see that his daughter's hair was a mess. He got very suspicious. "Tell me about this Alex guy. Are you two having sex before marriage? You know how I feel about sex before marriage!"
"Yes, dad I know!" Mandy snapped. "I know how you feel about a lot of things! To answer your question, no I didn't have sex with him."
Mandy barged past her father and ran into her bedroom locking the door behind her.
Lee stomped upstairs and pounded on his daughter's bedroom door. "Mandy!" he shouted. "Open this door! We need to talk!"
His daughter gave no reply. Lee knocked harder which woke up his wife Barb. Barb came out of their bedroom sleepy-eyed. "What is all the commotion about?" she asked her husband with a yawn.
"Our daughter is hiding something! I just know it!"
Barb knew her husband was going to start an argument with Mandy, and she was too exhausted to play the peacemaker at that moment. "Can't this wait until morning?"
"It is morning!" Lee shouted.
Inside the bedroom, Mandy covered her head with her pillow and cried herself to sleep as her parents argued outside her bedroom door.
"Lee! This can wait until breakfast!" Barb shouted back.
"She's hiding something I know she is!"
Barb grabbed her husband's hand and pulled him to their bedroom. "Calm down! You're going to give yourself another heart attack!"
She manages to get Lee into bed and cuddles up to him. "You need to relax a little." she softly told him. "If you weren't so strict with our daughter, maybe she would tell you what's going on in her life more."
Lee looked into his wife's eyes. "Did you know about her boyfriend?"
"Not at all." Barb confidently responded. "Although, now that I think of it Mandy's been working long hours. More than sixty hours a week!"
They both looked at each other with suspicion in their eyes. "Do you think she's been seeing this guy before, and or after work?" Bard asked Lee.
Lee's face turned red, he was beginning to become angrier. "I believe I'm going to have a stern talking to our daughter during breakfast."
"Please take it easy on her."
Barb kissed Lee on the lips and fell back asleep.
Chapter 2
The next morning, the three sat down at the breakfast table. Lee glared at Mandy as he slowly stirred his coffee, and she ate her cereal. Barb sat down between her husband and daughter looking down at the table. She knew things were about to get ugly.
"Why are you disrespecting me?" Lee asked Mandy as he continuously stirred his coffee. "I know you had sex with that guy last night! I know you did!" he told his daughter in an accusing way.
"I told you I didn't have sex with him!" Mandy shouted defensively.
Lee slammed his spoon onto the table. "See! There it is again! Stop lying to me!" he shouted.
"What?" Mandy asked. She knew she was telling her father the truth. Technically, she didn't have sex with him because it was a woman she had sex with.
"That tone! The way you said him!" Lee pointed a stern finger at Mandy. "Listen here young lady if you are hiding something from us, the ones who gave you life God so help you!"
Mandy gulped, and beads of sweat began to drip down her face. She was getting extremely nervous. The room was beginning to spin as her palms became clammy.
Mandy's mother noticed her daughter was getting nervous. She knew she had to try to do something to try to make the situation better before it got worse. "Darling, do you want to tell us something?" Barb asked putting a gentle hand on Mandy's shoulder. She knew her daughter felt more comfortable talking to her, then she was talking to her father.
"Okay. Yes! Yes, I did have sex last night!" Mandy shouted.
Lee's face reddened with anger. "You lied to me! You told me you didn't have sex with him!" He stood up from the table and slammed both his fists down onto the table.
Both Mandy and Barb jumped. The sudden outburst from Lee startled them. They both looked into each other's eyes in fear. They were both frozen.
"You know how I feel about that!" Lee shouted at his daughter.
Mandy rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know how you feel about that!" she shouted back. Mandy went on a rampage yelling back at her father. She had enough. "Well guess what, times have changed! I know how you feel about other races that aren't white! I know how you feel about people in other political parties! I know how you feel about people of other religions! I know how you feel about gay people! I know I know!"
Lee walked over to Mandy and smacked her across the face hard. "Maybe that'll teach you a lesson." he snapped.
Mandy got mad. She jumped up, ran out of the house. She got into her car and sped off. Squealing tires as she left down the road. Barb glared at her husband with her arms crossed. "Lee, don't you think you went a little overboard?"
"No, that girl needs to learn how to respect." Lee stared Barb in the eyes. "You can't tell me that you're okay with our daughter having sex before marriage! Sex is for after marriage!" Barb shook her head. "That didn't stop you." she said quietly.
"Excuse me?"
"Come on Lee," Barb said. "Don't you remember our dates when we used to take long drives in your car?"
Lee smiled. "Yes, those where great nights." he softly responded as he remembered back to those nights many years ago.
"Remember how those dates used to end with us in your backseat?" Barb winked at Lee.
"Look at where it got us." Lee responded with anger in his voice. "Now we have a daughter that doesn't respect us." "Are you saying that our child is a mistake?"
"No, not at all. She just needs to learn to respect me again." Lee told his wife. "She used to tell me everything. Now, she barely talks to me."
Barb reached over and held Lee's hand. "Maybe if you start respecting her, she'd respect you again."
Lee pulled his hand away from his wife. "Maybe you should be more strict with her! If both of us were strict, she wouldn't be acting like this!" he said accusingly.
"She's not a child!" Barb shouted as she stood up fast from the table, and left the room.
Lee continued to drink his coffee as if nothing was wrong. Oblivious to how much he just hurt his daughter's or his wife's feelings.
Mandy rushed over to the coffee shop where Alex works at. She went in, and rushed over to the front counter. Her eyes all puffy and red from crying. She noticed Alex was in the process of opening a bag of coffee to put into a coffee maker. "Alex, when is your break time?"
Alex set down a bag of coffee she was about to put into the coffee maker and turned around. "Oh, hello Mandy." She didn't notice her girlfriend had come in. She then realized Mandy was very upset about something. "What's wrong?" she asked with concern.
"I really need to have a talk with you." Mandy told Alex while sniffling.
Alex got a little nervous. Was Mandy about to break up with her? She thought last night went so well. She looked around the coffee shop, and it wasn't that busy at the moment.
"I'm taking my break now." Alex told the other lady at the counter. She took off her apron, and walked out from behind the counter, and ordered two coffees for them. "Let's go outside."
The two walked out and took a seat on the outdoor patio. They found a table in the corner that was far away from everyone else that was out there, so they could have a little privacy.
Mandy sniffled. "My father found out about me having sex last night."
Alex was taken a sip of her coffee and looked up at Mandy. "How did he find out?"
Mandy