Sarah and Eric

I met Melissa at a frat party. It was my first one as a freshman at UCLA. I quickly discovered that I didn't belong here. I noticed one girl standing in the back, away from all the action. She looked totally bored and totally beautiful. I decided to see if she was a kindred spirit. I slowly moved in her direction. I stopped beside her.

"So, what do you think of this party?"

She snorted and replied, "Looks like a bunch of drunks trying to get laid."

"I was thinking the same. Something like a body exchange."

"That's it exactly."

"Let's get out of here. There's a nice coffee house just down the street."

She didn't answer, she just took my hand and led me out the door.

As we chatted I discovered she was a business major and he minor was accounting. I told her I was in for a degree in mechanical engineering. She was in her junior year. We hit it off right away. We exchanged cell numbers and away we went. We tried to put the condom factories on a twenty four hour shifts. I never did find out if we did.

One surprise she had for me. She had a one year old daughter. It seems that she had too much to drink one night and got careless. She said she never got drunk after that. She learned her lesson. Neither one of them wanted to get married so she had Sarah on her own.

The first time I met Sarah she grabbed my heart. She just walked up to me and held her arms up for me to pick her up. She said her version of "up up". It sounded more like "pup pup".I couldn't resist. Her arms went around my neck and I got the hug of my life. She followed me around all the time I was there. Every time I sat down she crawled on my lap. Melissa just smiled.

Melissa and I stayed together till we both graduated. I had an apartment and she lived with her parents. Six months after I graduated we got married and she and Sarah moved into my apartment.

Mel got a good job with an accounting firm and I landed one with a company that manufactured robots and factory equipment. It was right up my alley.

When I was a kid I took everything apart to see how it worked. The lawn mower, edger, string trimmer and my Dad's expensive hammer drill. I never did the the drill back together. Dad didn't say much but he let me know I screwed up. He wasn't happy when he had to buy a new one. A couple of VCR's ended up in the trash too. My first bicycle survived me somehow. My Dad confiscated my motorized skate board. He explained that the lawn mower engine was too big for it. I never did find out how fast it would go.

*******************

Mel, Sarah and I settled into a nice comfortable household. Our sex life was better than good. We both worked nine to five and got home about the same time. I usually picked Sarah up from daycare. She was always happy to see me. I got a big hug and a kiss each time.

It was an odd relationship that Mel had with Sarah. It wasn't like Mel ever neglected her. It was more like she wasn't one hundred percent into being a mother. She did all the necessary stuff. She bought her clothes, fixed meals, and got her ready for bed. Everything a mother would do. It seemed like I did more for her as time went on. If I needed help she never complained at all. She just let me take over.

One day I picked Sarah up from daycare. She asked me, "Awick, are you my Daddy?"

I almost choked.

"Do you want me to be your Daddy?"

"Yes."

"OK, how about we do this. I'll be your Daddy and you can be my baby girl. How does the sound."

She agreed and from that day on she called me Daddy and I called her baby girl. Mel saw it and just smiled. Of course my heart turned to mush. I realized she had me wrapped around her little finger. I didn't mind. I loved her with all my heart.

Watching her grow up was a true delight for me. I saw her go from imaginary friends to dolls to having her giggling girlfriends in for sleepovers. At that time boys were just dirty booger eaters. I watched when she discovered make up and start paying more attention about her clothes. When she turned twelve she started her periods. I told Mel I needed some help. She needed a woman to get her though that. Mel gladly took her aside and they dealt with it. Sarah informed me later that she was a woman now.

She started filling out. Mel got her her first training bra. I helped her thorough having boyfriends. The best advice I could give her was to listen to what they say but judge them by their actions. She caught on real fast. She had a few different boyfriends but none really made an impression on her. Most of them just wanted in her pants, but there were a few nice ones. I wondered if she was too selective.

Over the grapevine, Mel heard of an accounting firm that was up for sale. She sat down with the owner and they looked over the books. Evidently Mel saw some potential there. We sat down one evening and talked about her buying it. We both felt that she was competent enough to take it on.

