Kate's Playground Ch. 01

This was no ordinary week.

It all started with my drive back home from the office. I'd just got off the freeway after witnessing a horrific car crash, and was feeling angst-ridden. Life had a grip on my neck and I could barely breath. My heart was still pounding and my chest was tight so loosened my tie and took ten deep breaths. The monotone hum of a twenty-year existence at the same job can drive a man to do strange things, as I was about to find out. I finished my tenth deep breath and was feeling extremely light headed as I drove past the neighbors' house. I saw their dog grinding into a stuffed toy animal on their porch. I couldn't believe it. He was going at it and my neighbor just sat there like everything was normal watching their cute little dog hump a toy. He wasn't even laughing; he just had this sick smile on his face. What was the world coming to?

Jann, my wife, was still at work. Our daughter, Katelyn was on summer break, but was rarely ever home. She usually was off at the beach, tanning that perfect 10 body of hers. She was getting ready for college by being as lazy as possible. But I was surprised she still didn't have a summer fling. Already three weeks into her vacation and no sign of love. I guess she must have been going to a private beach. She always had ex-boyfriends calling the house asking for her current cell number. She told me not to give it out, so they were out of luck. She always seemed to have a boyfriend, but not now. Strange.

I threw my brief case down on the couch and headed for the shower. The warm water rolled over my head, through my hair, and down my back. I finally started to relax.

After drying off, I heard a knock on the bathroom door. "Honey, is that you?" I asked. "Dad?" I heard Kate's soft pleading tone. My little girl always talked in that cute little girl voice when she needed something. So I threw a towel around my waist and opened the door still dripping wet. Kate was in tears.

"What is it, honey? Tell me what happened. Are you okay?" I said as I moved my arms around her shoulders. "Yes Daddy." She replied nervously.

"Tell me what's the matter." I tired to appear strong and caring, even though I was really worried about her. She had that puppy dog look, and I knew she was in trouble.

"Dad, please don't be upset with me." She heisted. I waited patiently, or at least looked calm on the outside, but inside I was spinning. What happened to my baby girl? As a father, I had to be an expert at putting on that invincible face; I had to look strong even if I didn't feel it. I was her superhero and was good at it because I had years of practice.

"I crashed my car. I'm okay, but the car was destroyed. Mom is going to kill me." She handed me the mechanic's estimate for the cost of repair. My mouth dropped. "Oh, god...", I stammered. She replied, "The Mechanic says the engine needs to be rebuilt and it needs a lot of body work. What are we going to do?"

I stood there a moment, not sure what to say. Thoughts raced through my head. What are we going to do was right, we have barely enough money for Kate's school, how are we going to afford buying a new car, or fix the old one? That was asking for a miracle.

I looked at her for a long minute. She had that lost and frightened look. The kind that was genuine. I could always tell when she was faking. "What are we going to do Daddy?" Her eyes were pleading with me to find some solution, but I had none. I just stood there with my arms around my little girl, still dripping wet. I took a deep breath and tired to think hard, but my mind was blank.

"If Mom finds out she'll make me stay home for the entire year to save up money while the rest of my friends are off at school." She cried. The tears welled up in her wide eyes and she tugged on my arm and pouted. "Dad, say something."

"It looks like its time for you to get a job, pronto." I said. That was it; it was all about the money. If I were making more, there wouldn't be any problem. I'd buy her a new car, end of story. But that wasn't the case. She and I both knew how broke we were, how long we'd been saving to send her off to college. This was a tragedy.

"But Daddy, I can't make enough money, I only have a month before school starts again." She protested. I saw I had to be firm so I cut to the chase. "That's true. But we are strapped for cash. You know that. It's hard enough that we mortgaged our home, and we still can't cover all our bills. You Mother and I are in debt and we just can't cut it."

"I know." She said. "I guess I'll go get a paper and see what's available. But please don't tell mom. Maybe I can make enough to pay of the cost of the repair before summer's over." I let go of her and moved into the kitchen. She followed me from behind like a little puppy. I was still in my towel, but the water started to evaporate off my back. I poured myself a cup of orange juice. And took a big gulp.

"Dad, why aren't you saying anything? You always have the answers."

When I turned back to face her, I noticed a cut on her leg. She'd been injured in the accident.

"Baby, your hurt. Come back into the bathroom." I lead the way back into the bathroom, opened the cabinet and pulled out so hydrogen peroxide. "Sit here." I pointed to the toilet and got down on my knees. She sat down on the toilet seat and squeezed her legs together, feeling embarrassed. "Do I need to go see a doctor?" She asked.

"I don't think so, lets see." I said as I tired to pull her legs apart. She spread her legs and I examined the scratched areas. She'd been scratched on the inside and outside of her thigh and up her hip and rib cage. Her shoulder and arm was scratched as well.

"I think you'll be fine. I'll just put some peroxide and cream on so they don't get infected, unless you want to do it yourself."

