Escalation in the park!

Fran decided to put Val's idea into action and convinced Danny to go along with it. Therefore the following Saturday, Danny and Fran had an appointment with the kids for a picnic and play in the Central Park. Danny had agreed to Frans plan without any enthusiasm. He hoped to get rid of the children very quickly so he could be alone with Fran.

The afternoon turned out to be become a total disaster. Fran had to admit it wasn't even the children's fault. Rarely has she seen such a good behavior of all three of them. She noticed how hard they tried not to give Danny a piece of their mind.

Danny, on the contrary, didn't make the slightest effort to approach the children. He spoke to Grace in a tone as if he were talking with a three-year-old kindergarten child. Grace hated nothing more than when she wasn't taken serious.

Dany asked Brighton what sport he was playing. When Brighton replied, he was more interested in chess and computers Danny laughed contemptuously and mocked Brighton would become a real nerd later.

And as Maggie just sat there shyly and only grinned sheepishly at his comments without saying a word, he said half-loudly, so everyone could hear it.

"What do you see in her? Such a mousy person! You can't tell me seriously, only one boy wants to go on a date with her voluntarily. Each daisy has more color and is more entertaining."

Fran had to control herself very hard not to slap Danny. How could he be such an idiot? Suddenly she saw him with different eyes.

When Fran left to go to the bathroom with Gracie, Maggie and Brighton played with the Frisbee. Danny had only given them an annoyed eye-roll when they asked him if he wants to play with them. Grace asked Fran while washing her hands.

"Fran, what do you like about Danny? He's dumb and stupid like a toast. Aren't there any better guys in New York?"

Fran stared at Gracie and didn't really know what to answer. Gracie shook her head.

"Love must be really foolish if it makes you fall in love with such a jerk."

Fran still couldn't think of an smart answer, instead she just mumbled.

"Come on, hurry up otherwise Brighton will eat all the cookies on his own."

When they came back to the others, they heard Brighton and Danny arguing fiercely from afar. Fran quickly rushed to them.

"What's going on here?"

Maggie explained Brighton had accidentally thrown the Frisbee on the blanket and a cup of lemonade had tipped over and a little had run on Danny's sweater. But none of this had been intentional and Brighton had also apologized.

"Excuse me?!" Danny snorted angrily,

"This mumbled 'Sorry' was supposed to be an apology? This little toad threw the Frisbee on purpose!"

Brighton got now really angry; it was over with his self-control.

"I should have aimed for the head instead, but that probably wouldn't have hurt you with your empty head."

"You cheeky little bastard!"

"It's enough Danny!" Fran now intervened.

"Calm down! You can wash the sweater, no reason to freak out like that."

Now Danny's anger was directed against Fran.

"So you protect him. You know what?! I don't want to have anything to do with these creatures anymore. Their mother must have failed miserable to teach them some manners."

Everyone stared at Danny in shock. Fran was horrified. How could he be so insensitive? He knew that their mother had died. Brighton turned red and screamed even louder.

"Our mother taught us to respect other people's feelings. But such a troll certainly doesn't even know how to spell the word 'respect'. The head has certainly been empty since your birth."

Danny swung out his hand, but Frans reaction was fast. She grabbed his hand and held it.

"Don't you dare to touch the boy!"

She sparkled angrily at Danny.

"Better you disappear!"

Danny also stared at her angrily, collected his things and left.

Fran took a deep breath. She embraced the children in her arms.

"I'm sorry. I should have known better. What do you say about a huge sundae of ice cream?"

"You're not mad at us?" asked Brighton.

"No! No, you didn't do anything wrong. It wasn't your fault."

Slowly everyone calmed down again. They packed up, went to the next cafe and ordered the largest portions of ice cream. Soon they were laughing and fooling around again and Danny was forgotten.