Fathers with daughters worry about people hurting their daughters. With my other ones, that was the reality. But with this Victoria...I only worried about the people who tried to hurt her by the time she was done with them.
Strong willed. Sharp tongued. A vicious and ruthless animal hiding under a suntanned veneer and big brown eyes. Daddy's girl from the start, even long after most Dads become enemy number one. There was no shortage of attitude from here in the ages you'd expect it, but when push came to shove...the Daddy's Girl inside her always won out.
Which explains where we are now. She's a grown woman, out on her own in the world. Being just as amazing as I thought she would be. Job, place of her own, nothing holding her back from what she wants, just how I taught her to live.
But when push comes to shove...the Daddy's Girl inside her always wins out.
It's hard to say when it started exactly. We are a tight knit family. Doors are always open, no need to make plans, just come by and we're happy to see her. It started happening a bit more often than normal. I just chalked it up to the free laundry service and a refrigerator full of her favorite food that we always kept.
Summer has arrived now and Victoria comes over every weekend to sunbathe by our pool. Apparently the pool at her complex has too many guys staring at her or chatting her up. I knew she was pretty, I just never stopped and thought of Victoria as the type of girl you could pick up with a line by the pool...and I was right.
The first weekend of summer she was out there getting sun with her mom. They were talking and drinking White Claws and laughing. As I walked by the sliding doors to the pool, I noticed that for the first time, I saw her in her bikini as a woman. This svelte, toned creature with such fluid movements in a tiny frame. I understood why the guys at her complex felt compelled to try to get her attention...suddenly I wanted it too. I couldn't break away, my eyes traced every curve from her neck down to the soles of her feet.
I'm not sure when she noticed me, but when my eyes made their way back up to her face, I could see her looking at me. Inside I panicked...did I just get caught the first time I really looked at her? Did I just become the creep?
Fuck that, I'm not going down that way. I made eye contact and held it. The tension made it hard to breathe, but she did not look away. We stayed there, eyes locked for what felt like minutes, but were mere seconds until her mom got up to dip in the pool to cool off and Victoria joined her.
Over the next few weeks, life got back to normal. Victoria got busy with her life and friends and I settled back into a normal weekend routine. The thought of us locking eyes for those few minutes never faded, but it seemed more and more like a one time event.
Then came the fateful weekend. Victoria came over first thing in the morning with more laundry than I could have imagined. I went out to help her carry it all in like a good dad should. As she bent down to place a basket on the floor, the t-shirt she was wearing dangled just a bit and gave me a view I would never forget.