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Baker’s eyes widened as I turned to my dad. “I’m ready to go home. Now.”

3
     
     
    Dad rustled up double-bacon-and-cheese omelets with a side of bacon. The breakfast of champions.
    “Did you sleep well?” he asked.
    “You bet I did. I didn’t realize how much I’d missed my bed.” I fiddled with my fork. “I had to pull down the yellow police tape to get to my closet, though.”
    Dad smiled. “Yeah, I thought you’d get a kick out of that, so I left it there.”
    The police had been in our house. Wow. Probably a few hundred government scientists, too.
    “I’m sorry about that,” I said. “Did they mess anything up?”
    Dad handed me a plate. “There was stuff everywhere when I first came home. I stood in your room for a while, flabbergasted over what they’d done. Luckily, though, they’d left that college application on your desk, and your portfolio was in one piece.”
    I warmed knowing that he took the time to complete my application and send it, even though his daddy-instincts were probably screaming, “Protect child. Now!” Score two points for Dad.
    “I’m sorry the house got messed up.”
    He waved his hand beside his head. “To be honest, I could have cared less. I just wanted to get back to you. I took the one-night siesta the general ordered and left before sunrise to make sure they weren’t sticking needles in you or anything.”
    Yikes . I was sooo glad that never happened.
    “Thank God for the Bakers. They are the ones who came through with a clean-up squad.” He nodded; his thoughts far away. “Damn good friends, they are.”
    We ate in silence. I soaked in the hum of the refrigerator and the rattle of the air conditioner. It was all so right. So normal.
    Dad’s gaze left Never-Never Land and fixed on me. “You going to be all right?”
    Wow, was that an open-ended question. What was he really asking me?
    “I’m fine, Dad.”
    “Are you sure?”
    Okay, jig’s up. “What do you want to talk about, Dad?”
    He placed his fork down and rubbed his eyes. “I always let your mother take care of things like this.”
    “Thinks like what?”
    “Boys.”
    Oh no. Not the talk .
    “Is everything okay between you and Bobby?” he asked.
    I tilted my head. “Dad, you know Bobby and I broke up months ago.”
    “I thought so, but you looked pretty close last night.”
    Until I stormed away from the guy and demanded Dad take me home. Had he conveniently forgotten that part or something? “It’s over between us.”
    “Huh.”
    Huh . I hated that word. It was always followed by thirty seconds of angst while I waited for the fatherly interpretation that almost never made any sense unless you were pushing forty. Did brain cells start dying in your late thirties or something?
    “He’s a nice young man. It’s a shame it didn’t work out.”
    Whoa. I wasn’t even sure what to say, so I followed the call of the bacon and stuffed it between my lips. The crunchy bliss made it easier to keep my mouth shut.
    He reached out and grabbed my hand. Scared the bejesus out of me. “I don’t want you hurt, Pequeña .”
    Umm, what?
    His eyes were stern, focused—like when he got a call in the middle of the night and had to run to work. “He’s not coming back, Jess.”
    Oh, crap. All of this was leading to a talk about David? My mouth fell open. I snapped it shut and looked away.
    Dad’s grip on my hand tightened. “That kiss you gave David when he left, that looked pretty serious. But it was a kiss goodbye. I want to make sure you understand that.”
    Tears filled my eyes.
    “Mars is very far away. And you must have known it wouldn’t work out.”
    How would he know? He wasn’t there. He had no idea what kind of connection David and I shared.
    The painful mound wiggling into my throat knew he was right, but my heart refused to believe it. David had coated me in something just short of ecstasy. How could I live without ever experiencing that again?
    “He’s going to come back for