Keely climbed into the passenger seat and shut the door. It was the first time she'd ever been in her dad's car…this one, anyway. It smelled faintly of peppermint. She took a deep breath, buckling her seatbelt.

The other door opened, and her dad climbed in. She waited for him to start the car. He didn't. He just placed his hands against the wheel, looking out through the windshield. Then he looked over at Keely, just gazing at her.

She noticed after a couple of seconds.

"What?" she asked finally, wondering if the shaking in her voice was as evident to him as it was to her.

Her father just smiled softly, and for a moment, she wondered if he was going to answer at all. He shook his head, barely.

"I'm just sitting here, looking at you, and wondering," he replied, "how you can be so wonderful, when…" He gazed ahead of him for a second, and then without looking back at Keely, finished. "When you've had something like this happen. When you haven't had… the typical parent situation."

His words were so quiet that if there had been any other sounds around them, she probably wouldn't have heard them. And they were heavy.

Keely had been staring at her lap as he spoke, and it was a good thing she had. Instantly she felt all kinds of emotions take over her face, and her mind. Her head began to spin as she heard her dad, for the first time, acknowledge what he had done.

He had stopped speaking as if he thought she might respond, but when she didn't, he continued.

"I just…I guess I'm glad about that, Keely," he said. "I'm glad that you turned out as, as fantastic as you did. You've got… such a good heart."

Keely closed her eyes for a minute, fighting it.

"Well," she replied finally, "I've had a really good example. Mom."

Greg nodded. "She is very much like you," he agreed, very quietly.

Silence. Keely looked out the dark window, at the lights in the near distance. She took a hold of her necklace. Habit.

"And…" Greg tapped the steering wheel. "I just wish I had some of the credit for that too, I guess."

Keely's grip on the necklace tightened.

The words fought their way up her throat, like a meal gone wrong. She couldn't keep them in.

"You could have had some," she replied.

He was silent for a couple seconds. "I…"

"Ten years ago. You could have. I was what, like six? I barely knew how to tie my shoes. I was just getting the hang of the whole bike riding thing. I couldn't braid my own hair or cook a meal for myself. There was so much I still had to be taught." She took a breath. "You know how you see those commercials with the little girls and their dads behind them, holding up their bike without training wheels? Yeah, I would have loved that, just so you know." She crossed her arms over her chest and bit her lip so hard, it hurt. Her mind was reeling.

Greg just stared at the wheel. It almost looked like he had been zoning out the whole time, but she knew he'd heard everything she said.

Nearly ten seconds went by, and there was nothing but silence. Keely stole a glance at him, only to see that he hadn't moved a muscle. Her mind screamed at him. She seriously contemplated opening the passenger door and just running away. They always did that in movies, after making a big speech.

"I would have loved that, too," he answered. As quiet as his voice was, the sudden sound of it surprised her.

She just stared at him, taken aback.

"Then, Dad, why…?" She felt like she was out of breath. She had to pause to swallow.

"You…you missed it," she said. "You missed me growing up. You missed so much! How much do you actually know about me anyway? Do you know what my favorite colors are? You know what my favorite candy is? What do I want to be when I'm grown up? When did I lose my first tooth? You know my birthday's in March, right?" She felt her face growing hotter. Her voice box felt fragile, like it was going to give out on her any second. She felt like she was standing outside of the car, just watching herself yell, listening to her voice get louder and louder, and thinking Wow, Keely. Are you seriously saying all this? "If you would have loved to be there, well newsflash, you could have been! So… why?" Her heart pounded in her ears. Her hands were shaking.

She finally got the nerve to look over at him, to see if he'd registered any of that.

He just closed his eyes, but she could hardly tell until the streetlight caught his face. All she could hear was her heart. The loudness kind of scared her, and she wondered if it was loud enough for him to hear.

"Keely," he whispered. She looked at him.

"I don't ever want you to be that gutless. I don't ever want you to run away like that, in anything you do." He looked at her, finally. "Can you promise me that?"

