Ever since Jack moved into his new house, Haley had been spending so much time there that calling her a guest had become increasingly inaccurate.
She hadn't officially moved in, or at least, that's what they both insisted whenever the topic came up. Still, a few of her dresses were now taking up space in Jack's closet, her shampoo and conditioner had made an appearance in his shower, a collection of makeup had claimed one side of his bathroom counter and the dressing table in the main bedroom, and three pairs of her shoes were downstairs. Apparently, lugging shoes back across the neighborhood required an unreasonable amount of effort.
Every night after work, Haley came over. On her days off, she usually arrived sometime in the morning and stayed until late at night, assuming she went home at all.
Jack loved having her there.
There was only one problem.
They'd been fucking like rabbits.
Jack had known that finally having his own house would give them considerably more privacy. He just hadn't anticipated how enthusiastically they would take advantage of it.
Last Sunday had been particularly ridiculous.
They'd had sex after waking up, then again in the shower. Somehow lunch had been interrupted by another trip upstairs, and during the early evening they'd started watching TV before abandoning whatever movie they'd chosen halfway through. They'd gone at it again before sleeping, then woke up the next morning and apparently decided five times within twenty-four hours hadn't been enough.
Haley couldn't keep her hands off him, and he couldn't keep his hands off her. And she even complimented his stamina and endurance, which made Jack go another round.
Jack wasn't even sure what movie they'd been watching anymore.
The condom situation had become equally absurd.
He'd bought what he'd considered a perfectly reasonable supply when he moved into the house. Less than a month later, he was standing in his bedroom holding the nearly empty box and wondering how they'd managed to go through the things. It was like he was going through a pack of Skittles.
At first, Jack had found the whole situation hilarious.
Then something started bothering him.
It happened on a quiet Thursday afternoon while he sat alone in his kitchen, scrolling through photographs on his phone. He found pictures from the previous year of himself and Haley at restaurants, amusement parks, stores, movie theaters, beaches, and random places they'd visited simply because one of them had gotten bored.
One photograph showed Haley laughing while holding a cup of disgusting green ice cream she'd insisted tasted like avocado mixed with toothpaste.
Jack smiled at the memory before slowly lowering his phone.
When was the last time they'd done something like that?
He genuinely couldn't remember.
...
[Meanwhile] [Dunphy House]
Claire stood at the kitchen counter slicing tomatoes for lunch while keeping one eye on a pan heating on the stove. The house was unusually peaceful for the middle of the day, although the quiet was occasionally interrupted by Phil making small frustrated noises from the dining table.
He had spent the last twenty minutes building a house of cards.
Claire glanced over her shoulder and found him leaning toward the table with the concentration of a bomb technician. Two levels had already been completed, and Phil was carefully positioning another pair of cards near the top.
Claire watched him for a few seconds. "You know we own an actual house, right?"
Phil kept both hands perfectly still as he adjusted the cards. "That's exactly why I understand the responsibility involved. Every structure deserves a strong foundation."
Claire returned to the cutting board. "You're building it on a dining table."
"Many great architectural achievements started somewhere people doubted them."
Claire shook her head and continued preparing lunch while Phil slowly released the cards.
They stayed upright.
Phil smiled proudly. "Boom. Structural integrity."
Claire carried the tomatoes toward the stove, though her expression remained distracted enough that Phil eventually noticed.
He reached for another card, studied his wife for a moment, then lowered it again. "Okay, you've chopped those tomatoes with enough anger that I'm starting to feel sorry for vegetables."
Claire looked down.
Several of the tomato slices were considerably thinner than necessary.
"I'm thinking."
Phil immediately smiled. "I knew something was happening. You've got your thinking face."
Claire glanced toward him. "What's my thinking face?"
Phil narrowed his eyes and pressed his lips together in an exaggerated imitation. "It's like this. You're solving a murder, but the murderer loaded the dishwasher wrong."
Claire stared at him.
Phil relaxed his expression. "That's also the face."
Claire turned off the burner and wiped her hands against a kitchen towel before leaning against the counter. "It's Haley."
