Rylan dropped her fork and let it clatter nosily on her plate. "You did what!?"

"Invited your mother to dinner Friday," Tessa repeated calmly.

"Uh-huh, no way, not gonna happen." Rylan shook her head fiercely. "Not in a million years."

"It's happening in six days," Duncan told her. "It's only one night." Duncan secretly didn't agree with what Tessa had done, but wasn't going to bring that up in front of Rylan.

"But you said I didn't have to talk with her!" Rylan protested. "You promised."

"I said I'd support your decision," Duncan corrected. "Which I do. But I also support Tessa's side. You really should talk with her. Even if it's just to say, 'I hate you and never want to see you again'."

"That's not fair!" Rylan continued. "You didn't even ask! She's MY mother, what do you care if I talk to her or not?"

"Ry, she obviously wants to tell you something, just give her a chance," Richie said softly from across the table.

Rylan glared fiercely at him. "Don't even start with me," she growled. "You were supposed to tell her to go away."

"So you tell her," Richie shot back.

"Why do I have to be the one to tell her? It means the same thing no matter who says it!"

"Rylan, calm down," Tessa told her calmly.

"No!" Rylan screamed. "You had no right! I'm not doing this!"

"What am I supposed to do, call and cancel?"

"Yeah!"

"I'm not doing that, Rylan."

"Come Friday night either she's not here, or I'm not. It's up to you," Rylan told them.

"You will both be here," Duncan said sternly. "And you will behave, and be polite. I don't care if a moron can tell you're faking, you'll do it."

"You can't make me," Rylan challenged folding her arms across her chest.

"Yes, I can," Duncan told her. If there was one thing he hated about Rylan it was her Irish-like temper.

"Like hell."

"I can make you stay home Friday night, I can make you be civil to your mother, and I can make you go to your room, now."

"What?!"

"Go, Rylan. You can finish dinner when you've cooled down."

"I'm not hungry anyway," Rylan mumbled getting pushing away from the table.

"Then clear you dishes," Duncan added. Rylan snatched her plate off the table and deposited it in the sink before running up the stairs and slamming her door. Duncan turned to Tessa. "You shouldn't have done that."

"You're the one who sent her to her room," Tessa objected. Duncan looked at her. "How was I supposed to know she would be so upset?"

"I could'a told you," Richie mumbled.

"You also could have told me Julie was looking for Rylan in the first place," Tessa retorted. Richie silently yielded and poked at his chicken. "Duncan, she needs to speak with her mother."

"I agree. But she needs to do it on her own terms, not ours."

"It's too late, I can't un-invite her mother," Tessa insisted. "And I don't want to."

"Then were going to be stuck with a very unhappy teenager for the next month."

"Month?"

"She's going to hate us for at least that long."

. . . . . .

"Rylan?" Duncan asked softly opening her door. She was lying on her bed watching TV. "Will you turn that off?"

She looked at him over her shoulder. "Am I grounded?"

"No."

"Then no." She turned back to the re-run.

"I can always change my answer if you want," Duncan offered trying to keep his temper in check. Tessa often lost her cool when dealing with the girl and they almost always ended up screaming things that they regretted later. He hoped that maybe he could do better.

"Fine," she groaned switching off the TV. "What do you want?" she demanded.

"You to stop acting like such a brat for one," Duncan started. "You're doing this whether you want to or not, so you can stop pouting. All we're asking you to do is be nice to Julie for a couple hours, let her talk to you, and don't yell at her. After that we won't do this again unless its your idea," he assured her.

"I don't want to," she insisted.

"I know you don't. We all do. You made that pretty clear down stairs. But that doesn't change the fact that it's already a done deal. She's coming Friday at seven thirty. At that time you will be here, with a fake grin on your face, ready to pretend that you don't want to go on a killing spree. Once she leaves you can scream, cry, throw things, whatever you want. But while she's here you will behave. You got that?"

"Fine," she answered shortly. "Like I have a choice. Are we done?"

"I don't know," Duncan responded smugly. "I'm starting to think I don't like this attitude you've developed, maybe we should talk about that."

"Duncan!" she groaned. "What am I supposed to do? I'm mad, okay? I haven't been this pissed in a long time. And quite frankly it's taking every fiber of my being not to try and slug the next person that gets on my nerves. And it's a battle I'm losing very quickly, so will you just go away before I get myself into some real trouble?"

Duncan looked at her. She was so mad she was almost shaking. "Do you want to go running?" he asked suddenly. "Get all the energy and tension out?"

Rylan looked back and thought over the question. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. I gotta get outa here."

"So change. I'll take you up to the high school and we can run the track," Duncan offered.

"Okay," Rylan nodded and took a few deep breaths. "Okay, yeah, lets do it."

Duncan and Rylan ran every night for the next week. The closer Friday came the more laps Rylan ran. Friday afternoon she was starting on her seventh mile when Duncan finally stopped her.

"Rylan, you're moms going to be here in a couple hours. You need to take a shower and get ready," he told her.

"Two more laps," she panted.

"No more," Duncan shook his head. "Stretch and then we have to go home."