“You look fine, Kiersten,” I said. “You're a very pretty girl. Considering what you're wearing, I guess I can get away with saying you have a beautiful body. You're very smart, very good in school, and, from what I've seen and what Jamie tells me, you're probably just too good for the high school boys you know. At your age, girls are much more mature than guys. High school guys are dense, but they all know you're out of their league. Wait till you get to college. Guys will be butting in line to ask you out.”
I put the gear away while the girls went inside to clean up, and then I called for pizza. When it arrived, my daughter and Kiersten came downstairs, dressed in the clothes they had worn to the mall. We talked about the girls' summer plans as we ate, and the conversation went to their friend Melody's birthday party and sleepover.
“Where are we going to sleep, Dad?” Jamie asked. “We didn't talk about that.”
“Hmm, well, I guess you're probably going to be up half the night, so why don't you girls stay in the living room? I'll keep my door closed, so we won't bother each other.”
“That should work. We all have air mattresses, don't we, Kiersten?” Jamie said.
“If Melody doesn't have one, she can use my sister's.”
When we were done eating, my daughter drove Kiersten home. I took care of the dishes and was settled in front of the TV by the time Jamie got back.
She cuddled against me to watch the rest of the show. Then she said, “Thank you for today.”
“For what?”
“Two things, really. First, for pretending you didn't overhear us in the kitchen.”
“I was too scared to move at first. I was afraid Kiersten would guess what was going on around here,” I said.
“I think I handled her okay,” Jamie said. “See, I told you I could behave.”
“Yes, thank God.”
“The other thing was what you said to Kiersten after we washed the car. She was mortified, you know,” Jamie said.
“That I saw her that way?” I asked.
“Yeah. She's real funny about her body. She was the first girl in our class to need a bra. Everybody used to tease her about her boobs when none of the rest of us had any. Jealous, I guess.”
“k**s can be cruel,” I said.
“She thinks you're hot, you know.”
“Me?”
“Oh yeah,” Jamie said. “She's been telling me that for years. It meant a lot to her to hear that you think she looks good. And you didn't act like you were going to paw all over her like some guys would, even though you had a boner.”
“I hoped no one would notice,” I said.
“We did. It was pretty obvious. It's okay, though. After what you said to her, Kiersten thought it was all for her.”
“That's not good,” I said.
“It's fine. At least she didn't think it was for me,” Jamie said. “I told her that guys have responses to what they see, just like girls do. It doesn't have to mean anything.
Nothing except that I'm suddenly lusting over teenage girls, I thought.
“What are you doing for the rest of the evening?” I asked.
“I'm going to talk to Melody on the phone for a while, and put away the stuff I bought, and see how much I have to shave to wear my new bathing suit. Then I'm going to bed. I think I'll sleep alone tonight, if that's okay. I'm still a little sore, and I know what I'd want to do if I was in bed with you. Besides, I have school in the morning.”
“You can take the car, if you want. I'm going to work from home tomorrow.”
“Oh, good, that means I can stop at the clinic after school and get my shot. Then we can do what we want.”
She kissed me goodnight, and started toward the stairs. “Oh, by the way, you might be interested to know what Kiersten said when I was driving her home.”