It was now Adam who was sitting on the sofa with his head in his hands. What a nightmare. Of all the things he imagined Polly was doing when she was late this was not one of them. "Hey." He lifted his head as he felt Kim's hand on his shoulder. "Polly asleep?"
"She is." Kim curled into his side as he instinctively eased his way back into the corner of the sofa and lifted his arm so that Kim could sneak under it. Where she had always belonged and they were quiet for a while, contemplating the sharp turn this night had taken.
"That was unexpected." Adam finally broke the silence. Tonight had not gone anywhere near where they thought it was heading.
"It was. I feel horrible for Polly" Kim's voice hitched in her throat a little. "..and for Abbey."
"What's going on? Why didn't we notice anything?" That's what he couldn't understand. How had things got so far out of control and why hadn't they noticed? They liked to think they kept up with their kid's lives pretty well. It wasn't always easy and Adam particularly missed a lot but Kim always kept him updated if he'd been busy at work. He drifted through his teenage years with his parents only seeming to care when he was in trouble and he didn't want to be like that with his kids. He wanted to know what was going on with them. They weren't strict or controlling by any stretch of the imagination but that didn't mean they didn't care.
"Adam, I am not sure we missed anything. Abbey, she's seemed fine every time she was here. Until she was late home on Saturday nothing has been any different and Polly hasn't mentioned anything."
"Did she say anything else?"
"Nothing. She doesn't want to talk right now. I really don't think she understands what's going on." Kim had tried to ask her some more questions but Polly had just shut down and in the end Kim was happy that she fell asleep surprisingly quickly because that was probably going to be the best thing for her right now. When she was tired it was hard to be rational and Kim could tell by her ranting and jerky movements that Polly was just as tired as she was stressed and that would lead to her saying or doing something rash.
"I know. I am trying so hard not to freak out right now."
"Me too." Kim cried in his arms, not for the first time and definitely not for the last. He adored how beautiful a mother she was, how much she loved her children. From the moment Polly was born Kim had embraced being a mother, she saw herself as a mother above all else. They had rough patches along the way but they never gave up because of their children and because they loved each other even thought sometimes they may not have particularly liked each other.
When Kim had suffered the miscarriage they had really struggled for a while but eventually come out of that stronger than ever. They never even thought about having another child and Adam had reluctantly agreed to a vasectomy once the dust settled. Things got tough a few years later when Adam went undercover for almost three months and when he came back it was like living with a stranger for a while. It took them a good six months to right the ship. Not once had they contemplated not staying together though.
They would disagree over the discipline of their children, particularly when the kids were younger. Kim was always the softest and relented first, which annoyed Adam at times. He thought that he gave them enough leeway and he hated it when Kim would swoop in after he had doled out their punishments and coddle them when they cried, she couldn't bear to hear them cry. Now that they were older, his punishments usually consisted of no TV, no friends over after school or a ban on computers and phones. He was hardly a tyrant but they would still look to Kim to help them. For now though they were pretty much on the same page and Polly and Angus were starting to work out that they couldn't play one off the other any more.
While they were younger that was easier to navigate but now the pressure was on them and they needed to stick together and make sure they knew what they were doing. Right now, with all this Polly chaos they needed to talk to each other and stay the course. This would test them because Kim could see Polly hurting and wanted to wrap her up in cotton wool and Adam was swinging between the two. He was desperate to protect her but also letting her know that her decisions and behaviour had consequences and teaching her how to make smart choices. He was also concerned that she was going to be led down a dark path out of loyalty to her best friend. It was their job to make sure that didn't happen, they just didn't know how to do it.
"I know this is not the issue right now, but that is the first time Polly talked about a boy. How many times did this Sam's name come up?"
"It freaked you out didn't it?" From the moment that Polly had bought up Sam's name she knew Adam would want to talk about it.
