CHAPTER THREE
“Mandy and the Runaways”
Friday December 15th
The next day was Friday and David had a date with Mandy, the young virgin that Elizabeth had set him up with. After work, he went home, ate a snack while watching the news and then set to work.
He got the glove and pulled the pin out carefully. He used an alcohol wipe to clean the tip of the pin. He then allowed it to set and dry while he went and showered. He came out of the shower dressed in a bathrobe and dunked the pin into the SLuT9 and let it sit to dry again. He stoppered the vial and hid it in the top of his closet behind some old shoe boxes in which he stored pictures of his two daughters.
While the pin dried again, he dressed, combed his hair and brushed his teeth. With only his shoes left to put on, David sat down with the glove again. He used some small pieces of foam to pad the pin so only the very tip of the pin poked out through the leather of the glove. He had learned his lesson with Rebbecca the day before. Her arm had bled and he hadn’t bothered to stop the bleeding. He didn’t care if she suffered, but he didn’t want Mandy uncomfortable or bleeding when he took her virginity later that evening. David was still pretty sure there was enough of the pin poking through to pass through a thin piece of clothing and still break skin when needed.
He carefully folded the glove into a ball, making sure the pin was safely tucked away and put the glove in his pants pocket for use later.
At quarter to six, Dave made sure he had his wallet, keys and the glove and headed out to the car. Gotta find a way to make a little extra money and get myself a new car, Dave thought as he slipped in behind the wheel. He started the car and made the ten minute drive to the university.
As Dave thought more about what was going to happen tonight, he almost had to laugh. Here it was, ten days before Christmas and he was going out on a date with a good little Catholic girl. She would be going home soon for winter break and, for the first time, she would have to go to Confession and tell the priest that she’d had sex and, if things worked the way Dave hoped they would, she would have to confess she had not only had sex but that she had begged for it.
Dave pulled up in front of the dormitory and parked. He went in and asked for Amanda Schmidt. The young woman at the desk called up and told him she would be down in a few. Dave found himself a seat, watching all the pretty, young co-eds going in and out and waited.
When she stepped off the elevator, Dave was sure he had found his girl. She had long, silky brown hair that was pulled back into a single ponytail that hung down nearly to her belt. She stood only five foot four with a little round face, big brown eyes, a perfect nose that turned up just slightly at the ends and a tiny little mouth. She seemed familiar to Dave somehow. It took him a few minutes but he finally placed it. She looked like that girl on The Wonder Years, Danica McKellar.
Mandy seemed to know who he was as well. Dave guessed that Elizabeth had told her about him which was fine. It stopped the awkward moment where she sees him and realizes he’s old enough to be her father. She waved to a few people as she crossed the lobby and came to stand in front of him. Dave rose to greet her.
“Are you Mandy?”
She nodded. “You’re Max, right?”
He put out his hand and she took it and they shook.
“Shall we go?”
She nodded shyly. He offered his arm and she took it and he led her out of the building and out to his car.
“So, where are we going tonight?”
“Well, I was thinking dinner. After that, I leave it completely up to you.”
Mandy nodded, apparently approving of his plans. He opened the car door for her. Once she was in, he shut the door and ran around to climb in behind the wheel. “Do you like Italian?”
“Doesn’t everyone?” she asked, giving him a very pretty smile.
Dave started the car, backed out and pulled the car out onto the small two lane road that cut the university in half.
“So tell me about yourself? Have you been married?”
Dave hadn’t thought about the fact that since this was a date, not just him giving some girl SLuT9 and taking her to bed. The girl might actually want to get to know him. Right now, she thought his name was Max. Dave had to think quickly about what to tell her. He made a decision that it was easier to tell just one lie than who knows how many. He decided to stick with the truth as much as possible.
“I was,” Dave said, nodding. “She left me for another man. They’re living together now. I have two kids, both girls, both of them are just a few years younger than you. Emily is seventeen and Hayley, my baby, is fifteen.”
“Why are you dating someone not much older than your daughters?”
“It’s Elizabeth’s fault,” Dave told her wanting to come up with a good story. He tried hard to remember Elizabeth’s story but had little luck recalling what it was. He kicked himself for not calling Elizabeth and finding out how much Mandy already know “We met and flirted. We really hit it off but there just wasn’t any chemistry. She told me she knew this really great girl she thought I would like. That was you. Without even asking me, she pulls out that pink cell phone of hers and calls you. I promise you, I had no idea what she was doing until I heard her talking to you.”
