Hunter had gone into the living room with Bobbi. Phil had told them it was okay to stay, but Bobbi had mumbled something about wanting to watch this one movie. Phil knew they were trying to give Daisy and the rest of them some space. He'd have to make her a dish of Mac n Cheese to thank her for everything they'd done for all of them. He looked over at Melinda who was frowning at her dad while he started talking.
"Well, were all sitting there at the concert. Me and Lian, Melinda's grandparents, my mother and father and Lian's mother, were all there. Mellie was fourteen. It was the Winter concert."
"Wait. Did you just call her Mellie?"
"Yes, I call her Mellie." He leaned over and whispered to her. "I don't think she likes it anymore."
"You know I can hear you Dad?"
He winked at Daisy. "Of course you can. You could always hear things you weren't supposed to." He turned back to Daisy. "Her cousins were even there. Lian's sister was visiting from China over the holidays. Mellie was a good flutist. She was second chair. Very good for only a freshman. Lian said she might have been first chair, but she was too quiet and not yet a leader."
"Let me get this straight. Melinda was a competitive ice skater, and a talented flute player?"
"They call them flutists Daisy." Phil chimed in.
"Okay so competitive ice skater, great flutist, and martial arts champion. So you were an over achiever. Anything else? Let me guess, you won all the spelling bees and got straight A's?"
"I never did spelling-bees. I did get good grades because my parents made it clear anything less than an A was not worthy." She stared at her father. "I struggled with certain science classes. And I gave up the flute and band in tenth grade. You already know I stopped ice skating competitively at age twelve."
"But still. You did all that. No team sports though huh?"
"She was too busy with her martial arts and flying to do high school sports." Phil added.
Daisy narrowed her eyes at him. "Did you say flying?"
"Yes. Mel started flying lessons then, in tenth grade. Right?" Phil turned to her.
"Much to our objections actually. We thought her grades would suffer, with her involvement in flying classes and all her martial arts. But we let her try and she kept her grades up. She was adamant about joining the Air Force." William answered.
"You flew planes when you were in high school? Daisy said, with amazement in her voice.
"I took lessons, got my student pilot license at age 16. It wasn't a big deal."
Daisy looked at her incredulously. "Right. Cause all high school students fly planes."
"They do if they want a leg up with other Air Force Academy applicants. I wanted to join the Academy. Be a pilot. It made perfect sense to me. I was able then to get my Commercial Pilot License a few days after I turned eighteen. I had that and all my martial arts belts and training plus my good grades for my Academy application."
Daisy pondered her answer. "So why did you want to be in the Air Force?"
"Mostly because most people said I'd never do it. Plus my best friend Maria was applying too. We wanted to join together."
"It was very prestigious as well. A way to have a viable future in anything. That's what my recruiter said." Phil added.
"So you guys went to the Academy together?"
"Kind of. Phil was two years ahead of me. We were there at the same time, but I never met him there. Different classes and different majors. We didn't meet until we both stationed at Scott Air Force Base."
"Keep looking through the album Daisy. There are plenty of pictures in there of Mellie with aircraft, her at the academy, graduation, and more." William pointed to the album. "You still want to hear about when she fell off the stage. Cause it is getting late."
"For sure. Tell me." Her attention quickly focused back on William.
"As I said her family was all there. They started the show, and everything was going very well. Mellie was sitting second chair with the other flutists. The audience was enjoying the show, the students were all playing very well."
"It was the Star Wars theme," Melinda said.
"Yes, it was. They were in the middle of the song, and all of a sudden a few bats flew down toward the stage."
"It was more than a few Dad. It was a swarm."
"It was five, six at the most. The school was old, and we learned later had an attic space for storage above the stage and auditorium. They'd apparently had a bat problem there for a while."
"There were more than five bats Dad."
"Whatever you say Mellie." He held up five fingers to Daisy who giggled.
"Anyway, some of the kids saw the bats and well they panicked. Stopped playing and dove down on the floor or jumped up and ran off the stage. Mellie had seen them and had ducked down. She was seated fairly close to the stage edge with the other flutists and piccolo players. "
Phil laughed. "I've never heard this story before. Mel how come you never mentioned it.?"
