Chapter Text
Late October, Amelia stood next to her dad outside the house, hugging her very pregnant mother. The long-awaited girls’ trip was finally upon them, which she honestly thought was a month or so later than it should have been. Her mom was now seven months pregnant and practically waddled with a pained wince every time she moved these days, complaining loudly about her back constantly.
Her little sibling was active most waking hours now, much to her mom’s exasperation and dad’s delight. However, they were all secretly glad for that honestly, having several scares since the first time the newest member decided to scare them all to hell by showing just how badly they wanted to be born early. Frequent movement meant everything was fine. And they needed that reassurance nowadays.
“Now, remember—” her mom said for what had to be the hundredth time already that evening.
“Penny, I’ve got this,” replied her dad, flashing one of his trademark Mitchell grins. “Honest. You just focus on your week of relaxation. Tomcat and I will be just fine over here.”
Her mother, however, continued her recitation as soon as he finished speaking, “If you need anything, and I mean anything, you call the number I left on the fridge. It’ll call—”
“—up to the lodge where we can ask Harold to head up to the cabin and get you ladies. I know, dear. I’ve got it. Everything’s going to be fine. Promise. I have this, Penny,” he stated, gently resting his hands on her shoulders. “It’s just a week.”
“A week away from two known troublemakers, you mean,” Aunt Sarah quipped with a soft, gentle smile.
Amelia caught her mom’s swift inhale. Oh, no. Here it came.
“On second thought, maybe we should do this some other—” her mom started to backtrack.
“Oh, no we don’t.” Aunt Sarah tugged her gently towards the fancy Lexus the ladies were renting for their trip. “They’ll be fine, honey. Plus, it’s not like you and I haven’t prepared for every possible scenario already and left detailed instructions for the boys while we’re gone. They’ll be fine.”
“You’re acting like I’m a dog you’ve kenneled,” he grumbled with a faint pout.
“Well, you do have this annoying habit of pissing on the carpet every chance you get when you’re left unsupervised, Maverick,” teased Aunt Sarah, laughing when he glared back. “Oh, don’t give me that look. You know I love you despite your frequent rebellious tendencies.” She embraced him warmly before her attention darted to Amelia at his side. She flashed a warm, fond smile to her. “I’ll bring her back safe and sound. I swear, honey.”
Amelia nodded, not thinking otherwise honestly. Over the past few months, she grew quite close to her pseudo-aunt. Close enough to consider Aunt Sarah a part of the family. To trust the woman at her word. Her aunt hadn’t yet given her any reason not to yet.
“Come on, Thelma,” Aunt Sarah joked a moment later, pulling Penny gently towards the Lexus.
“Yes, Louise,” laughed back her mom with an eye roll and a wave over her shoulder to them.
The moment both ladies were seat belted in, Aunt Sarah driving, they smiled widely back.
“See you in a week.”
Amelia nodded, rolling her eyes when her parents had to give each other one last goodbye kiss as if it was the last time they would ever see one another again. And they called her the dramatic one. Seriously. After their goodbye kiss lasted for far much longer than necessary, considering the twelve ones before this one, she grabbed her dad’s arm, tugging him back as Aunt Sarah patted Penny’s hand to get her to pull back as well. It was only a week, not a whole year or longer.
How much trouble could they really get into in a week?
“Remember, if you need anything—”
“—we know, dear wife of mine,” her dad replied with a chuckle. “Have fun. Relax. And if you need me to talk to the baby for you—”
“Love you!” she said, cutting him off again. A habit she developed to stave off long discussions.
“Love you, too, Mom, but, seriously, go already,” Amelia urged, shooing the ladies away. “We got this.” They were all doing so much better than three months ago. Hell, she was even sleeping in her own room again, following Dr. Sloane’s instructions. Her meds were working. “It’s just a week. Now, go, will you? You’re ruining our first annual chaotic as hell Mitchell father-daughter week, Mom.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” muttered her mother before the Lexus pulled away.
The following day, Amelia spent her lunch searching trophy cases from the late 90s. It took a bit but eventually she found the grainy colored team photos. She snorted the second she saw Bradley in one of them. God, he was such a dork back then. Spikey hair? Seriously? He looked so damn ridiculous.
She supposed back-to-back state titles was impressive. Bradley’s senior year seemed to be the last time the school went to state for a while. She paused when she saw his lone photo with a smaller trophy that named him as MVP his senior year.
“You’re Captain Mitchell’s daughter, aren’t you?” asked a kind voice out of nowhere.
She couldn’t help but flinch at the sudden intrusion. She had been at this high school for two months now, and hardly anyone ever acknowledged her. Her eyes darted to the glass, seeing the older boy’s reflection. He stood a respectable distance from her. He was watching her, waiting patiently.
“And what if I am?” she replied, slowly turning around to face him. They were alone in the hallway, but he didn’t trigger any warning bells in her, so she stayed somewhat relaxed. “Then what?”
He forced out an amused laugh. “Yeah, I guess I’d be defensive, too, if some rando walked up to me and started asking questions about my family. Sorry.” He gave her a sheepish smile. “I’m Ethan. Our dads work together on base, I think.” He awkwardly hooked his thumbs into his jean pockets. “I’ve seen you around with him before at least. Then, I saw you today wearing what I can only assume is one of your dad’s hoodies and figured I’d introduce myself. Welcome you here so to speak.”
She snorted, shaking her head with a laugh. “So, you’re, what, the welcoming committee for military brats?” This was an interesting way to start. That was for sure. The jersey was a nice touch.
“Yeah, Suppose I am.” His eyes dropped for a moment before he glanced up through his shaggy brown hair. He swept his hair to the side, trying to give off cool vibes—at least that was what she thought he was trying to do. To her, he just looked scared. “At least for the pretty ones like you.”
She laughed loud. “Jesus, do those lines of yours ever actually work?”
“Not really,” he admitted with a flippant shrug. “But I figure you’re worth the blow to my ego.”