She went to see if she could get a business loan at our bank. They asked her to show them a business model and then they would talk. For the next two weeks Mel was consumed with preparing it for them. She took it to them and they told her she needed to put some of her money down. We had a pretty good savings account built up by then. We decided to put up seventy five thousand as a down payment. The back accepted it and they closed the deal.

She worked with the previous owner for about a month so he could show her how he ran it. She had her own ideas about improving it. She brought some of the accounts she had with her previous employer and she was on her way.

Slowly she started putting in more hours each day. More of the responsibility for taking care of Sarah fell on me. I became her taxi driver and her sounding board with all the stuff that a teenage girl goes through. Both Sarah and I took over running the house. We cooked all the meals, cleaned the house, did the laundry and took care of the yard work. We were a team. As time passed Mel ended up working twelve to fourteen hours a day. Our sex life went to almost zero. We rubbed our bodies together once or twice a month. After being turned down more often that not I quit asking. It ended up like having a room mate instead of a wife. At times I thought about getting a divorce but I decided to wait till Sarah graduated from high school. I never made an issue about it because I knew nothing would change. She was into building her business up. She would help me with Sarah, but only if I asked. She never complained about it. She just did it and want back to her business.

When Sarah was seventeen a competitor company offered me a five year contract. It was a one third increase in salary and a nice signing bonus. It seems they had a contract with two factories that wanted to upgrade their equipment. I talked it over with Mel. She didn't seem to care one way or the other. It was a short conversation.

"Kind of hard to turn that down. You should take it."

I agreed and accepted the offer.

***********************

I was having a cup of coffee in the break room afternoon. One of the managers was talking about a home in the mountains about an hours drive away he wanted to get rid of. His parents owned it and they were getting up in age. They wanted to live nearer to their medical facilities. Neither he nor his wife were interested in using it. I told him I might be interested in it. He suggested we go take a look.

That weekend he showed it to me. It was a nice A frame house on ten acres. It had two bedrooms downstairs and one big one upstairs. It's surrounded by Forest Service but had deeded access. It had a propane generator, water rights from a nearby creek and satellite TV. There was a fireplace with two big picture windows giving a nice view of the lake and the boat dock.

My signing bonus would almost cover the purchase price. I mentioned it to Mel and she just shrugged her shoulders. I knew she wouldn't be interested. Sarah was excited about it. Six days later we put it in escrow.

Escrow closed and I was the proud owner. One Friday night at dinner I mentioned that I wanted to go up to the cabin and get it cleaned up. Of course Mel passed but Sarah jumped on the idea.

Saturday morning found Sarah and I on our way. We were both looking forward to it. She hadn't seen the place yet, but when I mentioned the lake she was ready to go.

I pulled up next to the house and we carried all of our camping supplies in. The furniture had plastic covers. There were a few mouse dropping around, but all in all it wasn't too bad. I went out an fired up the generator. Luckily there was some propane left. I left Sarah in charge of the house and I went to check outside.

For the next two hours I ran the weed eater and cleared the tall grass from around all the buildings. I found some firewood already cut. The tool shed had just about everything I would need. I got hungry so I went back inside. Sarah did an amazing job. She had swept and mopped the wood floor and made the beds. She was finishing up the kitchen as I walked in.

"It's gotta be lunch time. I'm starving.'

She turned and looked at me with a big smile. I noticed that she had changed clothes. She was wearing a t shirt and shorts. I could see her dark nipples through the shirt. As she turned her unfettered breasts swayed under her shirt. I flashed back to the years watching her grow into a young woman. She would run around in the evening wearing just a t shirt and panties. I had chastised myself for looking at her as a woman. I tried to keep a damper on the lustful thoughts that kept coming up. Sometimes I did better than other times.

"You sit down and I'll get us something."

She dug around in the ice chest and came up with some sandwiches and two sodas. She plopped down across from me, her breasts swaying for me. Some lustful thoughts crept in. I think she noticed because she smiled and blushed a little. I suddenly realized it was going to be a difficult weekend. She was underage and my daughter and here I was thinking like a dirty old man.

I did mange to keep it under control. We got the cabin all set for humans. Sunday afternoon we drove home.