"Shut up Phil."
"Well to be fair, I'd have ducked too and stopped playing. Even if it was only five bats."
"It was a swarm of bats. And they flew back up and then back down straight for me and poor Alison. Everyone was trying to get off the stage or duck down and hide, and it was pure chaos. One of the bats skimmed over her head and she dove behind me, screaming."
"And as that happened Mellie stood up as the bats took another dive down to the kids, and Melinda took her flute and swatted at them."
"Which in retrospect was probably the wrong thing to do." Melinda deadpanned.
"So as she's swatting away, while Alison is under her feet, a stray bat zooms toward her face, so she jumped and took a couple steps backward, tripped over Alison, tangling up with a chair and taking that and two music stands with her as she toppled off the stage."
"You know I could have been hurt badly. And you are all laughing."
"But the best part is that her flute flew out of her hands to the front row, smacking the Principal in the head. I believe he had a concussion."
Daisy squealed loudly, her face turning red from laughing, as Phil was doubled over gasping for air from laughing so hard.
"It was not funny. He never liked me after that."
"He also never sat in the front row for any concerts again." William winked at Daisy.
Daisy and Phil laughed and laughed. William joined in while Melinda glared at everyone.
After they calmed down Daisy turned to Melinda and asked, "Do you still play the flute?"
"Not really. I haven't for years."
"She gave it up to get her pilot license and to get several black belts, so her Air Force Academy application was better than everyone else's."
"I guess it worked. You get a scholarship too?"
"No charge for the Academy. You have to serve eight years after graduation, five on active duty. After the five years you can stay on active duty or join the inactive reserves. Everything is paid for, the education, the training, room and board. They even pay cadets a stipend to cover uniforms, books, supplies and personal spending."
Daisy let out a whistle. "No wonder you wanted to go. I'm guessing that they are pretty selective. Like how many in your class?"
"My class had 957 graduates. I think we started with a little over thousand."
William looked at Melinda with pride. "They only take 11 percent of applicants."
"So you guys had to have met when you were pretty young just out of the academy right."
"When Mel was two years out. In 2000. We got married in 2004." Phil added "See, this is good. This is what Dr. Simmons wants us to do. Learn about each other."
"Could have left the bat and falling off the stage out though. It wasn't one of my best moments."
"Aw – it was cute. I mean you took out the Principal. Many kids have wanted to do that, you know." Daisy responded
Melinda rolled her eyes.
Then Daisy got a look of puzzlement on her face. "Wait. Did you say 2004? You got married in 2004?"
Melinda smiled. "Yes. May of 2004. May eleventh to be exact. Phil's birthday."
"But that – don't you mean 2003."
"No, Daisy she means 2004. She was seven months pregnant with you when they got married." William shot Phil a dirty look.
"Whoa! Seriously?"
"We have a bunch of pictures of the wedding in those albums I gave you."
"So you got married cause you were pregnant? With me?"
"No Daisy. We got married cause it was the right time. We could have married anytime. I was the one who didn't want to get married. Phil wanted to. I don't know. It was a weird time. I was – I didn't – I..."
"She didn't want me to feel I needed to marry her cause she was having a baby. She wanted the marriage to mean more. I finally convinced her I wanted to marry her for her not just because she was carrying our baby."
"I was content at first to just stay together. Without marriage constraints. Plus the Air Force rules are different for married couples."
"We couldn't work together anymore. On missions or at the base. Plus we wanted to live off base to raise you and being married made that easier."
"And Phillip, you are forgetting the most important part."
"Which is?"
Daisy interrupted. "Let me guess. Your parents threatened Phil?"
Melinda laughed. "No. I mean yes they were pretty opinionated on the subject."
"Your mom did. She said if I ever hurt you, she had many connections."
Melinda laughed. "I'm sure she did. But no, I was referring to us. We were out in Lola. It was such a clear night."