“Oh?” She crossed her arms over her dad’s Dagger Squadron hoodie she had snatched from him earlier that morning.
Her dad only wore it on rare occasions, usually when the squadron was having a rowdy night out at the Hard Deck these days, celebrating a birthday or anniversary or something. She couldn’t remember who exactly had the personalized hoodies made—probably Fanboy or Omaha. However, she was eternally grateful to whichever one of them it was because wearing a hoodie with her dad’s call sign prominently displayed on her back always helped settle her mind during school. The fact it smelled a bit like him was a bonus. It gave her more confidence than she usually had these days.
“Why?” she asked coyly. “You find me hot, do you?”
Ethan reddened instantly, eyes dropping to the ground again before he silently shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I mean, you’re not, uh, bad looking, I suppose.”
“Oh, my, such a lovely compliment, thank you, Ethan.” And here this was going so well, too.
“No, I just—shit, this isn’t going well.” His head hung with a loud groan, rolling his shoulders.
“You just now realizing that?” she quipped, using the moment to her advantage to check him out. Yeah, okay, he wasn’t bad looking.
“You’re not making this easy,” he complained with an indignant huff, glancing through his hair.
“Why should I?” She held his eyes and shrugged. “Now, other than being a creeper and watching me, stalker, do you have a point here or can I go?”
He sighed heavily, brushing back his long hair from his face again. He was messing his hair up. “I was just going to introduce myself. Maybe ask if you’re going to the game tonight. That’s all.”
Moment over. Back to reality. “Yeah, I’m going to stop you while you’re behind,” she replied, holding up a hand. “I just got out of a pretty shitty relationship with my ex-boyfriend and not really keen on jumping right back in, you know, especially not with someone whose dad works with mine. So, nice to meet you, Ethan, and I’m sure you’re all sorts of good boy vibes and all, but I’m good.”
Ethan’s jaw dropped before he stepped closer. “Uh, whoa, like, um, yeah, okay, you’re pretty cute and all, but, um, totally wasn’t doing this to ask you out.”
She stared back skeptically. “You weren’t?”
“Definitely not. I mean, you said it yourself. Our dads work together. All sorts of awkward there would come out of us getting together. Not to mention, my dad would have an aneurysm right there if I told him I was dating Captain Mitchell’s daughter. Yeah, no, sorry. I mean, you’re definitely all sorts of . . . nice looking, I suppose, but I’m not an idiot.”
Huh. What did she know? She may have actually been wrong. “Glad we got that established.”
He then sighed heavily. “Look. I was just . . . you’ve been here for a bit now, and I thought I should at least welcome you. I know how hard it is being the new kid all the time. I mean, this is the longest post my dad’s held in quite some time actually. So I thought I’d be nice and invite you to the game tonight because, well, you might find a friend there or something. Not be so alone all the time.”
“So, you’re being a white knight in other words?”
“Yeah.”
She could appreciate his honesty at the very least. “Well, thank you, but I’m all right. You don’t need to rescue me because I don’t need saving. Never do. So, go find some other damsel in distress.”
“All right.”
“Good.”
His tongue darted out, sliding over his lips. “Guess there’s nothing more to say then.”
“Guess not.” She forced a smile, hating the swooping feeling she had in her stomach whenever his hazel green eyes met hers. They sounded like complete idiots. Like Jake and Bradley. “Good luck with your game tonight,” she said, trying to kill the silence and get them to split apart finally.
“Thanks.” He nervously fiddled with his hands for a second, watching her with an indiscernible look. “Well, bye now.” Before she could even react, he gently kissed her cheek before stiffening and eyes widening. “Fuck! I’m—shit—sorry! I-I didn’t . . . uh . . . forget that. I’m just gonna go now.”
Swallowing her rapidly beating heart, she nodded dumbly, unsure of herself for the first time in quite a long time. What the hell was that, she thought as she watched Ethan flee far away from her.
“No. No boys,” she muttered, practically chanting it. “Absolutely no dumb boys this year.” She hugged her arms tighter around her torso, walking away dazedly in the opposite direction towards her locker. This could not be happening. Not again. God, somehow this was all her parents’ fault.
She would have liked to have said she didn’t think about Ethan at all for the rest of the day, but that would have been a damn lie and her mother didn’t raise a liar. She couldn’t stop thinking about the ridiculous fool. Why the hell had he kissed her cheek? They barely knew each other. Though, she did vaguely wonder who his father was. Maybe . . .
No, no, no! She couldn’t start heading down that path. School. School was her priority again. No boys. Boys were unhealthy distractions. She had a lot of making up to do with her behavior lately. And her parents already had enough on their minds with the new baby and stuff.
When the last bell of the day rung, she sighed in relief. She could finally go home and see how her dad was doing today. Maybe ask him if he knew any of his coworkers with kids that went to Coronado even. She slung her bag over her shoulder and headed towards the exit.
“Hey, Mitchell!”
Her eyes narrowed at the name being yelled, pausing in confusion for a moment before she continued. The likelihood of it being her was slim.
Technically, she was still Amelia Benjamin as they were still waiting on the whole paternity nonsense to clear up before they decided. She wasn’t sure honestly if she wanted to change her surname or not yet. She did love being Mav’s daughter. She always had. It was why it always hurt so damn bad whenever he left. Because he didn’t just break her mom’s heart (though, her mom would always deny and try to hide it from her), he also broke Amelia’s because she’d always think this was the time it’d stick and they would be a family for real. That he chose them this time.
“Hey, Mitchell! Wait up!”
She flinched hard when a hand grabbed her shoulder to turn her around.
“Didn’t you hear me yell your name?” Ethan questioned, seemingly confused by her behavior.
The alarm bells inside still didn’t go off with him. Though, they never had with Aaron either. Sighing heavily, though, she forced a small smile.
“Sorry,” she apologized. “I’m actually not a Mitchell, though. I mean, I am. Legally, but—whatever.” She shook her head. He didn’t care. “Speak your piece.”
He laughed in disbelief but nodded back, deciding she must have been right and to move on.
