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Meeting

It had taken them an hour just to calm Ib down from her nightmare. At first she had even been scared of her mother! She refused to talk about the dream, and after a while when her husband went back in to check on her she was sitting in her corner with the lights all on reading a book.

It was so bizarre… As morning came they each sat down for some late breakfast together but Ib would hardly eat. Her tiny crimson eyes searched the room for something, lingering on shadows and the windows…

She sighed, about to ask for the hundredth time what was troubling her so when she heard a knock at the door. Ib's eyes shot to the sound and she leaned away from it. She shot her husband a look, silently asking him to stay with their daughter. In the back of her mind, Ib's mother thought about who would be calling on them on a Sunday morning.

Ugh stop fidgeting! You haven't done anything wrong! But they are going to think you have… you're an 18 year old boy with no family and you're going to tell them you've befriended their nine year old daughter! That would scream perv to me! UGH! How was this going to work!

As soon as he made it to the large elegant door of Ib's house he regretted the decision to 'wing it'. Upon a quick search of Ib's family he found that they were a very prominate family, the type of people who donated enough money to charity to have buildings dedicated to them. He didn't know why but their very high social standings made this that much more difficult…

It's too late to back down now, there's probably a million security camera's on me right now! It'll seem much worse if I don't stay and talk to them… I owe it to her… to Ib.

Not allowing himself to think about it further he knocked on the large wooden doors. He had worn the same jacket as the day before, worried Ib might not recognize him but now he began to doubt that decision too. He felt so out of place even here on the doorstep.

He could soon hear footsteps on the other side of the door, and his palms started sweating like crazy.

Please let it be Ib that answers! The door swings open to reveal a tall, petite woman who he immediately recognized, it was Ib's mother. He had seen her once before in a painting in that place.

Nope! Not Ib! Well say something you idiot! He mentally screamed at himself.

"Ugh… y…yes hello. My name is Garry. And ugh… er well…" He didn't think it appropriate to shake the woman's hand so her smiled at her, but that was all he could seem to do. Don't panic! Just talk to her!

Before he got a chance to continue he heard small frantic footsteps running towards the door from the right. Little Ib came into view and he was slightly shocked at her appearance. Her eyes were red from tears and dark circles tainted her pale skin beneath her eyes.

"Garry!" She screamed excitedly as she ran past her mother out onto the porch where he stood. As soon as she did Garry instinctively dropped down to one knee as the child reached out and hugged his neck tightly.

"Good morning Ib." speaking softly to the upset child. It was then that he noticed the alarmed face of Ib's mother and the disapproving, on the verge of anger one on her father's.

Oh crap… this looks really bad doesn't it. He quickly broke their embrace in a way that wouldn't upset Ib so he could speak to her parents.

Chuckling nervously he continued, "Well as I said, my name is Garry and I'm a friend of your daughter."

She felt so much better now that Garry was here, suddenly her own house didn't seem near as scary. She thought about all the things she had been scared about last night that now seemed silly as she stood holding onto Garry's familiar jacket.

Then she started listening to Garry as he talked to her momma.

"Yes ma'am, I met her yesterday at the gallery. She seemed very curious about some of the works there and I would explain them to her. I cut my hand on one of the exhibits and Ib was kind enough to lend me her handkerchief." He looked down at her and smiled and she smiled back. She saw him pull something white out of his blue jacket pocket and hand it to her. It was her handkerchief! She was smiling even more now as Garry handed her the white cloth.

"Um you see ma'am, sir during our little adventure yesterday, I got to talking to your daughter of my love for macaroons and… well… promised to take her for some. So I'd like to fulfill that promise to her this afternoon and I'd be delighted if you would join us." She didn't like that idea so much, she really just wanted to go get the hamburger candies with Garry, her parents probably wouldn't like them anyway. She tugged on Garry's jacket to show her disapproval. "Ib, it's impolite to do something fun without inviting everyone." Garry smiled at her and she liked it, and she was pretty sure her mom had something like that once so he was probably right.

This was the strangest thing he could imagine. Here some teenage boy shows up at his door and the next thing you know his nine year old daughter was running and hugging him like a long lost brother. It made absolutely no sense. Ib was a painfully shy child, not opening up and talking to most children her own age, much less someone older. It wouldn't be like her to ask someone for help at that gallery. But he seemed charismatic enough, and well educated at least so perhaps that warmed Ib up to him.

He had to say he feared the worst when he saw his daughter hugging a complete stranger on his doorstep and almost beat the guy right then and there. Until I noticed, that was the first time I'd seen her smile since her nightmare. Even now, as the boy stood there explaining how they met Ib wouldn't let go of his jacket. He had raised a smart daughter, and she was much more mature for her age than most children. She knew it wasn't ok to talk to strangers, but she seemed totally at ease around the lavender haired boy.

Then the kid started talking about taking her out for macaroons. There's no chance in hell. But then he said something that greatly surprised him, he invited he and his wife to join them. The gesture immediately made him more at ease concerning his intentions. Ib pulled at the boy's jacket and pouted obviously not liking the idea.

"Ib, it's impolite to do something fun without inviting everyone." I'm pretty sure that was my line…

"Ib why don't you go finish your breakfast with your mother while I talk to…"

"Garry sir." The boy finished his thought filling in the name that escaped him.

"Yes, while I go talk to Garry." Ib seemed troubled by this idea as well and tightened her grip on the jacket while she looked up at its owner.

"Don't worry Ib, if I have to leave I'll definitely come say goodbye first." We'll see

This is important; her father wants to talk to me alone. Either he's going to beat me senseless and tell me never to look at his little girl again or he'll size me up some more. Sigh… well at least I've gotten pretty good at running recently.

The tall man stepped out onto the porch with him and closed the door behind him, signifying he didn't trust him in his house yet. Garry followed the man as he walked slowly across his yard in silence. He didn't know if the man was waiting for Garry to speak or what but he opted to keep the silence. Finally Ib's father spoke.

As they walked slowly around the large beautiful lawn Ib's father interrogated him with questions starting with how old he was then eventually inquiring about his family. Garry answered honestly to every question the man asked him even admitting to dropping out of his first semester of college after his mom had died. He was embarrassed by the decision now.

"Well I can't blame you for that, you just make sure you get back in school in the spring. It's important." Garry was surprised by the man's kind response and decided that Ib's father was a genuinely good man, his hard demeanor was simply out of concern for his daughter. Suddenly the man stopped and turned to look directly at Garry.

"Look Garry, you've got to know how strange this all is. But you seem like a good kid, and a blind man could see how much my daughter trusts you. So I'm going to trust you too."

Wait… what?!

"Where were you planning on taking Ib for these deserts of yours?"

"Ugh the Pastry and coffee café about a block from here sir."

"Perfect, friend of mine owns it" Of course your friend owns the place… "You two go get your snack, then you get her back here in decent time."

"Yes sir." Then Ib's father put his hand on Garry's shoulder, not threateningly really, just making sure Garry knew he was there.

"And I don't think I need to tell you what would happen if you ever hurt my daughter."

"Sir, I would never allow any harm to come to your daughter, you have my word." With that said Garry held out his hand to the man who removed his from Garry's shoulder to take it. With a firm handshake they both headed back toward the house.

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