To help her with this, I didn’t fawn over her. There was only one way for me to be so that was what I was. I was me. Mike, too, didn’t make a big deal of things and was just Mike. She finally settled into it and gave us what I suspected was a hint of the real Clarisse. I wasn’t sure but I didn’t think we got all of Clarisse but what we got of her was sweet.

Confirming my assessment, Mike stated on a thoughtful mutter, “Reesee wasn’t Reesee. She was getting there but I think Fin being around put her off. You and Fin, it was too much for her.”

“They’ve got something going on,” I informed him.

“They do. And this is unfortunate since that’s not going to happen,” Mike informed me.

I blinked.

Then I asked, “What?”

“That’s not going to happen,” Mike mostly repeated.

“Why?” I asked.

“Why?” he asked back.

“Yeah, babe. Why?”

“How many reasons do you want?”

“How many do you have?”

Mike was looking at me but when he spoke again he twisted his torso so he was fully turned to me and he started counting them down, “First, he’s too old for her. She’s fourteen.”

“I learned tonight her birthday is tomorrow, Mike, so she’s very nearly fifteen.”

“Right. Then, he’s too old for her. She’s fifteen.”

“Mike –”

“He’s also had himself some. My guess, not a little. My guess, a goodly amount. And he’s not going to get any from my fifteen year old daughter.”

I felt my eyes get round.

“He’s had some?” I asked.

“Definitely,” Mike answered.

“Oh my God,” I whispered. “How do you know?”

“A seventeen year old boy that hasn’t had any acts like No. A seventeen year old who’s had a go or two acts like No. A seventeen year old boy who’s seen some action acts like Fin.”

“Holy crap.” I was still whispering.

“And he’s not going to get any action from my daughter,” Mike finished.

“Holy crap,” I repeated.

“Dusty?” Mike called and I realized I was staring unfocused through the moonlight at the column of his throat.

So I focused and blurted, “I fed him baby food peas.”

He leaned into me and I felt his hand wrap around my knee as he murmured, “Honey.”

“He spit them out at me,” I continued.

“Dust –”

“I changed his diapers. He teethed on my silver hoops while they were in my ears. I laid on my back in the living room while he used my body as a jungle gym. He sat in front of me on my horse when they were down visiting me in Texas. I jumped into the ball pit with him at that stupid pizza place that smells like puke but still, every kid has to have one crappy birthday party there. He beat me at video games.”

I stopped talking when Mike’s hand left my knee, it cupped my jaw and I saw he’d leaned deep into me.

“He’s grown up,” he said softly.

“Holy crap,” I whispered.

“I should have shared more carefully. I didn’t know you were that close.”

“I want kids, Mike, and the only kids I’ve had are those two boys. I’m tight with both of them and when I say that I mean tight. They’re my boys. And he’s…he’s…” I blinked, the tears stinging my eyes as the information sunk in, I shook my head once then finished, “a man.”

“Yeah,” Mike whispered, his hand shifting back into my hair, he pulled me to him and touched my mouth to his before setting me back. His hand dropped to find mine in my lap and curl around tight, pulling it to him and resting it on his thigh. “That shit happens, sweetheart, and there’s no stopping it,” he reminded me gently.

I pulled in breath, nodded then said gently back, “It’s happening to Clarisse too.”

His hand tightened in mine and his voice was a rumble when he replied, “Oh no, it’s not.”

“Mike, it is. I’m not saying it’s going to happen but just noting that you took Debbie’s virginity at fifteen. She was an older fifteen, nearly sixteen but she was still fifteen.”

“Dusty, a warning, do not go there.”

I held his hand and leaned into him. Still talking gently, I said, “Again, I’m not saying anything is going to happen. But kids grow up fast, case in point what you shared about Fin. And you need to be prepared not to mention prepare her. And my point is, this isn’t news. Kids have been growing up fast for a while considering you took my sister’s virginity at that age decades ago.”

“I did. And Debbie was and never has been like Reesee and you’ve known my girl only for a night. You still know that. Debbie was probably a baby once. But the minute she started walking and talking, I’m sure she started bossing and manipulating. A boy like Fin would chew up and spit out a girl like Reesee.”

I leaned back sharply and stated, “He would not.”

“You ever been a teenage boy?”

“No, but my sister had one who didn’t do that to her and she deserved to be chewed up and spit out.”

Mike had no reply because I was right.

I kept going. “It’s clear they like each other and something is already going on.”

“Yeah,” Mike cut in. “She’s been getting calls and texts. Now I know who they’re from.”

“Right, so, he gets down to the business of asking her out, you sit him down and lay it out. And I’ll sit down with him and lay it out too. He doesn’t have a Dad anymore. Rhonda’s checked out. That’ll be down to me. We’re tight; he’ll give me that time. He needs to get girls think differently about intimacy than boys do and he needs to start thinking about them and their feelings and not just getting himself some. And he respects you, I could tell. And if he respects you, you talk to him, don’t treat him like a stupid kid or an ass**le you don’t trust, he’ll respect Clarisse.”

“She’s not dating until she’s sixteen,” Mike declared.

“Your call, honey, but he lives right next door and dates don’t have to happen in cars. They can happen in front of TVs with Dad and/or Auntie Dusty watching like hawks.”

Mike again had no reply.

So I pulled out the big guns.

“I like her. She seems sweet. She seems a little unsure of herself, but sweet. And, babe, a girl who looks like your daughter should in no way be unsure of herself. And a good thing for a girl who’s as beautiful as your daughter and is still unsure of herself is to have a handsome, popular boy show her she’s beautiful. And a good thing to happen to a handsome, popular boy and a good kid who just lost his Dad and had a world of weight settle on his shoulders is for him to remember that he’s in high school and he should enjoy it by having the opportunity to show a sweet, unsure girl how beautiful she is.”