Happy Father's Day, everyone! (I know it's a week early; see the Mother's Day chapter for the reason)

My thanks to everyone for continuing to read. In response to the anonymous reader, I thought that might make a nice approach. That's one of the advantages to this story having a theme rather than a continuing plot, and to having no set order to its chapters. It doesn't have any real end, and I hope you all enjoy that as much as I do or more.

On that note, this chapter does kind of pick up right where the last one left off, or a little before (same time frame, different place). I realize that's a little confusing since the last chapter seemed like something from the start of summer vacation, whereas this one would make more sense toward the end or even a bit after school started. Fortunately this is more about ideas than the flow of events, so feel free to take the chronology as you will.

"So what exactly did you want me for?" asked Kodi as he followed Dusty down the main hall of the mall.

She smiled over her shoulder at him. "Like I said, I needed a guy's opinion; yours."

"I know that," he answered, not sure if her answer made him more confident or less. She might have been partial to guessing games, but honestly they drove him crazy. "You still haven't told me what it's about."

"I wanted to pick out some things for our next date, and who better to tell me what you like than you?"

This just confused Kodi all the more; Dusty usually liked to surprise him with her outfits. "We're going clothes shopping?" he asked.

"Not exactly," she told him, and turned abruptly into a store.

Kodi stopped, looked up at the sign, and understood. This store didn't sell clothes; it was a cosmetics store, and they were having a sale on perfume.

This, he thought, could be a long day.

Fortunately for Kodi, there weren't many other dogs in the store; one or two girls browsing the shelves alone, a small gaggle over in one corner, and another guy who, like himself, looked to have been brought there by his girlfriend. The wolf-husky noted, with some relief, that none of them looked like anyone he recognized – or more to the point, like anyone who might recognize him.

"So," Dusty inquired, breaking in on his thoughts, "what kind of scents do you like?"

He shrugged. "Grass," he offered for a start. "The outdoors; that smell after a rainstorm."

She frowned. "I'm not shopping for air fresheners," she pointed out.

"What's the difference?" he asked, his confusion genuine.

Clearly not amused, she walked up to the counter with him trailing behind.

"I like the smell of my mom's flower beds," he added, hoping to compensate for his previous question. "And I like the way you smell normally."

Dusty didn't answer. "Excuse me," she asked a sales clerk behind the counter. "Do you have anything... outdoorsy? Maybe something an athlete would like."

The clerk – a swan wearing glasses – looked over the tops of her frames at Kodi. "We have something that will make you smell like a football," she offered, smirking.

"Har har," Kodi replied, wondering how it was that a guy stereotyping girls was a sexist pig, but a girl stereotyping guys was funny.

Both girls laughed, and the swan pointed a feather. "Try that aisle behind you to the right," she suggested. "Second one over from the wall."

The store, as it turned out, had handy little scratch-and-sniff stickers under the displays of each perfume. Kodi had to admit, the place did smell nice, and one or two of the stickers smelled really nice.

Unfortunately, while they were perusing, someone caught up with them.

"Hey, Dusty!" came a female voice.

Both of them turned to see an afghan hound headed their way, accompanied by a small pack of other girl dogs. Sarah and Dusty had been friends for years, but things had been a little dicey between them since the school year started up. Dusty had admitted to Kodi at one point that this had a lot to do with how she had changd during her time at Camp Hawkeye. As for Kodi... well, he didn't want to be at odds with anyone, especially one of Dusty's friends, but there was something about several of Dusty's old crowd – Sarah in particular – that made him uneasy.

"Whatcha doing?" asked Sarah.

Dusty shrugged. "Nothing much; just getting Kodi's thoughts on some scents."

Kodi raised a hand and waved very self-consciously, feeling more out of place than ever.

Sarah walked over to have a look, then smirked at the ones Dusty had picked out so far. "Nice selection, girlfriend. You date at the bowling alley much?" There was no missing the snarky tone in the question. "Little advice from someone who knows: try this one." She turned to another shelf, picked up a bottle, and plunked it into the middle of Dusty's collection.

