Now that she's some distance away from her crying jag, Melissa hesitates; he's Rafe's old friend from school, but they haven't been in touch since then. Besides, can she really trust Rafe's judgment? What if he's a rapist, or a serial killer?

"I can drive myself, don't worry. I promise I won't cry until we get there."

"I wouldn't want to miss out, so I'll take you on your word." He reaches out for Juliet's hand and pulls her close. "Come on, Melissa is going to follow behind us. You'll be able to see her in the rear view."

She doesn't want to let go, and considers making us fuss... but she's supposed to be good- she let's go of Melissa's hand and doesn't cry.

Then Melissa will follow behind. He's probably not going to murder her. She's probably going to see her son again. Everything's going to be fine.

Eventually, after many twists and turns and over a few hills and large parcels of land where only trees exist, they come up to a large Tudor Revival style mansion. It's easy to imagine it in its heyday, as a functioning boarding house.

Juliet jumps out of the car first and waits for her to park and get out of the car.

It's very isolated. Remote. It's too late to back out now. And he's being so nice. Melissa parks and approaches to admire the building.

"It's as gloomy as I imagined."

Zach grabs the groceries and laughs. "It is a bit. I suppose I could put the effort in to lighten it up, but I'm pretty sure the historical society would yell at me."

Juliet runs ahead once she's sure Melissa is coming inside and opens the door for them, bouncing a little on her feet.

He's probably not a serial killer, since his daughter seems relatively well-adjusted. Melissa smiles at her as they walk in and as she gets a good luck at the fabled Boarding House.

"Someone's a charming young lady, isn't she? Who should I thank for that?"

Zach smiles bashfully and runs a hand over the top of Juliet's head as they walk inside.

"That'd be me, I suppose. It's just the two of us here. She has plenty of room to run and grow."

"It's a beautiful home. It's just the two of you?"

Most of her knowledge of Zach Salvatore comes from Rafe or the town rumor mill, and she can't trust either source.

Juliet runs ahead into the kitchen and jumps up onto one of the tall kitchen stools to wait for them.

He nods and follows after his daughter. "Her mom died when she was born. I closed the Boarding House so she would have more privacy and made it our home. Sometimes we have her - cousin around to spend time, but yeah, mostly just the two of us."

The pause around 'cousin' sounds incredibly awkward; she can understand not wanting to talk about family. Melissa leaves it be.

"That sounds like a quiet life."

It's probably a bad idea to just say 'lonely'; she doesn't know how his daughter will react to that, but she's been remarkably intuitive so far.

"You don't ever worry about what you're missing out on?"

- Constantly. He lets out a breath and doesn't actually say the word. Or think about the life he could of had. But. This is his life and he loves his daughter more than anything. So much so that when it hurts it bleeds.

He rubs her forehead and starts setting out the ingredients for pancakes. Giving himself a few more moments to answer. To weigh his words.

"Sometimes. I try not to get caught up in them," he looks up at Melissa then. "I try to do my best with what life has given me."

Melissa nods, although she doesn't really understand it. She had the life she'd always dreamed of, more or less. Maybe she'll understand what he means soon.

"Do you need any help mixing? I'm a terror in the kitchen but I can handle ingredients just fine."

"Sure. You can handle the tiny terror and make sure she doesn't upend a mixing bowl again?"

"Daddy," responds Juliet, face blushing and embarrassed. "Haven't done that in ages. I can do it."

"Well, then, maybe you can make sure Melissa doesn't do it instead. Keeping each other responsible."

"All our mixing bowls will stay right-side-up."

Melissa will go over to keep the girl company; she probably needs it, and frankly, Melissa probably needs it, too. They can work on mixing together. Melissa asks Juliet how her week has been, and whether she misses her cousin, and whether she likes chocolate chips or blueberries in her pancakes more. This last one could be a gamble, since she didn't actually think to buy any fixings like that before they left the supermarket. Hopefully she's not creating an unpleasable monster.

She's a little shy at first! And keeps looking to her dad to make sure that's it's alright to answer things, but:

She tells her about the school assignments that her tutors have given her, all her math and science and language classes. How she learned how to make paint! She wants to go out into the woods surrounded the house and find all the plants and berries to make different colours.

Talks about her cousin, who seems to be much older than her. And how she wrote to him and he responded and she's going to take a bunch of pictures of her and the house and her daddy so he remembers what they look like.

Blueberry pancakes are best! Chocolate could go in cupcakes and blueberries also in muffins and she made chocolate cupcakes that she can take home is she wants?

"Do you have a kid too, can I play with them??" She asks, finally, after answering all of Melissa's questions.

"I do! His name is Scott, and I'm sure he'd love to play with you! We should ask your dad first, though."

Melissa isn't sure about that at all, actually; Scott can be playful and rambunctious, often at his own expense, and Zach's daughter seems very energetic. He works himself up into asthma attacks and she doesn't know how to explain to him how to prevent them. He's learning, but mostly through her laying down rules and him breaking them. She's also tells her that she would love to take home chocolate cupcakes. Maybe she can drop off something for her in return? (If Zach says 'yes' to play-dates, which is still up in the air; he seems to be a loner for a reason.)

He... hesitates and steps over to wash his hands.

"We don't really... she hasn't had many play dates before," he tells Melissa. Especially after the Incident. But. It's been a while since then, and there haven't been any others. He relents, a little, at Juliet's pleading look. "It would have to be supervised. To make sure you don't get over excited."