“Um, I just wanted to apologize for earlier.” His eyes darted around as the school rapidly emptied out. “You know, for . . . earlier.”
“You mean when you kissed my cheek for some strange reason? Yeah, it’s cool, dude. I forgot all about it honestly.” Yeah, she hadn't.
“I hope you don’t think that I make a habit of that.”
“No? I just was the lucky one today?” She snorted. “Yay me, I guess.”
He groaned, letting his head fall against the locker beside her. “I’m trying to apologize here.”
“I know.” She patted his bicep, instantly clamping down on her mouth when she felt the pure muscle underneath her hand. Damn. It took her an extra moment before she said, “It’s all good. You’re forgiven. Kiss me again, though, and I’ll knee you in the damn balls.”
He laughed weakly, tilting his head slightly to her to look through the messy dark hair that had fallen into his eyes. “Understood.” He offered a soft smile to her. “So, what is your name anyway?”
“Do you honestly care?”
“Course I care. I have to call you something, and I can’t just call you Captain’s daughter.”
“You could,” she replied with a shrug.
“Seriously? You play hard to get with everyone trying to be your friend or am I just that lucky?”
She giggled despite herself. “It’s Amelia, all right? There, now will you let me leave?”
His smile softened before he pushed himself back off the locker to stand. “Look. I’ll be real here for a moment with you. I do like you. Because for one you’re not a stuck-up pretentious snob like most of the girls in this stupid school.”
“Thank you, I think?”
He snorted. “You’re also rather cute, too.”
“Oh, my. Two compliments in a row, Ethan. I do hope you don’t kill yourself here.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you have a mouth on you?”
“Oh, only everyone in my entire life,” she stated with a wide grin. “And what’s wrong? Can’t keep up with me?”
“Shit. Can anyone?” he commented, shaking his head fondly. “Ok, look. What I’m trying to say here is it’s your freshman year, all right? You’re in a new school. Things are overwhelming right now.”
She tilted her head at him, crossing her arms. Was he about to lecture her here? Seriously?
“In other words, you’re a freshman. I’m a junior. In no universe does this work out between us, regardless of the fact I really wish it would. Not to mention, there’s the quaint little fact that my dad would kill me for even thinking about dating you, regardless of whose daughter you are. And then there’s your dad of course, who would not even hesitate for a second in killing me. There’s no winning scenario here with us. That said, I’d still like to be friends with you. Just friends, though. Nothing more.”
“So, are we talking friends with benefits—” She couldn’t help herself. She really couldn’t.
“Oh, Jesus Christ,” he groaned, throwing his head back and glancing up at the ceiling.
She snickered. “Dude, relax, all right? You are way too uptight already for your age. I’m just giving you shit.” She then exhaled loud and shrugged. “I suppose we can try being friends. Not like I have a lot of those anymore unfortunately.”
He glanced at her, curiously. “What about from your old school?”
She scoffed, waving a hand flippantly. “Best friend decided we can handle parents divorcing together, but drew the line at me going to another school. Said she didn’t want to be friends with a Coronado snob and how here I’ll just slowly morph into one of those military brats who follows family tradition and end up serving with Dad. In other words, it’d be too hard on her, knowing that was the life awaiting me in the future.”
“Okay, well, she sounds amazing,” he sarcastically replied. “And, um, the ex-boyfriend?”
“Currently under house arrest for tagging my mom’s bar with the words ‘Fuck Navy.”
“Jesus! You sure can pick some real winners, can’t you?” He shook his head. “Sorry,” he said a second later, likely realizing what he said aloud.
“No. I mean, you’re not wrong, are you?”
“Well, do you need a ride home?”
She burst out laughing, covering her mouth. “Well, shit, buy me some dinner first, why don’t you?” She watched his face instantly redden and his mouth open and close several times like a fish. “You know you turn a lovely shade of red when you’re embarrassed.” She liked it. A lot.
“Glad I could amuse you,” he scoffed a few seconds later with a loud sigh. “I was just offering to give you a ride home since you likely missed the bus.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sure.” She gently patted his arm again, squeezing his bicep. “I’ve seen this after school special, though, Ethan.”
“Oh, yeah?” He leaned closer to her, practically looming. “Probably even lived it, too.”
The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself. “You calling me a slut now?”
His eyes blinked hard before he inhaled sharply, taking a step back. “No. Of course not.”
“You wouldn’t be the first,” she muttered, thankful he took a step back so she could breathe easier. “Honestly, though, I’m good. Dad’s waiting outside for me.”
“Well, then at least let me walk you to him, please.”
“You worried about my well being?” Awe. That was sweet of him.
“I’m surprised you’re not,” he quipped.
“I can take care of myself, Ethan.” She had been for years now.
“I’m sure, but . . . Look. Ninety percent of the time things are fine here between the military kids and civilians. Lately, though, since the whole anti-military shit has been taking over, there’s tensions, okay? All I’m saying.”
She nodded, taking his word seriously. “Well, I guess if you really want to meet my dad that damn bad, you can come with and walk me over to him. Don’t be surprised if he’s defensive, though.”
Ethan smirked, nodding. “Understood.” He then motioned to her book bag. “Want me to take your bag for you?”
She snorted. “Dude, that’s a boyfriend thing, not a friend thing. Jeez. Haven’t you ever dated?”
“Not particularly,” he admitted quietly, falling in step with her.
“Oh.” She then paused, reaching for his arm again. “Wait. Don’t tell me I’m your first crush?” The second his eyes dropped guiltily, she smothered the laugh on her tongue. “Well, I’m honored.”
“Yeah, well, you shouldn’t be,” he huffed, clearly uncomfortable by the topic.
“Why? There’s nothing wrong with waiting for the right person to come along.” She caught his soft smile and ignored the back flip her stomach did in response. “Come on. Let’s go.”
They walked out. Halfway down the steps, she glanced around, looking for the familiar flight helmet and motorcycle. Her dad was always easy to pick out of the crowd here at least.