"Yes it did." He wasn't afraid to admit that, although it had always surprised him that she didn't have more boys sniffing around. He was adamant that she was beautiful, inside and out and thought he'd be beating them off with a stick by now but she just seemed to have little interest in boys.
"I am desperately holding onto the fact that he likes Polly because of who she is and not just to pop her cherry. Surely if he wanted that it seems Abbey would be far more likely." Kim cringed a little at how bad that sounded. If there was going to be the tiniest silver lining in this whole debacle perhaps that was it and they were both willing to cling to anything right now.
"I really never want to think about cherries again." Adam rolled his head to the side and found the will to chuckle a little. "Although I guess the fact that Polly was talking like her cherry is still intact was a good thing."
"Hmmm, you're right about one thing." Kim sat up and turned to face her husband. "We don't talk about Cherries in this house anymore."
Adam pulled her into his chest a little tighter and kissed her forehead, letting it linger for a moment "It's going to happen Babe." Kim added.
"Oh I know."
"You were sixteen."
"Ha." He laughed a little painfully, the memory of that wasn't the greatest. "And it wasn't good. I do believe you waited until you were eighteen my little darlin', but then you had to wait until you were like 26 before it got really good. Maybe you can tell Polly that. That if she waits until she's nearly 30 she might meet someone who is just so god damn good she'll be glad that she didn't go through the shit screws in the back of a car."
"We've screwed in the car?"
"Wasn't shit though?" And that was the truth; they'd certainly had far more good times than bad. Everyone, when you'd been together as long as they had could recall times when neither of them covered themselves with glory and you were almost doing it just to tick that box, particularly when the kids were younger and they literally fell into bed each night. Fortunately they were few and far between and lately they had certainly found a new level of intimacy that surprised both of them at times.
"So Abbey?"
Adam blew out a long slow breath. "Abbey. I'd really like to know what's going on with her. Something's not sitting right with me, it's nagging me. You don't go this off the rails so quickly without a reason."
"I know. I mean it's been rough at home for her for a few years but Janice seems to have settled down, right?" They were trying to work through this in their heads, being a cop wasn't always a good thing because they were both trying not to go worse case scenarios. Kim had been over there even as recent as last week and Abbey's Mom, Janice seemed really happy. They'd had a glass of wine and a good laugh and hadn't mentioned anything about Abbey behaving unusual or being any more difficult.
Kim reminded Adam not to stay up too late, a bad habit of his when he was stressed. He would sit and stew over things and then crawl into bed in the wee hours and cuddle up to his wife. Kim also knew that other reason that he was waiting up, he was waiting for Polly.
Whenever Polly was upset or woke from a bad dream she would creep downstairs and curl up on her father's lap. Even before she could get herself up they had started this. Adam would bring her out if she weren't sleeping so as not to wake Kim and he would cuddle her on the sofa until she fell asleep. It didn't matter how big she got, if things were worrying Polly and she knew her Dad was still up she would come find him, sometimes they talked sometimes they didn't.
"I'm sorry Dad." She appeared in the doorway and Adam held out his arms for his daughter to fall in to.
"Oh Pol, I know you are." He was glad it was dark so that she couldn't see the tears in his own eyes, not that he was embarrassed to let his kids see him cry but he was worried that right now Polly wouldn't think he wasn't strong enough to help her.
"Abbey was horrible today. I didn't like it."
"You know that's not the usual Abbey, she's been your best friend for a long time so don't let this one little bump ruin that, but she does need some help and we are going to do that."
"I know." Polly sat up, crossing her legs and faced her Dad. "She said that all boys are the same, you all just want sex and even you are like that. She told me that you are not a super hero and that its pathetic that I think you are."
"I am no Super Hero Sweet Pea but I like that you think I am. I want to be your Super Hero because that means I've done a good job being your Dad."
"You have." They both smiled a little.
"About the sex thing. Polly, I do love sex. I love having sex with your Mom but I still respect your Mom. If she doesn't want to we don't, end of story."