Dusty picked up the bottle and looked at it. "Midnight Passion? Thanks for the tip, but Kodi and I have ten o' clock curfews." She put the bottle back on the shelf with a decisive sound like a gavel. "I think Bella Swan is around here somewhere if you're determined to give out advice."

"Cute," Sarah snipped, her smile dropping just a little. "Come on, Dusty, you know no one's buying this whole 'Little Miss Mother Theresa' schtick."

"It's not an act," Dusty insisted. "I really have changed, and you know I was never a party girl even before this past summer."

"I know that," Sarah agreed, "but that was before you started dating an athlete." She pointed at Kodi. "No way you haven't cracked the seal on that."

Kodi could feel his face growing warm. "'That' has a name," he countered tersely, "and 'that' has better places to be than arguing about this – or being argued over."

Dusty held out an arm to block him from leaving. "Kodi, don't. I'm not going to let them push us around like this."

"Hmm," Sarah mused, seeming to regain interest. "So the Christian girl does have some fire in her after all."

While Sarah and Dusty continued to argue, Kodi stood there paralyzed. This whole matter was so out of his depth he didn't know where to start. He wanted to stand up for his girlfriend; for himself; but his mouth wouldn't open. He realized that if he turned it into an argument, it could easily dissolve into a shouting match – and while the store clerk might see things his and Dusty's way, he didn't want to humiliate her.

An idea came to him, and he reached into his pocket. As discreetly as possible, he slipped out his phone and hit the "send" button twice... then turned down the volume so anything the recipient of his call said would be inaudible to the crowd now gathering around them.

For several minutes the chatter progressed – and, like most arguments, everyone's talking outweighed their listening by a good three words to one.

"Come on, Dusty," Sarah persisted, "Don't you two ever get tired of sitting it out in the-?"

"Kodi! Dusty! There you are!"

All eyes turned to a wolf-dog headed in their direction. "I was wondering where you got to."

Kodi could have cheered. "Hi Dad," he said, trying to make it look to the other teens as if he were feigning normalcy. "Yeah, didn't Mom tell you? Dusty wanted my thoughts on a few scents."

"She mentioned it. I thought you might come here; she likes this store too." Then, as if he had only just remembered that the other teens were present, he asked, "So, what were you all talking about? Sounded pretty intense."

No one said a word.

Dusty caught onto the situation quickly. "Hey, he's been around the block," she told the others with an "I dare you" look on her face. "Anything you can say to Kodi and me, he's old enough to hear too."

The others quickly excused themselves. Balto, watching them leave, might have found it amusing if what he had managed to pick up had not been so bitterly familiar. He turned back to Kodi and Dusty, both of whom looked simultaneously relieved to have him there and embarrassed as if they were the ones caught in some wrongdoing.

"So, do I want to know what that was all about?" he asked, jerking a thumb out the entrance.

"They were-" Dusty started to say at the same moment that Kodi answered with a flat, "No." Under most circumstances, having his dad around made him feel safe and confident. Right now, however, he felt like a fool; like the bigshot rookie on a basketball team who had just botched a game-breaking play. Part of it was for his failure to speak up against their antagonism; the other part was another matter entirely.

Balto shrugged and nodded understandingly. "Good thinking with the phone call," he offered helpfully.

Dusty tilted her head. "What phone call?"

Balto laughed. "Well, the reason I knew where to look for you was that Kodi dialed me. He didn't say anything, and I guess he must have covered the speaker, but I heard enough to guess where you two had gone."

Letting out a deep – if somewhat belated – sigh of relief, Dusty turned to her boyfriend. "I could kiss you," she told him.

The "other matter entirely" spiked in Kodi's gut. "Uh, maybe this isn't the best time," he offered defensively.

Balto cracked a wry grin. "I could