“Maybe he’s running late because of traffic,” Ethan said quietly beside her, likely realizing the same thing she did.
She pulled her cell out, quickly calling her dad. The line rang and rang, her heart dropping further with each one. Why wasn’t he answering the phone?
“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about. My dad used to get hung up at the gates all the time.”
She recognized he was trying to make her feel better, but it wasn’t helping at all. She then sighed after five more minutes passed, and her dad still hadn’t shown up.
“I can give you a ride home. It’s no problem. I’ll even call my dad and talk to him the entire ride if you’d like so you’re not alone with me if you’re worried I’ll try something.”
She shook her head, though. She was absolutely not worried about that with him at all. “That’s sweet, but I’m okay.” She was already searching for her brother’s name in her contacts.
“Mel? What’s wrong?” Bradley answered on the second ring.
“Hey, um, could you swing by school and pick me up by chance?”
“Dad’s not there?”
“No. I’m sure he got busy with the nursery or something.” She tried to ignore the twisting of her insides as her mind supplied all the plausible reasons her dad would have forgotten her.
“Are you alone right now?”
“No. A friend from school’s here with me. I mean, if you’re busy I can—” She had a whole list of others she could work down. Hell, maybe she’d call her uncles if she was really desperate.
“No, it’s fine. I’ll be there in ten minutes. Could you ask your friend to wait with you?”
She sighed heavily, rolling her eyes. This never would have been an issue if she had been a guy, and that ridiculous double standard was positively disgusting to think even. Ethan was just as likely as she was to have something happen after school. Yet no one cared about the boy, only the girl who was treated like glass. She then glanced at Ethan. “Don’t suppose you’d be willing to wait with me until my brother shows up, do you? It’s okay if you can’t.” He probably had to head to practice at some point.
“Nah, it’s cool. I’ve got nowhere to be until later.” Ethan flashed a wide, charming smile at her.
“Wait,” Bradley said unnerved. “Mel, was that a guy talking just now? Is your friend a guy?”
She bit her tongue, glancing upwards to the sky. Oh, here he started. “Yes, Bradley. Now, will you get a move on it for fuck’s sake?”
“I’ll be there shortly. Stay around adults and text me if he starts anything.”
“So, Ethan, I’m supposed to text my brother if you start anything, so, you know, try to keep your filthy guy hands to yourself, all right?” She caught Ethan’s amused laugh and her brother’s loud groan.
“Hilarious. I’m just trying to keep you safe, brat.”
“I know you are, but I’m not a helpless little girl anymore. I can take care of myself. Not to mention, if I had a dick and balls instead, you wouldn’t have batted an eye and told me to walk home. But instead because I’ve got—”
“—okay, you’ve made your point,” Bradley grumbled. “See you soon.”
She sighed, shoving her phone back into her pocket after he hung up. They quickly took a seat on the top steps as they waited.
“Thank you for doing this.”
“It’s cool,” Ethan shrugged. “Like I said, I don’t have anywhere to be until at least 1800.”
“Well, yeah, but I’m sure your mom’s probably wanting to see you before the big game.”
Ethan’s gaze dropped with a quiet sigh.
“Did I say something wrong?” she asked, observing him.
“No.” He gave her a soft, faint smile. “My mom died a while back. Happened when Dad was on deployment. Ovarian cancer. She knew about it supposedly for months but didn’t want to bother him with it. So, it’s just Dad, me, and Cassie these days. That’s my older sister by the way. She’s off at college. Studying to be a translator, I think. At least that was what she said last time she was home.”
“I’m sorry about your mom.”
He nodded solemnly. “Thanks. I was ten when she died. It’s weird, you know. Sometimes I walk in the house, and I think she’s going to be there asking me what I want for dinner. Pretty pathetic, huh?”
“No. Grief affects people differently. Sometimes people grieve and no one’s even died yet. It’s still a loss that we have to work through.” Damn, now she sounded like Dr. Sloane.
“Yeah.”
“Was your mom in the military like your dad is?”
“No. She was a congressional aide for some senator. They ran into each other literally at some conference. Took Dad five years or so of asking before she let him take her out on a date.”
“So, persistence runs in your family.”
Ethan chuckled, nodding. “You could say that. If we see something we want and it’s worth waiting for, we’ll wait until end of time for it. How about you?”
“Oh, I just take it,” she replied, feigning misunderstanding his question.
“I meant about your family, goob,” he smiled with a snort. “But good to know.”
“Well, it was just Mom and me for quite some,” she said with a shrug. “Dad was in and out of my life from as early as I can remember. He’d start to settle down with us, and then he’d either be shipped overseas or he’d just up and leave.”
“Civilian life is hard for them to adjust to. Shit, my dad damn near went insane when he was home with us for three years after Mom. It’s all they know.”
“Yeah, I’m aware. Bradley, the dork on his way over here, was discharged last year. He’s been trying to figure out where to go from here now.”
“He figure anything out?”
“Not yet. He considered seeing about working on the base in a civilian role, but the whole jets thing really fucks with his mind sometimes.”
“PTSD?”
She inclined her head. “My bio dad, adopted dad, and maternal grandfather all suffer from it.”
“Rough.”
“Yeah.” She sighed heavily, resting her elbows on her knees and hanging her head. “Everyone but bio dad is getting help for it.”
“You still see him? Your bio dad, I mean?”
“No, not anymore. Not since Mom filed a restraining order against him at least.”
“You’ve been through some shit, haven’t you?”
“Oh, Ethan, you have no idea,” she said, forcing a quiet laugh. She didn’t know why she was sharing so much with him, likely boredom, but she didn’t care. He was listening, and she felt like talking for once with someone other than her therapist. “Last year was a sort of shitty year for my family. I nearly lost my brother twice. Or three times I guess. Dad, I can’t even tell you. And Mom found out she’s pregnant this year, which is a good thing but freaking terrifying at the same time because she’s got all these scary ass complications. Then I was dating a boy who I should have known was a slimeball. And why? Because I thought he made me happy. Turned out all he did was give me a hell of a distraction. I was the world’s worst kid, an absolute terror.”