“So you don’t normally date girls my age?”
“I have no problem dating girls your age. To be honest, technically, this is the first date I’ve been on since my wife left me.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Two years ago this past October.”
“What about Elizabeth?”
“Elizabeth and I didn’t really date. It was just that one time. We met and….” Mandy nodded, apparently understanding.
Dave turned the car into the parking lot of the restaurant and parked. “You ready?”
Mandy nodded. Dave jumped out of the car. Mandy got the door open before he got there so he couldn’t open it for her. She once again took his arm and he led her into the restaurant. They were soon seated with a glass of water set before each of them.
“Okay, now it’s your turn. Tell me about you?”
“You didn’t tell me much about you. Just that you’re divorced.”
“Okay, let’s see. My name is Max Bernard, I’m thirty-eight years old. Born and raised here. Married right out of high school. Never went to college. Worked at the same company for going on twenty-one years now. It’s a company my uncle, my father’s brother, started. I am well up in the ranks now. Partly due to my name, partly due to the fact that I’ve been there for twenty years. They keep offering me vice president and I keep turning it down because I don’t want to be that responsible. I told you I had two girls,. They live with their mother but I’m working on that. Umm…” Dave thought for a moment. “I’m divorced. My ex-wife took almost everything when she left. Forced me to sell the house and everything which is why I drive a clunker of a car and live in a rat trap of an apartment.”
“If you’re so high up in this company, you should be making pretty good money.”
Dave nodded.
“So why not get a new house and car?”
“Because while my wife left me for another man and is living with him, she hasn’t married that other man. Instead, she is continuing to collect alimony and child support from me. Between alimony, child support, and taxes, that leaves me about one quarter of my paycheck.”
“Can’t you get the alimony removed since she’s living with another man?”
“Nope. Judge said that I had to pay until she got remarried. My lawyer tells me it’s an odd thing for a judge to do but it isn’t unheard of and it isn’t enough to get the ruling overturned. So, I continue to pay, she continues to collect, and her boyfriend is using my money to run for the state senate.”
“Your ex-wife is dating Paul Eggerston?”
“That’s him. And she’s not just dating him, she’s living with him. I guess you pay attention to politics, huh?”
Mandy nodded. “I like politics. My ideal job is to get hired by CNN and work as a political correspondent. So, how often do you see your kids?”
“Oh I get to see them pretty regularly. Rebbecca just makes it tough for me. That isn’t my problem. Right now, Rebbecca and I are locking horns over Christmas. I was living in this horrible little place right after we divorced and I wouldn’t let the girls come over for Christmas. By last Christmas, Rebbecca had moved the girls in with Paul and she told me the same thing she’s telling me now, that they want to spend Christmas together as a family. Of course, it’s nothing more than a big heaping, steaming pile of bull…” Dave stopped himself from finishing the sentence.
“Bullshit. You can say it. I know Elizabeth described me as a good little Catholic girl. She always does, but even us good little Catholics cuss sometimes.”
“Good to know,” Dave said with a smile. As hard as it was for him to believe, Dave was actually coming to like this girl. She was smart, funny and fun to be with.
“Also, you can count on not having to pay alimony for too much longer.”
“Why do you say that?”
“The man has been living with a single mother for two years. People will come to think he has commitment issues if he doesn’t marry her soon. Who wants a state senator that has commitment issues? No, my guess is he’ll marry her, or dump her, the beginning of the year. Has to do it well ahead of the real campaign and that will be the middle of the year.” Dave nodded. He had kind of figured that out for himself.
“What do you think would happen if my ex-wife was suddenly caught up in, oh let’s say, a sex tape scandal?”
Mandy smiled and leaned forward. “Do you have one?”
“I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that it might incriminate me,” Dave said with a smile.
“If you have one, and if it was released to the public at just the right time, say, a month or so before the elections. It could very easily hurt Eggerston’s chances of winning.”
“I’m not out to hurt Eggerston.”
“One more thing you probably haven’t thought of.”
“What’s that?”
“Do you know what Eggerston does for a living? What his job is?”
Dave shrugged. “I think he’s an attorney of some sort.”
Mandy giggled. “He’s an attorney alright. Pretty good one too from what I’ve heard. He’s the deputy district attorney for the city.”
