The Colobong women had walked all the way back to their living room in complete silence. It wasn't something that happened very often, considering that Kali had always been a bit of a chatterbox and the phrase “like mother, like daughter” had never applied to anyone as well as it applied to them. But Kali was clearly upset, and Miriam wasn't quite sure how to react, largely because she wasn't sure why her mother was so upset. She understood that she had been worried about her and Miriam was a little irritated that Lindsay had forgotten to leave a note herself, but the amount of anger that had been in her mother's voice was not something that she was used to. She wasn't sure how to deal with it, so she deemed it best to just keep her mouth shut until she was spoken to.

They entered the house and Kali went straight to her sewing machine, where she had laid Miriam's dress earlier. “I didn't have a chance to get to your dress yet,” she finally broke the silence. “I'll have it done in a few minutes.”

“Okay, good, thanks,” Miriam replied, sitting down on the green overstuffed couch that sat in their living room.

“Of course.” Kali forced a small smile. She began threading the machine and the room returned to its previous unbearable silence.

“Mama?” Miriam ventured softly,

“Yeah, babe?”

“I'm really sorry about leaving when you told me not to. I know I shouldn't have done it, but Lindsay told me she'd leave you a note so I figured you wouldn't mind and she offered to buy me new earrings and I really, really like earrings and...I'm sorry.”

“It's okay.” Her mother cracked a genuine smile at the comment about really liking earrings. Miriam truly was a girl after her own heart. “Just...next time, wait until I get home if you can't get a hold of me. And don't trust anyone else to leave the note. Leave it yourself, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good.”

“So, you're not mad at me?”

“I am not mad at you,” Kali confirmed, tossing her daughter one more reassuring look before turning her attention back to the sewing machine and the busted hem that had started this whole debacle in the first place.

“Good.” Miriam paused again briefly, fidgeting in her seat, humming to herself, and employing a few other habits meant to take up time when she wasn't sure what else to do with herself. “So...can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.”

“Why did you get so mad at Lindsay? I mean, I know she screwed up, but...don't you think you kind of overreacted a little?” Miriam ventured, unsure of how her mother would react to this question.

“No, I don't think I overreacted. You'll understand when you're older.” Kali had always hated it when people had told her that as a child but, ironically, now that she was older she understood why it sometimes needed to be said. There were some things that were just too difficult to explain to your children, and for her, the overwhelming rage that she felt towards her employer's girlfriend was one of them.

“Yeah, but-” Miriam began to protest, but was interrupted by a knock at the front door.

“Come in,” Kali called, not looking up from the sewing that she had nearly completed.

The door swung open and Justin entered, his face still a little red, and frown sketched into his features. Both of the girls glanced over at him, but didn't bother with a greeting as he sat down next to Miriam on the couch.

“Hey, Miri, could you go over to the house and get your bags?” he requested in an effort to get the younger of the Colobong women out of the room so he could talk to the other one.

“Sure,” Miriam replied with a long suffering sigh. By this point in her life, she was used to one or the other of the adults in her life finding reasons for her to leave so they could talk about “adult stuff.” So she picked herself back off the couch and headed out to get the bags of clothes and accessories that she had acquired that afternoon.

“Where's Lindsay?” Kali inquired coldly when they were alone. She knew she didn't really have a right to be angry at Justin, but her residual disgust for the woman he was dating was probably about to project itself onto him anyway.

“Gone.”

“Oh. Sorry,” she lied, finishing up the hem on the dress, and standing up to leave it in Miriam's room. She only took a few steps before she turned to face Justin instead of leaving the room. “Look, I need to say something.”

“Okay. Say it.”

“So, I'm really glad that you have a girlfriend and everything, that's great, fine, whatever, but she can't just come in here and act like she has some right to do whatever she wants with my daughter without even consulting me.”

Justin was a little impressed that Kali had been able to get all of that out without taking a breath. “I know,” he agreed.

“I mean, I know that you and I don't exactly have a real strict employer-employee relationship or anything and I let you take a lot of liberty with Miri because you're practically like her-” She cut herself off before she could say “father,” because it seemed to weird to say it, even though in so many ways it was true. “Well, you know, you're really close, but that doesn't extend to her, okay? I don't know her, I don't trust her, I don't want her buying Miriam expensive clothes just because she feels like it without even asking me if it's okay!”

“I know!” Justin repeated, a little put off by the way Kali's voice had gotten progressively louder as she spoke. She sounded angry, and he couldn't blame her, but she didn't need to take it out on him.

“Good!”

“I'm on your side here, Kal,” he assured her. “I'm not exactly happy with what Lindsay did either, and...I'm not sure how much longer she'll be my girlfriend anyway.”

“Really?” Kali forced a frown, as it seemed much more appropriate than the smile that would have been far more natural for the way she was feeling. “What happened?”

“I dunno, I guess I just really saw her true colors tonight,” Justin sighed. “And it wasn't exactly pretty, let me tell you. Rich people are fucked up.”

