Danni, my stepdaughter, was twenty four years old. She had been living with her boyfriend for nearly five years. I didn't really know the girl that well due to the fact that me and her Mother had only been together for a little over a year before Danni had flown the nest.
We very rarely saw Danni after she moved out. She kept in contact with her Mother, Jane, via phone and social media but her visits were few and far between. Her visit this time was totally out of the blue. It was a Saturday afternoon when she turned up in floods of tears.
Apparently she had had a major bust up with her boyfriend. Knowing that she needed her Mother's shoulder to cry on I left them to it and retreated to the garden where I had plenty of chores to keep me busy.
I was of course eager to Know what Danni was so upset about. As I pottered around outside, I kept an eye on the two women through the patio windows. For sometime, all I saw was my wife's arm around her daughter who was sobbing uncontrollably.
When I next looked, I saw Danni leaving the room and quickly took the opportunity to find out what had happened.
"What's the problem?" I asked, opening the patio door and poking my head in.
"Not exactly sure yet, she's barely stopped crying to explain. Sorry Tony, our quiet weekend isn't going to work out," Jane said.
"Don't worry, the girl obviously needs her Mum. Let me know if there's anything I can do," I said.
"Thanks Love," Jane said and blew me a kiss.
Luckily it was a warm sunny day so it was no great hardship to keep myself busy in the garden. I took my time and probably spent as much time sitting down enjoying the sun as I did working.
It was nearly half six when Jane came out and found me almost asleep. I had laid back in one of the two reclining garden chairs on the lawn and almost jumped when I heard her speak my name.
"I see you've been hard at it," Jane said laughing as she sat down on the other chair.
"Oh God, I was just drifting off then. Well, how's Danni now? Did you find out what the problem is?" I asked.
"Yeah pretty much. Apparently Danni thinks Sam is seeing someone else," Jane said, Sam being her boyfriend.
"Oh, what makes her think that?" I asked.
"She thinks he's gone off her. Without going in to detail he's lost interest in the bedroom department," Jane explained.
"Okay, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's seeing someone else, I mean, perhaps he's tired. I know he works hard, or it could be a number of other things!" I said.
"Yeah I know, I said much the same thing to her. To be honest I think she's got it all wrong. Hopefully after a couple of days apart it will work itself out. Mind you from what she's told me they don't seem to be on the same page when it comes to sex," Jane said.
"Whoa, okay, hang on. I don't think I need to know any more. Anyway how is she feeling now? Where is she?" I asked.
"She's a lot calmer now, after our chat, she's gone for a soak in the bath. I was thinking, we need some dinner. Do you fancy a Chinese?" Jane asked.
"Yeah sure, good idea," I agreed...
Around eight I went to pick up our pre-ordered take away. Jane was waiting in the kitchen when I returned.
"Thanks love. Hope you don't mind if I take mine and Danni's upstairs, only I thought it would be a good idea if me and her got into a film to take her mind off her troubles," Jane said.
"Yeah sounds like a good idea," I replied.
I really didn't mind. Jane was often in bed by nine so it was no big deal. We actually had separate bedrooms now mainly due to the fact that I often suffered with insomnia so it solved the problem of me disturbing Jane's sleep, which often happened when we shared a bed.
As far as our sex life was concerned, well it made no difference. Unfortunately, it was now non-existent and hadn't been for the past two years or so. Jane was going through the menopause and had lost all interest in sex. I lived in hope that one day it would return.
It must have been about ten O'clock when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I had showered before eating and was relaxing in front of the TV wearing only my pyjama trousers as it was a warm evening.
"Mind if I join you" asked Danni.
"No of course not, come and sit down," I answered, surprised to see her.
"Mum's asleep already but I don't think I could sleep yet," she said sitting down the opposite end of the sofa to me.
"To much on your mind I expect!" I said.
"Yeah its a bit like that," she agreed.
"Did the chat with your Mum help?" I asked.
"Yeah she made me realise that I am probably over thinking the problem, but she did suggest I get your take on it. You know, like a man's point of view," she said.
"Oh! Well, I don't know!" I spluttered.
"It's just that from what Mum said oral sex wasn't an issue with you and her. You both enjoyed it. But Sam, well, he wont do it. At least not to me," Danni said.
I was totally out of my comfort zone. I didn't think I should be talking to my stepdaughter about such things and I was surprised Jane had suggested it.
"By the way Mum feels really guilty that she's lost interest. She said that you've been really good about it but she does feel bad. She still loves you you know," She said.
"You really have had good chat with your Mum haven't you. Yeah I know she still loves me and I still love her" I said feeling very awkward with the conversation.
"So what do you think? Am I being unreasonable expecting oral from Sam? I mean he's happy for me to do it to him. More than happy in fact," Danni said.
