Daddy Dearest

Chapter Twelve

Ben

I have to say no. For my own preservation, I have to say no. Dear God in heaven, I must say it. But in the light of the moon coming through the windscreen, her skin seems to glow with an otherworldly pearlessence and her mouth brings to mind dewy, ripe strawberries. I must get out of the car or risk doing something I'll regret for the rest of my life.

Instead of answering, I open the car door and step out to take in big gulps of cold air to wake my brain. I lean against the bonnet of the Escalade and give myself a couple of taps on the cheek. I only had a couple of drinks at dinner. You're all right, Ben. You're okay.

The passenger door opens and everything in me clenches in anxiety. I tell myself not to turn around and instead focus on the full moon, which looks unusually bright tonight and pregnant with premonitions. Maybe it's having an effect on me and causing me to act and think like a mad man.

"Mr. Davenport?" Melody's soft voice says inquiringly. "Are you okay? Was it inappropriate for me to ask you inside? If I offended you, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by it."

I laugh quietly to myself. That is indeed the crux of it. She didn't mean anything by that invitation. I am the one making it sordid. "Oh, Mel, don't be silly. I'm just taking in the full moon. Come stand beside me and have a look."

She hesitates. "I guess the view is better there, huh?"

She realizes the silliness of my request. The view is the same from where she is standing three feet behind me. The moon dominates the sky tonight, looming over our side of the world like a spectator. She has no reason to join me where I'm standing; I just want her close to me.

"I think the view is only better for me because I'm taller," I say dryly, to break the tension. "Come on."

I don't look behind me to see if she's moving toward me. I can almost hear her deliberating. I know she is attracted to me as a man, but does she have the presence of mind to act on it? I don't mean for her to come on to me as that would be wholly inappropriate. But I wonder if she'd ever confess it to me or do the opposite and start avoiding me, instead.

She sidles up to me and slips her hands into the skirt pockets of her school uniform. I smile down at her and she smiles back, albeit shakily, before dropping her gaze to her black Mary Jane shoes. "When I was a little girl, Nancy used to tell me stories of a man who lives on the moon. He's all alone up there, you know. She says he was a brave knight who loved a woman, a princess, that he wasn't supposed to because she was engaged to his brother who was a lord."

She has her hands out now and folded in front of her, palms up like a cradle. With her head lowered, I study her scalp and find myself entranced by the beige micro spaces in between the hair shafts. I long to bury my face in her hair and inhale her sweetness. "Tell me more," I prompt her.

"But the brother, who used to be good, is now corrupt and cruel as a lord, so the princess doesn't love him anymore. The gallant knight becomes a friend and confidant to the princess and they eventually fall in love, which makes the king and the knight's brother very unhappy. The two of them conspire to get rid of the knight and ask the castle sorcerer to banish him."

"Of course they do," I murmur, which causes her to look at me and smile shyly. "What's a fairy tale without an evil sorcerer?"