Sure, honey, he said. Ill get on that right away.
He pulled his sweaty shirt off, and I flicked my eyes towards the window uncomfortably. I didnt want to stare. He was ripped. Every square inch of him was cut; abs, shoulders, his chest; everything. I let my eyes lick over his body for a second before I kept needling him.
You know, I said, you could probably find someone through Internet dating.
Jesus Christ, that sounds like a real nightmare. I tried to stifle a giggle. Id probably just stumble upon another nut-case like your mom. I smiled.
I made you a couple eggs. I figured youd be returning soon.
Thanks, sweetheart, he said, wandering into the kitchen.
I knew I shouldnt, but I watched him walk away. His ass and legs looked tight and powerful, especially when he wore his running shorts, and his back was broad. Looking at the shape of his body, like an inverted triangle, with his narrow waist and broad, defined shoulders gave me a delightful shiver. Now that he wasnt looking at me, I let myself drink in his body.
You still going out with that hippy boy? he called from the kitchen.
His names Caleb. I shouted back. I felt anxious. Ever since Id started dating Caleb, my stepfather had seemed a little more on edge than usual. I wrote it off as him merely being protective.
Whatever. You still going out with him? When am I going to meet the girl whos dating my daughter?
I dont know, I replied. Soon. Lets just say my stepfather was a bit on the old-fashioned, conservative side when it came to guys with long hair.
He walked back into the room with a glass of orange juice, his expression serious. I squirmed uncomfortably in my chair. Its time you did. I want to know what kind of person he is, if I can trust him.
I rolled my eyes. Caleb was nice and accommodating, a real gentleman. And so far, all we had done up to this point in our relationship was kiss; he even asked my permission, in a way that had totally killed the moment.
Just what do you see in that boy, anyway? My stepfathers face looked practically twisted with consternation.
Dadgeez. I rolled my eyes again. I didnt know how I could make him understand. Wed moved to Tucson last year, from an upscale suburb in Phoenix. It had been my senior year of high school, in a totally new town, in a private high school full of hostile kids. Caleb and his friends were the only kids who were nice to me. They were a totally different crowd from the friends Id had in Scottsdale: they were a hippy-ish, festival-going, easy-going group of people. We would spend long hours slack-lining and playing disk golf in Calebs yard (his dad was one of the largest land developers in Arizona, and their place was massive), and we would go for long hikes in the canyons above Tucson, in the Santa Catalina Mountains. And we did some things that I knew my stepdad would wholly disapprove of, like smoke weed. I hadnt been crazy about it at first, but I was always around Caleb, and he smoked, so eventually I started, too. I felt nervous just thinking about my little pipe and the jar of buds in my panty drawer.
Dont sweat it. Im more-or-less teasing anyway. Are you still on for movie night?
My friends usually drove out to Reddington Pass on Saturday nights to look at the lights and get high, but I preferred to spend the time with my stepdad. It was sort of a father-daughter movie night. Wed been doing it for so long, ever since my mom left us, that not spending the time with him just felt wrong. Especially since Id be leaving for college in a few short months. It was our time together. Of course, I said, glad that he had changed the subject.
Good. He
then leaned over and kissed my hair before mussing it affectionately. I secretly wished he was sitting with me in the big chair, and I could nuzzle his body and kiss him back, on the lips.
Ugh , I thought as he walked away again, making my body ache with desire. I was almost happy that I was leaving him. I had to get this crazy obsession with my stepdad off my mind, lose these forbidden feelings and leave the nest to go and have a life of my own, dating normal boys and finally finding a group of friends I could really relate to.
****
After my shift lifeguarding, I met Caleb at our favorite coffee shop downtown.
Its called Sonic Emergence, Caleb said, pulling a flyer for a music festival out of his backpack and setting it on the table in front of us.
Looks interesting, I approved, running a hand through his blond dreadlocks. The flyer had some kind of weird, druggy fractal thing on it, in a bloom of swirling blue and purple colors.
I went last year, it was totally heady. Heady. I wished he would stop using that word. Heady and trippy were definitely Calebs favorite adjectives, and I wished he would stop using them to describe absolutely everything, because they didnt actually mean anything.
Charlie and I are camping with one of the artists. He works for a company that takes care of the artists on tour, getting their groceries, whatever. Hes going to throw me a couple hundred bucks to help him out. You should come. Last year was too trippy.