“But I should be old enough, Mom. The other girls at my school began going out with boys when they were thirteen.”
Kylie frowned. “I’m not going to discuss what the other girls are doing, Tiffany. You’re my concern. And for me it’s not a particular age but a maturity level. I personally don’t think you’re ready to begin dating.”
“If you had your way I would never date!”
“That’s not true. You’re the one who has to prove to me that you’re ready. But Chance and I do understand you and Marcus would like to spend some time together, so we came up with what we feel is a workable solution.”
“And what solution is that?” Marcus asked when Tiffany refused to do so.
It was Chance who responded. “You and Tiffany can date only if the dates are chaperoned.”
Tiffany glanced over at Marcus before looking back at their parents. “You mean that you’ll be coming with us to the movies? Bowling? On picnics?”
“Yes,” Kylie answered. “So what do you think?” She braced herself for her daughter’s tirade.
“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Tiffany said, smiling.
Kylie blinked. “You do?”
“Yes. Since Marcus and I will be getting married after college, I think it would be good that all four of us get to know each other.” She smiled at Marcus. “Don’t you agree, Marcus?”
He smiled back at Tiffany. “Right, and in the process we can prove to our parents just how responsible we are.”
Kylie glanced over at Chance knowing he was just as confused as she was. Tiffany and Marcus were beaming. If anything, Kylie and Chance had thought their suggestion would be met with some pretty strong opposition.
“Well, if everyone agrees with our plan then that’s great,” he said.
“So how soon can we go someplace?” Tiffany asked excitedly.
“Where would you like to go?” Chance asked.
“Umm, I’ve never been camping and Marcus said you take him all the time.”
Kylie rolled her eyes. “Tiffany, we’re not talking about a family outing. We’re talking about a date.”
“I don’t have a problem with Tiffany coming along the next time Marcus and I go camping,” Chance said. “Of course that means that you’ll have to come too, Kylie.”
“Yes, Mom. You’ve never been camping before, either.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean we can just invite ourselves on a camping trip, Tiffany.”
“But Mr. Steele invited us.”
“Yes, but only after you—”
“It’s okay, Kylie, honest,” Chance cut in to say. “Marcus and I would love for you and Tiffany to go camping with us. My family owns a cabin in the mountains so we’re really not talking about roughing it too much. The cabin has two bedrooms, so you and Tiffany can take one and Marcus and I can take the other.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Kylie said as her gaze moved from one person to the next. “When Chance and I thought of supervised activities we didn’t mean anything that involved staying any place overnight.”
“Yes, but it would be fun and different, Mom, and you and I have never done anything fun and different.”
Kylie leaned back in her chair. She thought the two of them had done several things that were fun and different. How about that train ride from New York to California a few years ago? And then there was that vacation to Disney World for Tiffany’s twelfth birthday. Had it really been three years ago? Okay, so they hadn’t actually done a lot of time to do fun and different things together on a regular basis. But she really hadn’t had the time since she’d been busy going to school and trying to move up the corporate ladder to provide for her and Tiffany.
“Please, Mom, just this once. Mr. Steele did say it would be okay.”
Kylie glanced over at Chance. “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
He smiled. “No, I don’t mind. In fact I think it’s a wonderful idea.”
Chance’s statement should have had a calming effect on her but it didn’t. She was no longer concerned for Tiffany, but for herself. She didn’t want to think about a weekend spent in a mountain cabin with Chance in such close quarters. With all the heat they could generate, the kids might think something was going on between them when it really wasn’t.
“Well, Mom?”
The enthusiasm she heard in Tiffany’s voice almost made her say yes, but a part of her held back. This was something she needed to really think about.
Instead of answering Tiffany, she looked over at Chance. “Let me think about it some more and I’ll give you my answer within a week.”