She had to remind herself to breathe.

She looked away slowly, and stared at the dashboard.

"I…" When her voice cracked, she tried again. "I can. I won't."

Despite the slight iciness of her last word, he nodded, seeming satisfied. Finally, he turned the key in the ignition, and the car started. Keely was still shaking. She felt like she was in a dream, some weird out of body experience, where everything is surreal.

"Pink," her father answered. "That's been your favorite color since you were three. You love Pop Rocks. You lost your first tooth when you were almost seven; I saw the pictures. You were born on the twenty fifth." He stared straight ahead. "And I think you'll make a tremendous news reporter."

She felt her breath catch in her chest, and her eyes widen.

She had to look at him.

But she had no idea what to say.

She closed her eyes for a minute, and felt a burning sensation behind her eyelids. When she opened them, she happened to look up, her eye catching the pull down mirror above her. Stuck precariously under the side of it was a picture of her. She was younger, probably thirteen, and had a huge smile, showing that she'd just recently had her braces removed.

Dumbstruck, she stared at it for a long moment, and when she pulled her eyes away, they were in her driveway.

Her father shut off the car, and Keely, robotically, reached for the door handle.

"I'm not proud of myself," her dad said, piercing the silence.

Keely paused.

"But I'm very proud of you, honey."

He reached over and gently, carefully, placed his hand on her upper back, over the top of her hair.

She felt an odd combination of warmth and shivering, like she was being sprayed with water that was quickly alternating between hot and cold.

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice trembling, and got out of the car.

As soon as she climbed the porch steps, her mom opened the door and hugged her. "Hi, Mom," Keely sighed. "I'm so sorry…"

"Oh, butternut," she said. "I'm just so glad you're okay. Where's Melody? Is she okay? Did you find her?"

"Yeah," Keely responded, looking over her shoulder. Her dad crossed the lawn behind her. "We found her. And she's okay."

"Greg, where is she?" Mandy asked.

"With Robert," he answered.

Mandy sighed with relief. "Well, for Pete's sake. Why do you think she'd just run away like that? Her father must have been scared senseless. I was scared enough with my baby out looking for her." She held an arm around Keely.

Keely didn't know how to answer that one. She felt that odd shivering sensation again, as her father stepped onto the porch.

Mandy looked over at her daughter. "Are you cold, honey?"

Keely tried not to tense up. "No," she said, playing dumb. "Why?" She glanced at her dad, for a fraction of a second, then away. She didn't know why she did.

"I don't know, you just seemed like you were shivering there for a second," Mandy answered. "Let's go inside."

She turned and led Keely through the doorway.

"Mom," Keely said, once they were inside the door, "I'm sorry about dinner. I just really didn't know what to do…"

"Keely, I'm glad you did what you did," Mandy responded. "Please don't worry about dinner, sweetie. It's all right." She held an arm around Keely again. "If you want to know… I'm proud of you."

She smiled at Keely, and Keely returned it. Although her mom was shorter than she was, she leaned a head on her shoulder anyway.

Behind them, Keely's dad turned and looked out towards the driveway. "They're here," he informed them.

Keely and Mandy looked out to see the SUV pulling up, headlights sweeping the yard. "Oh, thank goodness," Mandy sighed.

She was there at the front door as they walked up. Keely stood off to the side a little, and her dad had quietly taken a seat on the couch.

Melody walked in wordlessly. Mandy put a hand on her shoulder, letting Melody know that she was glad she was back. Melody just smiled weakly, as her dad came in behind her.

In the light, Keely saw the traces of tears on her cheeks. But only when the light hit them one certain way.

"Well, everyone's okay," Uncle Bob announced, smiling. He put a hand on each of Melody's shoulders. "It's been a long night, is all."

