I was an intern for my thesis research. Time with Veronica was like a second internship. Of the two, Roni taught me more. My sister-in-law, Sheila, ha... a lovely phrase for it, Learning hurts because part of your innocence died. They make up words like bittersweet to describe my relationship with Roni.The end came a few days before I was going to blow off my next semester and stay on for the fall. As was my normal routine, I left the legal aid office, stopped by the news/coffee/sundries store. "Eric said, "Mister Arnold, if being teased is the price I must pay for such a lovely, wonderful, intelligent lady by my side, I can only say, 'Thank you, sir. May I have another.'"He broke us all up with laughter.Dad said, "Are you sure you didn't study law?" No, sir. I trained to be an engineer." He emphasized both "trained" and "engineer" in his statement and grinned. Both Mel and Mom groaned at that. Chad and I just laughed.Dad grinned and said, "As long as you are tender to my daughter.". That was what she had been calling me for the past two months, and it made me laugh to see it on the card. Nobody else saw what the card said though.Quasi was just as excited to meet Jade. His tail was going like mad, but he knows he can’t approach anybody as long as he is wearing his harness. Jade was aware of the rules too, so she managed to resist her urge to hug and kiss him…for now anyways.Now that I had somewhat recovered from the shock and dried my tears, I took Jade’s hand and told her. Four on the dot. Never and no exceptions. If I don’t show I expect her to lay there for the hour of my absence. Are we clear?”
“Yes, Frank. It’ll be done. We understand.”The man stood, from my view I could see him rise and put a paper in his pocket. He left without another word.I walked into the room, feeling a bit shy.“Um. I’m home…is dinner not ready?”My parents looked over at me and instead of warmth in their eyes I saw some sort of cold detachment. “Sit down Clara,” My father said, I walked.