“What changed?”
“Therapy and medication,” she remarked dryly. “I’m still fucking terrified that all this will just go away one day. That I’ll wake up in a hospital and it was all just some stupid fever dream. That it’s still just Mom and me struggling, too stubborn to ask for help because we’re so used to doing it all on our own for so long.”
Ethan slipped his hand into hers a second later, rubbing his thumb against the back of her hand.
She couldn’t help herself. She rested her head on his shoulder then, closing her eyes.
“Sorry for the word-vomit,” she mumbled under her breath.
“Hey, I’m just glad it’s not actual vomit,” he joked lightly.
She smothered her smile, rolling her eyes at him. Such a dork. But a cute one.
“Seriously, though, thank you for trusting me enough with all of it.”
“Yeah.” She sighed, sinking further into his side. “So, what’s the story with you and dating? You a closeted commitment-phobe?”
“No. Just no one really tripped my trigger, I guess,” he admitted, his arm loose around her back.
“Until now.”
He snorted, playfully bumping against her. “Yeah. Until now. It’d be just my luck you’d be a freshman, though.”
“If it makes you feel any better, you’re not the first junior I’ve dated.”
“Got a thing for older men, do you?” he teased, snorting.
“It certainly does look that way, yeah. I blame my mother. My dad’s five years older than her. Actually, now that I think about it, course, Dad could be to blame, too, I suppose.”
“It does take two to make a relationship after all.”
“No, it’s not that.” She shook her head.
“Then what?”
“Dad was involved with someone three years older than him, I think. Actually, there were several someone’s if I remember hearing my uncles right, but he was hardcore in love with the other.”
Ethan snickered. “Shit, you’re fucked, then, aren’t you?”
“So, it would seem,” she sighed exaggeratedly, liking hearing his laugh. “Don’t suppose you’re willing to tell me who your dad is now, are you?”
Instead of answering, Ethan asked, “Hey, is that your brother?” He jerked his head to the Bronco.
“Yep, that’s him.” Thanks, Bradley.
He scooted back from her to a respectable distance before rising to his feet and offering hands to help pull her up. She smiled at him as he did. Such a gentleman he was.
“You’re not planning on giving me another goodbye kiss, are you?”
Ethan’s eyes fell guiltily with another soft, gentle laugh. “Not this time. Sorry.”
“Damn. Was sort of hoping I’d see how you’d fare against my overprotective brother.”
“Next time.”
“I’ll hold you to it,” she replied, squeezing his hands tightly to thank him for staying with her. All in all, it wasn’t such a bad time. It was nice not having to be on her guard around someone for once.
“If it makes you feel any better, know I’ll be having an extra long talk with Father Daniels this weekend during confessional.”
Her head tilted slightly. “What?”
“I’m Catholic,” he explained with a shrug. “So, when I go to confession this weekend, I’ll be in there a lot longer than usual, thanks to you.”
She snickered. “Sorry.”
“I’m not,” he simply replied with a soft smile. “I hope your dad’s okay by the way.”
And just like that, the lightness of the mood vanished entirely. Reality was once again in firm control. “Yeah, so do I.”
Ethan let go of her a second later and calmly walked her towards Bradley, who had gotten out of his Bronco in the meantime watching them suspiciously.
“Better go before he has kittens.”
“Yeah. And if, um, you know, you change your mind about the game tonight, and things are okay with your dad and all, know you’ll have a game ball with your name on it waiting for you.”
She laughed loudly. “Dude, again, that’s a girlfriend thing, not a friend thing.”
“Why can’t it be both?” he replied with a shrug before he split away and headed towards his own vehicle, a beat-up old rusted pick-up truck. God, he was a walking Hallmark movie cliché.
The second she reached her brother, she sighed dramatically. “You’ll be pleased to know I’ve already been properly friend-zoned by him, so my virginity is still very much intact.”
“Ha-ha. Get in,” huffed Bradley, eyes still trained on Ethan’s truck before he reluctantly glanced away to get in the Bronco. “Seat belt,” he chided, glancing at her challengingly when she didn’t put it on.
“God, you’re no fun,” she grumbled, her nerves already starting to fray again.
Five minutes later, Bradley pulled up to the house. It was obvious by the way his fingers had been tapping the steering wheel the entire time that he wished he wasn’t scheduled to work tonight.
“Call me if you need anything and text me later even if you don’t,” he said quietly.
She nodded stiffly, grabbing her bag. She paused when he placed a hand on her arm.
“I mean it. If you need help, call me.”
“He’s probably just busy with the nursery,” she passed off, wishing that was what this was.
“Yeah. Probably,” Bradley agreed, likely hoping for the same thing. “But if it’s not, call me. Hopefully, the flyboys are in there, too. But if they’re not, call. Don’t try to handle it by yourself. Dad would hate for you to do that, got it? He wouldn’t forgive himself if anything happened.”
“I know. I’ll call if it’s anything. And text either way,” she repeated.
“Love you.”
“Love you, too, dickhead.” She then hopped out of the Bronco and walked up the pathway to the front door. She slipped inside seconds after unlocking it.
The first thing she noticed was how quiet it was in the house. Her dad was usually singing some old song under his breath while working on the nursery these days.
“Dad, I’m home,” she called out, toeing out of her sneakers before heading further inside. She quickly found him a few moments later, napping in his chair in the living room. She frowned at the five empty bottles of beer lined up on the coffee table. Sighing inwardly, she grabbed the blanket from the sofa, draping it over him. Turning away, she headed to the kitchen to make herself a sandwich, texting Bradley that Dad was okay, just napping like the old man he was now. She snorted when Bradley replied back with a gif of some dad from some 90s sitcom. Al something or another if she was correct.
Setting her phone down, she paused when she saw the opened letter on the table. Her eyes darted to her dad, hearing his light snores. Seeing from the letterhead it was from the people who ran the paternity test, she carefully reached for the letter. As was expected, Mav wasn’t her biological father. She considered reaching out to the other ’86 members who took the same tests, but the thought quickly disappeared when she heard her dad’s first shout.