“Oh, really.”
Mandy nodded. “You don’t get the connection, do you?” She leaned forward, almost completely over the table giving Dave a nice look down her shirt. “My guess, he knows, and probably plays golf, with almost every judge in this city.”
“Including the judge who sat on my divorce?”
“Exactly. You got screwed all the way around.”
Their meals came and they ate as they discussed less stressful topics. She told him quite a bit about herself including that she was eighteen years old, was born and raised in the northern part of the state, had come down to go to college, majoring in communications and journalism with an eye towards TV news broadcasting.
After dinner, the two sat and finished their drinks for a few minutes and then got up and headed back to the car. Once again Dave opened the car door for her and held her hand as she got in. He then ran around and got in behind the wheel. “Okay,” Dave said, once behind the wheel. “I told you that once we had dinner, the rest of the date was up to you. So now I’m leaving it up to you. Where to?”
She opened her mouth, shut it again, her brow furrowed and then said, “You choose.”
Dave smiled at her, started the car, and pulled out of the parking lot.
“So where are we going?”
“I’m choosing, remember?”
“What? So I don’t get to know?”
“Not until we get there.”
“Fine.”
She turned to passenger side window and watched the city go by as he drove. For a moment he worried she was truly mad at him but he could see the slight smile on her face reflected in the window.
“Doesn’t matter how much you pout, although you are cute when you do, I’m still not going to tell you where we’re going. I have two teenaged daughters. Pouting doesn’t work on me.”
“Drat!” She said, snapping her fingers. “Foiled again. How about pleading, does that work?”
Dave shook his head. “Only if it comes with sexual favors.”
“Foiled at every turn.”
Dave continued to drive until they reached a park. He pulled in and parked the car. He opened her door for her.
As she stepped out, Mandy smiled at him. “I’m learning.” They both laughed.
Dave took her arm and they began walking down one of the well-lit paths through the park continuing to talk and laugh.
“You know, I had other plans for tonight. I didn’t expect this date to go so well.”
“Do you wanna take me home? If you have something else to do.”
“You misunderstand Mandy. The plans were for you. I had some ideas about what we would do and such but I don’t want to do those things anymore.”
“Because I’m so sweet and cute?”
Dave thought about this for a moment. “Yeah. Exactly for that reason.”
“What did you have planned?”
“I don’t think I wanna talk about that.”
They walked in silence for a few minutes before Mandy spoke again.
“Tell me the plans, Max. Please? I really wanna know.”
Dave stopped and turned to her. He looked down at her and into her eyes for a long moment, then bent down and gently kissed her on the lips. She didn’t resist in any way. “Let’s discuss something else.” Dave turned, took her hand again and started walking.
“Can you give me some idea of what these plans included?”
“I’d rather not,” Dave said, not looking at her.
“You wanna know what I think?” Dave nodded but still didn’t look at her. “I think you were thinking of trying to seduce me. Trying to get into the panties of the good little Catholic girl. I think Elizabeth knew exactly what you were going to do and I think that’s why she called me.”
“Why would your friend do that to you?”
Mandy guffawed. “Who ever said Elizabeth was a friend? She’s more like a friend of a friend. We know each other. We’ve even hung out together on occasion. But we don’t run in the same circles. Elizabeth is a…” Mandy considered her words before speaking. “She’s a party girl, I guess. She likes a good time. Sees lots of guys. Sleeps with most of them. She has never come out and said anything flat out about me being Catholic and all but she’s hinted that she doesn’t like it. She thinks I should… relax. Enjoy myself more.”
“And you don’t?”
“I was raised to be this way. My mother was the same way. So are my little sisters. I don’t see anything wrong with the way I choose to lead my life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging Elizabeth. I have never tried to convince anyone, no matter who they were or how they lived, that their way was wrong and my way was right. Elizabeth has no such qualms though. Numerous times, as I said, she has hinted that I should chill, relax, party-hardy and all that. I imagine she thinks I have a steel rod running up the length of my spine. That’s part of the reason I don’t consider her a friend. I took this date expecting you to be exactly that kind of man. I don’t think it’s you though. Just things you’ve said. The way you’ve treated me. I think this is new to you. I don’t think you’re that type of person. You yourself said you hadn’t dated in two years. I think you were looking for a conquest and I was, excuse the pun, virgin territory. Who could resist, right? But now that you’ve met me, found me sweet, charming, funny, cute and all that, you can’t bring yourself to do it.”