“I can get behind that statement.” Kali nodded in agreement. “Well, I'm sorry.”

“No you're not,” he contradicted with a smirk.

“I am, kind of! And you might still stay together right? So I might not even have anything to be sorry about yet!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

* * *

So with all of this talk about Justin being like a father to me and how much he's influenced my life, you're probably wondering whether his relationship with my mother ever progressed in that direction. Well, I mean, not in the direction of him being like her father, but you know...the type of relationship that would have really made him the father to her mother. You know what I mean. And anyway, you probably aren't wondering, but that's okay, because I am going to talk about it anyway.

My mother never liked Justin's girlfriends. I literally can't think of a single woman he dated in the entire time we were in his home that she approved of. I never knew whether this was simply due to Justin's awful taste in women (let's face it, they all had some major flaw), or if there was more to it then that, but I do remember when the latter became a possibility in my mind.

I was 12 and it was Thanksgiving. Mom and I normally spent the holiday with her friend Lanie's family, who worked for Justin's next door neighbors, but they were out of town and so Justin had invited us to spend it with his family. His mom and stepdad were in town for the holiday and so it was the five of us, Trace, and his girlfriend. My mother and Mrs. Harless (or Lynn, as she always insisted I call her) were in the kitchen cooking and chatting together, and I, being the only child in the house and thus completely bored out of my mind, was sitting on the floor in the doorway reading a book while I waited for dinner to be ready.

Justin had just broken up with his third girlfriend in as many years, and so naturally this was the subject of conversation between Mom and Lynn. I don't think they realized I was sitting there listening to them, or they probably wouldn't have been quite so open with one another about their feelings on the subject.

“Well, to be honest, I'm kind of glad she's gone,” Mom was saying as she rolled out dough for the pie crusts. “I mean, she was nice enough, but so whiney. She was always complaining about Justin being gone, and she would come over here when he was out of town demanding to know where he was. It was bizarre.”

“I imagine it is difficult with him gone so much.” Lynn cut the poor girl some slack.

“Yeah, but she knew that getting into it! She would always come over here and be like, 'why isn't he back yet?' And I'm like, 'because you're dating a musician, lady, deal.' I understand that she wanted him around, but I don't think she trusted him. And she was just way too clingy for him.”

“You're probably right,” Lynn sighed.

The most recent girlfriend – Theresa had been her name – had seemed like such a great girl to begin with, but my mother was right. She was clingy and she didn't trust Justin at all. I'm pretty sure she thought he was cheating on her, when it reality Justin was pretty much the last person to ever do something like that. Definitely not the right girl for him, and all of us knew it.

“I just wish he could find someone,” Justin's mother continued. “He hasn't found someone I felt was right since Britney, and we all know even that didn't end well.”

“Yeah.”

“It's too bad he can't find someone like you.”

I heard my mother let out the kind of laugh that I always did when I was surprised by something – sort of a short “ha!”

“Like me?” She repeated, sounding amused. “A single mom who's paid to clean his home and live in his guest house?”

“No, you know what I mean,” Lynn chuckled in response. “You're funny, smart, emotionally stable...and Justin's always talking about how you're so easy to talk to and you understand him, and I know he enjoys spending time with you. It would just be nice if he could find someone he connects with on that level.”

I peeked around the corner in an effort to get an inconspicuous look on the expression on my mother's face. She was as pale as her olive complexion could get, and was purposely avoiding eye contact with Lynn, clearly uncomfortable with the conversation.

“Yeah,” Mom finally managed to choke out. “Yeah, that would be perfect.”

* * *

It wasn't often that Kali got an evening to herself. Even when Justin wasn't around, Miriam almost always was. Or it always seemed to work out that on nights when Miriam was spending the night at a friend's house or something, Justin was actually home for once and insisting on spending time with Kali.

So, with Justin and Miriam gone for the evening, she was taking advantage of being alone, and lazing around in her pajamas eating ice cream and watching TV. It was nice, and she was finally winding down from the unwelcome excitement of the afternoon, but it was also kind of lonely. She wasn't used to the total silence of her home, and she suspected if she went over to Justin's it would be even worse since his home was at least three times as big as her own.

She flipped through the channels, trying to find something good to watch, but was proving unsuccessful, despite the couple hundred television channels they got from Justin's satellite. Sighing with defeat, she finally settled on one of the multiple channels playing reruns of Law and Order: SVU.

“Sex crimes. Great,” she muttered to herself, shoving a spoonful of mint chocolate chip ice cream in her mouth.

Seconds later, Kali practically jumped out of her skin when a voice came from the intercom on the wall. “Hey Kali, you in there?” It was Jack, one of Justin's security guys who manned the gate during the night. They didn't have anyone there during the day, but for some reason Justin felt the need to have someone there at night.

“Yeah, I'm here,” Kali responded, once she'd hopped up off the couch and over to the intercom to push the button to respond. “What's up?”