“Ice!”
Her eyes widened, hearing complete terror in his voice.
“Dad, it’s just a nightmare,” she called out, approaching but maintaining her distance. She knew how much he moved during these terrifying moments. “It’s not real. Dad, it’s not real!”
“No! Ice! Ice!” he let out a strangled scream, thrashing violently in his chair.
She closed her eyes, biting her lower lip to fight off the tears threatening to fall. She hated these moments. Hated the fucking Navy for causing it. Hated how he suffered for so long in silence.
“Dad, it’s okay. You’re okay!”
“Please,” he pleaded brokenly, his voice cracking as he did. “Please. Don’t leave. Ice, don’t leave me. I-I can’t do this. I’m not . . . not strong enough. Please . . .”
“Dad, wake up!” she yelled, her voice rising sharper. She knew she wasn’t supposed to startle him awake, but she needed him to wake up. “Wake up!”
“Ice, you can’t leave. Not now,” he pleaded, still trapped in his nightmare. “Please. Please, Ice? I’ll be good. I . . . I’ll be good . . . I can’t do this anymore . . .”
She couldn’t listen to it any longer. She turned away, hating herself for do it but needing to get out of the house. She stumbled frantically outside, collapsing on one of the steps that led to the beach. Tears streamed down her cheeks, which she tried to wipe away but lost the battle. Her arms were vice-like around her body as she stared out across the beach at the waves crashing against the shore. She knew she should have texted Bradley, informed him of the sudden change. But she couldn’t go back inside. Not when her dad was like that. Frantically begging a dead guy to help him.
She curled in on herself slightly, focusing everything on listening to the loud waves.
Where the hell were her uncles? They were supposed to be there with him, so he wasn’t alone in the damn house all day. The silence was a trigger for all of them in various ways. They knew that. Why had they abandoned him? Left him to sit around and drink all damn day? On the very first full day after her mom left on her trip? Didn’t they realize how this would affect him? Hadn’t they heard his painful admissions how he was just waiting for the other shoe to drop? How he was convinced something bad would happen? How he truly believed he wasn’t worthy of being a father? Didn’t they care? Why was it left to her to clean up after? She was fifteen, damn it! This wasn’t her job!
She inhaled deeply, sitting back and rolling her spine as she did. It wasn’t helping, though. But it never did really. She glanced up at the sky, drawing in a shaky breath.
“Bradley . . . Bradley says you guys are . . . are always listening. Watching over Dad,” she cried through her trembling breathes. It was ridiculous as both men were long gone by now, but she didn’t know what else to do. “Please help him. He’s hurting, and I don’t know how to help.”
It felt like her heart was being shredded apart before being tossed into a blender. It was one thing to wake up in the middle of the night to hear his muffled cries. This was different. This brought back seeing him struggle when she was seven, him breaking down because she fell off her bike and scrapped her knee while Mom had been at work. Unlike with Blake, she didn’t ever worry about her safety with Mav because she knew Mav would rather die than ever hurt her. It’d be an accident if he did. One she knew he would never forgive himself, which was what held her back from hugging him tightly now.
“Tell me what to do,” she asked, wishing she’d hear an answer.
At the sound of glass shattering inside, she went completely still. He must have knocked his empty bottles off. She considered getting a broom and dustpan to sweep it up so he didn’t hurt himself but decided against it when the patio door slid open further. He was awake. She quickly wiped the rest of her tears away, blinking them back furiously so she could keep up the illusion all was well for him.
“Amelia?” His voice was hoarse and a little groggy. He reached her a few seconds later, sitting a step above her like he usually did since the steps to the beach were so damn narrow. “You okay, sweetheart?”
It’d be so easy to lie. So easy to tell him everything was fine. But she was tired of it.
“No,” she croaked out, leaning back into his chest and feeling his strong arms tightly wrap around her lovingly like they usually did.
“I’m sorry, Tomcat,” he murmured, kissing the top of her head gently. “I should have—”
“I don’t care about you forgetting to pick me up,” she admitted quietly, swallowing down more tears as she kept her eyes focused straight ahead. That was yesterday’s news to her now.
“I’m fine, sweetheart.”
“No, you’re not,” she argued. “And it’s like no one but me is noticing.”
He sighed deeply, resting his chin on top of her head. “I’ll be fine. I promise.”
She shook her head, though, digging in for this fight. She had to let him in, let him know why she was so upset. “You were yelling for Ice. Begging him, Dad. Pleading with him to help you.”
Her dad stiffened instantly, likely shocked by her words. Everyone else swept it under the rug neatly in the past. Let him continue to think he was doing better when he wasn’t. No one wanted to do anything to worsen his episodes. Treated him with kid gloves. It was disgusting how long they did it.
“I’m sorry for scaring you,” he finally murmured a few moments later.
“No!” she snapped, irritated he was taking the blame for something that wasn’t necessarily all his fault. They were supposed to be helping him through this. “Don’t you get it? You were pleading to a dead man to help you. Pleading with him instead of all of us down here who are alive. Who love you just as much. You don’t say a word to any of us, though. You don’t say one goddamn word. You just let it all boil up inside until it explodes out of you with a shitty ass episode.” She drew in another sharp breath, hearing her rant echoing back in her ears. “I’m scared, Dad. I’m scared for you. That someday I’ll come home and you’ll be lying in a pool of blood or something—and none of us knew until it was too late.” His arms hugged her tighter.
Watching the waves, she focused on his heartbeat as he held her. He was holding her tight enough so she could feel it every now and then. She assumed he was trying to figure out what to say to that admission. She didn’t blame him for his silence. If the roles were reversed, she’d be just as lost at words as he was currently. She was, after all, basically telling him how she was terrified he’d hurt himself because of his deep despair he was suffering.
“I’m not going to leave you, Amelia,” he finally said after another minute passed.
“You can’t promise that.”
