When her dad returned home on Saturday night, Ada hadn't dared to go upstairs. She'd sent Tom a warning message, but didn't know if he received it and didn't know if that's where her dad went.

It was tempting to sneak out last night, but her car was still in the ditch and she wasn't about to steal her mom's car. Ada didn't know where she wanted to go, just needed to get away.

Stuck at home, Ada stayed awake all night, then sat on the dock to watch the sun rise in the morning. By then she felt drained of tears and energy. Wrapped in a blanket, she let her anger and pain drift off of her and into the water and welcomed the numbness to take over.

As the sky was taken over by shades of pinks and golds, Ada couldn't help but feel taunted by the pastel colors hovering over her sadness. Normally the colors would have brought her joy, but not that morning. The colors only got bolder as the minutes ticked by, casting the deep shades against the water's surface and surrounding her with a beauty she couldn't feel.

As with the sky, the birds waking up to sing their song almost sounded as if they were mocking her. The wildlife waking up filled her ears, and she breathed in the Earth's smell, wishing it would bring some peace into her new day.

She wondered if Tom was up, unable to sleep just like her, regretting how things had gone. Maybe her dad had caused him enough pain where he'd only slept a little, discomfort keeping him tossing and turning throughout the night. Or maybe the asshole slept peacefully all night, unaffected by what he'd done to her life.

"You're up early," her father's voice snuck up behind her.

She watched him with tired eyes as he set down two coffee mugs before sitting down next to her on the dock. He looked as tired as she felt, staring down at the water with a distant gaze and heavy eyelids.

"Never went to sleep."

"Figured."

Ada wiped her face off with her blanket. Most of the tears dried by then, but a few fell whenever a memory of him entered her mind. "I'm sorry that I disappointed you." Her voice shook as she looked over toward her dad, her gaze misty from her next collection of tears.

Her dad gave her a long look, then brought the coffee mug to his lips. "I ain't disappointed in you," he told her before taking a drink.

"Are you mad?"

"Little," her father admitted as he set down his cup and grabbed the second one he'd brought for her.

Ada accepted the cup between her palms, not realizing how cold she was until the hot mug warmed her hands. "Did you go to his apartment last night?"

"Yup."

Her insides twisted into tiny, tight knots. As angry as she was at Tom, he didn't deserve her father's wrath. Him breaking her heart was on him, but the kiss itself was her doing. She'd pushed him to confess his feelings and then seduced him. If it was up to Tom, Ada wasn't certain anything would have happened between them, minus one perfect kiss.

And now her parents knew. All of it.

"Did you hurt him?"

"Little," he said again. "Not as much as I intended to when I went over there."

Ada's head rose from her coffee cup, nerves building higher. Somehow hearing of her father's control was more worrisome than if he'd just beaten the crap out of him. Restraint meant something happened. "Did you two talk?"

"Some."

It was like talking to Tom with his plethora of vague answers that told her nothing. Ada checked her father's knuckles, but they weren't bloody or bruised.

It almost pissed her off that Tom broke her heart the night before and her dad showed little to no hostility toward him, nor was he seeming to have hostility about Tom having her heart to begin with. "What did you talk to him about?"

"That's something you'll have to ask him."

Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Ada assumed her dad wouldn't want her to ever speak to Tom again. Her father's mood and tone of voice did not match the situation. He'd discovered that his daughter had kissed her teacher fifteen years her senior, yet there was no sort of proper reaction. It wouldn't surprise her as much coming from her mom, but she expected an epic reaction from her dad and he wasn't delivering.

"I'm not talking to him. That's why I'm asking you."

"Well too damn bad. You want answers, go somewhere else."

Ada couldn't bear the thought of going to Tom for the answers. She'd rather not have the answers at all, then get them from him. "Keep your secret for all I care. I'm done with him," Ada whispered into her cup before taking a drink.

"If you was done with Tom this easy, you wouldn't have started nothin' in the first place."

The double negative caused Ada to cringe. "You have terrible grammar."

Her dad chuckled. "Yeah, well... I is what I is."

A smile caressed Ada's lips, then faded as quickly as it appeared. "You don't seem as mad at him as you should be."

"I'm plenty mad at him, but I'm keeping it in check because I know it will fade. Just like I'm mad at you for kissing him. I could lecture you 'til I'm blue in the face. I could yell at you and tell you how stupid it was to kiss a guy you ain't supposed to kiss. But you're a legal adult and you're my daughter and I'm gunna love you till the day I die.

"If you decide you wanna be with Tom, there's gunna be plenty of consequences without me havin' to add to 'em."

Her father's words brought comfort, but also confusion. "But Tom's the one who doesn't want to be with me."

His lips curled into a hint of a smile. "You sure 'bout that?"

Ada just looked at that damn smile, wondering what the hell was going on in her father's head. It was less than a month ago that he'd threatened to decapitate Tom with a chainsaw if they'd ever slept together. Less than a month when he made her promise she wouldn't date him.

"Do you want me to date Tom?" It was a question she never thought she'd ever ask, yet there she was.

Her father chuckled before taking another drink of his coffee. "Hell no, I don't want you datin' Tom. I want you to find a boy your own age."

"So why? Why do you want me to fix things between the two of us?"

Her dad set down his mug and gave her a long look. "There was a part of the conversation I had with him last night that stuck with me. Couldn't sleep all damn night thinking about it. He brought up your momma's disease and ever since then, I've been thinking about the possibility of it being in you. Almost brought me to tears a few times last night.

"Then I started thinking about why your momma seems so calm, how she stays strong while I feel like I'm seconds away from breaking. It's because she has no regrets and has had a life full of joy and love.

"Having the love of another person is one of life's miracles. If it's in you, and I hope to God it ain't, that's what I want for you. I want you to have the love of a good man or woman or whoever and the love of good friends. I can't deny Tom's a good man and a good friend. He's stood up for you, been there for you, broke his own damn heart for you. It would be stupid for me to stand in the way of something that can bring you the joy I want you to have."

Ada wiped her tears onto the blanket.

Her father was an honest man and a simple one. His life had nothing extravagant. He never went on vacations, only small day trips when her mom made him. Never saw any of the wonders of the world, yet he found his own in this small town. He found them within a family he loved unconditionally.

Ada wrapped her arms around her father, amazed in that moment by who he was.

It was also in that moment that Ada wondered if that's what was standing in Tom's way; a family he loved yet feared would never accept him. Her father went to Tom's apartment last night to cause physical pain, yet instead seemed to give mental clarity for them both.

"Talk to him," her father whispered before letting her go.

Ada picked up her coffee mug with one hand and wiped at her face with the other before nodding her agreement to her father. "Okay."