Page 7 of fiftysix

With a shake of his head, he let out a soft chuckle. “All right, you two. Go to class.”

One last look at my tits, a lick of his lips, then he disappeared.

“How have you not been kicked out of this school yet?” Kennedy asked, laughing.

“Simple. Dad’s money.”

*

“And I want you to go talk to people as well. No standing around and waiting for someone to come talk to you. And if you need to get out of a conversation, call out to me,” Dad said as I made sure his tie wasn’t crooked and the knot nice and tight.

“What if there’s no one I want to talk to?” I asked, brushing along his chest to smooth out his white, button up shirt before helping him get his suit jacket on.

“There’s no such thing, Valley. You’ll find someone to talk to, and you will allow them to talk to you,” he demanded.

He didn’t take no for an answer, and the best thing for me to do was just do what I was told.

Even at his birthday he had to be this bossy.

A few glasses of wine and champagne would surely make him relax a little bit.

“How does it feel being fifty-five, Dad?” I asked with a smile as we looked into the big mirror in his closet.

“Not much different. I feel surprisingly healthy. Good thing I started working out a few weeks ago. All this food Della cooks can’t be good if you want to stay in shape,” he said.

I smiled, leaning against him and wrapping my arms around his arm. “I’m still in great shape,” I pointed out, mostly to get a rise out of him.

I ate a lot, yet, my body didn’t feel like gaining weight.

It didn’t bother me much, as I had the necessary curves that made me look like an hourglass, but Dad always complained about me being too skinny.

He let his eyes wander over my body which was covered by a tight, short dress, and before he said something, I could tell he was trying to hide a frown and negative comment.

“You’re beautiful as always, Val.” He kissed the top of my head, then cleared his throat.

“We should head downstairs. The catering staff is here already, and the guests should arrive soon.”

I nodded and smiled at him before pushing myself up onto my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “Let’s go.”

With my arm hooked with Dad’s, we walked out of his bedroom and down the stairs to find a few guests already standing in the foyer with a drink in their hands.

“Ah, there he is. The birthday boy!”

I smiled as one of his best and oldest friends, Lennard, announced Dad’s arrival, raising his glass.

“Good to see you again,” Dad said, greeting everyone and then looking back at me.

“Valley, come say hello.”

Lennard and all the other guests weren’t strangers to me, yet there was some type of distance between them and me which I wasn’t sure why it even existed.

I grew up with all these people around me, but none of them became more than Dad’s business partners or friends, and only a few of them ever came over to have dinner with us.

I’d say they were acquaintances to me. Not too close, yet familiar enough to trust them.

“Hello, Lennard,” I said, smiling at him and letting him shake my hand with a firm grip.

He wasn’t as tall as Dad was, and although they were the same age, Dad looked younger.

---