I'm a single dad of an 18-year old daughter, Morgan, who is about to graduate high school. She's a great girl who will go on to great things, and I'm sure I'll miss her when she leaves for college. Will be nice when I can finally have some peace and quiet though.
Morgan has a friend named Kelli who's been visiting us at the house since she and Morgan were in third grade. I later found out the friendship started when my wife passed away, because Kelli wanted her own mom to be a mother figure for Morgan. She's a sweet girl with a big heart, and was also getting ready for college; she was going to the state university on a basketball scholarship.
The day after their high school graduation, Kelli was visiting Morgan at our house last week, as she's done a hundred times in the last nine years. We were having a cookout, and as I was putting the burgers on the grill, I realized we didn't have hamburger buns. Morgan said she'll run to the store and I can keep grilling; by the time she gets home, dinner will be ready.
Morgan jumped in her car and headed to the Kroger just down the road. Kelli joined me on the deck where I was cooking the burgers and sipping a beer. "That looks good, Mr Dawson" said Kelli. "How about you give me one?"
"Come on Kelli, you know I can't legally do that since you're not 21 yet. Come see me in three years."
She grinned. "I KNOW, Mr Dawson; I'm just playing."
All this time, I'm ignoring the fact that she was looking pretty good, wearing a sundress that cleared her knees by just an inch or two. Nothing slutty, but still alluring. I love sundresses. They're sexy in a subtle way.
"I actually do have something to ask you, Mr Dawson." Kelli bit her lip and fidgeted; she looked uncomfortable.
"What is it, Kel?"
"Mr Dawson, I know I'm young enough to be your daughter. But I've had a huge crush on you for years. And now that I'm becoming a woman, my feelings have kind of escalated. It started as an innocent crush, and now..." Kelli hesitated.
"And now WHAT?" I asked.
"I don't know how to ask you this, because I know it's inappropriate, but I can't help my feelings. I want to...." She hesitated again.
"What do you want to do?"
She looked down and sighed. "Mr Dawson, I don't have a boyfriend. Joe broke up with me right before prom, saying he fell in love with someone else. It devastated me. He was going to be the one." She looked at me, teary-eyed. "And now, I find myself going to college without ever being with a guy. You know, BEING with a guy? In the bedroom?"
"I see. You know Kelli, I wouldn't worry about being alone for too long. When you go to State on that basketball scholarship, you're going to get some male attention. Trust me."
"Yeah, but I want to have some experience with a man before college. So I thought, maybe you could help me with that."
"HELP you with that?"
She smiled. "Come on, Mr Dawson, you know what I mean," lightly brushing my arm.
"Yeah I do know what you mean, Kelli! I don't think that's something we should even consider. You're Morgan's best friend."
"And she doesn't need to know, Mr Dawson. I need my first time to be with a real man, someone who knows what he's doing. I know you lost your wife many years ago, but surely you've been having sex."
"Well, yeah I've had a couple lady friends since then." I couldn't believe we were having this conversation.
"So...maybe you can have a young lady friend," she said.
"Please, Kelli. Look, I have to confess: I've noticed you are indeed an absolutely beautiful young lady, and I'm flattered--kind of stunned--at your proposal. I just don't feel comfortable."
"I figured you would be hesitant," said Kelli. "But you're an amazing man, and I wish you would consider. Believe me, absolutely NO ONE will know about this, not from me anyway."
The more she talked, the more my resistance faded. And besides, she's 18 now. An adult. Was her proposition really so bad? I figure if Morgan didn't know (DID she know?)...
"And you said nothing to Morgan about this, did you? Not even any hints, like the crush you had on me?" I asked.
"Oh no way!" She doesn't need to know what goes on between two...consenting adults." She looked at me with her pretty green eyes.
I sighed. "Kelli, I have to say..." I paused, for I was about to say something I never even thought about until she showed up today.
"Yes, you could be a daughter to me. That being said...I am finding you hard to resist."
She brushed my arm again. "So is that a yes?"
I took a deep breath. "All right. We'll hook up for just this one time. But it cannot become anything more. This won't look good for my business if the customers realized I was having a sexual relationship with a girl--a woman--thirty years younger than me."
"I'm okay with that," she said. "I do want someone for just this one time, someone I can trust."
"Very well," I said. By this time, Morgan was back home, so that conversation topic ended right there.
We sat down to dinner. Morgan and Kelli chatted, and Kelli said absolutely nothing about what she planned to do with me. A couple times, she would shoot me a smoldering glance.
About a minute after Kelli left, my phone buzzed with a text message from her. "So when and where are we going to do this?" she asked.
"How about here next Saturday at noon? Morgan will be at her job and won't be home until after 4 PM."