We went in the house and Sarah hunted up Mel and regaled her with everything about the cabin. Mel listened politely till she wound down. Then Mel asked her if she missed her boyfriend being gone all weekend.

"Mom, he's not my boyfriend. I just hang around with him so I don't get called the ice queen."

"I thought you liked him. You're together a lot."

"I like him but I don't love him. He's just a friend."

With that, Sarah turned and walked away. Mel went back to her computer.

***************

June rolled around and things got busy; for Sarah, anyway. She had two term papers to finish, a birthday on the eighth and graduation on the fifteenth. As usual Mel was micromanaging her company and I was busy keeping the new contracts going.

Sarah finished her term papers and turned them in. She had a nice birthday party in spite of some guys trying to crash it. I had the cops do a couple of drive by's to discourage them.

"Of course Mel and I attended her graduation. She was happy as a clam. She went to a graduation party and was home at eleven. I was really proud of her.

Around the end of June I suggested we all take two weeks and go up to the cabin. I had to work on Mel but she finally came around. They both went shopping for groceries.

Even on the first day I knew Mel wasn't going to last two weeks. She sat around looking off into space. I knew she was thinking about her company.

The first night there I made a attempt to make love. It hand been about three weeks since our last encounter. I started caressing her and felt her stiffen up.

"Please don't, honey. Sarah might hear us. This house is so open. Maybe tomorrow when she goes swimming."

I just rolled over and went to sleep. The next night Sarah and I stayed up late watching a movie. I never made another attempt.

Monday at noon her cell phone went off. There was some minor crisis and she spent an hour taking care of it. Another hour passed it it rang again. The call lasted about ten minutes. She looked me up.

"Honey. I need to go back. Some problems came up I need to take care of."

I didn't argue or complain. I knew it was going to happen.

"OK, I'll drive you back. We'll be there in about an hour."

"Thank you, honey. I hope I'm not spoiling your vacation."

"Not at all. Sarah and I'll be fine. We can keep each other company. You go ahead and take care of business."

"I'll be ready in a few minutes."

I turned to Sarah.

"You want to ride into town? We'll be back in a couple of hours."

"No, I think I'll stay and work on my tan. I made a list of things we need. It's on the counter."

"OK, I'll take care of it."

On the way back to town I thought it would be a good time to talk.

"Mel, I've been thinking about something for a while. I wanted to wait till Sarah graduated before I brought it up. I think we should get a divorce."

"Really, what brought this on?"

"Our marriage is a sham. All we do is work, come home, eat and sleep. We haven't made love in I don't know how long. It's like we're roommates instead of a married couple. I think it's time to end it."

"I haven't really thought about it. You have your work and I have mine. I thought everything was ok."

"There's more to life than what we do. Sarah will be off to college soon and with the hours you work, I'll be sitting around watching TV every night waiting for you to come home."

"I have to put those hours in to make my business work. I can't fail at it. Too many people are depending on me for their jobs. It's a responsibility I can't take lightly."

"I understand, Mel. I wouldn't ask you to give it up. I know how important it is to you. I just think we should just move on with our lives. We both have good incomes and the only thing we need to split is the house. It's way too big for one person. We can just sell it and split the profit."

"I see where you're coming from and you're not wrong. Let me get my mind around it and we can talk later."

"OK, call me if you want to come back up to the cabin. I can run in and pick you up. I'm going to stay there for the rest of my vacation."

I dropped her off and stopped by the supermarket. I managed to find all the things on Sarah's list. As I drove back I wondered what Mel would be thinking. I suppose it didn't matter. I was going to divorce her no matter what. I would give her a little time to get her head around it.

I pulled up by the cabin and Sarah ran out on the porch. She had a big smile and her breasts were bouncing.

"Daddy. Did you get the stuff on my list?"

"Yep, I got it all. I'm such a good Daddy."

"The best in the world."

She gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek. Her plush breasts against my chest didn't go unnoticed. Neither did her stomach pushed against my cock.

She unpacked everything and I asked to sit with me.

"I did something today you need to know about. I told your mother I wanted a divorce."

She didn't react much at all. It kind of surprised me.

"It's about time, Daddy. I've been living there too. There's nothing left of your marriage. You two just live in the same house."

