Colin cringed as he heard the oven door slam shut. The kitchen door lay to his left, the door to the outside world down the entry hall to the right. He wasn't nearly cowardly enough to take that route, but he entertained the fantasy briefly. Leave the girls to work it out. But he didn't trust Ardy to respect Beth's soft points, and he didn't trust Beth to not break down entirely. What a dinner this was turning out to be. With a sigh he pushed through the swinging door, just in time to see Beth's anguished expression. To her credit she didn't try to hide it from him. So they could skip the preamble, at least, where he tried to convince her it was okay to show him how she felt. That was progress, right?<br/><br/>He longed to scoop her into his arms again, but something held him back. Physical comfort was easy and automatic, and maybe it was doing as much harm as good. He stopped on the far side of the kitchen island and leaned forward with a low voice. Private, but not intimate. Supportive, but not... invasive? He wondered when exactly things had gotten so complicated.<br/><br/>"It's fine, Bee. I think she's just confused. I get the impression she has about as much experience in people being nice to her as you have with..." He should have thought that one through, perhaps, and now found no good way to end the sentence that wasn't insulting or vapid. Colin picked vapid. "...all this. Look, she's a kid. A good kid, probably, but all this is probably just overwhelming. How about we go out, have some dessert, and just see how things go? Don't press her. If she goes home later and thinks about it, maybe she'll see your heart's in the right place. Which, by the way, is exactly why I 'put up with you'. That and the pie are probably two of the top three reasons." When she raised her eyes to look at him he licked his lips in a cartoonishly suggestive manner.<br/><br/>His lawyer's mind kept running in the background, trying on scenarios. "What if we charged her rent, just something nominal to balance the pride scales? Or put her to work, doing... okay, I'm drawing a blank. You know her better than I do. C'mon, Bee. I'll carry the desserts, you go back in first. We're all friends here."<br/>