"I remember Mel. We were parked at the Shiloh Community Park. We'd been there checking out houses to rent and had happened upon the park. We'd checked it out and were parked in the parking lot and like you said it was a beautiful night. Early May."
"So you were gonna just live together?"
"Oh yes. We were both going to take care of you no matter what."
Melinda smiled at Phil and spoke to him softly. "That's the night we named her, remember?"
"I do. I'll never forget it. You were looking up at the sky and it was twilight. Just late enough that the dark blue almost purple hue allowed for a few stars to shine. You just said we'll name her Skye. It was perfect."
"Then I said she needs both our names too."
"You did. That's when you proposed to me." Phil grinned.
Daisy gazed back and forth at them with a curious expression. "She proposed?"
"Yeah. She did."
"Well, all this nostalgia is fun, but it is getting late." Melinda glanced at her phone. "Even for a Saturday night. We do have a busy day tomorrow. We still need to go shopping for furniture and I do believe my mom made a date with you tomorrow Daisy."
"Yeah she's gonna teach me how to make pork and chicken buns and pot stickers."
"I will see you all tomorrow then." William got up. "No worries Daisy. I have plenty of Mellie stories to tell you."
Daisy grinned. "Can't wait. Goodnight. I'm gonna head to bed."
"Daisy. We'll do TaiChi at six -thirty tomorrow instead of five -thirty."
"Oh boy, I get to sleep in till dawn tomorrow instead of before dawn. Thanks."
"Your sarcasm is duly noted, zì zuò cōng míng."
"Did you just swear at me in Chinese."
"No. That wasn't swearing. Although Melinda does swear in Chinese really well. Probably the only words I really know well actually are swear words in Chinese. Well those and this one. Wǒ ài nǐ qīn'ài de."
"Oh Phil you still can't pronounce it right."
"She swore at you in Chinese a lot huh?" Daisy laughed. "Wait, what does it mean. What you said to me." Daisy whined to Melinda.
"She called you a smartass Daisy. And Phil tried to say, 'I love you darling'." William answered her.
She grinned. "Yeah I am that. You have to teach me Chinese curse words Melinda. It could come in handy in school."
Melinda raised her eyebrows at Daisy. "You should not swear in any language at school. Even if cute boys teach you how to."
Daisy grinned.
Phil frowned. "Wait? What? What cute boys?"
"Nothing Phil. Um so I'll see you later tomorrow then?" Daisy turned to William who was putting his coat on. When your wife comes over to teach me how to make buns?"
"Of course. I'll be the taste tester. Plus both Lian and I can tell you more about Mellie."
"Oh great. Both of you." Melinda sighed.
"Good night everyone." William left to go out the side door in the small utility room next to the kitchen.
Daisy was sitting on her bed trying to wind down so she could go to sleep. It had been an eventful couple of days, first with all the stuff at school, and then meeting Melinda's parents, picking out stuff for the house and her room. Grandparents. She had grandparents. She grinned. It had been really weird at first with them and then after they got over the initial awkwardness, and just talked to her, they had been interesting and cool. She'd learned a lot more about Phil and Melinda too. And those comments about her name. She hadn't responded to them because she didn't know what to say. It was so strange to know how much these two people had wanted her and planned for her to be a part of their lives.
Curiosity got the better of her and she got off the bed and knelt down, pulling out the photo albums Melinda had given to her. She hadn't yet looked through them, for one thing she'd been really busy, but she also was scared to look at more of her past. Cause even though she had not told anyone yet, she was beginning to feel so sad and angry about the life she'd missed out on. The life that was stolen from her. She was also developing hate toward her parents, the people who she thought were her parents. Not only had they taken her away from the life she could have had, but the life they gave her was not the best. She'd definitely understated her mother's issues. It seemed that as the years went on, she wanted less and less to do with Daisy, and her happy memories as a child with them were few. Sure it was better than when she was in the system, but the more she got to know Melinda and Phil, and the more time she spent with them – the more she realized how much she had missed out on.
