was, and so could make the necessary arrangements and hand out jobs for us all - one person on breakfasts, someone else in charge of dinner, someone one else doing bedding etc so that no one person or family had to take the brunt.
That first year we met up was amazing, it was like the previous dozen years apart had never really happened and we slipped back into usual friendship where we sang and danced to crap 80 tunes, made fun of each other, and drank too much. In between we did manage to have healthy fun too (hiking, canoeing, swimming in the loch etc) but mostly we just had lots of fun being ourselves with the gang who we trusted the most not to judge or compare. That first year went so well it has become an annual thing since. Mostly, missing the odd year when one of us was on honeymoon, just given birth or during covid etc. But no more than 4 out of the 20 years had been missed. Over the years we watched each other get older, get married, have children and then watched the children grow and become part of the group fun too. My own daughter was the eldest of the children by quite a few years - the next was 5 years younger than her. So she quickly graduated to becoming one of the gang as she reached her teens, enjoying listening to their embarrassing stories about dad in his youth, teasing me with stories of my mishaps later in life in return.
And believe it or not it was always very platonic. No one messed around with someone else in the group or their partners. As teenagers we had of course. I had had a few drunken kiss and grope sessions with Bess as a youth, and I had even dated Kate for a couple of months before I fatefully dumped her for my femme fatal, Suzi. But that's another story. As adults we were very well behaved not hat score, despite the drunken fun and games we got up to. I think having our children with us not here weekends away certainly helped on that score. We saw each others kids grow and develop into confident and fun-loving teenagers, most of the group now away at university or beyond now. Only the youngest, Anne was left for this weekend now though. In fact it was Anne's 18th birthday the day before we were there. Anne was Kate's daughter who I knew well. She wouldn't be sharing her birthday celebrations with us - she was working and had planned a big party weekend the following week with her friends and work colleagues. But we should get to share a first legal drink with her at some point which will be nice.
I had particular soft spot for Anne. And I know she did for me too. During these weekends we would always find time for a catch-up. As she reached her teens Anne would confide in me and share her thoughts and worries. She valued having an adult she could talk too outside of the family I think. I am sure in a cute kind of a way she had a bit of a crush on me. Last year she even told me that she had recently lost her virginity, and made me swear not to tell her mum. Of course her mum, Kate, already knew but had made me promise not to let on to Anne because it would embarrass her. Why they both trusted me I will never know. I was hopeless with secrets when dunk. But surprisingly I managed not his occasion. There was also an awkward moment when I was waiting outside the bathroom to grab a shower (there were 10 of us in the house and one shower so if you didn't queue you didn't wash!) when Anne came out of the bathroom covered only in a towel wrapped around her. I have to admit I looked at her a bit differently for the first time that day, and the smile she gave me as she shuffled past me in the passageway was not the usual innocent, cute and fun smile I was used to. She was becoming a fully grown woman and a very hot one at that and I made a note to myself to be careful.
My mind had wandered like this for the whole of the three hour journey to get there. 'There', was Scotland, among the locks and mountains where Kate and her husband John lived, in a little village on the north end of the loch. As a setting and place to holiday this was heaven. As a place to live, with no shops or pubs for miles I'm not so sure. But I was feeling especially excited to visit this year. Not just because it meant seeing my life-long friends again, but because I had a little hope that things might get a bit more interesting and less well-behaved this year.
A couple f years ago I had separated from my partner. I won't go into that story here but after 24 years we had decided it was time. I had leant on my friend Kate quite a bit during that time and we had met a few times to talk. She was having a hard time with her marriage too and I knew that John would be away this time when the visit took place. This would be a shame because we all loved John and thoroughly enjoyed his company, but we also knew he wasn't right for Kate. He didn't value her enough or spend enough time with her or the finally, mostly he was off pursuing his career and interests, while Kate held everything together at home and maintaining a full time job into the bargain. I don't sound very impartial do I? Well I am not and that's not my role here. I had been accepting Kate's support but over time the roles reversed and I was offering her support as her own marriage was seemingly drifting away just as mine had a couple of years earlier.
I can't lie though, during this time my feelings for her were growing and my memories of us as teenagers messing around at parties and that one time we did have sex as 16 year olds had been coming back to me more and more. She was still a good-looking woman on her fifties - time had served her better than most of us in our group is all I will say. But mostly she had a heart of gold and a generosity of spirit that was second to none. I loved her as a friend but was beginning to feel more besides. If John was away maybe this visit was a chance to see if there may, in the future, if things didn't work out there, be anything we could develop?
I parked up, a little exhausted, but mostly excited and eager to join the party that I knew would already be in full-flow. I knocked and went in, knowing no one would here as the 80's tunes were already banging out in the kitchen. We always sat in the kitchen, around the table, filled with salty snacks and wine, stereo blasting and us getting sillier and sillier as the night hours ticked away. No sooner had I opened the door and stepped across the threshold than I saw Kate come hurtling towards me, arms open, a huge smile on her face, and a "hello darling! Come here you" as she ungulfed me in her arms. Kate always gave the best hugs and this was no exception. She planted a huge kiss on my lips as usual but if I'm not mistaken this one lingered for longer than usual. Kate was already a little tipsy so I put that down to lack of inhibitions. After greeting everyone else in turn with a hug and a kiss as I worked my way around the room, I gave my apologies and checked with Kate that I was in the same room as usual.
"Just want to dump my bag and grab the loo. My bladder can't cope with three hour's driving with out a pee anymore! Age is a bitch isn't it?"
"Tell me babe" Kate agreed. "You are in Anne's room as usual, she's on the mattress on our floor in theory but she may stay over at friends - I'm not sure the idea of spending the night in her mum's bedroom is that enticing anymore!"
"What do kids know eh" I quipped and winked, hoping to be mildly suggestive for a joke, and maybe not just for a joke too. You know the score I'm sure.
I headed straight for the loo. My need after three hours driving was acute. I washed my hands (always, come on guys!), zipped up and headed for the box room at the far end of the upstairs floor. This was Anne's room. This was the room I always had, first with me my daughter on a matters on the floor next to my single bed, but more recently just me as she had work and holiday plans with her own friends so chose not to join her dad on these weekends. She did always FaceTime though to catch up with everyone which did make me really proud dad. I thought I'd just get changed before heading back down as I had come straight from work. Shirt and tie weren't the look I was going for with friends. So I slipped out of my work trousers and shirt, and started rifling through my bag for my jeans and a t-shirt (imaginative for a 54 year old guy eh?). And that was when Anne came rushing through the door. Her face lit up on seeing me, seemingly not noticing I was in my boxer shorts and nothing else. She lurched towards me to give me a big hug as she usually did and wrapped her arms around me just as her mother had done a few minutes before. And just like her mother she planted a big kiss on my lips.
Fuck this was new I thought. We also greeted each other with a big hug and usually an affectionate kiss to the cheek. But she had gone straight for the lips. What was this about. I guess she was an adult now so maybe she was just trying something out. She didn't linger in the same way her mother did though so that was a relief I thought. But as she stepped back to talk to me I became acutely aware of two things. Firstly, how undressed I was! I trapped a t-shirt and slipped it on quickly. But secondly, how amazing Anne looked. Wow she had changed in the last year. She was sporting nothing more fancy than a t-shirt and a pair of cut down jean-shorts. But my god did she wear them well! I had to check myself as I realised I was staring. I had never really thought of Annie in this way before, other than that one fleeting moment last year outside the bathroom, but she hd become a beautiful, sexy confident young woman in the last year. Kate must be so proud of her I thought.
"Hey you just arrived then?" Anne asked.
