“You what?” I ask her, trying my damn hardest not to explode. “Please, tell me what happened, but slower this time.” I can barely comprehend any of this. Dennis? At the mall? What in the ever-living-fuck is going on here?

“I saw him, Michael. I turned around and he was right there. I didn’t know. I didn’t mean to!” she shouts.

I know she didn’t mean to. It’s not her fault that some lunatic is chasing after her, trying to make amends that can’t be made. Yet, this involves my daughter. Now, I need to make my presence known. This bastard won’t go near my family. He’ll never touch Emily again.

“It’s not your fault,” I tell her, calmly. I reach for her hand. She takes it and squeezes it harder than ever before. She starts to weep, collapsing into my arms. I want to protect her. I want to give her a life that is beyond all the bullshit she’s experienced in the past.

“I just…” She stops to wipe the tears in her eyes, but only for a brief moment. “I just wanted to show Lisa a good time. I wanted to get to know her better. I feel like I’m a part of your family now, Michael. I just want to be close to all of you.”

“I know, baby. We have a man who is clearly fucked up in the head. It’s not your fault, but we need to fix this. I need to talk to him,” I say.

“Please don’t,” she whispers, shaking her head. “It’ll only make matters worse than they are.”

“Then what do you propose? Do you think we should just sit and wait for him to go away? You know he’s not going to do that. He needs a certain response from you. He trying to make amends so you can be his again,” I say.

“I know. He told me he wouldn’t stop. He needs to talk to me. That’s how he put it, anyway,” she sighs. “Oh, Michael. This is all so fucked up. I feel like I’m in a fairy tale, but not one of the nice, good ones. I feel like I’m trapped inside the forest and Dennis is lurking behind every tree I glance at.”

“We can talk to him together if you’d like,” I say. “But I’m not letting you get near him alone. Fuck that.”

She takes a few moments to breathe, collect herself, and wipe the rest of the drying tears that have now stuck to her cheek. She nods and whispers, “Okay. Yeah. We’ll meet him together. Somewhere safe.”

“Should we text him?” I ask her.

She takes out her phone, hands shaking. “Yes,” she says. “But I won’t tell him that you’re coming. It needs to be a surprise, like he surprised me. He can’t get away with doing anything he wants to.”

“That’s a plan.” I smile. I hug her one more time, running my fingers up and down her back. She starts to relax, even smiles a bit, and then kisses my shoulder.

“I feel safe with you,” she tells me. “I’ve never felt safe with anyone, but you actually want to protect me, don’t you?”

“No matter what happens,” I remind her, “I’ll always protect you. Always. Now, come on. Let’s go hang out with Lisa.”

“Wait,” she says. She opens her phone and moves toward his texts. I look over at the screen and read the insane shit he’s been sending her. Loosely-veiled threats, packed with enough ammunition from the past to get any woman to agree to his crazy ideas of self-healing. “I need help,” he says. He’s right about that. He needs to drop the past and move the fuck on.

She begins typing. “Fine. You win. Let’s meet. Oros Café at 10 AM tomorrow? Good?”

She looks over at me to see if that’s appropriate. I nod my head and she clicks the send button. The wait doesn’t last too long. Almost immediately, we see those familiar three dots light up on the screen as he begins typing something. Then, his message sends.

“I knew you’d see. I knew it. Oros is an appropriate place. I enjoy their coffee,” he types.

“I enjoy their coffee?” I laugh. “Jesus, he’s really made a number on this town already, hasn’t he?”

“I told you. He’s scary. He’ll do anything to get his way.”

“I believe it. I didn’t think I’d get the honor of meeting your wonderful ex, but I guess there’s no better time than now,” I say.

I place my hand behind her back, lowering it down to her waist. We walk out of the study, downstairs, and find Lisa staring at her iPad.

“You are obsessed, girl,” I say. “Come on. We agreed on one hour in the morning, one hour at night. Those are the rules.”

“Dad! I’ve been on it for thirty minutes. Just give me a second!” she screams.

I walk over as she quickly tries to exit out of the current screen she’s on. I grab the iPad in the most parental way possible. I look on the screen. She’s been having a social media conversation. I instantly think back to the Tinder app that I downloaded right when I met Emily, and laugh. These things consume the whole world now. My daughter will grow up to be part cyborg, probably.

“Who’s Nick?” I ask her.

“None of your business,” she says. She grabs the tablet out of my hand and runs toward the couch.

“Don’t press it too hard,” Emily whispers. “Nick’s her crush. Let her talk.”

“He is not my crush!” she says, angrily.

“Fine,” I give in. “He’s not your crush.”

She grabs the tablet back, finishes typing something, and sets it back down on the carpet. “Okay, I’m done. Happy?” she says.

“Very.” I smile.

“Okay, what do you guys want to do?” she asks, looking at Emily.

It used to be a tradition in our house to pull out board games right before the night hit us. We haven’t done that in what seems like forever. As things got tough between Susan and I, the games became few and far between. Now, I just have the memories.

“We haven’t played any board games in a long time,” I tell her. “Remember how much fun we had?”

“Dad…” she whispers, lowering her head.

“I’m just saying…”

“A board game would be fun,” Emily smiles.

“Fine. One game of Masterpiece and that’s it,” she says. Slowly, but surely, she walks over to the laundry room. She opens the closet and grabs an old, dusty board game. She comes back and sets it down on the carpet.

“You’re all about to regret asking me to play. I’m a world-renown art dealer,” she tells us.

“Just you wait,” Emily says.

We play for hours. Multiple games later find us laughing and bickering, as both Emily and Lisa beat the crap out of me. As the day fades into night, I am less concerned about our world. There are dark things that may lurk, but they’ll never shatter the glass. They’ll always be kept on the outer rim because our love conquers all.

At least, I sure fucking hope so. Because tomorrow at 10 AM, I meet the man who abused Emily, who tormented her, who kept her locked in her own house. I meet him and settle the score for good.