The adults nodded in agreement. Keely just let her eyes fall wherever they fell; she ended up gazing at her cousin's black and white Converse shoes, and her jeans with self placed holes ripped in them, one of them held halfway by a safety pin. She looked at her own shoes, pink ballet flats, and white gaucho pants.

Looking outwardly at the two of them together, they seemed like something comparative to day and night. Literally… the black and white thing really set it off. But somehow, even after what had happened tonight, she felt...okay with that, sort of. Night is a little darker and quieter than day, and the darkness takes some getting used to. But it really is beautiful, once you're familiar with it…

"I'm going into the bedroom now, if nobody minds," Melody whispered. Her eyes, lined in black eyeliner that was smudging, were downcast. She turned to go.

Keely watched her Uncle Bob reach out and gently grab his daughter by the elbow.

"Mellie, don't go yet," he said. She stopped reluctantly.

Bob took ahold of his daughter's shoulders and turned her around so she was facing him, then pulled her into a firm hug. His arms wrapped her tightly, as if he'd been missing her for ages.

Maybe he had.

Even a moment later, as Mandy put a hand on her daughter's shoulder and quietly suggested that they "give them some time," she heard her uncle whispering to his daughter, telling her everything was going to be okay. She hoped Melody believed it.

When she heard the quiet sobbing, muffled by Uncle Bob's shirt, Keely suspected that maybe she did.

……

"Water or lemonade?" Pim asked, holding out the tray with two glasses perched on top. It almost hurt to talk this cheerfully, but it was all part of the deal.

Phil leaned back in his chair in the living room, contemplating. "Well, on the one hand, water is best for you," he thought aloud. "On the other, lemonade…mmm. It sure is tasty, especially after a day of yard work. And after all, it really is just lemons and water. I don't know. I can't seem to decide. Which would you suggest?"

He expected to see Pim's blue eyes burning into him when he looked up at her smiling, and he did. It just made everything more fun.

"You want to know what I would suggest?" she asked, her voice strained.

He nodded.

"I would suggest," she began cheerfully, "that you shut up and pick something or you won't have much of a choice between them; one of them will end up all over your lap anyway."

"Oh yeah? And how much extra punishment time do you think that's equivalent to?"

"Oh, plenty, but it'd be so, so worth it…"

"Phil, Pim, I'm thinking of ordering a pizza for dinner tonight," Barb announced as she came into the room. "You and your dad have spent the day working in the yard, Phil, and I know you love pizza, and well, it'd be a little easier for me." She laughed sheepishly.

"Whoa, wait a minute," Pim declared. "Phil's being punished for what happened at the party too. And he gets rewarded with pizza?"

"I'm not rewarding anybody, Pim," Barb reasoned. "Anyway, you like pizza too."

Pim couldn't help it. She scoffed.

"Look at him, Mom," she said, gesturing to her brother. "He's sitting here like the king of the free world, demanding water and lemonade from me. Now is that really fair?"

"Pim, part of your punishment was extra house work, which includes bringing drinks out to your dad and brother while they were working on the lawn."

"They're not even working on the lawn anymore!" she argued. "He's just sitting here, making a dent in your chair." She glared down at him.

"Hey, I'm not asking much," Phil said, putting his hands up.

"Phil, Pim," Barb said sternly. "You have both been given your punishments, and arguing against them will only get more added on. Pim, you've been a great help today whether you like it or not. Please, don't ruin that. Now both of you get ready for dinner, please." She smiled pleasantly and left the room.

Pim sighed, turning to go.

"Wait a minute," Phil said. "I've decided on lemonade, please."

With her back to him, Pim narrowed her eyes, and silently mocked him. Then she plastered on her brightest smile, picked up the lemonade glass from the tray, and turned to hand it to Phil.

"Thank you."

"Oh, you're welcome, Philip, you really are." She turned to go.

As he sipped his drink, she paused, turning around. Gazing at the back of his head, she quickly dipped her fingers in the water, and flicked as much as she could at him. Quickly, she spun around and made her exit.

This time, her smile was for real.