“She’s giving him tongue, right here? In front of us in the middle of the day?” Ross sounded incredulous.

“Welcome to my world.”

Lissa slid from the SUV’s interior and headed toward the house. “If they kiss like that out in the open, what do they do when they’re alone?”

“We’ve had ‘the talk.’”

“‘The talk’? You mean about sex?”

“Yes, about sex. You know kids today don’t think oral sex is any big deal.”

“I think it’s a very big deal.” He looked shaken.

Where had he been for the past decade? Kristen wondered. Had he been hiding his head in the sand and believing the parents’ age-old foolish notion of “My daughter would never?” If so, it was about time he woke up.

“You’re kidding, right?” he asked, but his serious tone indicated he recognized the truth when it was served up to him on a platter.

“Wish I were.”

“Has anyone had ‘the talk’ with Zeke?”

“I didn’t take that one on.”

“Maybe I will.”

“Yeah?”

“You know, scare the shit out of the punk.”

“And risk losing your daughter’s respect?”

He snorted. “That’s already shot to shreds anyway. A little tête-à-tête with Zeke sounds imminent.”

Kristen agreed, but said, “You won’t gain any points.”

“Who cares?”

Exactly. “Then maybe you want to reinforce my position that oral sex at sixteen is not okay.”

“Jesus.”

Lissa’s steps slowed as she finally spotted her father’s car. She sent a guilty look toward the kitchen before her shoulders straightened, her chin jutted forward in rebellion, and she strode into the house, her attitude reeking of battle.

She dropped her backpack near the hooks by the door to the garage. Water dripped from her coat and she smelled of rainwater and something else-cigarette smoke? Or worse?

Mascara-rimmed eyes glared up at her father. Her near-black hair, cut short and tipped in shades of pink and gold, was curling and damp. “What’re you doing here?”