He huffed a quiet laugh, nodding against her. “Maybe so,” he conceded. “But I won’t do that to you, to your mother, to Bradley, to any of you. Contrary to long-standing opinion on me, I’m not actively seeking my death, sweetheart. And my life is good now. Really good again. I’m not about to throw it all away. Not this time. You don’t need to worry about me.”
“I always worry about you, you idiot.”
He huffed out another gentle laugh, kissing the top of her head.
“Today’s just a bit of a hard day for me, sweetheart. That’s all.”
“I miss Mom, too, but we can’t keep thinking that something bad is going to happen just because that’s how it’s been so far in our shitty lives,” she stated, holding his arms. “We’ll just be fulfilling our own self-fulfilling shitty prophecies then.”
He sighed heavily, swallowing behind her. “It’s not that. I wish it were me just missing your mom this time like it usually is, but it’s not.”
“Then what?”
He drew in a deep breath behind her before he exhaled just as deep. “It’s been a year since . . .” His voice trailed off, and he pressed another kiss to the top of her head.
“Since the mission?” she asked. She supposed she could understand how that would unsettle him from what little she knew of that time. They weren’t supposed to come home, and they did.
“No. I mean, yes, it’s been a year since then, but a mission is a mission these days.”
“Then what?” She leaned back, resting her head on his shoulder to try to glance up at him. He looked so heartbroken as he stared out at the ocean.
As the silence stretched on, she searched everything she could remember from back then. Her mom had been worried the week after Mav came into their lives. And more than a few times she found her mom crying at the kitchen table after coming back from a funeral—oh.
“Ice died a year ago today?” she quietly said, answering her own question. She felt his jerky nod. “Why aren’t my uncles here with you, then?” That was the whole point in them being around, wasn’t it?
“They’re at the cemetery. Or they were. They’re probably at a bar now, though. I told them I had to make sure I could pick you up later. That if I went with them, I wouldn’t be able to pull myself away to do that,” he admitted. “They didn’t want to leave, but they knew I was right. That I’d just wallow like I did last time. So, once they left, I drank until I was numb again. To push it all away.”
“That’s not healthy, Dad.”
He laughed somberly. “No, sweetheart, it really isn’t.” He craned his neck, kissing the side of her head. “Not to mention, it all relied on me making sure to sober up enough to bring you home.”
“And if you weren’t?”
“Then we would have been walking home . . . or rather me stumbling home.”
She rolled her eyes. “Then I’m glad you didn’t pick me up.”
“Who did end up bringing you home?”
“Bradley.”
“Ah.” He then sighed heavily. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there, Tomcat.”
She kissed his cheek. “Yeah, well, you can make it up to me by making supper, Dad.”
He chuckled, glancing down. “Fair enough, and you can tell me all about school while I do.”
She groaned, rolling her eyes. “Fine.”
They walked back into the house a few moments later.
He was making homemade pizza she noticed as he gathered all the ingredients. He didn’t make this a lot, but it was always delicious when he did. She set off to grabbing the peppers and dicing them up to help out as he painted the oil onto the already pre-made pizza crust.
“Found Bradley’s pictures in the trophy cases during lunch today,” she started off saying.
“Yeah? What do you think about his spiky hair back then?”
“Such a weird look on him.”
Her dad chuckled. “Yeah. He was trying to imitate Ice as much as he could back then. Course whenever I was home and tried to spike it up for him, they both claimed I didn’t do it right.”
She chewed on the side of her bottom lip for a moment before frowning. “Should Bradley be working right now, do you think?” Her dad’s dull green eyes darted to her. “Maybe we should all head over to the cemetery, you know? Go as a family.” His eyes fell to the counter with a pained look.
“Bradley went, um, earlier today with Jake. At least that’s what his text said when he tried to get me to join him.”
She watched her dad closely for a moment before she set her knife down. “We should go, then.”
“What?” He glanced back at her.
“We should head over there together. Grab food on the way home afterwards.”
“No. It’s okay.” He shook his head, avoiding her eyes. “I can go another time.”
“If you’re worried that I’ll think you’re a hot mess, Dad, well, hate to break it to you here, but these days we’re both hot messes. You should go. Visit him. It might help maybe.” She then gently grabbed his hand, squeezing it. “I don’t mind. Honest.” Not to mention, she was fairly certain if her mom had been there, that was exactly what they would have done for him.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded back. “Yeah. You can tell me about the man who stole your heart.” She tried to say it lighthearted enough to elicit a laugh from him. She only got a soft smile instead, but she took it as a win anyway.
He glanced at everything they had already pulled out, putting back what could be salvaged and throwing out what couldn’t. She wrote up on the list on the fridge what he threw out to help out.
“Go change. I’m not sure how long we’ll be there.”
She nodded again, hugging him tightly before she headed off.
They had been at Rosecrans for about an hour already, and she started to wonder if maybe this was the absolute worst thing she could have suggested. He was trying so damn hard to stay strong, fighting off his impending breakdown. Not sure what else to do as he hadn’t said a word since they arrived, just kept kneeling in front of the headstone with closed eyes and labored, shaky breaths, she reached out and rubbed his shoulders gently, hoping he understood he didn’t need to keep it all in right then for her sake, that she understood.
There were shot glasses and numerous piles of various types of change left on the headstone already and left in front of it was an elegant bouquet of blue-and-gold flowers. She could see a few rows away the two matching Bradshaw headstones, realizing that was probably her brother’s parents final resting places. There were other names she recognized from her uncles’ stories. So many of her dad’s family was here. So many of hers would likely be buried here one day, too. A tear rolled down her cheek as that realization settled into her gut.
A soft breeze tickled against her cheek a few seconds later, feeling as if someone was wiping away her tear. She heard her dad’s swift inhale and felt him tense beneath her fingers. She waited to see if he said anything then, but he didn’t. Just continued his silent vigil, occasionally reaching up to act like he was going to touch the marble before his hand would drop back to his side without.
