Misty (Wildflowers 1)

"We both took bubble baths and I let her pour her skin treatments into mine. Of course, she didn't like what I was wearing. Despite her claim of being young in heart and mind, she just wasn't in favor of my clothes. I wore a tank top with a pair of jeans.

"'Don't you want to wear one of your pretty dresses?' she asked.

"'I'm just going to the movies and out for pizza, Mommy, not the prom.'

"You should always dress and look like you're going to the prom,' she said.

"I told her to give me a break and she stopped complaining and complimented me on everything else. I was leaving first, of course, so I got the final check about fifteen minutes before Charles Allen arrived.

"'You look beautiful,' my mother said. 'Too bad your father isn't here to see this:

"I hadn't heard from Daddy all week and I knew he was going to be away for the weekend. The plan was for me to stay with him on the following weekend. What I didn't know at the time was Daddy had already started dating, too. In fact," I said, swallowing down my throat lump, "I think he had started dating Ariel even before he and Mommy had decided to get a divorce. He had been cheating on my mother."

"How do you know that?" Star asked.

"The first time I saw them together, I felt they were just too comfortable with each other. They acted as if they had been living together a long time. It's just something you know," I concluded.

"Yes," she agreed. "It is."

I began to think we all had a lot more in common than we first thought. I guess Doctor Marlowe knew what she was doing after all.

"When Charles Allen came by to pick me up, I realized this was actually my first real date. I had gone to the movies with other girls and met boys and then we'd all gone for pizza and stuff.

"Daddy always used to tell me he would be there to greet the first boy who came to take me out. He liked to tease me about it and threaten that he was going to 'inspect that boy like a Marine drill instructor.' The boy would tremble in his shoes and he would know that 'if he didn't respect my little girl, he'd have hell to pay.'

"I used to dream of that scene. It was nice to think of your father as your great protector, suffering that delicious pain all fathers have to suffer when they see their little girls grown and ready to be dated. How many movies had I seen where the mother in the film reminds the father that 'She's not your little girl anymore. She's a young woman.'

"Daddy wasn't there, however. He was off with his new young woman and I was the last thing on his mind," I said. I felt my throat closing and the weight in my chest grow heavier and heavier. Everyone's eyes were on me, big eyes of pity. I hated it. I looked away, bit down on my lower lip until it hurt and then turned back almost angrily.

"Charles Allen was wearing a sports jacket and jeans and he looked more handsome than ever. My mother made sure to appear when he came to the door. I remember I thought she might as well be using a sledgehammer to beat in her comments.

"'Oh, what a beautiful young couple you two make,' she cried. 'You look very handsome, Charlie. And just look at Misty. She's blooming like some magnificent flower. She reminds me so much of myself at her age. But that's what a daughter's supposed to do for a mother, right?

"'You two have a great time,' she said waving her hand as if she was laying a blessing.

"I practically dragged Charles Allen out of the entryway and fled to his car.

"'Quickly,' I told him, 'drive before she thinks of something else.'

"He laughed and we shot off and I felt as if I was beginning the rest of my life.

"Neither of us liked the movie. We left early and went for pizza. Charles Allen shocked me when the waitress brought our Cokes. He pulled a small metal flask from his inside jacket pocket and whispered that it was rum. He poured a little into my Coke and a lot into his own. I was really surprised. He had such prissy manners in public, I never would have dreamed he would do something like that in a restaurant.

"I wasn't that excited about rum. I mean, I've had it before at parties and pretended to like gin, even though I thought it tastes more like medicine, but, the rum in the Coke wasn't bad. I didn't notice it having any effect on me.

"After we ate, he suggested we go to his house. He said the servants had the night off and we could listen to music and talk and not worry about anyone looking over our shoulders.

"It was still quite early so I agreed."

"I know what he wanted," Star said.

I turned to her.

"I really wasn't going there to do it," I said. "Right," she said and rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't. I was going to tell him that, too. I wanted us to know each other more and care about each other more."

Star looked as skeptical as could be.