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Ari and her family sat around the kitchen table the next morning at breakfast.
“So are you going to see this guy again?” her mother, Ann, asked.
“Well he said he would go with me to the play, I mean it’s only for an hour or so.”
“Yeah, mommy is coming to the play,” Amber, Ariana’s daughter said as she ate her cereal.
“Of course, Sweetie,” she said as she ruffled her daughter’s wavy long hair.
“That’s a good sign right?”
Ari made clear that she didn’t think Dean was going to be around long since he was working on a job for his company. She really didn’t want to expect much from him, at least that is what she told her mother.
“I can see in your eyes this guy has got you hooked. Hey give it a shot; maybe he will want to go back through town sometime so see you again. You don’t have to marry the guy,” her mother encouraged her.
“We are just having fun, mom. I mean he will probably find a reason to cancel tonight who knows. I know I have to get out of her to go to work,” she said as she got up to go around the table to kiss her daughter.
She stood in her modern kitchen with its simple appliances and leaned against the counter to look out the window before she threw the rest of her coffee in the sink.
“I hope it wasn’t all a big mistake,” she added before she left the room.
Her mother shook her head as she watched her daughter leave. She wished she would relax and enjoy life for a change. With all the changes the last year and a half she was overdo for some romance and fun. Her daughter worked much too hard for her own good her Ann thought.
Sam didn’t try to convince Dean to change his mind about meeting Ari or going out with her kid. He did remind him what happened to the women in their family.
“I mean you put Cassie in danger by being with her, but I guess you were more concerned about your pleasure, right?”
“Don’t go there, Sam, you know she was in no danger.”
“What do you mean? Oh because now we know the connection is with me?”
Dean hadn’t meant to say that, it is what happens when their tempers began to flare. They said stupid things and hurt one another. He regretted it as soon as he said it.
“You are right Sam, but at the time we had no idea what was going on with the demon. You were at school, things were normal.”
Sam shut down he just went across the room and sat at the laptop. Dean sighed. He never liked fighting especially with Sam. Sam was all he had now that dad was dead, besides maybe Sam was right. But no matter what he needed to help Ari, she wasn’t just a stranger any more she was someone who needed his assistance. He needed what kindness she could give him more than he realized.
At lunchtime, Ari got a call while she ate her sandwich in the break room. She saw on the caller id that it was Dean. She frowned.
“Hey,” he said cheerfully.
“Hey yourself,” she replied with a sigh.
“So you done eating?”
“Um, almost, why?”
“I am outside if you want to take a drive down to the park.”
“Sure, I’ll be right out.”
She ate the last bite of her sandwich as she put her trash together to throw away. Though she was still afraid, he might cancel on their date she decided to try to relax.
He grinned from ear to ear when he saw her walk outside. She wore khaki pants and a pink wrap top with medium height brown heels. Dean thought she looked nice in her work clothes. However, he wasn’t certain why he had all of sudden decided to come see her. Maybe it was because Sam had sat staring at him all day and he had to get out for a while.
“Is this considered a booty call if it’s in the middle of the day?” she teased him.
He shook his head, he was still getting used to her interesting sense of humor, but he liked it.
“You can call it what you want but I thought you might like some time away from your job for a few minutes at least,” he replied as she got in the car and buckled her seat belt with a grin.
“I do thank you. I have a half hour to be back.”
“That’s enough time,” he said with a wink as they drove down the road
Ari laughed but a moment later she frowned.
“What?”
“You don’t have to break it to me easily if you want to call off tonight. I understand it’s a bit much to have someone you just met invite you to a kid’s thing."
Dean smirked, she had been worried.
“I have no plans to cancel on you.”
“Well my daughter can be a handful at times, you have been warned.”
Dean shook his head, though he smiled, what had he gotten himself into.
Once they were at the park he pulled her close for a kiss but afterwards he decided he better find out about the hellhounds while he still had his senses about him. The combination of her nice perfume and beautiful smile was having an effect on him.
“So this dream you have been having for the last year, you say they began when your father died?”
She pulled away from him and sat up in the seat.
“My father killed himself. We think he was loosing his mind because he swore something was after him.”
This is not good.
“Ari, look at me, okay.”
She faced him with tears in her eyes.
“Did he see something? Or was it just a feeling he had?”
“He kept saying he heard sounds like barking when he would be alone. He would look but never see any thing. That’s crazy right?’
“Well lots of things happen that people have a hard time explaining, everyday,” he said as he looked in her sad eyes.
This was going to be harder than he thought.
“Now I need to ask you something.”
She nodded as she dabbed her eyes with a tissue.
“Was your father involved in the occult at anytime or in any way?”
She bit her lip as she looked at Dean. Was he serious? Her father was a pastor.
“My dad was a Pentecostal minister for forty years. Though, I haven’t been to church for a long time but I know his congregation was big on exorcisms. They were kind of well known for that.”
“Oh.”
“What do you mean oh? What would that have to do with it?”
Dean sighed.
“The kind of investigating I do is paranormal.”
“What?”
“Yes, we look into cases that have to do with the spiritual and supernatural realm.”
She just stared at him. Then he jumped in with both feet and told her the whole story of what happened with his family and how they got involved in the business.
She sat quietly and listened without any expression on her face.
“I should go back to work now or I’ll be late,” she said finally.
“Okay,” he said afraid he had said too much.
When they arrived at the office she got out and came around to his side of the car.
