Lynette went about her cleaning, but her mind wasn't really into it. She'd had another argument with her husband about money, and it was getting old. What did he expect, she was working three jobs. Money problems and newlyweds, her life was a stupid cliché. The only reason they had any money at all was because of her dad. She worked as a sales clerk during the day and a part time office cleaner at night. On Saturday afternoon, she spent a couple of hours cleaning her dad's house. He gave her $100 a week. She knew it was outrageous for him to pay her that much, it only took a couple of hours of extremely light work on her part; he never did anything to get it dirty. She also knew he gave her that much because he loved her.
Her husband wanted her to ask her dad for more money. How could she do that, she barely earned what he gave her now? She still fumed at what he had asked her to do, "Unbutton your shirt and show him some boobs, get him to look at you there, even if you have to stick them in his face. Then ask him for the money, he'll give it to you out of guilt." Lynette had always been close to her dad, but she had never thought of him in a sexual way. They had not only been father and daughter, but best buddies. She just had to close her eyes and she saw images of her dad teaching her to ride a bike, holding her hand as they waited for the school bus, sharing the same ice cream cone, and a thousand other memories all filled with love. How could she treat him that way? The shame her dad would feel from thinking of his daughter sexually would break his heart, and knowing that she had done it to him on purpose would break hers.
With her mind filled with hundreds of thoughts about herself, some not very pleasant, she finished vacuuming. With the sweeper put away, she went into the family room to start dusting. There was her dad, sitting and watching the television. Her face broke out in a big grin as she looked at him; it was a good bet that he was watching a war movie.
Lynette took a deep breath, she didn't want to do this, but they were desperate for money. She didn't like herself much as she unbuttoned her top two shirt buttons. She opened her shirt to make sure he could see the tops of her breasts and her bra, and continued to dust. As she got nearer, she kept glancing at him from the corner of her eye, to see if he was watching her. Finally, she turned and faced him, and bent over to dust the table next to him. She saw his eyes being drawn to her shirt. Lynette knew she had a nice body, her work schedule meant she didn't have the time to be fat and lazy. Her long dark hair made her blue eyes shine by contrast. Her breasts were large, so she was used to men looking at her there anyway.
The look on his face said it all, he liked what he saw. She felt odd, her mind told her that her dad shouldn't like her this way, but a tingling sensation rushing through her told her she wanted him to like it. Lynette straightened up and blurted out, "I hate this," and ran crying from the room.
Dan followed his daughter, having no idea what she was so upset about.
Lynette lay across her dad's bed totally ashamed, the tears flowing freely. She had dishonored them both. Feeling him sit on the bed beside her, it was made worse by him running his hand through her hair trying to comfort her. She felt like a cheap whore. She tried to apologize between sobs. "Dad...I'm...so...sorry...I'm...so...embarrassed."
Dan was worried; obviously something was bothering her, "Lini, what's wrong?"
Hearing her dad use his favorite name for her made her cry even more. She was crying so hard she was having trouble breathing. Then she felt herself being turned around, and made to sit up. Strong arms wrapped around her, offering comfort and reassurance, just as they always had. Lynette buried herself in her dad's embrace, hating herself but not wanting him to let go. She felt his hand rubbing her back, and slowly she stopped crying, his tenderness had a calming effect on her. Laying her head on his shoulder, she kissed his neck, "I love you, dad."
Dan continued to play with her hair and stroke her back. He knew his daughter, and as he held her, he knew she would tell him what was going on in her own good time. "I love you too. It feels nice to run my fingers through your hair."
Lynette smiled, "I'm sorry for what I did earlier."
"Well, you should be." He waited for her to react, and sure enough, she pushed away from him looking at him like she had been kicked in the teeth. "Now would you tell me what the hell we are talking about?"
She saw his grin, and gave him a dirty look, "You just set me up for that," she grinned back at him, "And I let you."
Dan kissed her forehead, "Okay Lini, what's up?"
Taking a deep breath, she told him everything, "Dad, Mark and I are having a lot of trouble. I don't know, I guess we are having all of the usual problems in the first year of marriage." She put her head back on his shoulder, "The first few months of our marriage were a haze of romance, and then life began to set in. Instead of spending time together doing fun things we had to start facing reality. It's like we were confronted with differences that had seemed unimportant or non-existent when we were first married and now they have become the center of our life." She took a deep breath, "Before we got married, we just sort of assumed that the other one would take on certain roles like breadwinner, bill payer, housecleaner, nurse, mechanic, we were obviously over idealistic and didn't even discuss this stuff. Now with me helping him pay the bills, I expect him to help me clean the house, fat chance. We started blaming each other for our financial situation and it's led to plenty of arguments about money. You've been terrific dad, but his parents need to cut the umbilical cord, they want to stay connected in ways that are disrupting the marriage."
She paused for a few moments, so Dan asked, "How's the sex life?"
Lynette turned beet red and sat back up, "Dad!"
Dan chuckled, "Your mother and I didn't get you by being pen pals."
She got a very miserable look on her face, "What sex life?" She lay on him again, "The first thing to go was politeness, then that turned into rudeness, now we pretty much take one another for granted. It feels like he doesn't love me anymore. I mean, the intimacy is gone, no hugs or kisses, so I really don't feel like having sex with him anyway. Besides his being so remote," she paused and the tears started coming again, "I think he's cheating on me."
"Are you sure?"
"No, but dad I am not an actress, I can't pretend that I'm satisfied when I'm not. So I figure if a man feels inadequate in the bedroom he will probably look for a relationship where he feels more comfortable."
