"Go ahead. I'll wait at the bike."

"Thank you."

I walked slowly over to dad as he sat on the bottom step of the stairs. I always loved these stairs when I was a kid. The carpet was plush and soft, almost baby blue in color which is my favorite color. I used to slide down on my belly all the way down from top to bottom until my stomach was red and sore but I just kept doing it.

I sat on the step beside him and sighed as I laid my head on his shoulder.

"What's up, dad?"

"Nothing."

"Liar," I chimed sweetly and he laughed.

He sighed heavily, loaded with something he didn't want to talk about.

"I got a call from your mom."

Twenty.

My heart jolted at his words.

"What?"

"She called me late last night, crying. She wants to come home," he said somberly.

I was confused. I thought he'd be happy, all that stuff he'd spouted to me about us not loving her enough, taking advantage of her. I thought he'd be thrilled if she ever decided to crawl back.

"And what did you say?" I asked softly, my voice not even sounding like my own.

I saw Caleb come peek anxiously through the open door, no doubt feeling my crazy heartbeat and I smiled at him and waved him off.

"I told her...baby, I'm sorry. I told her no," he creaked and looked on the brink of tears.

I hugged him. My words m.u.f.fled into his shoulder.

"Why? Why did you say that and why are you so upset about it?"

"Because. I know you need her. I should be able to just let her come home for you but I can't. She was furious. She thought I'd just let her come home and everything would be fine without even being sorry. Pick up right where she left off. You were right. She was being selfish. She chose to leave, we didn't do anything wrong. We were a good family and she decided to just leave all that behind for G.o.d knows why. I forgive her for what she did but, she deserted you and needs to accept her consequences. I'm sorry."

"Dad, I don't want her to come back."

"What?" He turned to look full at me. "I thought you'd be angry at me. I thought you'd blame me for keeping her away."

"What for? She didn't just leave me dad. She left you too. And I know she's my mom but she left and I agree with you. She needs to deal with the consequences. She made her bed and she can sleep in it. No where does it say in the family handbook that when someone leaves and wants to come back without reason or sincere apology that you have to let them. It just says that you have to love them. And I do love her still and I'd be her neighbor any day, but it wouldn't be right for her to live with you just for me. She betrayed you more than me."

"But you forgave me."

"Yes, and I forgive her too but she shouldn't live here, dad. She said you held her back; she's been living with other men. It wouldn't be-"

"She what?"

c.r.a.p. He hadn't known that. I bit my lip.

"She told me she was dating. She talked about a few of them."

"A few of them?" He laughed a bark of a humorless laugh. "Well. I guess I made the right decision then. I told her she couldn't come back to stay with us and she shouldn't come see you without calling you first."

"Very smooth, dad, way to handle things."

"How'd you get so smart?" he smirked but sadly.

"I learned from my old man," I joked and b.u.mped him with my shoulder. "You did the right thing. I don't know what happened to her but you are way too good for her to do this to you."

He laughed.

"Alright, kiddo. You're late now, I'm sorry. I'm fine. Get going."

"No worries, dad."

I kissed his cheek and he hugged me before standing.

"Have fun tonight."

"I will. Bye."

I went out to meet Caleb and he still looked a little worried but smiled sadly at me.

"You ok?"

"You heard?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just can't believe she'd do this to him after being gone almost a year," I said vehemently. "She's so selfish!"

" I'm sorry. But I think your dad did the right thing."

"Me too. I just hate that he has to go through this again. He's been through so much this year. He's just now starting to be normal."

"I know." He hugged me around my middle. "You want to stay here with him instead of going to work?"

"Nuhuh. He's fine. I just hope she doesn't try to come here or anything." I glanced at Caleb's watch. "Dang it, I'm so late. You might not have to worry about my quitting, I might get fired if I keep this up."

I put my helmet on and he buckled it for me.

"Well, let's go then. I'd hate to not see you in action in that outfit."

"Hey!" I smacked his back playfully as I climbed on behind him. "I don't get it? Why do you like it?"