Phil's expression softened immediately. "What's wrong with Haley?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out."
Phil waited while Claire folded the towel several times without realizing she was doing it.
"She spends almost every night at Jack's house now," Claire said. "She gets off work, goes over there, and sometimes we don't see her again until the next morning. Half her clothes are disappearing from her room."
Phil considered that. "Maybe she's slowly moving out without telling us."
Claire's head snapped toward him.
Phil immediately reconsidered his contribution. "Which would be upsetting and something we should definitely discuss before encouraging."
Claire folded her arms. "She isn't moving out."
"I didn't say she was."
"You literally just said she was."
"I said maybe, which is the parachute word of conversations."
Claire sighed and looked toward the stairs. "Yesterday I went into the bathroom because I needed her hair dryer, and half her stuff was gone. Makeup, shampoo, conditioner, that weird cream she told me costs seventy dollars even though I'm pretty sure it's moisturizer."
Phil smiled faintly. "Our little girl is growing up."
Claire gave him a sharp look. "Our little girl is nineteen and spending nearly every night alone in a house with her nineteen-year-old boyfriend."
Phil's smile weakened.
There was a short pause.
"Okay," he said carefully. "I think I just figured out where this conversation is going."
"Good."
Phil looked down at the cards. "Can it go there after I finish the roof?"
"Phil."
"Abandoning a project halfway through sends a terrible message to Luke."
Claire stared at him until Phil reluctantly moved his hands away from the cards.
"Fine. Cool Dad has entered serious-parent mode."
"That phrase is exactly why I worry about you."
Phil turned his chair toward her. "Claire, I understand why you're concerned. They're spending a lot of time together, and they've got their own private place now. I can put those pieces together without making a diagram."
Claire walked over and sat next to him. "Do you?"
Phil nodded. "I do."
"And you're completely fine with it?"
Phil's mouth opened.
Claire raised one eyebrow.
His answer changed somewhere along the way.
"I'm appropriately fine with it."
"What does that mean?"
"It means Jack's a good kid, Haley loves him, he loves her, they've been together for years, and they've always been responsible about their relationship."
Claire stared at him. "You have absolutely no idea how responsible they've been."
Phil's expression tightened slightly. "I know enough that I don't want additional information."
"That isn't parenting."
"Sometimes parenting is knowing exactly where the information line should be."
Claire leaned forward and lowered her voice even though nobody else was nearby. "They're teenagers with an empty house and almost unlimited privacy."
Phil's face briefly went somewhere uncomfortable before he forced it back into Cool Dad territory. "They're technically adults."
"They're nineteen."
"Which is technically adult."
Claire gave him another look.
Phil sighed. "You're really attacking the word technically today."
Claire pushed herself out of the chair and walked back toward the kitchen. "You know I like Jack. If Haley was going to fall in love with somebody this young, I'm glad it was him. Even though I had my doubts at the start."
Phil smiled proudly. "I knew that house was a good investment."
"This isn't about your creepy long-term plan to keep our daughter within walking distance just so you don't feel lonely and sad."
"I prefer family-oriented real-estate strategy."
Claire ignored him and picked up the kitchen towel again. "Jack's kind, he's responsible, and he treats her better than I probably would've believed possible when she first started dating."
Phil nodded. "He's good to her."
"I know he is."
That was precisely what made Claire's fear harder to explain.
If Jack had been reckless or selfish, Claire could've turned the whole thing into anger. She could've warned Haley, established rules, complained to Phil, and convinced herself that vigilance would solve the problem.
Jack gave her very little to attack.
Claire knew he loved her daughter.
She'd watched him prove it repeatedly.
That still didn't make nineteen a good age to become parents.
Claire slowly set the towel down. "I just don't want one mistake changing their entire lives."
Phil's joking expression finally disappeared.
Claire looked toward him. "You know what happened to me."
Phil remained quiet.