She pulled the album marked 'January – July 2004' onto her lap, sitting back against the wall on the daybed. She opened the book and started paging through. The first page had a picture of Phil and Melinda in their Air Force uniforms standing next to a red convertible. Lola she presumed. They were holding hands and smiling. Daisy traced over their faces staring at them both trying to see herself in their features. When she was little, she had wondered why she was small for her age. Her parents, well Jiaying and Cal, not her real parents, were both tall. Cal was over six feet and Jiaying was almost five-eight. She knew that cause in second grade she did an assignment that asked for details on her family.
She always felt a bit embarrassed that she only had her parents as her family. Everyone else had siblings, aunts, cousins and grandparents. She remembered vaguely living in China and having people around, but none were family. At least none that she remembered being told about. It had always just been her and her parents. No siblings, no cousins, no aunts or uncles, no grandparents. So when she did her family project she added a lot of things about Jiaying and Cal to fill in the empty spaces.
So now it all made more sense. Melinda was small and Phil was not exactly a giant. He was probably around five feet nine or so. And now she had more family too. She had grandparents. And an aunt and uncle. She traced over their faces again and then turned the page. The next page had a picture of a very pregnant Melinda May standing outside by a tree and scowling at whoever was taking the picture. Daisy smiled. She traced over the pregnant belly on the picture and then noticed a tear had fallen on the book. That was me, she thought. I was supposed to be Skylar Qiaolian May Coulson. Daughter of Melinda and Phil. She turned the page and there was a picture of Phil and Melinda by a wedding cake. Phil had on a black tux and Melinda had on a red dress that showed her very large belly. Daisy laughed. Her mom was something. A rebel and a badass. She paged through the album and smiled at the rest of the wedding pictures. She didn't know who most of the people were, just Phil and Melinda and Lian and William. But they all looked happy. Especially Phil and Melinda.
Daisy closed the album and noticed it was after eleven-thirty. If she was going to get her ass up for Tai Chi she probably should try to get to sleep. She shoved the albums back under her bed and turned out the light. She fell asleep thinking about how Melinda and Phil would have raised her and how different her life would have been.
Daisy dragged her butt down the hall to the garage. Unsurprising, Lian was already there. Both ladies greeted Daisy warmly who merely waved at them and stretched while yawning a few times. Melinda noticed Daisy's slower movements and her dark circles under her eyes. She waited till they were finished before addressing her.
"You have trouble sleeping last night, Daisy?"
Daisy turned to look at her. She was going to tell her to mind her own business, as she was not in the best of moods, but the concern on Melinda's face stopped her. She nodded. "A few nightmares. Plus I got to sleep pretty late."
"Well it is Sunday. You could go back to bed. Get in a couple more hours of sleep if you want."
"Yeah maybe. But I'm hungry now."
"I will get the leftover congee I made yesterday." Lian turned to leave through the garage door.
Daisy turned to Melinda. "What's a congee?"
"Come on. Let's boil some water for her and make tea and wait for my mom in the kitchen. Then you'll find out."
Daisy dutifully followed Melinda out of the garage to the kitchen. Melinda busied herself with boiling water in the teapot and putting a saucepan on the stove filled with water to boil that as well. Then she placed another pot on the stove but didn't turn the burners on.
In a short time, Lian was back, entering the side door to the kitchen that Melinda had unlatched. Lian held a large dish in her hands and nodded at Melinda. She spoke to Melinda. "I'll need you to chop scallions and mushrooms while I thin out the congee with a little more broth. "
She then turned to Daisy. "Daisy get three eggs and break them open in a bowl."
"Stirred?"
"No. Keep the yolk intact. The you can get some of that leftover chicken your father made last night and cut it into small pieces."
Melinda froze. She gazed over at Daisy to see her reaction. She was fine. Either she missed what Lian had said about Phil or didn't care.
"Okay. How small."
"Bite size."
"So what is this congee we are making."
"I am making. You and your mother are cutting up things."
"Really mom. We are helping you cook." Melinda then picked up on the fact that her mother has just referred to her as Daisy's mother. She gazed over at Daisy who still looked unfazed at her mother's choice of words for Phil and her.
