Teen Trials

At the Ballet

Friday night came and they watched in awe as Emma danced across the stage as Clara. The two were waiting on Emma to come out to take her out to eat. Amy had a sleeping Niko in her arms and was rocking him. Hunter was leaning against their car. "Is that...?

"Yes ma'am, it is." Hunter said, watching the man walk across the parking lot to them, shaking hands and smiling widely like some greasy politician.

"Hello." Wes said, sticking out his hand.

Hunter shook it reluctantly. "Hey, Wes."

Amy nodded at him. "I'm surprised to see you here."

Wes shrugged. "She has a talent."

"Is Katherine here?"

"Ah, James was having a rough day, she took him to some spa treatment." Wes said, looking around the parking lot and smiling uneasily.

"Of course." Amy said.

"I came with gifts." Wes said. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small box. "This is for Emma."

"Why don't you wait like ten more minutes and give it to her yourself?" Amy asked.

"I have a meeting to get to." Wes said, already pulling out his phone to disengage.

"You should stay and tell your daughter she did well." Hunter told the man.

"It's best not to get sentimental about these things." He paused and shook his head in a way similar to Emma when she tried to escape her emotions. "Just let her know that the gift is part for this and an early Christmas present."

"Sure." Hunter said.

"She will be with you from now until new year, correct?" Wes asked looking up from his phone.

"No, she is supposed to be with you the rest of the weekend. We're picking her up from school Monday." Amy said.

"Oh, I don't think that will work for us. Peter wanted to go to Greece for Christmas last minute. We can have my assistant drop by the rest of her presents. Can you just keep her?" Wes asked looking up from his phone as a black car approached them. "I have to run." He got in the car without waiting for an answer.

Amy bit her tongue, watching the man leave. "I hate him." She said after a minute.

"Me too, but I appreciate you keeping a hold of your tongue." Hunter said.

"Enough for a reward?" Amy asked.

Hunter laughed, "What do you want?"

"Those new chucks."

Hunter leaned over and kissed her, being careful not to wake their son. "What do you want that you didn't ask for for Christmas?"

"Yay!" Amy cheered.

"What's yay?" Emma asked, sneaking up on the two.

Hunter pulled the girl in for a hug, trying not to squish the many bouquets of flowers in her arms. "You did amazing!"

"Yeah, Ems. I am so proud of you!" Amy added.

Emma blushed. "Thank you. I'm exhausted. It feels like I could sleep forever. Thank you for coming. I think I'm gonna skip dinner tonight and just head home to bed. Honor's mom can drive me."

Amy looked over at Hunter nervously. "You need to eat, E."

"I will when I get home." Emma whined. "Honor is gonna leave, can I go?"

"Baby, your dad came here," Emma's face lit up at that and she looked around the parking lot for the man. "and said that an unexpected thing came up and he needed you to start your vacation with us early."