by Naomi Niles
“Hi, Daddy.”
“Hello, kitten.”
I kissed him on the cheek. “I have something to talk to you about.”
“Sure, Taylor.”
I took a deep breath. “Dylan’s uncle is selling the trailer. He’s going to be homeless.”
“His uncle won’t take him?”
“No, he won’t. Dylan won’t have a place to stay. I’m worried about him.”
“You shouldn’t even be talking to him, Taylor.”
“We are in math together. I see him five days a week. You can’t expect me to go from being his friend to ignoring him,” I said.
“It was being more than his friend that was the problem.”
“Daddy, you know more about Dylan than you did any other guy who took me on a date. You invited him into our home.”
“Not to date my daughter.”
“I know that, but think about it. You know what his family life is like. You knew where he lived.”
“He can’t live with us. He betrayed my trust.”
“I did, too, Daddy, but you didn’t kick me out.”
He stared at me for a moment and I thought I might be getting through to him. “It’s not the same. You’re my daughter.”
“You said he was the son you never had,” I countered. I was going to play on every emotion of his that I could. I was going to win this.
“Taylor, that isn’t fair. Both of you acted irresponsibly.”
“Then you’ll set rules for us.”
“You’d stop seeing him and not go with him to the prom if I let him back in the house?”
“Yes, Daddy. It’s that important to me. Who taught me that? You.”
He eyed me as if he was seeing me for the first time. I must have impressed him because his face softened. “Let me think on it.”
“Thank you, Daddy. Wouldn’t you feel guilty if in five years you saw him working at a gas station having never gone to college?”
“I probably would, kitten, but both of you have to follow the rules. You aren’t together. Someone else takes you to the prom.”
I would get past the prom issue, but not today. My mother always said to pick your battles. “Whatever rules you lay down, we’ll abide by them. I’ll go to the prom with someone else. We won’t be boyfriend and girlfriend. Promise.”
“Okay. Let me talk to you mother, and if she has additional rules, you follow them.”
“Of course, Daddy. I just want Dylan to be safe. That’s important to me.”
And, I would follow all the rules. Well, except for prom. I really wanted to go to that with Dylan. I could convince my father that it would be okay. Dylan was a good kid.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Dylan
Mr. Dean picked me up from school that day to take me to the trailer so I could pack and move back with them. I had no idea what deal Taylor made, but I figured I was going to find out. She was pretty amazing.
Happy to be back in the Dean household, I listened carefully to what Mr. Dean said. “You and Taylor cannot date. You cannot go out on a date with each other or among friends.”
“Okay.”
Right now, I’d do almost anything to stay in the Dean house. The trailer was getting to me, leaving me hopeless. I wasn’t going to do anything to screw myself here. Taylor would have to behave and if she didn’t, I would have to deal with it.
Or tell on her, which I would hate to do.
Yes, I was giving up sex so I could have a home. What teenager could do that? Well, I’d grown up some since I’d been living on my own. It was time to be a man. Taylor could still be a teenage girl. I would have to take control of the situation and be strong.
“You can’t be in each other’s room. And we’d prefer if you weren’t home alone with each other. I know sometimes that is tough, but with preplanning, you can do it,” he said.
“I’m still keeping my job, so that will keep me pretty busy. I can change my schedule so I’m out of the house when Mrs. Dean is in class.”
“That would be helpful. Welcome back, Dylan. Taylor really pushed for you.”
“I know and I’ve thanked her. That was very sweet.”
“Yes, I know. Don’t think about it that way. As much as I love my daughter, she does sometimes bend the rules to fit what she wants to do.”
I laughed. “I’ll stay strong. I hated my time at the trailer. Cole kept saying it was cool, but he didn’t have to stay there. He wanted to have a party.”
“Did you?”
“No, sir. I don’t drink. I saw what that did to my mother. I want to be more than a minimum wage job.”
We pulled into the garage, and Mr. Dean clapped me on the shoulder. “You are a good kid, Dylan. Just keep your nose clean. We don’t mind if you and Taylor do homework together, but you have to be either in the dining room or the basement where we can see you.”
“Understood, Mr. Dean.”
I unpacked, then went into the basement to do some homework. Taylor was there, and she smiled when she saw me.
“Thanks for working so hard to get me back here.”
“Next job, prom.”
I shook my head. “Taylor, you don’t understand. I don’t want to go back to the trailer. I think we should just quit.”
She pouted and my heart threatened to melt. My stay here was contingent upon me behaving. The Deans had no idea that we’d had sex, and I didn’t want them to know. I wanted to stay here. I wanted to be part of the Dean family.
That meant that I had to stay away from Taylor. Now might be a good time.
“I’m going to work in my room.”
She pouted more. “Why?”
“Because at this point, you are too much temptation,” I said.
I brought my stuff up to my room. I’d assumed that Taylor had been told the rules. I know she would flout some of them, but I wasn’t going to push any boundaries. To stay here, I had to be good.