"Whatever you say dear." She then addressed Daisy's question. "Congee is a rice porridge. Made with broth and rice, add seasonings with toppings you choose. Most anything is allowed. We are putting chicken, scallions and mushrooms on ours with a boiled egg. Congee is a traditional Chinese breakfast. I made this yesterday and had much leftover. As you can see here. It gets thick when it sits and so I am adding a bit more broth to it for good consistency."
Daisy leaned over and watched as Lian touched up the already made congee. After a minute or so, she took the carton of eggs Melinda had gotten from the fridge and broke them into a bowl, and then got a plate to put a piece of chicken on to cut up. While she did that, Melinda cut up mushrooms and scallions and Lian worked at the stove. Melinda and Daisy both finished cutting the items and Melinda tossed them together in a dish.
"Here Daisy, put the eggs in the boiling water. Mellie if you're finished cutting could you get out three bowls and bring them here."
Melinda handed the bowls to Lian and she dished out a good size portion of the rice mixture into each one. Melinda set them on the counter and then she put a couple spoons full of the meat mixture onto each bowl. Daisy watched then as Lian dished out the boiled eggs and placed one in each bowl. Melinda handed her and her mother spoons and took her own bowl and walked to the table. Lian followed her and then Daisy did the same. She already had a cup of tea and she set the bowl down at her place and sat down. She stared at the bowl.
Melinda laughed. "It's very good Daisy. Try it."
"Okay." She dipped her spoon in the mixture and got some of the porridge and egg and placed it in her mouth. Her eyes lit up and she tried another spoonful, this time gathering the porridge with a bit of egg and some of the chicken mixture. "Yeah so how come I never heard of this before. It's amazing."
Daisy took Melinda's advice and did go back to sleep. But not in her room. She had laid down on the sofa and after a few minutes of staring mindlessly at the TV, she fell asleep. Melinda put a blanket over her. They still had to pick out furniture and they were planning to go today but it wasn't absolutely necessary. Melinda had known Daisy had not slept well, and actually was surprised to see her join them for Tai Chi. Melinda had noticed the light was on in Daisy's room long after eleven and she had also been awakened around two by a voice not quite yelling. The light had gone back on and Melinda had watched a disheveled Daisy come out of her room to go to the bathroom. She'd gone back to her room, not knowing Melinda was watching her from the sofa, and the light had remained on for a while. Melinda had nearly gone to the room, but as she was working up the courage to do so, before she could get up, the light had gone off.
Melinda sat on the chair watching Daisy. She smiled as she thought of earlier with breakfast. Daisy had two bowls of the congee, and she and Lian had talked about food for a good long while. Melinda was so glad that Daisy was bonding so well with both Lian and William. She needed them in her life. From what she understood, this Cal and Jiaying had no other family and Daisy had lived a rather lonely life with just the three of them. Melinda sighed. She was not a patient person. She wanted to know every single thing about Daisy's life. Every detail. But pushing Daisy was not an option. She felt her anger boiling over and got up. She walked into the kitchen where Phil was cleaning up. He'd woken and found that he didn't have to make breakfast, as there was enough congee for everyone. So he said he'd clean up. Bobbi and Hunter were going to a hockey game, the Blackhawks were playing the Penguins at one o'clock. They'd already left, needing to pick up Mack and Elena and do some tailgating, whatever that was.
Melinda walked over to Phil. "You need to talk to me Phil. I feel like hitting something."
"Something or someone."
"I really don't care."
"Phil guided her to a chair. "Sit. Now talk to me." He pulled up a chair next to her and sat down.
"I want to hurt every single person who ever hurt her Phil. I want to smash their faces. I can't stand that she went through any of that. The people who hurt her deserve to be hurt."
"Hey. Take a breath. What's going on?"
"I couldn't protect her Phil."
"Hey. It was not your fault she was taken. They knew exactly what they were doing. They took her cause she could pass for their daughter. Who knows how long they were watching her. Watching us."
"That's just it, Phil. I should have seen it. I should have been more aware. Who misses that someone is stalking their kid?"
