Page 59 of Red Hot Harmony

7 Camille

The talk was long overdue.

I knew it and I didn’t feel like I was being a fair mother to Ally after I’d willingly engaged in a lewd sexual act in my office with a bunch of people still in the building, several of those being my clients.

“This is ridiculous, Mom!” Ally snapped from where she was sitting on the couch.

I was standing because I was having a very hard time staying still. There was a huge possibility of pacing.

“It’s not ridiculous. It’s reasonable,” I said.

It was Friday and with all the preparations for my parent’s anniversary and an overwhelming amount of school projects Ally needed to submit by next week, we’d had to skip one of her lessons in favor of celebration and education.

I hadn’t seen Dante since Wednesday night, and while two days didn’t seem like a big deal, it still felt like forever.

“What’s the point of doing this if you’re not letting me date who I want?” Ally asked, flinging her arms.

For once, she had her hair arranged in a bun, and despite our having a disagreement, I liked seeing her face. I liked seeing all the little changes in her expression, all the little lights in her eyes, all the little twists of her mouth.

“The point of doing this is to keep you safe, Bug,” I explained. “You’re a minor. You can’t date someone who’s not.”

She rolled her eyes. “So it’s okay for you to have sex, but I should wait another three years?”

“You’re fifteen years old, Ally!”

“So what?”

“You can’t possibly know what you’re doing at fifteen. You’ll give it away to someone not worthy right now and you’ll regret it later on when someone good comes along.”

“I don’t want to wait for someone good to come along until I’m thirty-four years old.”

Oh, that hurt. That hurt so bad. I wasn’t sure my emotions showed, but something in Ally’s gaze changed. Softened.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” she said. And she’d never, ever apologized to me before. “I know you think I don’t know what I’m doing, but I do. I do know what I’m doing. You need to let me figure it out on my own.”

“You can date as long as you’re dating someone in your age bracket. No one eighteen or over.”

Ally turned her head slightly and stared out the window at the gray, ash-strewn sky. Then she finally asked, her voice cold, “Why?”

“Because you're a minor.”

“It’s not illegal.”

“Ally, it doesn’t matter. You’re a child and you shouldn’t be seeing anyone who’s not a child. We’re not discussing this anymore.”

For a long time, she didn’t say anything. Just sat on the couch, hands in her lap, eyes on the blanket of smoke outside. Eventually, she got up and went back to her room.

Needing to vent, I called Dante.

“I don’t know how to get through to her. And don’t tell me to offer her more money for every day she doesn’t date.”

He laughed a little. “I’m sorry. I wish I could help, but seeing that at fifteen—and I’m not proud about it—I was doing all those bad things you’re trying to keep your daughter from doing, I can’t be of much help.”

We were silent for a moment, and then he added, this time, his tone serious, “Maybe we try and keep her busy.”

“She’s already busy.”

“Busier. I can think of some stuff for us to do. Clearly, two lessons a week doesn’t do a very good job of diverting her interests from boys to more wholesome activities.”

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