Even if I thought I could get away with something, I wouldn’t. My focus was on catching up at school. I’d missed a few days because of work and I was behind.
Taylor appeared in my doorway.
“Taylor, please go away,” I said.
“Why?”
“Because we are not allowed into each other’s room. Didn’t your father tell you the rules? If we don’t follow them, I might as well move out. It’s going to come to that.”
She stood in the doorway as if she was pondering what I said. I walked over to close the door when Mrs. Dean walked past. I must have looked guilty.
“What’s going on?” she said.
“I was just closing my door,” I said.
She looked from Taylor to me then back again. I shrugged. “You know the rules.”
And of course, Mrs. Dean would be looking for a reason to send me back. She was the only one who hadn’t seen the trailer. “We weren’t doing anything.”
Tailor nodded. “It was my fault, Mom. Dylan was telling me to leave.”
“I’m not comfortable with this arrangement, so the moment you step out of line, either of you, he’s back home.”
I nodded.
Taylor frowned then walked away. Mrs. Dean kept looking at me. I wanted to scream that it was her daughter who came into my room.
“I’ll keep my door closed and locked from now on,” I said.
“That might be in your best interest,” she said.
I’d dodged a bullet, and I wanted to tell Taylor where to go. She’d almost ruined it for me. She didn’t get that our actions had consequences – that I would be out on my ass if we didn’t do what her parents said.
It continually amazed me how much Taylor had grown up and how much she hadn’t. She sent me a text. “Sorry. You’re right. We need to stay apart, but I’m still going to see if we can go to prom.”
I sighed. Hopefully, she would still feel that way and remember it the next time she wanted to flout the rules. I didn’t want to be homeless.
I didn’t care about the prom. I
know she did, but I thought she should go with someone else who would appreciate it. Someone her parents approved of. It was only prom, not the end of the world. At least, not for me.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Taylor
I’d had no luck convincing my father to let Dylan and I go to the prom. I’m sure he’d heard stories about how girls lost their virginity on prom night. Well, that ship had sailed. Of course, my father didn’t know that. He wouldn’t suspect.
I turned to my mother for help. I wanted her to see what a good guy Dylan was, that he needed to stay, and that at least he was a known variable in the dating world. At least they knew who he was.
So, I decided to make my mother feel sorry for him – to realize that he was a good guy, despite where he’d come from. As a mother, her heart had to go out for his situation.
To do this, I asked my mother to go for a drive.
“Me?” she said.
“Yes, you, Mom.”
She looked at me as if I had two heads. “You sure you don’t want to go with your father?”
“No, Mom, you.”
“Okay.”
I directed her as she drove. I wanted her to see Dylan’s trailer. I wanted her to see what we’d saved him from.
“Why are we going down this rutted driveway?” she said. “Who lives here?”
“I’ll explain when we get there.”
She pressed her lips together, but kept driving. When we came in view of the trailer, she stopped the car. “Why are we here, Taylor? I don’t have time for games.”
“No, games. I want to show you something.”
I urged her to park closer, so she did. We climbed out of the car. I retrieved Dylan’s spare key, then unlocked the front door. We stepped into the place that hadn’t been aired for a few days. It stunk of gasoline from Dylan’s uniforms. My mother had made him take off his uniform in the garage his first night working and living with us. He kept sweats in the garage so he wouldn’t have to walk through the house in his underwear.
Not that I would mind.
“Who lives here?” my mother said, standing in the doorway.
“This is Dylan’s trailer. Or where he was living.”
“Why did you bring me here?”
“Because I want you to see what will happen if you kick him out. This is the best there is to offer him. After it’s sold, he has no place to live.”
“Then he needs to keep his nose clean.”
“He has been, Mom. I’m the one who has been screwing up. Not him. I don’t have anything to lose but privileges.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because I don’t want him to be homeless because I’ve been stupid. I’m trying to abide by the rules, but I love him, Mom.”
Her mouth opened slightly at my revelation. I don’t think she realized until that moment that I had real feelings for him. I think she thought I was just playing. I had to prove to her that I wasn’t playing, that I was growing up.
She leaned against the closed door behind her. “Did I ever tell you about the first boy I loved?”
“No, Mom.”
“Your father wasn’t my first love and that’s okay. He’s my last.”
She glanced around as if she’d been here before, or she was going somewhere in her mind.
“Go ahead,” I said.
I leaned against the back of the couch. Waiting. I didn’t know much about my mother’s past.
“I never told you about my childhood, either.”
“No,” I said.
I knew lots about my father’s family and how he grew up. My mother was always tight-lipped about what went on in her childhood.
“I grew up in a trailer just like this.”
I gasped. I never would have guessed. My mother was frugal when she could be, but she’d never spared any expense for me. “Okay.”
“I mean, just like this. Same lack of space. Same smell, almost.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. Never thought about your mother that way. My parents loved me. There were happy times, but I was always eager to be out. I never wanted to be reminded that we were poor.”
