She thought it was funny. I was devastated. I couldn’t take it. I moved out and was miserable at work. Mom told me to quit and come back home. I was...tempted. She also told me Clark was a lawyer in the state attorney general’s office and maybe could help me. That he was a widower whose wife had died six years ago after a long difficult battle with ovarian cancer. There were no children. And that she and Clark were getting married, soon. “He’s a really nice man Thad. You’ll like him. You’ll. Instantly I want to cry with the relief. Your eyes are no longer kind and though it’s not an immediate reflex you react consciously by slapping me back harder and meaner than I ever could. I slap you again and this time by tears start to fall, they run fast in groups as if escaping the turmoil they’re subjected to. My face has a red angry handprint but there’s no anger here now because it’s faded and been replaced with something else, a passion, and one that should never be underestimated.. .. I pointed at his earplugs.“I need a set of those.”“Ah ... yes ... peace in the family,” he said, with absolutely no trace of accent. “Lets go to town.”“You ... you ... shyster.” I said.“That, Señor, is an insult to my honor. I am not a lawyer,” he grinned, “However ... my claim is even older than my wife’s ... compared to mine, her family is new. Town?”“Wanna take my Dodge?”“What are you doing with...” an expansive sweep of the hand, “This.”“Ever seen an early Suburban?”“Yes...”“Dodge made. I love you, Princess.”She giggled and hung up. I could feel her happiness even through the phone.“You’re just too cute,” Hanna said, reaching over to pinch my cheek.I laughed and bit her hand playfully. We stopped in front of Tricia’s house and I told them I’d go in to get her.I’d barely rung the doorbell when she pulled me inside to talk to her dad.“Matthew,” he said and offered me a seat.“Mr. Saunders,” I said, offering him my hand. He shook it without trying to crush it and we sat down to.