by Keya Jay
***
“Hey Honey, how did the practice go?” Aaron’s wife Ciana asked.
Aaron sank against the couch and huffed.
“That bad huh?” she asked as she sat next to him.
“They’re just not ready,” he said as he covered his face with his calloused hands.
“They’ll get there you just have to be patient,” she tried to encourage, but Aaron wasn’t in the mood for it tonight.
“Hey Daddy,” Aaron’s daughter Sidney said as she bounded down the stairs.
“Hey baby girl,” he said as he looked up at her through his hands.
“Where are you going?” Ciana asked as she took in their daughter’s appearance.
“I’m going out to the lot with Nate and Ryder,” she said as she slipped her arms through her jacket.
The lot was what they referred to as the drive in Movie Theater down on the beach. Seeing as though Sidney was only 14 and didn’t have a car they took Ryder’s. Though the boy has only been driving for 3 months Aaron trusted him to keep his daughter safe. Ryder attends Aaron’s self-defense classes when he can but that’s usually not often enough. The boy’s had a rough child hood so he was kind of forced to grow up a little too quickly. He’s only 16 and has a car, a job and is paying half rent at an apartment he shares with one of his friends.
“What time will you be back?” Ciana asked as she placed her hands on her hips.
“Mom the movie’s over at 10, I’ll be back the moment it’s over,” Sidney said as she headed for the door.
“How come I’m the only one who has a problem with this?” Ciana asked as she plopped on the couch beside him.
“Honey she’s just going to the movies I don’t see what the problem is,” Aaron said knowing that pretty soon they’d be arguing about it until he gave in and let her get her way.
“I wouldn’t have a problem with it if she were going with Caitlin or one of her other girlfriends but she’s not she’s going with two boys that are up to no good.”
“Ciana that’s not fair to judge the boys like that, you don’t know the boys.”
“And you do?” she fired back.
“Yes I know them both they attend my self-defense classes.”
“Oh great,” she said as she threw her hands into the air. “So they’re whisperers? That’s all the more reason to worry Aaron. She knows nothing about them and I’d like to keep it that way,” she complained.
“Honey my name is word around Coconut Grove I’m pretty sure she knows, and if not it won’t take her long in order to find out. We can’t shelter her from the world Ciana she’s just going to end up blaming us later when she gets older.”
“And I’d gladly take the blame,” she said defiantly. “You baby our daughter too much.”
“And you don’t baby her enough. You treat her like she’s some kind of adult Ciana but she’s a kid. She’s not like you or me were; she doesn’t have to worry about responsibilities like we had to.”
“Yes but she’s our daughter and she’s human-ish which leaves her pretty much defenseless,” Ciana mumbled.
“Would you like me to enroll her in one of my self—“
“No,” she said cutting him off immediately. “I don’t want her to have anything to do with whisperers.”
“That’s kind of inevitable dear,” he said.
“She’s going to have questions Aaron; she’s going to wonder why she’s different—”
“Yes and when that moment comes we’ll sit down and talk to her but until then don’t stress about it.”
“I don’t want to lose my baby girl,” she said as she snuggled a little closer against his side.
“We won’t lose her Ciana, she’ll always be the little girl we raised,” he said as he placed a kiss on top of her head.
“She’ll hate us,” she whispered. And she just might, but Aaron knew they were doing the right thing.