Claire had never hidden much about her younger years from him. He knew she'd been considerably wilder than the woman currently standing in their kitchen worrying about her daughter's choices. He also knew exactly how quickly Claire's own life had changed when she discovered she was pregnant with Haley.
She'd loved Phil.
She'd loved Haley from the moment their daughter became real to her.
None of that erased how frightening the beginning had been.
"I got pregnant before we were married," Claire said quietly. "Everything changed at once. We got married, plans changed, my career changed, and suddenly we weren't figuring out what we wanted to do with our twenties anymore. We were figuring out diapers, rent, doctors, and whether we could keep a tiny person alive."
Phil smiled gently. "We did pretty well with the tiny person."
Claire looked toward the stairs and gave a faint smile. "Eventually."
Phil stood and walked into the kitchen. "I remember being terrified."
"I remember you pretending you weren't terrified."
"I was trying to project confidence."
"You bought six different parenting books and highlighted all of them."
"I projected confidence through preparation."
Claire almost laughed before her concern returned. "I don't regret our life, even when you're building card houses instead of helping me make lunch."
Phil slipped one arm around her waist. "That was unexpectedly romantic."
Claire rested her hand against his chest. "I'm saying that because there's a difference between loving the life you ended up with and wanting your daughter to have the chance to choose hers."
Phil's expression softened.
Claire continued quietly, "Haley's career is blooming. Jack's career is exploding. He's acting, writing books, producing movies, doing interviews, traveling constantly, and somehow he's nineteen years old while doing all of it."
Phil nodded slowly.
"What happens if Haley gets pregnant?" Claire asked. "What happens to everything they're building?"
Phil didn't immediately answer.
Claire stepped away and began pacing slowly through the kitchen. "I know Jack wouldn't run. That's almost part of what scares me."
Phil frowned. "You're worried because he'd stay?"
"Of course he'd stay. You know him."
Phil thought about that and couldn't really argue.
Claire had seen enough of Jack over the last few years to know what kind of person he was when somebody he loved needed him. He'd rearrange schedules, turn down projects, cancel trips, and convince himself none of it mattered because Haley mattered more.
That sounded romantic until Claire imagined the cost.
"He'd sacrifice things," Claire said. "Maybe a movie. Maybe several movies. Maybe Haley would stop working because she'd convince herself Jack's career is bigger than hers. Maybe they'd both say they're completely happy while quietly wondering what would've happened if they'd had another five years before becoming parents."
Phil leaned against the counter and listened without interrupting.
Claire rubbed her forehead. "They're both at the beginning of everything. Haley's finally growing into herself, and Jack's career is at a point most actors spend their entire lives trying to reach. I don't want either of them making a permanent decision because they were careless one night."
Phil watched his wife for several seconds before speaking. "You know you're doing the thing again."
Claire frowned. "What thing?"
"The thing where Haley does something that reminds you of yourself, and suddenly you start trying to save her from every mistake you ever made."
Claire's eyes narrowed. "I'm her mother. That's part of the job."
"Sure, but she's also Haley."
"I know she's Haley."
Phil stepped closer. "Then you've got to let her be Haley sometimes."
Claire looked unconvinced.
Phil reached for her hands. "You were wild when you were younger. You made some choices you probably wouldn't recommend to Alex during a school presentation. Then you got pregnant, and everything happened really fast."
Claire sighed. "That's a very generous summary of my youth."
"I'm your husband. Generous summaries are included in the package."
Claire gave him the smallest smile.
Phil squeezed her hands. "Haley grew up differently. She's got you watching her like a prison searchlight."
"Thank you."
"She's also had one boyfriend for years, and that boyfriend happens to be someone we trust."
Claire looked away. "Trust doesn't prevent pregnancy."
Phil paused.
"Okay, medically excellent point."
Claire rolled her eyes.
Phil continued before she could interrupt. "I'm saying we should talk to her instead of sitting here imagining Jack abandoning Hollywood while Haley pushes a stroller through his next movie set."
Claire's expression immediately became more worried. "I hadn't imagined the stroller on the movie set."
"Forget that image."
"Now I'm imagining it."
