STEVENS CAUGHT A CAB back to Saint Paul. Sat in the backseat with the window down, the sun and the wind on his face, and realized he was glad to be home.
The cabbie let him off behind his red Cherokee, still dirty with road dust from the trip to lake country. The passenger seats were littered with candy bar wrappers, old comic books—the kids still hadn’t cleaned up from the drive.
Nancy’s Taurus wasn’t around. At work, he figured. Give him a chance to clean up a little, shave, get some dinner going and surprise her when she came home.
He was thinking about it, trying to plan a decent meal, as he walked up the front steps and unlocked the door, as he kicked off his shoes, said hi to the dog, and walked into the kitchen, where Andrea sat on the counter, drinking a soda and talking to Calvin, who stood by the back door.
Stevens thought the kid was going to make a run for it. His eyes went wide, and he turned to Andrea, searching for a lifeline. Andrea gave her dad a look like a popped balloon. She slid down from the counter. “Okay, Dad,” she said. “Calvin’s just leaving.”
She tried to slip past him. Stevens held out his hand. “Hold up,” he said. “I just got home. You haven’t seen me in days. This is how you say hello?”
She rolled her eyes. “Hi, Dad. Can we go now?”
Stevens let her pass. Watched her disappear through the front hall with Calvin. This is not how this is supposed to be, he thought. He straightened. “Calvin.”
A pause. Then reluctant footsteps. The kid poked his head through the doorway. “Mr. S.?”
“Come in here a second,” he said. Andrea appeared at the doorway, and he shook his head. “Not you, daughter. Just Calvin.”
Calvin glanced back at Andrea once. Then, slowly, he shuffled into the room. “Yeah?”
Stevens ran through every mean-dad cliché he could think of. Wondered which one fit the current scenario. Calvin stood waiting, hands in the pockets of his cargo shorts, eyes downcast. “Look,” Stevens said, “I don’t like this any more than you do, but it’s gotta be done, understand?”
Calvin nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“I don’t want to be a hard-ass. Not here. I play cop all day. The last thing I need is to be a policeman at home.” He paused. “That’s my wife’s job.”
Calvin nodded again. “Okay.”
“Look at me, son.”
Calvin looked up. He was a young kid. Gangly and awkward-looking, a little bit of acne and an unfortunate blush. Probably worked up every ounce of courage just to ask Andrea out. “Good,” Stevens said. “Now, what’s your business with my daughter?”
“Sir?”
“Your business, Calvin. Your intentions.” Stevens eyed the kid. “What are you hoping to achieve here?”
Calvin studied the floor again. “I don’t know,” he said. “I never thought about it. Andrea’s just cool, is all.”
“You like lots of girls, Calvin?”
From the hallway, Andrea exhaled, loud. Stevens ignored her. Calvin blushed redder. “No, sir,” he said. “Not really.”
“Have lots of girlfriends? Are you some kind of player?”
“Me?” Calvin laughed. “You have the wrong guy, Mr. S.”
“Okay, then,” Stevens said. “So you like Andrea. What do you like about her, exactly?”
“She’s, I dunno—she’s smart,” Calvin said. “And she’s funny.” He looked up at Stevens. “Really, she is. She’s the funniest girl in our grade. And she doesn’t take any shit—I mean crap. Sorry.”
Stevens waved him off. “Go on.”
“And, I don’t know, she likes cool stuff,” Calvin said. “She likes to do cool things.”
“Like fool around in the living room when her parents aren’t home.”
Stevens thought the kid might die in front of him. “No,” he said. “Like go for bike rides and stuff. Watch old movies. Cool stuff. A lot of girls are just into makeup and hair.” He looked pleadingly at Stevens. “That was just the one time, I swear. I’ll never—you don’t have to worry—it won’t happen again—”
“Forget it,” Stevens said. “Andrea, get in here.”
Another long beat. Then Andrea came in. She stood beside Calvin and stared at her father, her mouth set, her eyes defiant, and Stevens again wondered when he’d become the enemy.
“First of all,” he said. He cleared his throat. “First of all, I know you guys are going to fool around, okay? I’m not stupid, and you’re not twelve anymore. I know this.”
Andrea grimaced. “Mortifying. So, so mortifying.”
“You gotta know, though, that this is tough for me. I see things out there that turn my stomach, Andrea. I see people using each other. Hurting each other. I don’t want that for you. For either of you.”
He regarded them both. Andrea’s eyes were still hard, but her posture had softened. Calvin still looked like the kid in the principal’s office.
“Just make good decisions,” Stevens said. “You know what I mean. Don’t rush into something just because everyone else is doing it. Use protection. And for God’s sake, don’t make it all about sex. This stuff is way better when there’s feelings behind it, trust me.”
“Gross,” Andrea said.
“Whatever,” Stevens told her. “‘Gross’ is walking in on your daughter and her boyfriend playing grab-ass. I don’t want that, and neither do you. So just, you know, be smart. If you expect to be treated like an adult when it comes to your relationship with Calvin, be ready to act like an adult when it comes to your mother and me. Be respectful to us, and we’ll try to be accommodating back, okay?”
“Fine,” Andrea said. “Fine. Okay. Can I go?”
“Not yet,” he said.
She made another face. “Dad.”
“I just got home from a terrible case,” he told her. “Give your old dad a hug and tell him you’ll be all right.”
Andrea hesitated. Glanced at Calvin and then gave up and came to Stevens, wrapped him in a bear hug. “I’m glad you’re home,” she said into his shirt. “I’m glad you saved those girls.”
Stevens hugged her back. Felt, suddenly, like he was home. Like everything, just then, was all right in the world. “I missed you, kiddo,” he told her. He gave her one more squeeze. “Now get out of here,” he said. “Go play outside or something. We’re making your boyfriend uncomfortable.”
Andrea rolled her eyes. “He’s not my boyfriend, Dad.” Then she was out the door, Calvin trailing behind, and Stevens listened to the sound of their footsteps through the hall and out the front door, heard their laughter as they ran down the steps into the yard.
Home, he thought. At last.