“I’ll pick you up at six, right?” she said before she kissed him.
“Right,” Dean stuttered as she walked back toward the building.
Well at least she hadn’t yelled or accused him of being a liar. That was an improvement from when he had told Cassie. Of course she was a believer now but her father had to die to get her on board. He watched to make sure Ari was inside before he drove off. Maybe telling her wasn’t a mistake, but he knew Sam would feel different. He would go face the music so Sam could settle down before he had to disappear for the evening.
His brother was so predictable. Dean just sat there and let him yell at him for being stupid enough to tell a stranger about their family business. Dean rolled his eyes for the fiftieth time before Sam commented on it.
“Your eyes are going to get stuck that way,” he said in all seriousness.
Dean laughed, “You done yelling at me? I need a nap before she picks me up.”
“Oh, so you are sending me out in the Impala so you can have the room when you come back from dinner?”
“That was the plan, Sammy; I think I told you that at least, um, three times today already. And if the do not disturb sign is on the door you may want to camp out in the lobby.”
Sam shook his head, “A little cocky about tonight aren’t you?’
“Just confident, but either way we will want some time alone, to talk about the thing with her father,” Dean said with a smirk.
“Well if she is in the kind of trouble we think, you may want to get that settled before you try to ‘seal the deal’,” Sam said with a frown.
Dean told Sam how she had been so composed when he told her what he did for a living. It freaked him out a bit. It wasn’t what he had expected; he had hoped to wait until they were on the way out of town to tell her about his business if at all.
Ari was distracted the rest of the day. Her father had always taught her angels and demons were real. She never thought that much about them in her life as a call girl but she seen how people allowed their passions to rule their lives to an extreme extent. She rubbed her temples. No, she would not give into a headache now. She squeezed her eyes closed for a second to look up a minute later to see her boss standing at the counter.
“You okay?”
“Yeah just a headache, I’ll be fine.”
He nodded and wandered off. He was the dentist that she dreaded working with he seem to always get to close to her and always seemed to accidentally touch her hand or rub against her top or something. He made her uncomfortable. She knew she should report him but there was no proof except her word. She preferred to stay out of the spotlight. She shook her head and went back to work on the charts in front of her.
Ari felt better by the time she picked up Dean that night. Her daughter was in the back seat practicing her song in her sweet voice.
“Some where over the rainbow…”
Dean came to the car a few minutes later wearing a pair of nice jeans and a dress shirt.
“Hey,” he said as he got in the car.
“Hi,” Amber said from the back as they pulled out of the parking lot.
“You must be Amber,” he said as he turned to see the little girl.
She wore blue jeans and a white t-shirt, because she was going to change into her custom at the school.
“Yes sir, I’m Amber,” she said with a grin.
“And I am Dean, can you say Dean?”
“Yep, you are Dean. You are mommy’s new boyfriend,” she proclaimed.
Ari shook her head, “He is not my boyfriend Sweetie, just a friend okay.”
“Okay Mommy. You are Mommy’s friend,” she said before she went back to singing her song.
“Very polite,” Dean said as he turned back around in the seat.
“Sorry about that.”
“Not a problem,” he smiled though she seemed distracted.
He asked if the hotel had been out of the way and she insisted it wasn’t but afterward she was quiet until they got to the school. She took Amber to her classroom so the teachers could get them dressed then her and Dean headed to the auditorium along with the other parents and friends.
He pulled her aside before they got to the door.
“Are you okay?” he asked concerned with her silence.
“I’m sorry it’s not personal. I have gotten used to being alone a lot sometimes I get lost in thought,” she said with a smile.
Dean understood about being alone even with Sam he sometimes wished for more varied company. Dean nodded his understanding as they went in to take their seats.
He found Amber right away even though she was dressed as one of several flowers. She was tall for her age and her voice was quite nice for one so young. Ari smiled her admiration of her child’s performance. Dean couldn’t hold back a grin either, she was a cute kid.
When they dropped Amber off at the house Dean went in with Ari to be introduced to her mother. He had insisted though Ari was hesitant. He would need to talk to her mother soon about her father activities; he figured he might as well meet her.
Dean wasn’t surprised to see that Ann Mayfield was a petite Causcasian lady. Her once blonde hair was white and worn stylish in a short hair do. She smiled when she saw him at the door.
“Come in honey, I know you have reservations it will just take a minute.”
Dean nodded as he followed the older woman while Ari took Amber to her bedroom to get ready for bed.
“So young man what are your intentions?” Ann said as she sat down opposite Dean at the kitchen table.
Dean swallowed. His intentions were not something he planned to discuss with anyone other than Ari.
“I, uh…”
“I am just pulling your leg young man. Ari told me you would be leaving town soon. Just do what you can to make her smile, will you? That is all I ask,” Ann said to Dean as Ari walked in the room.
“You ready? We should go,” she said as she tilted her head and looked at her mother who had a grin on her face.
“Okay, sure. Nice to meet you Ann, we should chat sometime before we leave,” he said as he got up.
“That would be nice,” the older lady said.
Ari hugged her mother before she followed Dean to the car, “What are you up to?” she whispered to Ann who could be a bit of a meddler.
“I’m sorry about my mother,” Ari said as they backed out of the drive.
“Don’t be, she seems to have the same sense of humor as you. She seems nice.”
Ari had to know what her mother had told Dean and could only laugh when he revealed it to her.
TBC