"That was poor phrasing on my part."
Claire pulled her hands away and leaned against the island.
Phil watched her for another moment before his expression became unusually serious. "If something happened, I think Jack would stay."
Claire looked at him.
"He loves her," Phil continued. "And Haley loves him. Would it change their lives? Absolutely. Would I prefer they wait until they're older and actually ready? Absolutely. Do I think Jack would walk away from our daughter because a movie mattered more? I don't."
Claire nodded slowly. "Neither do I."
"And they'd have us."
Claire's face softened.
"They'd have Jack's parents," Phil continued. "They'd have Jay, Gloria, Mitchell, Cam, Alex, Luke, Manny, and everybody else who would immediately become way too involved. That baby would have seventeen people arguing about how to hold it before it left the hospital."
Claire gave a reluctant laugh. "My dad would probably buy it a closet."
"A really good closet."
Claire shook her head, though some of the tension had left her shoulders.
Phil slipped his arms around her waist again. "We're allowed to worry. That's what parents do. We just can't confuse worrying about Haley with deciding Haley can't be trusted."
Claire rested her hands against his shoulders and considered that.
"You're being annoyingly reasonable."
Phil smiled. "Cool Dad has layers."
"Cool Dad spent forty-five dollars on a remote-control helicopter last week and crashed it into our chimney."
"That was an unexpected wind event."
"There was no wind."
"Localized unexpected wind event."
Claire smiled despite herself and leaned her forehead briefly against his shoulder.
After a few seconds, she looked up. "I'm still talking to her."
Phil nodded. "I think you should."
"About being careful."
"Absolutely."
"And birth control."
Phil's entire body stiffened.
Claire noticed immediately. "What happened to Cool Dad?"
Phil swallowed. "Cool Dad supports responsible choices from a comfortable emotional distance."
Claire smiled. "You're coming with me."
Phil's eyes widened. "Why?"
"Because she's your daughter too."
"I've already contributed significantly. I taught her to ride a bike, helped her practice driving, checked under her bed for monsters, and attended several school performances where she didn't actually appear because she forgot to tell us she'd quit."
Claire folded her arms.
Phil looked increasingly desperate. "I sold her boyfriend a house three streets away. Haven't I done enough?"
"You're coming."
Phil stared at her for several seconds before sighing heavily. "Fine, but you're saying the actual words."
Claire nodded with satisfaction and returned to preparing lunch.
Phil walked back toward the dining table and carefully sat in front of his card house. He reached for the final two cards, hesitated, then glanced toward Claire.
"Just for the record, I think they'll be okay."
Claire looked over her shoulder.
Phil smiled faintly. "They're crazy about each other, Jack's a good kid, and Haley's becoming a pretty great young woman."
Claire's expression softened. "She is."
Phil carefully placed the final two cards together at the top of the structure.
The entire house immediately collapsed.
He stared at the scattered cards.
Claire slowly turned toward him.
Phil remained silent for a moment before pointing at the pile. "That is in no way a metaphor for what we were just discussing."
Claire closed her eyes.
"Seriously, Claire, the foundation was solid."
"Just help me with lunch."
Phil stood and hurried toward the kitchen. "Absolutely. Cool Dad also chops vegetables."
"Then Cool Dad can start with the onions."
Phil stopped beside the cutting board and looked down at them with considerably less enthusiasm.
"Wow. Serious parenting really does have layers."
...
[Preston Boutique] [Haley's new office] [Changing room]
Haley was trying on a new dress...
"Huh!" She looked at the mirror, then she cupped her breasts and checked if they had grown. Yes, they had grown a little. She could see the difference and grinned. Next, she walked over to the weight machine and stepped on it. "Huh? I gained weight. Time to cut back on those brownies."
---
[POWERSTONES AND REVIEWS]...
If you want to read early advance chapters and support me, you can join>:
patr eon.com/XcaliburXc
[I have > 10 advance chapters] > All chapters available for all tiers
+ [The Big Bang Theory: Science, Music and Billions> 16 chs. Early access.]