“Has Elizabeth done this before?”
“Twice. The first time I didn’t realize what she was doing. I spent two hours fighting off this guy who must have had eight arms. Finally I got sick of it. He stopped at a light, I got out of the car and walked away. Called a cab and went home. The second time I went, I was more ready. I even carried pepper spray in my purse. It’s still there, just waiting. He wasn’t as bad. He tried but when I wouldn’t sleep with him, he started rumors about me at the school but nobody who knows me believed them. Didn’t bother me any. She’s called a couple other times but I had something else to do. I had nothing to do tonight so… I accepted the date.”
Dave laughed. “What am I? A challenge? Are you testing yourself?”
“No. I figured if nothing else, I’d get a free dinner, maybe a movie and call a cab to take me back to the dorms.”
“So you’re a gold digger?”
“Of course not. You asked me, remember? You made the plans for tonight. I just came along. Now, if you don’t like that, I’ll be happy to go back to the car and you can drop me at my dorm.”
“No, I think I wanna keep walking.”
“Good. Me too.”
They continued to walk. The path was two miles long and circled around returning them to almost the same spot where they had first picked up the path. As they started for the car Mandy spoke. “So, will you be asking me for another date?”
“I don’t think so, Mandy. But I also don’t think I’ll be asking Elizabeth for another date.”
“Oh, dear. Elizabeth isn’t going to be happy with me. I’ve ruined one of her new toys.”
“A toy, huh?”
Mandy shrugged but didn’t say anything.
The two got back in the car and Dave drove them back to the college campus and stopped in front of Mandy’s dorm. He walked her to the front door, gave her a quick kiss good night and watched as she went in. He then returned to his car and headed home.
Even though he hadn’t gotten laid, Mandy had proven most useful for all kinds of information. She had pointed out a number of things about Rebbecca and Paul that he hadn’t known or hadn’t realized and she had made him understand a few things about himself as well.
Have to rethink the way I’m going to enjoy my new toy, Dave told himself as he drove home. I think, deep down, I knew Elizabeth was a slut when I picked her up. Hell, it was the main reason I chose her. Mandy would have been a different story. With Elizabeth, it was fun. She was fun. She didn’t care that I had given her the drug. She wanted her urges fulfilled and I did that for her. Mandy though, I think that would have been rape. I have no doubt the drug would have forced Mandy to give into those urges but I think she would have hated that it happened. I think it would have been pretty close to rape. Maybe it would have actually been a rape. I think I would have felt guilty for a very long time if I did what I had set out to do tonight.
I don’t feel bad about what I did, he thought, or what I’m doing to Rebbecca. I don’t think falling into bed with me again is going to devastate Becca’s world. She’s fallen into bed with me before at odd times. The day she filed the divorce papers she came to the office and had me bend her over the desk and bang her good. Nope, don’t feel guilty or sorry about Rebbecca or Elizabeth. Guess I’ll have to pick my targets a little more carefully next time.
Dave arrived back at his apartment. He took the glove with the still coated pin in it and buried it in his sock drawer. He then undressed, took a long hot shower, and went to bed feeling pretty good about himself.
Saturday, December 16th
The next morning Dave was awakened by the phone ringing. He rolled over, noted that the alarm clock on his night stand said it wasn’t quite six AM, and then scooped up the phone “Herro,” he said sleepily.
“Daddy?”
Dave was awake with that one little word.
“Em?” he asked, sitting up in the bed. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. “What’s up?”
“Daddy, I’m lost.”
“What do you mean, you’re lost?”
“Mom, Hayley and I got into huge fight last night. She said she wasn’t going to let us come see you this weekend. What the hell did you do to piss her off?”
“Don’t worry about that right now,” I told her. Dave wasn’t going to tell his seventeen year old daughter that he all but raped her mother, even if her mother did deserve it. “What happened?”
“Mom ended the fight. Told us we weren’t going and that was that. Hayley and I discussed it. We both want to see you so we made a plan. We got up early this morning, well before Mom or Paul would be up, snuck out of the house and took my car. The plan was to surprise you at your apartment but we’re lost. I know how to get there but I’ve always driven it in daylight. I think I missed a turn or turned down the wrong road. We’ve been wandering around for about fifteen minutes now with no sign of getting un-lost I have no idea where we are or how to get to your house from here.”
