As always, their dad was waiting for their approach by the time Clarissa, Robert and Dawn reached its fence's gates. This time, though, Mom was with him, too. Neither looked particularly happy to see them, and Clarissa cringed a little.
Apparently, bringing Dawn around wasn't as reasonable as she thought at first. As all the excuses for it flashed in her mind, Clarissa saw her dad's face soften a little and felt relieved. If he forgave her, then her mom would, too. Just later, when he will explain to her the situation.
Robert didn't have such reservations. He run towards his parents with outstretched arms as soon as he saw them, hesitating only for a moment before leaping into Mom's arms with laughter. The last time he jumped to Dad first. Robert was always meticulous into giving them an equal amount of affections, which for him meant keeping a lot of counts on what he did first and when. Clarissa sometimes wondered how he could keep all the numbers in his head.
