This conversation was NOT going how I had envisioned.  Anabelle was taking all of this waaaay too well.  A part of me almost would have preferred some anger.  I didn't want her following in my footsteps.  At least not in this particular instance.  And when had she started drinking beer?<br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(226, 80, 65)">"I am fine mom!, I left him awhile ago so don't worry about him."</span><br/><br/>"Good!" I muttered.  I regretted the word as soon as it came out of my mouth.  I'd tried not to pass judgement on her choice of boyfriends up till now.  I leaned into the hug, drinking in the warmth of her body.  But her comment about her roommate's weird lifestyle really unsettled me. What did she mean by weird?  Gay?  Kinky? Polyamorous?  Wiccan?  All kinds of visions were passing through my head.<br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(226, 80, 65)">"So… who is that lovebird of yours? I am so glad you are dating and meeting someone again".</span><br/><br/>Was the sound of sex that then came from her phone some kind of sound effects to emphasize her last statement or was she looking at porn?  I wanted to believe she was just researching what she had just seen in our bedroom.  My face turned as red as hers.<br/><br/>"Her name is Lisa.  She's a personal trainer.  I met her at the gym and we hit it off."  I would talk about Lisa more later.  Right now, I was focusing on Ana's surprise.  Her plan to stay with me awhile.  This was going to get awkward.  I certainly wasn't going to send my daughter to a hotel.  Was I going to have to call my architect and have him blow insulation into the internal walls of our bedroom, just so my daughter wouldn't hear the sounds coming from the bedroom?<br/><br/>"Forget the hotel.  You're always welcome here, Ana.  We'll make it work," I told her, though I wish I were as confident as I sounded.<br/><br/>Her announcement of the success of her streaming channel left me wondering if this was her way of saying she was walking away from school.  I was about to ask about school, but decided to hold off.  I had my own things to say first.<br/><br/><span class="fixed-color" style="color:rgb(226, 80, 65)">"Anyways, I also wanted to take you out to eat somewhere but now your girlfriend would also come? I mean if she wants and if you want?"</span><br/><br/>"Perhaps a rain check on your offer, Ana.  Lisa has gone to get Chinese for us.  If we're going to have a serious discussion, I'd rather it be in private instead of a restaurant."<br/><br/>I was a bundle of nerves. I needed to try and dissuade my daughter from following in my footsteps, at least when it came to the kinky lifestyle.  At least until she had established herself as a successful and confident woman, capable of being in charge.  I was already there and could afford to indulge my dark side.  But how viable was her streaming channel long-term.  Did it make her a woman of influence, able to call her own shots?  And then there was my dark past, which she knew nothing of.<br/><br/>Trembling a little, I reached for her hands, focusing on her eyes so I knew I had her attention.  "You're grandmother would have freaked out if she had visited and seen what you saw in the bedroom.  I did not have a happy childhood.  So she would assume that my choice of sexual partners and lifestyle was her fault.  It's not.  Sexually speaking, it's the fault of all the jerks I had to deal with at that financial firm."<br/><br/>"I'm my own woman now, with a business that employs nearly 500 people.  And I like the men and women who work for me.  But for awhile there, I was a workaholic, on the computer most evenings trying to grow my business.  That's what drove Marilyn away.  She wanted me in the bedroom, not on the computer.  That and the fact that I was too vanilla for her.  When I met Lisa, she introduced a level of control and structure to my life.  She also introduced a different way of lovemaking."<br/><br/>"She would drag me away from the computer, even if she had to snap a pair of cuffs on my wrists to force me to let go of work.  Yes, she's a little rough around the edges and can be a little rough on me as well.  I've learned to cope, because I know I need someone to force me to turn my brain off and let them do the thinking for awhile.  Besides, the sex is awesome."<br/><br/>"Ana, I don't know what you're roommate is into.  But I've always visualized you as in control of your own destiny, not a slave to someone else, man or woman.  So you need to think carefully about the path you take.  You're too young to be giving up control to someone else.  And you need to finish college and get a degree so you'll have a back-up plan in case your streaming channel fails or becomes obsolete because of new technology."  I reached up to lightly to caress her cheek.  She was so beautiful.  And so vulnerable to someone like Lisa.  I trusted Lisa with my body, but Anabelle was a different matter.