I would never have known. “Then why didn’t you have compassion for Dylan?”
“I’ve never thought about that trailer once I graduated from college. I had a good job. I met your father, who had a good job. I never was poor again. My parents died not long after I graduated. They both died in a fire in that trailer. I figured if I never thought about it again, I’d never be touched by it.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I hated being poor. I wanted to forget that I was ever that way. With Dylan in our lives, I had to remember.”
I walked over and hugged her. “He’s a good person even if he’s poor.”
“I know that. At least, some part of me knows that. Not that I’m thrilled that you have feelings for him.”
I stepped away from her. “Think about it this way. You know more about him than you would know about any other guy I could date. You know where he came from. You know his influences. You know that he wants to do anything he can to stay in our house, so he isn’t going to do anything to hurt me.”
My mother looked down at me as if she had never seen me before. “You’re growing up.”
“I am. I’m glad you noticed.”
“You really care about him?”
“I do. He’s good to me. He’s more mature than the other guys at high school.”
“That’s good and bad.”
I knew she was talking about a physical relationship. He would want that. Well, I wanted it, too, but that didn’t need to be said here. “You need to trust me. You need to trust Dylan. We both have plans for our future and neither of us want to mess that up.”
She smiled. “I guess I have to let you grow up.”
“I thought you were excited about it. You’re starting something new,” I said.
“It’s bittersweet, Taylor.”
I nodded, understanding. “Now, how do we get Daddy to let Dylan take me to the prom?”
***
My mother and I managed to convince my father to let Dylan take me to the prom. He’d even taken Dylan out to rent a tuxedo. My mother and I had gone shopping, and I ended up with a green dress that didn’t show too much.
It had spaghetti straps, which was a compromise from the strapless one I wanted. I still loved the dress. After my mother helped me with my hair, she stood behind me as we both gazed into the mirror.
“You are no longer a little girl,” she told me.
Guess she wasn’t ready for me to grow up. “Thank you for helping me convince Daddy to let Dylan take me.”
“You’re welcome. Now, he’s waiting downstairs. Nervous. He gets an audience when he sees you.”
I glanced back at my reflection once, happy with how I looked. I almost didn’t recognize myself.
My mother opened the door for me. I grabbed my clutch that matched my dress, then walked down the steps. Dylan was pacing at the bottom. My father leaned on the doorway to the living room a small smile on his face. When he looked up at me, his smile broadened.
I stopped hallway down, and Dylan finally looked my way. His lips were open and I knew he was surprised. His eyes widened as he said, “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh, kitten. You do look beautiful.”
We took pictures out on the lawn. Dylan was a gentleman and held the door to the limousine that my father had rented for us. He held my hand the whole way to the venue.
“I can’t stop staring at you, Taylor. You look amazing. Awesome.”
“You look pretty handsome, too, Dylan. You clean up well.”
He laughed. “Your father had to help a little.”
Now I laughed. “At least he did. He could have protested.”
“Oh, he let me know that we were to come home after the dance and that if we were going somewhere tomorrow, we weren’t staying over.”
&
nbsp; I rested my head against his shoulder. “I don’t need any of that. Just you.”
“That’s sweet, Taylor.”
I shrugged.
The ballroom was full of teenage couples. The tables were decorated with blue and white balloons, our school colors. I couldn’t believe the day had finally come. This was the last big event of our senior year.
After this, it was only a few weeks until graduation.
I held Dylan’s hand as we entered the room. I heard a squeal and was hugged fiercely by Helena. I looked her over. “You look pretty amazing.”
She smiled. “You look beautiful, too. I grabbed your place cards. You’re sitting with us.”
“Cool.”
She wore a dark blue dress that accented her eyes. Cole, her date, wore a matching cummerbund. Those two had met at one point during the drama of Dylan and I, and they’d hit it off. I told Cole that if he didn’t treat her properly, he would have me to answer to.
So far, he’d been a very good boyfriend to her.
“Do we get pictures first?” I said.
“Yeah. Cole and I got ours,” Helena said.
I turned to Dylan. “Let’s get this over with. I don’t know how good I’m going to look after I’m dancing.”
“Dancing?”
I laughed. “Yes. We’ll be dancing.”
“Did I agree to that?”
I laughed and swatted his arm. “It’s implied when you take someone to a prom.”
“Oh, okay. Didn’t know that.”
The smile on his face told me he was teasing me.
We did the pictures, and then there was a slow song. Dylan held me as if I were china. “Why didn’t you run for prom queen?” he asked me.
I shrugged. “Didn’t seem important with all that was going on with you.”
“Do you regret it?”
“Nope. I get to dance with only you all night instead of the prom king.”
“I like that idea.” He nuzzled my neck. “This is kind of nice. Kind of fun.”
“Better than you thought?”
“Much better, but I think that has to do with my date,” he said.
That filled me with such a warm feeling. I wanted to tell him that I loved him, but I didn’t think I was ready to be that vulnerable. Yet. Maybe by the end of the night.