"Even after all this time."
"To this very day." He assured her. He had hoped Polly would come down to him but he wasn't quite sure this was the conversation he was expecting to have. "I know Mom has talked to you about sex and waiting until it's right for you. Whenever that is. It's got to be what you want. I want you to be about 30 but that's probably not going to happen."
"I don't want to do that yet especially after today. It looked horrible."
"It probably was, I think if you asked Abbey and she was honest she would say that it was horrible too. That's not how it is supposed to be. It's beautiful, it's not always great, sometimes it's awkward but one day you'll find someone special and it will be worth it."
"You look at Mom like she's the best thing in the world."
He answered without hesitation. "Because she is."
"Did you ever do that to anyone? Like how it was today."
This was so not what Adam wanted to talk about. Sure, he hadn't always covered himself with glory when he was younger but hooking up with someone he'd just met in a public restroom he was happy to say he'd never done that. "No, Polly. I was no angel when I was younger I am not going to lie but never did I treat someone with so little respect and I would never have wanted to 'share' my girlfriend or watch her with someone else. That's disgusting behaviour. That's not how you treat people, that's not how you treat women and I would probably kill anyone who treated you like that."
"Sam wants to take me on a date."
Adam was trying not to seem a little unnerved that they had gone from talking about sex to Polly going out on a date. It was all a little too close for comfort. "Well why wouldn't he?"
"I do like him. He's nice and he called to make sure I was okay when I got home. I thought that was sweet. Can I go?"
"Only if I meet him first." Adam laughed when Polly rolled her eyes. She knew that was coming. "Tell me about him."
"Why, so you can run a background check?" Polly had been listening, her father always threatened to run checks on any boy that came within five miles of her and he wasn't alone. Kevin and Jay were right behind him. "He's been Isaac's friend for years. They went to Grade School together but he now goes to St Patrick's. He's smart and funny. His name is Sam Hollister."
"And good looking? Polly I don't want ugly grandchildren."
"Dad." Polly leant forward and slapped him playfully on the chest with both hands and chuckled. Adam liked that he had made her laugh. She was beautiful when she laughed and he'd seen too many of her tears lately.
She did think he was good looking though. He had dark hair and eyes and the sweetest crooked smile that made his eyes twinkle. Polly was a little besotted by him. He was taller than her and had a way of making her feel giddy when he would lean in and whisper something to her. He made her smile and even talking to her dad now she was smiling at the thought of him. Adam could see that and it was sweet and a little sad at the same time. There was a time when only he made her smile like that.
"There was a lot of talk about Sam tonight and sex." Adam needed to get this out otherwise he would chew over it for days.
"Dad, I told Sam what Abbey said, when we went looking for her. He came with me and he held my hand and he was really sweet." Polly had no idea why she told him that, but it was out there now. "I kinda just blurted it all out and he told me not to worry. He said that right now holding my hand was enough. I don't think he's like that." She twisted her hands nervously in her lap. "He still called and wants to take me out on a date even though I told him that I was not interested in having sex. I think he likes me." She looked so happy.
"Okay." Adam still wasn't overly satisfied but her sweet innocent face swayed him. "Let's see how it goes then, but we will need to meet him. None of this honking the horn in the driveway." That was was Polly's first date, the kid didn't even have the courtesy of getting out of the car and Adam put the kibosh on it instantly. Polly didn't really mind, she had come home and said the date was awful and all he talked about was his car which Adam had just grinned at, Polly was so uninterested in cars it wasn't funny. Like her mother she would roll her eyes the moment Adam started talking about them.
"I think you'll like him."
"He's taking you out on a date, Polly I am going to hate him." He nudged her playfully. "Now, let's go to bed." Polly waited while he turned off the lights and walked her upstairs.
"I love you Dad." She hugged him at the door to her bedroom.
"To the moon and back Sweet Pea. To the moon."