“Um, there's some guy out here to see you,” Jack told her. “He says his name's Sean and he's a friend from when you lived in Hawaii, but he won't tell me anything else. Kind of shady. Do you want me to send him away?”

Kali frowned. She only knew one Sean from Hawaii and she was fairly certain that he was not in LA at this point in time. “Uh, no, that's okay, I'll come talk to him. Let him in and tell him to wait in front of the main house.”

“Okay, will do.”

“Thanks, Jack.” She pulled on a pair of shoes and checked her face quickly in the mirror to make sure that there was no chocolate left over from her ice cream gorging session and headed out to meet this mystery man.

There was a bit of a breeze on the December night and Kali shivered a bit, pulling her sweater tighter around her body as she approached the main house. There were a number of lights on in front of the house, so it wasn't difficult at all to see the figure that was standing on the front porch, back to her. He turned as she approached and Kali shook her head in disbelief upon recognizing the last person she would have expected to see that night.

“What are you doing here?” she greeted him once she was within earshot.

“Well, hello to you too,” Sean Wilder responded, flashing a set of perfectly straight white teeth. “Long time, no see.”

“Yeah, I know,” Kali replied shortly as she stopped in front of him. “It's been 13 years in fact. It's an easy number to remember, you know why? Because that's how old our daughter is. You know, the one you've never even met?”

“Wow, don't hold back, Kal, just get straight to the point, why don't you? Can't even ask how I am or what I've been doing these past few years?”

“What are you doing here, Sean?” She repeated, not in the mood for his games.

“I came to see you and Miriam.”

“Why?”

“What do you mean 'why'? Because she's my daughter, and I wanted to see her.”

“Since when?” Kali asked, laughing coldly. “I've been trying to get you to come see her for 13 years, Sean. 13 years. I let you know every time we moved, told you how to get in touch with us, tried to convince you that your daughter is amazing and beautiful and that you didn't want to miss seeing her grow up, and you never came.”

“Well, I'm here now,” Sean stated.

“Why?” She repeated, voice rife with exasperation. “She's doing good, Sean. She's finally stopped asking about you, finally stopped wondering if you'd ever show up. And now you're going to, what, show up once and then ditch her again? Yeah, great idea.”

“What makes you think I'll ditch her again?”

“I'm not as stupid as I was when I was 15. I don't believe people are going to stick around just because they say they will.”

* * *

“Justin, I need to ask you a question,” Miriam stated matter-of-factly as she and Justin drove back to his home after the dance. They'd only stayed for two hours, rather than the full three, as the questions about his presence began to get a little too unbearable for all those involved.

“No, I will never do the chicken dance with you again. This was a once in a lifetime experience,” Justin teased her in response.

“Even at my wedding?” Miriam asked with mock astonishment.

“Okay, fine,” he conceded with a sigh. “At your wedding, I will do the chicken dance again, but that's it. Never again.”

“Good.” She paused to laugh before proceeding to her real question. “But seriously? Can I ask you something?”

“Go for it.”

“Um...I heard you telling Mom that Lindsay might not be your girlfriend and...is that my fault?” It was only thing that had kept her from enjoying the night. Lindsay wasn't her favorite person in the world, but she felt bad that she might have ruined Justin's relationship with her.

“No, of course not,” Justin responded immediately, a little surprised at the question. “That's Lindsay's fault, it has nothing to do with you. Why would you even think that?”

“No reason, it's just...when we were out shopping she told me that you guys had been having some problems because of me, and...she told me it wasn't my fault, but I still feel bad.”

“She said that to you?” he exclaimed incredulously.

Miriam didn't say anything in response, merely nodded, and Justin glanced over at her for as long as he could without being unsafe while he was driving. “Listen to me, none of this is your fault, okay? You've done nothing wrong, you're not in the way or whatever stupid shit Lindsay told you. Okay?”

“Okay,” Miriam agreed with a small smile. She felt relieved to hear him say that.

“Okay. Good.” Justin ruffled her hair affectionately. “Did you have fun tonight?”

“Yeah, tons of fun! You're a way better dancer than any of the dads. We totally kicked everyone else's butt!”

“Yeah, we did!” He laughed, happy to see that Miriam could easily return to her usual happy self. “And you are definitely a better dancer than any other girl at that school. I have taught you well.”

“Thank you, thank you.”

Justin paused to greet Jack at the gate as they pulled up to the house, but they both stopped talking when they saw two figures standing on the front porch. One was instantly recognizable – Kali was standing with her arms folded across her chest and a frowned etched into her features – but the other was not at all familiar to Justin.

“Who is that?” he asked Miriam as they pulled up to the house and turned off the car.

Miriam shook her head, silent for a moment as she gazed at the man in question. He was tall, with mocha skin, and short hair the same color as both hers and her mother's. She had never seen him before, but realization washed over her as his head turned towards her and she found herself staring into the same pair of eyes that she saw in the mirror every morning.

“I think that's my dad.”