Sally my niece. The mountains are hot!

The sun in the mountains is filtered through the trees, and isn’t all that intense first thing in the morning. I don’t know what time it was, but the smell of bacon cooking, and coffee greeted me. I awoke alone in my bed, so obviously, Sally had gotten up early, and cooked breakfast. I got up, put on my bathrobe, and whistled a tune as I walked down the stairs. I got to the kitchen, and Sally looked at me from the table, with an almost scared look on her face. I was trying to figure out what was going on, when I heard another voice.
“Hey Boss, glad you could join us sleepy head.” Don was standing at the stove, along with Brenda making us breakfast.
“Uncle Mark!” I heard a squeal from behind me, and arms were around my neck from behind.
“Hey Alexandria. How ya doin kiddo?” I was trying to hide my confusion, but decided I’d just ask. “You did tell my I could borrow the place this week right Don?”
“Oh yea buddy, we just thought we’d drive up, and see how the place looked, and make sure you had everything you need. Breakfast was an afterthought, when we realized that we got here so early.” He was sampling the bacon, and trying to talk at the same time.
Brenda looked like she was going to cry, and came over to me and gave me a hug. “I’m so sorry Mark,” she said. “Who’d have thought Leesha would have done such a thing.”
I knew Brenda was trying to help, and be thoughtful, but it seemed to me like she knew about what had been going on all along, and that upset me some. “Yea, who knew?” I managed.
Sally was sitting next to Alex at the table and they were talking quietly when Don started passing plates around the table. “Uncle Mark, can Alex stay the week with us?” She asked through a mouth full of eggs.
“Yea Uncle Mark, that’s a great idea.” Alex chimed in “That way I could keep Sally company while you do what ever you’re gonna do.”
Sally looked at me with a look that I thought said, “Say no, I had to ask you because she wanted me to, but say no” but then chimed back in with Alex. “Please?”
I looked at Don. “It wouldn’t bother me any.”
Don looked at Brenda and gave her an “I don’t care if you don’t” shrug.
Brenda looked back at Alex. “You don’t have any clothes with you, or any of your stuff.”
“I’ve got plenty of stuff, and she can wear my clothes.” Sally interrupted looking at both Don and Brenda with a pouting look.
“Ok sweetie, as long as Uncle Mark doesn’t mind.” Brenda looked at me for final approval.
“It’s set then.” I shrugged sipping my coffee. “What she doesn’t have we can shop for.” This sent the girls into a squeal of approval.
I got the impression that Don and Brenda had planned this whole thing. I almost expected that Alex would retrieve a suitcase from their trunk fully packed. Everybody sat down and ate, which didn’t take too long. After I finished, I complimented the chef, and announced that I was going to go get in the shower, and get dressed.
“Well, we’ll get out of your hair then.” Don said, “You’re sure Alex isn’t going to be a bother? You’re supposed to be on vacation.”
“No, no bother at all. We’ll have a blast.” I said turning to head upstairs. “You guys drive safe, and I’ll see you next week.” I got up the stairs, and I heard the door close, then their engine start. I waited for tires to squeal as they made their escape, but didn’t hear any.
“You don’t mind her being here do ya daddy?” Sally came up behind me and startled me a little while I was taking my robe off.
“Uh, no, not if you don’t.” I said trying to close my robe again. “Don’t forget,” I whispered, “you can’t tell anybody about what we’ve been doing. Not even Alex.”
“She touched my cheek, with a look on her face that reminded me of a mature lover. A woman of age that exceeded her years of life, the teenager was gone. “Don’t worry, it’s our secret.” She smiled at me, and then walked back down the stairs.
I put on some shorts, and a golf shirt, and then headed down stairs to see what was going on. Sally had gotten dressed, and was sitting at the table with Alex. They seemed to be planning our day for us, looking at a map of the village that showed off all of the attractions available.
“Daddy, can we go to the mall?” Sally asked.
“I don’t see why not. Is this a drop you guys off party, or am I allowed to tag along?” I asked jeering them a little, knowing that two teenaged girls probably don’t want a forty-year-old man hanging around.
“A drop off trip. I need a new bathing suit, and some un-mentionables.” She winked at me while Alex was looking down at the map. “Alex needs a few things too.”
“Well, I’ll be in the mall, but I won’t hang around you guys. I need a few things as well.” I had to play the responsible one. “Are we ready to go?”
The two girls didn’t say anything to me, but started rattling on about what shops were there, and what they were going to look at. We got in the pick-up truck, and headed to town. Once at the mall, as agreed, we split up with a pre-arranged meet time and place. I promised them that we’d go out to dinner, and maybe a movie when the shopping was done. I gave Sally one of my credit cards, and made her promise not to take it over the limit, but I didn’t tell her what the limit was. She could spend anything she wanted. I didn’t care.
My time was spent lazily moving from one shop to another, looking at one thing or another, but not really interested in anything in particular. “No thanks, just looking.” Seemed to be my catch phrase of the day, as sales person after sales person greeted me with fake smiles, but genuine greed for the credit card number in my wallet. While aimlessly walking around, I thought about Sally. Had I already dug myself into a hole with her? I couldn’t decide if I loved her like a daughter, or a lover. She really wasn’t my daughter, or related to me by blood in any way, so really it wasn’t incest. It was, however, Statutory Rape in the state we were in, but only for another year.
I was having feelings that I hadn’t felt since I was in my twenties, and I liked it. Was it the beginnings of a mid-life crisis? She was perfect in every way. She seemingly worshiped the ground I walked on, and wanted to do anything she could to please me, sexually, or otherwise. She could cook, and clean, and really take care of me. But was it right, and furthermore, did I care? As long as nobody got hurt, what would it hurt, right? But was I scarring her for life. Would she eventually want to go out with someone her own age, or would she want to stay with me. What would the public think if they ever found out? All of the questions without answers that kept popping up were making me feel a little uneasy about what had gone on the night before. But, it was really good, and it really felt right.
“Boo!” Sally snuck up behind me with Alex in tow, carrying lots of bags of stuff that they had purchased.