Ronald has good taste in television, I'll give him that.

And he makes for a good distraction, too.

While he's still trying to convince Kim to turn Captain Constellation back on, I take the chance to edge my way slowly out of the room—and out of range of my daughter's wrath.

I know that if I just give her some space, Kimmie will forgive me soon enough for what I added to the memory video. I just hope she never realizes what I left off of it....

I sigh. I'm not even sure why I did it really. It's not that I have anything against Ronald.

A second after that thought passes through my mind, I'm surprised by the realization that it's actually true.

Oh, I could sit and make a laundry list of the boy's faults... but the fact is that none of them holds a candle to the fact that I know he genuinely cares for her. Years of following her around the world long before he even had a hope of being her boyfriend more than proved that. Not to mention these past few days when she couldn't remember that he was her boyfriend.

And he makes her happy.

And that, I realize, is exactly what worries me.

Not that I don't want my little girl to be happy....

Key words: my little girl.

It's bad enough that she's getting ready to graduate from high school and leave for college—and in all likelihood, a college on another continent, no less!

I'm just not ready to think about losing my Kimmiecub to another man.

So why am I panicking now? I wonder as I lean back around the living room doorway to watch them. She has dated before, after all, and I may not have liked it, but I never felt like this.

I already know the answer, of course, even if this is the first time I've admitted it to myself. This time is different. Ronald isn't just a boyfriend. He might be the boyfriend....

I nearly choke on that thought when I see Ronald pull a little black velvet box from his pocket.

Kim opens the box and her face lights up. "Ron, they're beautiful!"

Okay James, breathe. "They're"—that's plural. A ring would be singular.

The rules of grammar on their own aren't quite enough to make my heart rate return to normal, but Kim plucking a small gold hoop from the box and putting it in her ear finally does the trick.

Ronald grins. "Y'know, I still don't quite get this 'halfiversary' thing, but hey, any excuse to get a gift for my badical GF."

Kim finishes putting the other earring in and takes his hand. "Thank you."

Ronald rubs the back of his neck, looking suddenly nervous. "Uh, KP, you know what you said earlier—back on the train, I mean…?" She looks at him expectantly. "Well, I just wanted to say, um, you know... I do, too. I mean—that is—what I'm trying to say—"

Kimmie cuts off his rambling with a quick kiss, then says simply, "I know." The smile she gives him is altogether different from anything I've seen from her before, and yet it seems strangely familiar.

I turn away then and head to my study, telling myself that I have no idea what that conversation was all about.

Who am I trying to kid?

The idea that Mr. Dr. P left Ron's boyfriend status off of the memory DVD in "Clean Slate" I owe entirely to the other MrDrP. If you haven't already read his "Father Doesn't Know Best," be sure to check it out.