Chapter 1 (no sex)
I first saw her around mid-July. My wifeâs birthday was in two days and my daughter demanded I come with her to the mall to pick out a gift. I didnât much care for birthdays, I rarely thought of my own as much more than another day at work. However, my giddy fourteen-year-old daughter, Leslie, wouldnât let me think otherwise and demanded we pick out âthe perfect giftâ.
The minute I stepped out of the car, I barely had time to lock the doors before she grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the entrance exclaiming we only had two days to find mom a gift; as if two days wasnât enough? By one oâclock, we had been through JC Penny, Sears, The Gap, and a number of other crowd filled stores. I was ready for a rest, but my daughter caught me before I had a chance to break for the food court.
âDaddy can we stop at Claireâs before we stop for lunch? I just wanna look at the earringsâŚ. please Daddy?â
Deciding to give her a hard time, I raised an eyebrow at her and in a mock stern voice I asked, âAnd just whom are we shopping for today missy?â We both smiled at my stupid imitation and walked over to the pink store on our left. I had decided to step inside the shop to see what the big fuss was over. Immediately I was surrounded by pink pom-poms, blasting teen bop music, and other giddy girls my daughterâs age trying to scoot by me as I tried to stay out of the way. I found myself standing next to the cash registers and at the moment, I didnât see my daughter anywhere.
âShop here much?â came the female voice at my ear, snapping me out of my trance.
âOh, no, noâŚ.â I stuttered grinning at the brown haired young woman smirking at me. âMy daughter is in here somewhere, looking for the latest in teen fashion.â I added waving my hand for emphasis.
The young woman behind the counter smiled a pair of pearly white teeth at me. âI see â, she said. âStay here, you donât want to get trampled on by some of these girls.â
âYeah tell me about it, I found that out right when I walked in.â I replied to her.
The girl was cute, granted she was about twenty years younger than me, but she looked older. Girls like her always look older. I could see it in her face. She didnât have on hardly any makeup, and her eyes showed something I couldnât quite put my finger on, but it came with experience. She had mildly short hair and I hate to admit I was looking but she had breasts that didnât quite fit her frame. Either way I found I was attracted to her.
Right after that thought crossed my mind, my daughter appeared out of nowhere.
âCan I get these?â she asked, setting a pair of silver earrings on the counter and then turning her attention to the girl. âOh hi Kelly!â she chirped smiling.
So her name was Kelly, I like that name.
âHey Leslie.â Kelly replied with little more than friendliness. âThis all for today?â she asked looking at me with crystal blue eyes. I then looked at my daughter for the answer.
âYeah for now. Daddy we still need to find mom a gift. Iâm thinking we should stop at the Pottery Barn and see whatâs there.â My daughter ratted on. I was only half listening as I watched Kelly ring up our sale, and put the earrings in a little baggy. At the mention of my wife, I saw Kelly roll her eyes. It made me curious to know why-what was she thinking?
âHere ya goâ Kelly said, interrupting my daughter and looking at me she added, âyou guys have a great day.â I detected a hint of sarcasm in her voice and think somehow she could tell I wasnât too enthused about walking around the mall for another hour or two with my energetic daughter.
âThanks, you too.â I replied giving her a genuine smile. I could feel my heart quicken like a young kid again when she gazed at me and after we left the store, I had to ask my daughter about Kelly.
âSo you two know each other?â I asked casually as we walked around Pottery Barn.
âYeahâŚâ my daughter replied. âshe goes to the high school. She got kicked out for getting in some fight with a girl.â
âInteresting.â I shortly replied. She didnât look like a badass in the store although I had a hunch that she tried to act like it around others.
âSheâs friends with Sarah whoâs friends with Cindy whoâs friends with me,â my daughter explained. âYou know Cindy.â Yeah Cindy was a tall athletic girl who my daughter cheerleaded with at school on the JV team. I nodded my recognition as I picked up a glass vase with purple and green hues swirled through it, my wifeâs favorite colors. âHey sweetie, what do you think about this for mom?â I asked my daughter.
She grabbed it from my hand smiling, âI think we found a winner!â We bought the vase and headed home. We talked about school, my mind revisited thoughts of Kelly. As we pulled onto our street, as if my daughter had read my mind, she pointed out the window at Grendon Street two blocks over. âKelly lives over there in the white house.â I drove by that house twice a day on my way to and from work and never thought anything of it. Now that I knew Kelly lived there, I knew Iâd look for her when I could. Feigning disinterest to my daughter, I replied with an âOhâ and we dropped the subject.
My wife wasnât home from the grocery store yet, so I decided to order a pizza for dinner. Leslie and I quickly wrapped my wifeâs present and then all three of us spent a quiet Sunday night a home. My wife, Judy, went to bed early because tomorrow she had to work, as did I, but I wasnât quite tired yet. I was watching a movie when a girl appeared on the screen that reminded me of Kelly and my mind started wondering. She looked to be about twenty-five if I had to guess her age. She definitely had the body of a young woman, but my daughter had said she had gotten kicked out of school; high school! Iâd have to remember to ask my daughter (casually of course) about how old she was-it was bugging me.