Michelle walked the maple-lined sidewalk and rubbed her head. She could feel the bump already starting to form on the back of her head. The bump was nothing compared to the pain she was going to be feeling when she got home.

It was past nine and she had missed dinner for the third time this week. Her mom wasn’t going to be very happy! She turned up her walkway and looked around the dark yard for a peace offering.

The front yard really wasn’t much of a yard but more along the lines of a very large suburban garden, even in the dark Michelle could see all the colour and different species of flowers. Reds, blues, and yellows glowed in the moonlight. Roses and night blooming jasmine perfumed the air. She meandered through the stone paths looking for the most perfect flowers. She chose carefully as her mother was very picky and her punishment wouldn’t be so severe. She chose the most exotic. Her mother was in an eastern kick and seemed to be buying anything that looked as such.

Michelle gently took the front steps and gingerly opened the front door. She closed it behind her and breathed a sign of relief. So far, so good. Her mom wasn’t in such a huff that she was waiting by the door.

She wiped her heeled boots and began turning toward the dinning room when she heard a flirtatious laugh come from behind her in the living room.

Great, her mom was entertaining; she would be in even more trouble now. Why hadn’t her mom told her that she was having company over for dinner? It was hard enough doing what she did night after night but even harder to be her mother’s daughter.

Michelle sighed and plastered a smile on her face. Best to meet her fate positively. She turned and walked to the French doors. She stopped short of pushing the doors completely open when her mom laughed again and the sound drifted through the small gap.

Was she really ready for her mom to be dating? Her dad hadn’t been gone for very long. What if her mom really liked this guy and got really serious with him? She wasn’t ready for a new father figure. She still wasn’t use to the idea that when she came down for breakfast in the morning that her dad wasn’t going to be sitting at the table with the newspaper in his hands and a cup of coffee with a cinnamon stick at his elbow. Michelle decided to tell her mom all her thoughts on this new guy and her pent up feelings about her dad as soon as her mom’s date left.

Hey! What was this guy still doing here? Its late, and he should be gone, not in her living room flirting with her mom!

Michelle pushed the doors open, anger coursing through her. She opened her mouth to make a smart comment but stopped short when she saw who her mom’s gentleman friend was.

“Oh, Michelle, you’re home.” Her mom stood up and began wringing her hands together felling guilty that she had been flirting with a younger man for the past half hour when she should have been worrying where Michelle was. Then it struck her, she was an adult woman. She had every right to flirt with whom ever she chose, as long as he wasn’t jailbait! And as for worry, well she knew her daughter well enough to know that she could take care of herself. She should be angry that her daughter was late.

“I was just talking to your friend here. He says you two are in the same study group at the college.”

The man in question stood up slowly and looked at Michelle through hooded lazy eyes. He had an almost predatory look that bothered her. He was a very handsome man with high cheekbones, a strong, slightly angular jaw, and a straight well formed nose. And those lips, she knew those lips well. He wore fitting black jeans tucked loosely into old black army boots. His dark red cotton shirt was unbuttoned and tucked into his pants leaving his black tee shirt visible. He straightened his ankle length black leather jacket to get her uncomfortable scrutinizing gaze off of him and hopefully back to her mother. He stood a little straighter and put his hand casually in is jacket pockets.

Michelle frowned at him before she looked to her mom and tried to force the look of irritation from her face.

“Um, yeah. We are.” She turned her attention back to the man who was scratching his forehead at his widow peeked hairline. Michelle’s eye’s narrowed as she looked at his hair. She still couldn’t understand why a man of his age bleached his hair to an almost white colour. Then again she didn’t much understand him.

“Excuse us mom. Spike can I see you in the kitchen please.” She glared at him as she turned and walked toward the kitchen. He followed her and looked momentarily back at her mother over his shoulder with the look of a hungry animal and disappeared around the corner leaving Michelle’s mom with the most uneasy feeling she had ever felt in her life.