"Melinda. Stop. I didn't see it either."
"I should have never agreed to stay in the field, to go on oversees missions, knowing I had a baby at home. What was I thinking?"
"You were thinking that you wanted to help people. Your work helped people Mel."
"I can't stop thinking about what could have been. What should have been. I had stopped doing that a long time ago. I stopped hoping Phil. You know I haven't had a drink since we found her, or she found us. But today, all I want to do is open a bottle and not stop."
"Mel?"
"It's how I got through my days Phil. Ever since coming here to work in administration. I would get up the same time every day. Do Tai Chi and then go on a run. Back home to shower, get dressed, grab a small breakfast at home or own the way to work. Have my tea at work. Order take out for lunch. Do my job. Work as late as I could. Leave work, between six and seven. Pick up dinner on the way home. Then I'd sit in front of the TV and watch Netflix or whatever, pour a drink or four and that's it."
"Mel. I'm sorry. I don't know what to say."
"It's just how it is Phil."
"I don't understand why you left the field Mel. Even after Skye was taken you stayed in the Air Force."
"I had to Phil. I owed them the time. I flew cargo planes. Fulfilled the eight years and then moved onto the FBI. I needed to do something that would help."
"You worked trafficking for the FBI. Oh my god. Did you think Skye was taken by a trafficker?"
"It was possible. At least working in there, with my high-level clearance I had access to a lot of information across the country."
"So why did you leave for administration duties?"
She looked at him and shook her head. "I'm not going to talk about it, Phil. Not with you. Not with anyone."
"You must have seen some awfully terrible things Mel." His voice was tender.
"You have no idea. And no. I said I do not want to talk about it."
"Okay. Come on. Let's take a ride. You need to do something and take your mind off all this."
"Phil. I can't just leave. Daisy is still asleep, and we are supposed to go look at bedroom furniture."
"It's pretty late in the morning now. And Lian and William will be over soon. How about we go furniture shopping another time, and we can stop by and let Lian know Daisy's sleeping and we are leaving. She could come over and when Daisy wakes, they can make buns."
"And pot stickers."
"Right."
"Let me get my jacket and just check on her first."
"You'll need gloves and a warm jacket. Maybe a hat. It's getting colder. It is the beginning of November after all."
Melinda looked at Phil as he pulled up and parked in the lot. "Skating?"
"You may not do it competitively anymore, but I know you still love to skate. You always did. It's relaxing, something physical and can take your mind off things."
"Did you magically learn how to skate well since I left?"
"Not really. But I don't fall down as much as I used to."
"Phil. I'll be okay."
"I know. But you'll get to laugh at me. Won't that be fun?"
Melinda shrugged. "That might be entertaining."
"You can show off your skills."
"I haven't skated for a few years Phil."
"Well then it's a good time to brush up. I am certain that Daisy will ask you to teach her how to skate. You'll want to be in top form, right?"
"I do hope she's a better student than you were."
"Hey. I can skate. It's just that sometimes the ice is uneven."
She laughed. He grinned back at her glad that he could draw a laugh from her.
Phil watched as Melinda glided effortlessly around the skating rink. He was sitting on the sidelines drinking a second hot chocolate. He had skated with her for around thirty minutes before gingerly moving to the refreshment area and sitting down while she bought two hot chocolates. They had talked about their old friends and his sister Bobbi as well as his mother. She apologized for not coming to her funeral which he shrugged off.
Right now, though, he was watching her weave in and out of people, moving very fast around the rink. She was still so athletic. So graceful and light on her feet. She stopped and moved to an open area and did a spin. Then she did gathered speed and took off doing a single jump taking off with her toe. She landed just as gracefully as ever. He used to love to watch her skate. She obviously loved it. She had told him that one of the reasons she stopped competing is because she started hating it. It had become a means to an end instead of something joyful. But after she stopped competing, her love for it had returned and she'd told him that being out on the ice was one of the places she could hash things out in her brain, still her thoughts, and find calmness. So he'd brought her here. It seemed to be working. She was smiling now as she looked at him as she skated past.
