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“ You didn’ t ask if I wanted to go with Grandma and Grandpa to San Antonio this weekend. You just told us and expected us to be happy,” she said, looking to her brother for a little support. Justin stayed neutral because he wanted to go. Grandpa was nothing like the person his father described. Justin imagined if he suggested the two of them should go have a beer together, his grandfather might think that was a pretty good idea. Every once in a while Justin was allowed behind the wheel of Grandpa’ s car.“ I’ m sorry. Can we discuss this after dinner?” Tanya asked.“ Whatever!” Nicole said, giving her brother a dirty look. The look Eddie received from Tanya told him she would handle this. Eddie’ s stare informed his daughter about how she was expected to respond to her mother. Dinner was finished in silence. Eddie excused the children from the table. They took their dishes to the kitchen and disappeared to other parts of the home. Monday was a teacher’ s day. Tanya gave Eddie the basic facts. No school for students. The long weekend looked to be glorious and Eddie’ s parents wanted to spend some time with their grandchildren. Tanya thought it was a great idea. Homework could be done on Monday.“ What seems to be the problem?” he asked.“ I am about to find out,” Tanya said, rising and going in search of the truth. Eddie was happy to be left with clean up duty, if the alternative was figuring out what was going on inside of the head of a teenager. The kitchen had a built in desk, where Tanya paid bills and graded papers. Eddie set up his computer and sipped a beer, waiting for Tanya’ s report. He was halfway through his second bottle when Tanya found him.“ A boy,” she said, and watched his demeanor change. Tanya felt that might be the problem, given the nature of the statement at the table. Getting to the truth took some time.“ A boy asked her out and she knew what your response would be,” she began, calmly.“ She planned to spend the weekend with Stephie and go out with him without our knowledge. The rule you made when she was twelve years old, may be the rule that drives her to do exactly what you and I don’ t want. She knows you said she could not date until she was sixteen and she has passed on quite a few offers. She is fifteen and a half. We have had many mother, daughter talks and I’ m afraid when she turns sixteen she will end up pregnant just to prove the rule was stupid.”“ What am I supposed to do?”“ Tell her the man she really wants to love and trust her, respects how she feels. Then sit down with her and make some new rules together. She is very smart.”“ Maybe that is what scares me.” Eddie said.“ Should I tell her you need a weekend to think about what you expect from her?”“ I need time to let this sink in.”“ Be happy she fired a warning shot over your head,” Tanya sighed. Eddie nodded. The quiet that settled around him was interrupted by the squeak of the stair as Tanya went to inform Nicole her father needed this weekend to think about loosening the reigns a bit. A short while later both of them came to the kitchen.“ You will think about it, won’ t you Daddy?”“ I expect a great deal of input from you. But trust me, there will be no bending of any new rules we agree upon.”“ I love you Daddy,” Nicole said, hugging her father.“ I love you too sweetheart,” Eddie said. Nicole bounced from the kitchen.“ You handled that perfectly,” Tanya said, slipping onto his lap.“ Now what can I help you with?” The new camera sat next to the computer on the work space.
They shared a laugh when Eddie turned on the computer and explained the same process took almost twenty minutes this morning. He handed her the camera and said he needed the pictures from the camera on the computer. She handed back the camera, telling him she was the teacher and he needed to do this himself. He was able to download the pictures and set up a slide show, with a little coaching. Looking at the pictures of the work in progress, Tanya asked,“ Who’ s pretty red car?” Through the glass of the building, in the far corner of the picture, parked next to his truck, was a red Porsche Boxster. It must have been taken when Sam surprised him and he turned to snap a few pictures and gain his composure. Shooting at nothing in particular revealed something significant. Eddie remembered looking at the pictures he had taken on the tiny screen of the camera. The camera was excellent and seeing the pictures on the fifteen inch monitor showed incredible detail.“ One of the other property managers stopped by to see if she could get an idea of the big secret. It seems her curiosity got the better of her.” Eddie said.