They stop at a restaurant on their way home

On their way back to their house the family passed a small restaurant, where Kate insisted they should stop and eat, rather than making their own dinner at home, and she was quickly joined by the other two girls as well. At first Jack tried to dissuade them, as he knew that without a job he'd have to cut down a lot on their future expenditures, but was **** to give in as long as he was still unwilling to tell the girls he'd practically been fired from work.

He knew it was a nice place to eat at least, since they'd visited the place several times before, even if it felt a bit weird not having Shirley by his side when they entered. It wasn't like they were actual regulars though, so none in the staff should notice there was one person missing, and hopefully none of his so-called friends from work would show up there either to make any bothersome remarks.

One thing was definitively different about not having his wife with him though, as Jack came to notice when they settled down by one of the tables, and he was almost surprised when Kate sat down on the seat right next to him, instead of sharing the opposite couch with her younger sisters. While it did make sense to him when he gave it some thought, he still couldn't drop the feeling that it was somehow inappropriate to have his daughter so close to his side like that.

Soon enough he was given another indication along the same lines, as he happened to notice how the male waiter gave him a rather peculiar look when they were ordering their food. Quite obviously the guy was rather taken by the sight of the three young women by the table, but when he looked at Catherine he also sent a quick glance to Jack himself, which was just as blatantly full of curiosity, mixed in with a good deal of jealousy.

"Well, that's a positive..." Jack thought to himself, as he figured that it might keep some people away from flirting with at least one of his daughters. But then he realized that it wasn't likely to stop her from making the first move, and he felt his mood sinking when he thought about how Shirley had used to act in a similar situation.

In his own perspective it should be a difference like day and night, whether it was his wife or his daughter acting all friendly with manly strangers, and back then he'd always been so sure that Shirley would never go any further than making some flirtatious remarks. In retrospect it was difficult to know what she'd meant by all that however, and only now did Jack come to realize how others around them must have perceived her as unusually easy-going, for being in the company of her own husband.

With all that in mind there was really no question as to why his co-workers must have been laughing behind his back for all this time, and before he knew it, Jack found himself glaring back at the waiter who was discreetly trying to befriend the girl by his side. It was a world's difference to himself, as he'd already figured, but in the eyes of others he was still in the company of a beautiful woman, and right now he'd suddenly enough of people who tried to steal her attention from right in front of his nose.

Later he'd only hope that none of his daughters noticed too much of his change in behavior, but right then he just wished to make sure the young waiter would take the hint, and he felt a strange sense of satisfaction when he managed to draw Catherine's attention back to himself and the menu, and away from the boy standing beside their table. It may have been a petty kind of victory, but in some ways a win nonetheless, even as Jack found himself caught up in this strange act for the rest of their stay at the restaurant, where he tried to pretend like each of the girls in his company were potential spouses, rather than being his daughters.

Needless to say he was fairly tired when they finally returned back home, as well as quite unsure of his own weird behavior during the afternoon, and so he decided to go to bed unusually early that evening. Surprisingly it seemed like the girls agreed with him for once, despite the fact they didn't have any school or work the day after, and for all he knew they all went to bed before he was eventually about to fall asleep himself.