He shrugged and I could literally feel his attraction.

"What's not to like? It's hot."

I just rolled my eyes and hugged him close from behind as he cranked it up and we drove to the diner.

When we pulled up, we got off the bike and he dragged his bag out of the back compartment. I took my helmet off and shook out my hair before twisting it into a messy up do. Caleb turned to see me and groaned.

"Ah, Maggie. You are making my fantasy so much worse."

"Alright you," I laughed. "Get a hold of yourself," I said in as low a voice as I could muster and pulled him down to kiss me.

It wasn't long before I had the urge to glance inside. I then had a slight moment of panic. Number one, Big John was walking out the door with a meat cleaver gleaming in his hand. Yes, a meat cleaver.

Number two, he was glaring at Caleb like he was the devil himself.

"Maggie, get your b.u.t.t in this diner, right now," he commanded.

"Big John, this is Caleb. I'm sorry I'm late."

"Get inside, Maggie. I'll handle this." He came to stand in front of us. "You. What do you think you're doing with my little girl, huh? She's only seventeen and I won't have you riding in here on your hog, all smooth and messing with my girl."

"Hog?" I asked and he pinned his glare on me.

"I thought I told you to go inside."

"B.J." I positioned myself in between him and Caleb. "I told you. This is Caleb. He's my..."

Dang it. I still didn't know what to call him.

"I'm her boyfriend, sir." Caleb extended his hand but Big John just continued to glare, ignoring the hand. "It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you from Maggie."

"Oh, is that right? Boyfriend. You mean dead man! I know your type, ok? I used to be your type. You think you can trick a pretty little girl into giving you the goods and then skip town."

"Big John, Eww! Enough. Look. Caleb is a nice guy. I'm sorry if you think he's a bad influence on me because I wasn't here yesterday and I'm late today but there's a lot of stuff going on right now. Stuff you don't know. Can you lower the cleaver, please?"

He huffed and crossed his arms with it instead.

"What things?" His brow drew together and then it turned to rage. "Oh my Lord, Maggie! Are you pregnant? I'll kill you!" He lunged for Caleb and I pushed him back with me.

Caleb was confused. He thought meeting my dad was going to be bad and it had been cake compared to this.

"Of course I'm not pregnant! I'm...being stalked," I blurted. Big John stopped and looked sharply at me. "There's this guy who's been after me. Caleb's been watching out for me. Making sure I'm safe."

"What? Who? Give me his address, I'll end this right now."

"It's not that simple. I don't know where he lives or anything about him really, just that he tried to kidnap me the other night and Caleb stopped him. He saved me."

Big John glanced at Caleb with new eyes and tucked the cleaver in his ap.r.o.n, like that helped.

"Alright. Thank you. Maggie is like a daughter to me. Get inside you two. Come on."

We followed him in and Caleb whispered in my ear from behind.

"What the-"

"Honey!" Smarty yelled. "Oh my goodness, I thought he was going to kill your biker friend."

"Me too," Caleb muttered.

"It's ok, now. Smarty, this is Caleb. Caleb, Smarty and Mena Bena."

"Nice to meet you, ladies," Caleb said and it was hard to stifle the giggle at the look they got on their faces. I wasn't the only one affected by his charm. "Ok," he thumped my nametag and smiled, "Sweet Pea. I'll get out of your way and go park it in the back booth." He kissed my upturned lips softly and quickly. I heard a soft gasp and an angry grunt behind me. "Pretend I'm not here."

"That's not possible," I said breathlessly making him smirk as he walked away.

"Um, details. Now," Mena ordered.

"That's Caleb," I said aloofly as I started to stack napkins.

"Yes, we gathered that. And is he your man?"

"Yes," I said and heard the smile creep in.

"Oh! Yay. He's so cute, honey," Smarty chimed.

"I know. I'm sorry I'm late. I had a problem with my dad. But Caleb's going to sit in the back while I work. Because...someone's stalking me. Caleb saved my life."