Β© 2024 cv andrews
Remember how this all began, with Ally
telling me
that she was my wife now?
At first I thought this was ridiculous, impossible. Wouldn't you? I mean, how could a man go in a matter of days from looking at his daughter as ... his
daughter
and instead look at her as a "wife?"
And yet that's what's happened. It didn't happen immediately, when Ally "announced" it, but it
has
happened.
First, Ally. In addition to her immediate -
practically instant
- assumption of all wifely sexual duties - and entitlements! - she also kind of assumed responsibility for the management of the household (something she'd been doing a lot of the past year, as Janet withdrew more and more).
But she also started doing those little ... those more
"proprietary"
little things that a wife / lover will do: buying my shampoo, suggesting that I might need to shave, getting my favorite brand of imported caramels at the specialty food shop.
And me. Obviously, the sex thing has caused me to do an abrupt one-eighty about how I look at my "daughter." But I also began to view her differently in other ways, too. I ask her her preferences more frequently, and I'm finding that I'm actually seeking out her opinions.
And when I look at her, like when she's at the stove, cooking, I'm no longer a father, smiling at "how his little girl is growing up." Now when I look at Ally, I'm a man, seeing a woman who is my partner, in every way. I'm seeing a ...
wife
.
My
wife.
Over this past year Ally and I have ...
engineered
, I guess you could say, a life for us - a life for us as a couple.
I continue to go to my job - in fact, it looks like I might be getting a promotion to V-P - while Ally continues to go to her "job," as a high school senior. She's still on the track team - she races in the short events, but she's also on the cross-country team. She's also the first-string setter on the varsity volleyball team (the setter is the player that "sets-up" the ball for the "hitter," who's responsible for hitting - smashing - the ball back over the net). She's not tall enough to be a hitter or a blocker, but she's a team leader. She's not a great athlete, won't ever be offered an athletic scholarship, but she's good enough to make the teams and she's made a lot of friends.
And speaking of scholarships, since we've ... since Ally and I have ... anyway, her grades have improved, from solid B-plus to mostly "A"s. Maybe she's just getting better at school, or maybe it's because of ... because our relationship has made her more confident in herself - more "centered."
And when we're at home during the day, we are partners. We divide up the cleaning, we're both pretty decent cooks, and we actually have fun doing our laundry together. And Ally still has friends over, sometimes for overnights, and she still goes to friends' houses, to "study," sometimes stay for dinner, and sometimes spend the night at their homes.
In other words, a typical high-school girl.
And every night, at least every night she's home, we sleep together. And whether we have sex of some kind or not, we always fall asleep holding each other - sometimes with her head on my chest, sometimes with my head on hers, often "spooning" (we take turns being big spoon-little spoon).
We like to go places and do things together - movies, shopping, going to her school baseball and basketball games, going out for hot dogs or pizza, even dining out at a nice restaurant every now and then. But you've probably guessed the problem here: We feel like a couple, we
are
a couple - but we can't
look or act
like a couple. In any way. That would be big trouble and could jeopardize everything that she and I have made together. No, there's no way we can let that happen.
All of this to say that since we've been a couple - and feel like a couple - for almost a year now, it felt like we should take a couples vacation.
Actually, it was Ally who suggested it.
"Daddy," this is obviously daddy-daughter stuff, "we should take a vacation. We should go on a road trip!
"Nowhere in particular - we can just get in the car and drive and stop whenever we want to."
That sounded like it would be fun, for both of us. I could seriously use a break - a few days away from work would do me good right now. Ally seemed really excited when she suggested it.
It was good to see her this way, especially since ... Could it be nearly a year now, since ... since Janet ...? Anyway, like I said, Ally's been kind of ... I don't know ... kind of
"blah"
for the past month. Maybe it's because volleyball season is over and track won't start again for three more weeks, and maybe that's why she's been like this. But now, since this idea of us doing a road trip together came to her, she's been really enthusiastic.
But a few days before we were to start on our "no particular destination" road trip, Ally changed her mind.
"I got an idea - how about we go to Lake in the Hills. We been there before and we always had a good time, and it should be real pretty this time of year, with all the dogwoods blooming and stuff. I know it's a long drive, but there're some places we can stop along the way so we don't have to do the drive all at once."
Ally's school had a week-long break coming up and I had a bunch of unused vacation days I was on the verge of losing so we made reservations for a pseudo-rustic cabin at one of the lodges at Lake in the Hills and started thinking about what we would need to take along.
We promised ourselves that we would pack "light," unlike our usual vacation trips. But then we started thinking about warm days and swimming and canoeing on the lake, and cool, maybe even chilly evenings - and always the possibility of rain this time of year. So despite our good intentions we ended up with a
large
suitcase, a large duffel bag, and Ally's personal carry-on suitcase with all her girl stuff, plus the new all-weather hooded jacket that Ally insisted that she needed.
Friday finally came around. I had some last-minute paperwork to do at the office before taking the next week off so we didn't actually get started on the drive to Lake in the Hills until 12:30.
We started driving, and an hour later we realized that we'd neglected to have lunch. Fortunately, we spotted a Steak 'n Shake and pulled in. Two Originals with cheese, two chocolate shakes, and we were back on the road.
It was fun, driving together like this. We talked about ... stuff. About things at school, and friends, and what we were going to do up at the Lake.
And we listened to music. Ally had created a playlist of things she wanted to listen to, so she plugged it into the jack in the Santa Fe and we listened. And I have to admit - not all of it was as bad as I feared. And my wonderful daughter had even put together a playlist for me - country and western, bands and groups of the eighties, plus U2, Hootie and the Blowfish, and all-time fave Aerosmith.
Time flew. Unfortunately so does the daylight at this time of year. Ally seemed to be looking for something, like someplace in particular.
"Last time we went to the Lake I remember seeing this motel along here that looked kinda nice ... there it is!
And, indeed, off on the right was a fairly modern looking "medium-sized" motel with a pine log office and lobby. Behind the office was a two story brick motel building. The pine log lettering on the pine-paneled sign said,
"Pineview Motel."
I figured that pines must be involved in some way.
I was able to slow down and made the turn into the blacktop parking lot. I was relieved to see the red neon
"Vacancy"
sign.
I pulled the car to a stop outside the office and turned off the ignition. Ally and I unbuckled our seatbelts and got out. I noticed that Ally seemed to be particularly eager to see the office. Vacation excitement, I guess.
We opened the lobby door and walked in. There was a young woman behind the front desk. Her back was turned to us and she was working on something on the desk behind her. When she heard the jingle of the "welcome" door bell she turned around and I could see her better.
She was tall - several inches taller than Ally - and slim, with a happy expression that made it seem like she was smiling, even when she wasn't. But the most striking thing about her appearance was the fine ginger-colored hair that fell to below her shoulders in kinky curls.
The funny thing is, when we walked into the office the girl behind the desk - "Hannah," the little plastic name tag said - she and Ally looked at each other, and I'd swear, it's like they recognized each other. The girl smiled, and it could have been my imagination but Ally seemed to smile back, but only for a second, but then the desk girl turned to me.
"Welcome to Pineview Motel. How can I help you?"
I told her it'd just be us, for one night. She said they had a nice big room in the part of the motel that's away from the highway, and she told me the rate.