Sweetest Taboo

Every day she looked more like her mother. Standing five feet four tall, she was taller than most girls, with long golden brown hair and big emerald eyes that reminded him so much of Hannah. From Brian, she had only gotten two things. Her little, perfect nose and her persona. Loud and proud. Standing out from all the other girls that played at the pool in their backyard.

Someone knocked at the door. Today was Evelyn’s fourteenth birthday party and her friends' parents were starting to arrive to pick them up. He smiled even before opening the door.

“Hi Mr. Haner, I’m Giselle Haze, Dani’s mother,” her smile was excessive as she shook his hand.

“Oh, nice to meet you. I’ll go call her,” Brian quickly turned around. Once she was alone, she peeked inside the house.

“Dani!” He tried to shout above all the noise and commotion in his backyard. A blonde girl came skipping toward him. “Your mom is here,” he smiled gently, making the young girl giggle.

“Mr. Haner, could you give me an autograph before I go?” The girl asked shyly.

“Oh course,” he walked inside to grab a piece of paper. “And you know you can call me Brian.” The girl giggled again.

“The autograph is for my older sister, she likes you a lot,” she watched him as he still searched for something to write on.

“And what’s your sister's name?” He finally found a piece of paper.

“Riley,” she watched him write her sister’s name along with a few more words she couldn’t decipher, before signing his name.

“There you go,” he gave her a wide grin and she ran toward the front door.

“Mom, I got an autograph for Riley!” Brian saw the girl jumping in front of her mother as he arrived at the door.

“That’s nice sweetie, now go get in the car,” the fake blonde haired woman scooted the girl toward the white suv.

“So, it’s nice to finally meet you. Evelyn is a wonderful girl,” the woman smoothed her hair and took a step towards him.

“Huh, thanks.”

“I’m very sorry to hear what happened to her mother. It must have been really difficult for you, but I can see you’re doing a great job. Trust me, I know it. My husband died too, almost two years ago.” Her eyes were filled with sympathy as her hand rested on his shoulder. Was it him or was this woman hitting on him? This woman was what? Ten years older than him? At least.

“What? Oh, no, no. I’m not -”

“Dad!” They heard Evelyn’s voice echo inside the house. She ran toward them, leaving small puddles of water behind her and making Michelle yell at her. She ignored her.

“Hi Mrs. Haze,” her wet hands grabbed Brian’s arm and her wet hair rested against his shoulder.

“Oh, hi Evelyn,” the woman’s smile faltered. Evelyn stared at her with her big piercing eyes, still leaning against her father. The way she looked at her made the woman uncomfortable, like if she was mentally telling her to go away. “Well, I should go,” her smile was directed to Brian. “Once again, it was nice meeting you.”

“Nice meeting you, too.”

“Bye!” Evelyn’s overly friendly goodbye was followed by the bang of the door.

Brian couldn’t help but laugh. “You should be nicer, Ev.”

“I was not being mean. I just didn’t understand why she wouldn’t leave,” she flashed him a genuine smile that always made his heart melt, before running outside.



“Are you ready for your first day of school?” Brian asked Evelyn as they got inside the car.

She placed her seat belt. “Why shouldn’t I?” She didn’t seem very pleased.

“Well, aren’t you excited to go to high school?”

“It’s just a school, dad.”

“Yeah, but it’s a different, bigger school. And you’ll meet new people.”

Evelyn shrugged. “It is still just a school. And I’ll probably see most of my friends there.”

Brian was probably more worried about it than her.
He still remembered the way she had acted when she had first arrived in Huntington Beach, three years ago. She didn’t make any friends at school for the first year. He didn’t want that to happen again, now that she was attending another school.

“Will you pick me up after school?” Evelyn asked as they reached the school. The car pool line was huge. The voices of kids and their parents muffled their conversation. “Will you?” She asked again.

“I don’t know yet. But if I don’t Michelle will, okay?”

Evelyn didn’t seem happy about it, but still she nodded. “Are you going to the studio?” She already knew the answer to that.

Brian raised his eyebrows at her. “Ev, I can’t let you skip school and take you to the studio.”

“But it’s only the first day of school,” she pouted her lips at him.

“That’s exactly why I can’t let you skip school,” he tried to sound harsh, but just couldn’t. Not with her staring at him the way she did. “Evelyn, stop it. If you don’t get out now, I won’t pick you up after school to take you to the studio.”

Evelyn’s eyes widened, her pout turning into an excited smile. “You’ll pick me up? And take me to the studio afterwards? Thanks daddy!” She hugged him tightly around the neck, almost making him choke. She planted a loud kiss on his cheek, before jumping out of the car and making her way into school.

Brian sighed. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her. He tried not to spoil her, he tried to be harsh when it was needed, but most of the times he couldn’t. There was something about the way she looked at him and talked to him that made him give anything she wanted.



“Do you need help?” Brian asked as he sat on the sofa next to Evelyn, who was doing her homework and humming to the sound of whatever she was listening to on her headphones.

“Huh?” She removed the headphones and looked at him.

“Need help with that?” He pointed at her notebook.

She shook her head shoved the headphones against his chest. “Listen.”

He immediately recognized the song. It was Angry Again from Megadeth. “Good choice,” he winked at her and both started to sing.

The searing of the sinew/ my body fights for air/ the ripping of the tissue/my lungs begin to tear/ gravity’s got my bones/ it pulls my flesh away/ the steam finally dissipates/ I make out my sweat face

They leaned against each other while playing air guitar like if their lives depended on it.

“Aren’t those songs a bit too harsh for her?” Michelle’s voice made them stop abruptly and look at her.

“Why?” Brian couldn’t understand her concern. “It’s just music. Are you telling me that fourteen year olds shouldn’t listen to Avenged Sevenfold either?”

Evelyn stuck her tongue out to Michelle before turning around and putting her headphones again. Michelle shook her head and walked away. She really liked Evelyn, despite the fact that she was the result of a relationship between Brian and another woman. It had happened a long time ago, even before they had known each other and Brian didn’t even know that she existed until her mother had died. So, as the good wife she tried to be, of course that she had supported him in the decision of bringing her to their home.
But sometimes she thought Brian spoiled her too much. And she didn’t even demand for things, or threw fits in order to get what she wanted. Most of the time, all she had to do was flash her Bambi eyes at him and ask gently.



Evelyn couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned in her bed, got up to go to the bathroom and tried to read something until she was tired, but sleep just didn’t want to have anything to do with her. Maybe she should watch some tv downstairs. Or go to dad’s studio and mess with his stuff. She knew he wouldn’t mind.
She quietly climbed out of bed and walked out of her bedroom. She tiptoed to the stairs, but stopped just before starting to climb them down.
There were noises coming from the bedroom closer to the stairs. Brian’s and Michelle’s bedroom. She slid her feet to the bedroom’s door and leaned against it. Muffled moans and low cries, mixed with grunts and heavy breathing made her open her mouth wide open. They were having sex.
But she wasn’t shocked because they were having sex. No, people had sex all the time. She was old enough to know how things worked. But she couldn’t believe that he was having sex with Michelle. Michelle could be his wife, but he belonged to her. He was her daddy. She was going to be the one who would do everything she wanted to him.
She thought about barging in, but that would only upset her dad. She thought about going back to her bedroom and pretending that she was not feeling well, forcing her father to come and take care of her, but that would be too childish.
So instead, she took a step back and climbed down the stairs as quietly as she could. She needed to think of a plan.