He smiled back and waved. She spun around and skating past him again building up speed to try another jump. This one was a double. She landed a slight bit off but quickly gained back her line and continued skating to the middle to do a sit spin. God she was beautiful. His thoughts started going where a divorced man's thoughts should never go about their ex-wife. He shook his head and took another sip of hot chocolate. No woman had ever been to him what Melinda had been to him. Not even his other ex. He should have never rushed into that relationship. He was just lonely, he supposed. Oh he loved Audrey. Or at least he convinced himself he did. He cared for her. But they had drifted apart nearly as soon as they said I do. It wasn't her fault. They just weren't meant to be.
Since then he'd rarely gone on a second date with anyone. He just wasn't drawn to anyone else. Well he'd been busy too. After divorcing Audrey, he'd gone home to take care of his mother and to take classes for his Master's degree in education. Teaching history seemed to make the most sense. It had been something that he was always interested in. Even when he and Mel were in the Air Force. They'd gone to historical sites to visit all the time. And museums. He was surprised how much he and Melinda had in common back when they first started dating.
People around them thought they were an odd couple. She and her many black belts and covert missions as a special agent. He with his communications skills and nerdiness. Not to mention her beauty and his – well, he was not exactly an Adonis. He knew she was far out of his league, and yet she never thought like that. Melinda liked what he liked though. She was a Star Wars fan. A comic fan, not as much as he was, but she liked them well enough. She read science fiction novels, watched scifi movies and spy movies. No romcoms for her. He smiled thinking about the time early in their relationship when he'd taken her to the movies. Thinking she'd like a romcom, he'd purchased tickets ahead of time and when they entered the theater, she had laughed at him. To be fair he hadn't known her well back then. The theater let them trade in the tickets and they'd gone to see the first "Lord of the Rings' movie. After the movie he learned she preferred action movies, spy ones or scifi; that she liked to do things spur of the moment; and that it took very little to make her happy. She was not a person who coveted possessions but liked when people did small things for her and remembered her quirks, as she called them.
One of those quirks was her fondness for tea and dislike of coffee. Not just any tea but good tea as she called it. And she loved to eat spicy food. Well any food really. For someone who lacked cooking skills she did appreciate those who had excellent ones. She liked kettle popcorn, dipping pretzels in peanut butter, and good scotch. She loved fudge, especially vanilla caramel fudge. She collected jade elephants, and the only jewelry she liked to wear were bracelets. She never played video games but loved to play old pinball machines. She loved playing board games and was very competitive. She was a pool shark and liked to play poker. She loved music from the seventies and eighties and had a very weird affinity for Elton John music. Phil was brought out of his reverie as Melinda plopped down next to him.
"I'm beat. But that was exhilarating. I almost forgot how fun it is to skate." She looked at him and smiled. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. And thanks for not laughing too loud at the four times I fell on my ass."
"It was five Phil. But you did look cute laying there on the ice so there is that."
"Thanks."
"Anytime. Do you really think Daisy would want to learn to skate?"
"Without question. Especially if you invite her to join you and tell her you'll teach her."
"I think I'd like that. I always thought one day I'd teach Skye how to skate."
"It's good we have that chance now. She seems to love Tai Chi."
"She's been a trooper about getting up so early to join me. I want to teach her basic self-defense next."
"Yeah. Good idea."
"You're going to teach her things too Phil. You already are. Did you see the way she loved how you broke down history for her? The stories you told had her attention."
"Yeah."
"Oh and hey. We can both teach her how to drive. You can let her drive Lola."
"You think she'd want to?"
"Have you met Daisy?"
He laughed. "Right."
"Phil. It's a step by step process. For her."
"I know." He sighed and checked his phone "It's after two. I guess we should get back. I hope Daisy ate lunch."
"My parents are there Phil. Of course, she ate lunch. Probably having her cooking lesson now. You know you could teach her how to cook too. She'd probably like that."
"I suppose I could. We can always hope she inherited that skill from me and not you."
She glared at him as he laughed at her.