My mouth dropped open. She knew exactly what had been going on for the past few years. I just looked at her.

'Did Mom freak out when you told her?"

"Surprisingly not. It did catch her off guard. She just said she would think about it. We'll know when we go back home."

"That's ok, Daddy. We'll be just fine without her."

I wondered if she knew how prophetic her remark was.

We went swimming that afternoon. She had a string bikini she wore. I had never seen it before. I suspect she and her mother bought it on one of their shopping expeditions. It didn't leave much to the imagination. Of course she kept jumping on my back trying to dunk me. I let her a few times just so she wouldn't stop. Those big ol titties felt really good on my back and the water hid my hard on. Well, it was hid it most of the time. She bumped it a couple of time. I suspected she did it on purpose. I really felt like a dirty old man.

We went back to the cabin and got dressed. She had started dinner as I came out of the bedroom. This time she was wearing a long t shirt I didn't see any pantie line under them. 'Danger Will Robinson. Danger' ran through my mind.

We finished dinner and I suggested we start a cribbage tournament. We would play twenty games and the loser had to do dishes for three days. The next day I lost by two games. I really didn't mind. We cleaned up the kitchen together anyway.

I got a huge surprise on Thursday. Mel showed up. She had a serious look on her face. I looked at Sarah and we both took a deep breath as she walked in the door.

'Hi, you two. How's everything?"

"We're good. Welcome back."

"I won't be staying long. I thought over what we talked about the other day. I had an attorney draw up some divorce papers. You can look them over and see what you think."

I just stood there with my mouth hanging open. I never expected anything like this so soon, but this was her style. Think it over, make a decision and act on it. It was what made her business work so well.

"I didn't expect anything this soon. Mel. Let me take a look."

I sat at the table and read through it. Sarah didn't say a word but looked over my shoulder. It was a straight up split. We would agree to split the savings account. Sell the house and split the profit and an agreed to split Sarah's college expenses. I would have no claims on her business and we both kept our separate medical plans and 401K's.

Sarah walked around and hugged her Mom.

"Are you going to be OK with this, Mom?"

"I thought about it a lot. You're Dad's right. We're just roommates living in a big house. There isn't anything left of our marriage. I think it's best. You're almost ready to start you own life. Just promise you'll stay in touch with me. I'll always be your Mom.

"I promise, Mom. I love you."

They hugged and cried a little. I was really glad there was no animosity between us. It made the divorce so easy.

"I don't see any problems here, Mel. It's very fair and Sarah is taken care of. I'll sign it."

We sat around for a while, just chatting. Sarah mentioned that she wanted to stay with me till she went to college. He decision didn't register any reaction from Mel.

Mel stated looking antsy and I could tell she wanted to leave. I got up and took her hand. I gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. We both knew there were some residual feelings but we knew we had made the right choice. Sarah joined in the hug and we walked out with Mel. With the papers under her arm she got in her car. Without looking back she drove off. I didn't realize but I was holding my breath. I exhaled and sat down on the step. Sarah sat beside me.

"You OK, Daddy?"

"I think so. She just hit me with this so sudden and way sooner than I thought. It hasn't sunk in yet. It's been a long time since I was single. It's going to take some getting used to."

"You still have me, Daddy. I'll always be here for you."

"I know, baby girl. You've been my life line the last few years. Without you I would have been gone a long time ago. You got my heart the first day I saw you. I remember like it was yesterday. You walked up to me hand held you arms up. You said, 'up up' and I got the best hug of my life."

"I was little but I knew a good man when I saw one. I still love hugging you."

We were getting all weepy eyed and I grabbed her and hugged her up tight.

"I love you, baby girl."

"I love you too, Daddy.

We went back inside and sat on the sofa. She turned on the TV and snuggled up next to me. I don't think either one of was listening to the TV. We were both lost in thought about what had just happened. I would find out what she was thinking in the next couple of days. I kept trying to think of myself as single. It had a strange ring to it but it was slowly sinking in. I knew I wasn't legally divorced but I felt that signing the papers released both of us from our marriage vows. I didn't care if Mel got three boyfriends.