“Where are you?”
“We stopped at a hotel. It’s a Day’s Inn. The guy at the desk says we’re on Kilpatrick Street. Near Mears. How do we get to your house from here?”
“I know where you are, Em. Just stay there. I’ll come to you.”
“Hurry.”
Dave smiled and hung up. Even when they’re seventeen, every father loves to hear his daughter say that she needs him. He jumped out of the bed, grabbed the same pants he’d had on the night before and pulled them up. He went into the bathroom and drained his bladder, rinsed his mouth with some mouthwash and ran a comb through his hair to make himself presentable. He then grabbed a tee shirt from the closet, stepped into his running shoes, made sure he had keys and headed out the door.
The hotel was only about seven blocks, as the crow flies, from Dave’s apartment but since both his apartment and the motel were in the old section of the city the streets were narrow, didn’t always run in a perfect square, and there were a lot of one-way streets. It took Dave just over ten minutes from the time he got in his car, to get to the hotel.
He saw Emily’s car. Paul and Rebbecca had bought it for her earlier in the year as a birthday present, but neither of the girls were in the car. Dave parked beside Em’s car, jumped out and went into the hotel. Both girls were sitting there in the lobby. Hayley was the first one to see him. She jumped to her feet and ran to her father, hugging him tight. Emily followed behind but didn’t run. “Are you two okay?”
“We’re just lost, Daddy. We didn’t get raped,” Emily said with her usual sarcastic smile.
After holding Hayley a minute longer than he really needed to, Dave released her and led the two girls out of the hotel and to their cars.
“I wanna ride with you, Daddy,” Hayley said when they reached the cars.
“You gonna be okay, Em?”
Emily nodded and slipped behind the wheel of her car, a brand-new, candy-apple-red Dodge Charger. Dave wished he could afford the twenty-five thousand it would take to buy one. Hayley got into the passengers seat while Dave got behind the wheel of his clunker. Both buckled up and then Dave backed out. Making sure Emily stayed behind him, the drive home took a few minutes longer than the drive to the hotel but neither of them got lost on the way.
“So, Daddy,” Hayley said as they pulled out of the hotel parking lot. “What did you do to Mom to piss her off?”
“That’s between your mother and I, Hayley. Keep your nose out of it.”
“Daddy, in case you didn’t notice. Emily and I basically ran away this morning to come see you. I think that means our noses are already in it.”
Dave glared at his daughter in the darkness but didn’t respond to the comment. He knew she was right. They had run away to come see him. He owed them something, if for nothing else than the loyalty and devotion they were showing him but he also knew he couldn’t tell them what had happened between him and Rebbecca on Wednesday that had so ticked her off that she would choose to try and keep his daughters from him.
The rest of the ten minute ride was made in silence. He pulled into his normal parking spot outside his apartment building and Em pulled her Charger in to the parking spot just to the right of his. They all got out of their cars and the two girls got a bag each out of the trunk of Emily’s car. Dave took Emily’s bag and led the two girls to his apartment door. He unlocked the door and waved them in. He handed Emily her bag. “You all know where your room is. Go get settled in while I call and tell your mother where you’re at.”
“You’re going to call her?” Emily asked, in wide-eyed surprise. “Daddy, she’ll come get us. Take us home.”
Dave smiled as he picked up the phone. “No she won’t. It’s my weekend, Em. Unless she has a real good God-damned reason to not let you stay, she’ll violate our custody agreement. She has no such reason. She’s just mad and is being petty. A judge will throw the book at her. Even with her boyfriend at her side.”
“What does Paul have to do with anything?” Hayley asked.
“Don’t worry about it, Hay. I have everything under control.” He smiled at the two girls and then dialed Paul’s home phone number.
The phone rang three times before someone picked it up. Dave recognized Paul’s tired sounding voice immediately.
“Paul, this is Dave. May I speak to Rebbecca please?”
“Can’t you call at a more reasonable time? You are aware it’s six thirty in the morning, right?”
“Yes, Paul. Believe it or not, I do know how to tell time. May I speak with Rebbecca, please?”
There was a growl from Paul, he then covered the end of the phone. Dave could hear Paul gently waking Rebbecca up and telling her he was on the phone. Rebbecca asked what Dave wanted but Paul told her he didn’t know. Dave smiled when he heard Rebbecca’s instructions. A moment later, Paul followed those instructions and slammed the phone down on it’s cradle.
