**Note** Trying something aa bit different here. Unlike my other stories, this one is not autobiographical, but I delved into the incest/taboo section recently and had a lot of fun, so thought I'd try my hand at it. This one also has a longer build up, so sorry if it seems slow. As always, feel free to leave comments and suggestions below.
Dave's daughter had never really been a big part of his life, for most of hers. She'd been born when he was barely out of his teens, and not married to her mum, Janine. Janine and him had lasted for a while, but when their little bundle of joy – aptly named, Joy – was two years old, things had stopped working out for the two of them.
There was no big blow up, no screaming matches, and because they'd never tied the knot, no messy divorce. Dave was self-employed while Janine was a professional and could easily support Joy and herself. He'd never really seen himself as father material, so they came to the decision that it would be best of Joy stayed with her Mum, and Dave did what he could to help out, but with no expectations either side on visitation or child support payments.
His friends gave him a hard time for being a deadbeat dad, but they knew what was going on with him struggling to keep a business above water, and how much time and effort it took, so none of the piss taking was ever done seriously, and as the years passed, his daughter grew up, for the most part without a father in her life.
Travel time on about 15 years, and Dave was doing fine! The business was doing well enough that he had his own place and car, and could afford to pay other people to do most of the day to day work, while he got to relax and look forward to what could be a very early retirement.
When Joy turned up at his door aged seventeen, his first thought was that she could have heard about his success and came looking for a handout. He wouldn't have really held that against her. He'd done what he could to pay money to Janine every month, and as he started doing better, the payments got bigger.
The last time he'd spoken to Janine, just after Joy's sixteenth birthday, they'd agreed to carry on the payments at the same level until she turned eighteen, and then Dave was off the hook. He'd tried to get an invite to her birthday party, it being three years since he'd last seen Joy, but once again, Janine was off working in some distant part of the world, and Dave couldn't justify the time away from work, or the international flight. Plus, the tone of voice from his Ex gave him the impression that while they weren't telling him he couldn't come, he was unlikely to be welcomed with open arms.
Here she was now though, stood in his doorway, travel case on wheels sat behind her, shivering in the rain. "Good god girl," he said "it's bloody rotten out there. If you were coming to visit, you should have had your mum call, and I'd have gotten you a taxi from the station."
He hurried in her, dragging the heavy case over the doorstep and in, "Wait here," her said, walking a couple of paces down the hall and through a door, returning in a second with a small towel, "Won't get you fully dry, but it'll stop you dripping on the carpet and get the water out your hair."
She hadn't said a word, and while she towelled her hair, Dave got the first look at his daughter in years that wasn't a tagged photo on Facebook. She's grown since they last shared an awkward meal, but was still pretty small. He'd have guessed she was lucky to be over five foot, and had the same delicate features and build as her mother, with the same light blonde hair.
It was as he was taking in her elfin features that he realised that although her face had been dried, there was still moisture on her cheeks, "Joy, what's up?" he asked, tactlessly as always, no idea how to talk to teenage girls unless he was flirting with one.
"It's mum," she sniffled, "There was accident, a driver on a wet road. On. His. Fucking. Phone."
"Fuck," he replied. He had no clue what to say, so just wrapped her in his arms, getting soaked through to his skin as he held her until she stopped crying.
Over the next few hours he got the details. It was just a tragic accident, and there was little he could do or say, but he did feel guilty as fuck about thinking Joy had turned up looking for money. He invited her to stay, not knowing if she had anywhere else to go, and got her set up in his small spare room.
Days passed and turned into weeks, and Joy had just moved in. She cried less and spoke more. Helped herself to Dave's collections of rum on occasion, and added pear cider to the shopping list for herself. She'd turned 18 three months after moving in, and he'd been OK with her having a drink in the house before then.
As the months went by, Joy came out of her shell. She'd been close to her mother, but seemed pragmatic about the loss, and was doing her best to carry on her life. She was soon going out a couple of nights a week when not in class, having enrolled herself in the local college to finish off her studies.
It became clear to Dave that his daughter was promiscuous fairly quickly. A part of him thought he should be the "Dad" and set her on the straight and narrow, but the idea that parents would encourage a son to go out and get laid but be far too overprotective about their daughters had always bugged him.
Instead of giving her a hard time, he just spoke to her about it as if she was a friend of his, keeping it open and light, joking about guys and girls on nights out, and when it came up, even offering advice. He came to look forward to these kind of chats, and was pleasantly surprised by open his daughter was on the subject, asking him about his own sexual experiences, and for quite intimate advice.