I threw my arms around her, burying my face in her shoulder, “Mommy! I had the most awful dream!”

“Oh sweetheart, I’m here. I’m always here. I’ll always be with you,” she offered. I pulled back to look at her. I was about to ask her what she meant, when the scene began to fade.

Allison shook her head, “No thanks.”

“Aw c’mon. I won’t bite.”

“She said no!” I shouted, grabbing her hand. He started to slide to the passenger side, and at that point I turned toward him, placing myself in front of Allison.

I clutched my defense spray and attempted to spray him with it. Unfortunately I was shaking so badly that I completely missed, which just made him angrier.

The hard old leather kept causing my skirt to ride up uncomfortably. He had by now sat across from me, staring down at me and my discomfort with mild irritation.

“There’s no need for that. You don’t have to put on a show for me, Robert.”

She smiled as she leaned down to kiss my forehead. “Absolutely. If you want you can invite Allison over.”

“I think Allison hates me,” I quipped.

“What? Where did that come from?” She had walked halfway across the room at this point, but she came right back to my side and sat on the edge of the sofa beside me.

“Where… rr… ick!” I didn’t even think about reception out here, especially on my archaic phone. I was only getting garbled responses, and imagined Margie must've been getting the same from me.