Since he had heard what she said, Dave had more than enough time to move the phone away from his ear before Paul hung up on him. He looked at the phone, turned to his daughters and smiled.
“You both saw me call over there, right?”
Both girls nodded and giggled. They turned and went to put their stuff away.
While the girls were unpacking, Dave went into the kitchen, started a pot of coffee and started scrambling some eggs for his breakfast. Just as he poured the eggs from the skillet onto his plate, Emily came out to the kitchen, still dressed but now barefoot. “You want eggs?” Dave asked, offering his plate.
“No, thanks. When we got lost, we stopped and got breakfast at McDonald’s.”
She took a seat at the kitchen table and Dave sat down across from her.
“Where’s Hayley?”
“I don’t think getting up at five AM agrees with her. She went back to sleep. Didn’t unpack a thing.” Both of them laughed. “So, what did you do? I was there when you called Mom the other day. I know you arranged to meet her. Why? And what happened?”
“Like I told Hayley on the way home, Emily. That’s between your mother and I. Keep your nose out of it.”
“Daddy, it’s cutting into our time with you. You have to stop fucking up.”
“Language, young lady.”
Emily rolled her eyes but didn’t apologize.
“And just so you know, I didn’t fuck up this time. Your mother did. She’s just blaming me for it.”
“What did she do?”
“Something she regrets but can’t take back and I’m not telling you anything more than that no matter what you say or do.”
“She slept with you, didn’t she?”
“I did not say that, Emily, and I am neither confirming nor denying that claim,” Dave said, not wanting to give Emily any information at all.
Emily nodded her head. “She slept with you. Was it good?”
“Emily!” Dave said.
“Oh, come on, Daddy. I’m seventeen. I know what married couples do.”
“First off, you are seventeen and you may think you know what married couples do but I doubt you have any real idea of what goes on. And second, your mother and I are not married. She ended it, remember? Two years ago.”
“Yes, I remember. It was the day after Thanksgiving and Hayley and I still bring it up to her when we want something. It’s good for making her feel guilty.”
“Your mother can’t feel guilt, Em. In order to feel guilt, you have to possess a conscience.”
“Ouch!” Emily said, giggling. “You’re really not going to tell me?”
“Nope, I’m really not going to tell you. By the way, how do you feel about spending Christmas here?”
“I’d love too. So would Hayley. We didn’t figure Mom would allow it.”
Dave shrugged. “I won’t give any specifics but, I will tell you that come Monday or Tuesday of this coming week, your mother is going to be even more mad at me than she is right now. But,” Dave said, emphasizing the word, “you’ll also find she’s much more agreeable to certain things. Such as you girls spending Christmas here.”
“Why would that be?” Emily asked, smiling deviously.
Dave arched his eyebrows at her. “We won’t discuss that.”
“I will find out.”
“I don’t doubt that for a minute, Emily Jean. You just won’t find out from me.”
“I’m gonna go watch TV. Maybe the Smurfs are on.” Emily stood up as she spoke and headed for the living room. “I haven’t been up early enough to watch the Smurfs in a long time. I noticed the last weekend I was here that you have some channel that plays the Smurfs.” Emily continued to talk but Dave stopped listening.
After finishing his breakfast and cleaning up the kitchen Dave went into his bedroom, closed the door and sat down on his bed. He then picked up the phone and dialed Rebbecca’s cell phone number. He didn’t expect her to answer, in fact, he was hoping she wouldn’t. He got his wish granted and got her voice mail.
“Beck, it’s Dave. It’s about seven in the morning. I called earlier but you ordered Paul to hang up on me. Tell him, good job for me, by the way.
“I was calling to let you know that the girls, you know, our daughters, are here. Apparently they had the impression you were upset with me and we’re going to keep them from coming to see me. They chose to avoid the fight, got up early this morning, and came over to my place. I had no idea this was going to happen so don’t call and yell at me for it. I had no idea you were going to stop them from coming over. Please call me back and let me know what it is I’ve done that makes you believe me unfit to take care of my daughters for a weekend. Otherwise, I will return them to you Sunday night, like always. Talk to you later. Bye.” He hung up, smiling.
With that, Dave laid back down and slept a few more hours.