"No, Daddy, you do it, I can barely think right now. I'm all jumpy." She looked exhausted and disoriented.

"I'm sorry baby. Just relax." I reassured her.

I applied the hydrogen peroxide to inside of her leg first with a cotton swab. My other fingers felt her smooth skin of her inside thigh as I ran my hand along the length of her leg.

I started to wonder if it was such a good idea to keep this a secret from her mother. "If you work full time, even on weekends, you'll barely have enough time to make up for it. Where are you going to get the rest of the money?"

"Can't you help?" She asked.

"I don't know baby. You know Mom and I have given you everything. We don't even have enough to go out to dinner every once in a while." I rubbed the cotton swab down her arm and up onto her shoulder and noticed the scratch marks ran under her shirt and could see a little blood under her shirt.

"I am going to use my Grant money." She said. I was in shock. This wasn't a good idea.

"Baby, you shouldn't do that. You'll be on a budget at school and need every penny. We went over this." "I know," she agreed.

"Baby, you're scratched under you shirt, did you get side swiped?" I asked. She nodded.

"The other car hit my door and threw me into it and the car almost flipped." "Jesus." I said. "Well, you have blood on your shirt, take it off so I can get to your back."

She slides her shirt off over the top of her head, revealing her bare skin. Her breasts plopped down into her bra. They were big. I swallowed nervously. She had a perfect body and nice tan skin. Her long black hair draped down over her shoulders and down her chest like a rushing river that ran through hilly fields.

She was only wearing a bra underneath, but I'd seen her many times before, so it was no big deal. I sat up on the edge of the bathtub. "Honey, can you hold your hair up." I asked. She reached up and pulled her hair off her back. This pushed her breasts together. I started rubbing the peroxide on her upper back in small circles. But my eyes kept glancing at her breasts. Since when did they get so big?

"I've got to get that car fixed." She said, "There isn't any other way to hide it from Mom. You know how she is. I'll have to waste an entire year, doing nothing Dad. Please, don't tell her." She was really trying hard to convince me, and she looked at me with those wide beautiful blue eyes. But I just ignored her plea because this time, I could see she was faking.

I pulled out a tube of ointment cream to rub over her cuts and squeezed a large blob into the palm of my hand. I rubbed it onto her shoulder gently as not to hurt her and then her back. I realized I was still in my towel and my daughter was half naked as well. I'm glad Jenn wasn't home. She'd have a fit.

"I don't know baby. I don't want to lie to your mother." I squeezed another large blob of cream out of the tube and stroked her arm up and down gently. She had let her thin arms fall back down to her sides once I finished rubbing her back. I took her arm and raised it again so I could get to her rib cage. My, her breasts were huge, I thought. That bra she was wearing seemed a little too small for her and it made her cleavage pop out in the front and also on the sides. I looked away, what was I thinking, this was my daughter. But part of me wanted to look back again, I just couldn't help myself.

She wined, "But Dad, you can't tell her. You know she won't let me go to school. She thinks I should work a couple of years to save up some more money anyway. I'm telling you, I can make the money." She was right, her Mom was pretty stuck on that idea and this would be a perfect excuse for her to pull Kate out of school.

"You're right baby, but sometimes the truth is best out in the open." I moved down in between her legs again. I put my hand on her knee and spread her legs. She leaned back with an exasperated sigh and folded her arms. This time I squeezed the cream directly onto the inside of her thigh. "Oh, that's cold." She said. "Sorry, baby, we're almost done. Does this make you feel any better?" I asked. She just smiled and nodded.

I took my hand and rubbed the cream in small circles on her leg. I pressed the soft flesh of her inner thigh gently, and then rolled my hand around her leg to the other side. I put cream in both of my hands and massaged her leg. She closed her eyes and let out a small groan. "Mmm, that feels good." What was I doing? My heart was racing, and I had the biggest, hardest erection. I was groping my daughter's leg. This wasn't right. When she tilted her head back, I looked up at her cleavage and almost cam in my pants. I sighed and shook my head. This is ridiculous I repeated over and over in my head, I am her father. You shouldn't be thinking these things.

I stood up, and washed my hands. I looked over as she pulled her shirt down over her head. My God, her breasts were perfect looking, popping out of her bra like that. She pulled her shirt all the way down and I continued to look at her through the mirror. She had that perfect rolling hills shape. Wow, what a lucky father. What am I thinking, I asked myself.

"Okay, all done." I smiled nervously, eyeing her perfect lips. Now I was looking at her lips! I must be going nuts, looking at my daughter this way. I've got to get out of here.

"Please Dad, just don't tell her, okay?" She looked at me waiting for an answer. She leaned in close and whispered in my ear, "Please."

But I started off to my room, and without looking back I said, "I'll think about it." I couldn't take it anymore. My daughter was driving me crazy.

I got dressed and looked at myself in the mirror.