A slam of the screen door was followed by a high pitched shrill, “Come on Daddy!” She screamed trying to get her father outside quickly. Steve slowly stood up from his kitchen chair, the Sunday paper left behind. Friday night he had purchased his daughter a new bike for her first report card ever. She was in Third Grade and brought home perfect grades. Unfortunately Jenny’s patience was sorely tested as it had rained all Saturday and this morning. Now at 1:00 p.m. the sun had finally returned to Ojai, California and Jennifer’s excitement could not be contained.
As he exited the house an amused grin played on his lips watching her holding the new 2-wheeled bike and nudging up the kick stand with her foot. She pushed the bike toward the long sloped driveway, “Ready Daddy?”
“You bet sweetheart!” He replied following her to a starting point.
He stabilized the bike while she straddled the white banana seat, holding onto the handles adorned with tassels, both feet on the square black pedals.
“Ready Jen?”
“Ready!”
Steve began jogging along side the lavender colored bike as Jen pedaled, working hard to keep her balance. He slowly allowed the seatback to leave his grasp as his child picked up speed. She was able to remain upright for a few minutes, traveling about 50 feet when she went down hard, the left pedal gouging into the moist dirt. Steve ran to her as she struggled to untangle herself from the wreck.
“Are you okay Jen?” He asked expecting to see tears but was surprised to see her calmly stand, hands on her hips, kicking dirt with her foot. She was no doubt frustrated by the failure. It was then he saw the blood running down her leg from the deep gash on her left knee. “Jen?”
She bent forward to inspect the injury, “I’m okay, just a scratch.”
“Come on let’s get that cleaned up.”
She looked up at him, eyes squinting against the sun, “Don’t you think we should just wait until we are all done? There might be more by then.”
Steve chuckled at her serious comment. “No we aren’t waiting. Let’s go.” He placed a hand on her small shoulder and pointed her towards the house giving her his assessment, “You looked pretty good. You almost got the hang of it. I bet next time you’ll stay on.”
“How can you be so sure?” She asked, unsure where his confidence was coming from.
Steve placed his right hand on his heart and smiled, “Because my heart won’t take much more of that!”
“Oh Daaaaddd!”
Sitting her on the kitchen counter he carefully cleaned the cut with soap and water as Jenny watched with interest. He dabbed the alcohol onto the wound with a cotton ball and was surprised that she never uttered a word but he could see her jaw clench. He smiled at his daughter’s toughness.
“Dad is learning to drive a car easier than riding a bike?”
“Oh I guess in some ways it is.” He answered as he applied the band-aid.
“Maybe I should just wait for that.”
Steve grinned as he grabbed her under her arms and placed her on the floor, “Oh come on you can’t give up yet!”
They started out just as they did previously. As Steve began running along side Jenny yelled, “Now! Let me go now Daddy!”
He did as she asked and she leaned right then left then right again, her sneaker-clad feet pushing hard on the pedals as she serpentined down the driveway, handlebar tassels waving in the breeze.
Steve’s chest filled with pride at his child’s achievement but his eyes welled up and his heart skipped a beat realizing she had just taken one more step away from him. In a few years she would be learning to drive and unbeknownst to his at the time she’d be learning to fly a plane.
He perched himself on the fence as he supervised her progress up and down the drive, a huge smile on her face. He never knew he could love another human being as much as he loved this little girl. After an hour he called her over, “What do you say we celebrate with some ice cream?”
“Okay!!” She ran to the car and jumped in.
They drove to the Ice Cream Shoppe on Main Street. The two stood at the counter waiting for their turn. Steve was holding Jenny so she could watch the teen-aged girl behind the counter construct a large banana split sundae. The waitress then turned to take their order, “What can I get for you?”
Steve spoke up, “Two ice cream cones please.”
“What flavors would you like?”
Steve and Jenny glanced at each other then back at the young girl, replying in unison, “Strawberry!”
They shared a small round table enjoying their cold treat when Jenny spoke up, “Dad, do you think Mommy saw me ride my bike today?”
“Definitely, she would not have missed it and I’m sure she is just as proud of you as I am.” Jenny smiled and a short silence followed before she voiced an opinion, “Dad I think you need a girlfriend.”
Steve choked on his ice cream. After recovering he asked, “Why do you think that?”
“You need someone to take care of you. Maybe my new teacher, Miss Jensen, would be your girlfriend? Do you want me to ask her for you?”
“NO! Jenny I don’t want you to set me up with any women. I’m sure I can do that myself…if I was interested which I’m not.”
“But my all friend’s dads have girlfriends.”
“Jenny I promise I will let you know when I’m ready to date and then you can help me find a girlfriend, okay?”
“Okay but you better hurry or someone else might ask Miss Evans, Miss Andrews and Miss Devlin to be their girlfriends.”
“So?”
“They all want to be your girlfriend.”
Steve looked at her shocked, “Where in the world did you get that idea?”
Jenny worked on keeping her ice cream from dripping down her cone, “I heard them talking at Jimmy’s birthday party last week. They were saying how handsome and charming you were…and how sad it was that you didn’t have anyone but me.”
Steve heard the sadness in her voice, “Well maybe right now all I need or want is you.” She smiled at him feeling better. “Ready to head home?”
Jenny nodded and took his hand. As they stepped out onto the sidewalk Jenny asked her father, “Dad, what’s sex appeal?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because the ladies at the birthday party said you had a whole lot of it so I figured you could explain to me what it is.”
Steve blushed and said, “Just get in the car young lady.”