Mikah and Trey were lounging on the couch going over their homework when Tina walked into the house. Normally Tina was okay with them being alone in the house, but since Mikah’s punishment someone had to be home with Mikah at all times. In this case it was Shane.

As soon as Mikah saw the annoyed expression on her mother’s face she knew that Bette had told her about her little mission in the morning.

"Thank you Shane," Tina said.

Shane read everyone in the group like a book and Tina was no different. She simply grabbed her keys and waved goodbye.

"Uh oh," Trey murmured.

"Go home Trey," Tina said.

"Yes ma’am," Trey said grabbing his things and bolting out of the house as fast as possible.

Tina sat down on the couch beside Mikah as she sat back and waited for her mom to speak.

"What the Hell were you thinking?" Tina said.

Mikah lowered her head, "I’m sorry mom. I just don’t want you to get hurt."

"Sweety," Tina said lifting her head, "I love that you worry so much about me, but I haven’t dated in a long time, that doesn’t make me naïve."

"You barely met her and your on cloud 9," Mikah argued.

"And so is she," Tina said. "I can’t predict the future and neither can you. She may be the nicest person in the world and still hurt me. That’s not the point."

Mikah shook her head not understanding.

"That’s the thing about dating and love," Tina said, "you date someone so you can get to know one another, see if you’re compatible, see if there’s a future."

Mikah nodded, "I see."

"When you fall in love any problems, differences, and disagreements are on the battlefield, if you’re with the right person you both fight together, taking risks and holding on," Tina said.

"And if it’s not the right person?" Mikah said.

"Then like in any war there’s casualties, sometimes it’s the other person, sometimes it’s you, and sometimes it’s both," Tina said, "either way you learn from it. The pain doesn’t stay forever. You learn and grow. And the next person that captures your heart will be different because you’ll have learned from your previous mistakes."