There was an entire conversation going on in her dad’s mind. She could recognize that. She vaguely wondered if she got up and gave him privacy if he’d say the words he was thinking, but she knew she wouldn’t leave him. Not now. Not here. She wouldn’t leave him ever.
A few minutes later, her dad sighed heavily, slowly pushing himself up to stand. She wordlessly followed, waiting to see what his next move would be. He paused, eyes trained on the words etched into the headstone.
“Thank you, Ice,” he finally whispered, hand gingerly resting atop of the headstone for a second. His head bowed with closed eyes.
She caught the silent ‘I love you’ he mouthed before he blinked everything back and slipped back on his Maverick mask with practiced ease.
“What do you say to Jack-in-the-Box on the way home?” he asked her as if he wasn’t hurting.
She couldn’t just ignore it, though. “You do know you could have said I love you out loud without having to mouth it, Dad. Mom’s made it clear she’s okay with you loving both of them.” She watched the mask slip just a bit in lieu of his shock at her words. “And, I mean, you always are the one telling me you can love more than one person at any time. And, well, it’s not like it’s a secret, is it?” She shrugged. “I wouldn’t have minded if you said it. There wouldn’t have been a big teenage angsty blow-up moment if that’s what you’re worried about.”
He smiled at her faintly, sighing quietly. “I know.” He then sighed heavily. “It’s more so out of habit, Tomcat. We couldn’t say it where anyone would hear it.”
“Why?” Logically, she knew why. She had it explained to her so many times, but her mom always taught her that love should never be something one should be ashamed over, hidden away. “I mean, I know why, of course, but . . . what does it matter now, though?” She then motioned towards the headstone. “You guys always say he did such great things for those serving who would be marginalized. And the dude did spend like 90% of his career looking out for you every chance he could, which leads me to think he didn’t give a damn what others thought of him.”
“He didn’t,” her dad concurred.
“So, shouldn’t you be allowed to grieve publicly for him in whatever messy ass way that is? I mean, don’t get me started on the whole bullshit about some asshole preventing a dying man’s last wishes because of so-called optics and refusing to let you receive his flag at the funeral.” She still was irritated on his behalf by that. “But what does it matter now, Dad? You love him, and you miss him. You shouldn’t have to hide your feelings for him anymore. Fuck the others who would say anything. You deserve to grieve him and your loss as openly as Aunt Sarah did. I mean, you can’t be discharged anymore for who you love. You can serve as openly as you want. You want to fly that bi flag of yours as high and proud as you want, do it. You want to break down in front of his grave and scream as loud and hard as you can to get all that pain out, you should. Fuck the rest of them and their shitheadness.”
When her dad bent over with loud chuckles, she was momentarily confused. She blinked a few times as his chuckles grew louder, turning into short, gasping laughs. His laughter quickly turned into trembling sobs seconds later. He was taller than her, sure, but thankfully not by much. So, she managed to hug him somehow, holding him as he finally broke down. His sobs turned harsher, his entire frame shaking uncontrollably until his legs gave out and sent them to their knees. The screams tore from his chest, startling her for a moment from the ferocity and heart-wrenching pain behind it. Birds that had been roosting in nearby trees instantly shot off to the darkening skies like jets would.
Oh, Dad . . .
They were quiet on the ride home after a brief stop at Jack-in-the-Box for a cheeseburger and grilled chicken salad with two strawberry shakes. Up ahead she could see the bright lights of the football field. She snuggled further into her dad’s back, grateful she was with him instead.
“Must be a hell of a game up there tonight,” commented her dad when they stopped behind a car at a stoplight.
“Yeah, it’s Homecoming,” she replied with a shrug. Her eyes narrowed instantly when he tensed. “Dad? What’s wrong?”
“Let’s go check it out,” he finally said after a moment, gliding his bike to the right to head over towards the field.
“We really don’t—”
“—it’ll be good for us to have a full night out of the house,” he cut in, speaking loud enough over his bike.
She couldn’t necessarily argue with that. So, she settled back against him, cheek against his back and waited. She said nothing when her dad talked with one of the guys at the gate for the parking lot. They’re let in a moment later after the man thanked her dad for his service and her dad nodded stiffly.
No one ever thought of how much that service cost the veteran, did they?
As soon as he glided them into a non-parking stall she noticed in amusement, he offered his hand to help her stay stead as she hopped off. She stuck close to his side, feeling her skin itch in anticipation. A glance at the scoreboard showed Coronado Islanders were behind, 14-20 with two minutes left in the game. Her dad led them towards an empty spot near the fence.
“Do you know anything about football?” she asked quietly, leaning towards him.
He snorted. “Actually, I do. Played for a year in high school,” he explained. “Want me to teach you or you okay just watching it?”
“I mean, it’s not that different from your dogfight football, is it? Only this is just a bunch of dumb jocks grappling each other in homoerotic manners this time, scrambling for a slightly harder ball. Think I can get it, Dad.” He leaned over her and kissed the top of her head.
“All right, Tomcat,” he chuckled in her hair before pulling back.
She was wearing her dad’s Top Gun hoodie with Maverick across her back this time and a pair of capris. Her dad was in his trademark white t-shirt covered up with his leather jacket full of squadron patches and dark jeans.
Admittedly, she did search the sidelines for Ethan, not finding him. She tried to ignore the way she felt disappointed at this. She watched the snap of the ball, the guy falling back as the rest of the team on field tried to get open. It was then she noticed Ethan’s number near the end zone leaping up. She watched him come down with the ball, slammed hard into the ground by a defender.
“TOUCHDOWN!” a booming voice yelled from the crackly speakers.
She barely noticed how she held her breath, waiting for him to emerge from the bottom of the violent dog pile.
“Pretty exciting, isn’t it?” her dad chuckled next to her, likely noticing the way she was focused intently on the end zone.
She didn’t say anything.
Finally, when she was near passing out, she caught the glimpse of that damn jersey that was an absolute mess of mud and dirt now.
“Oh, thank god,” she muttered, sighing in relief.
Her dad snorted. “What happened to no boys this year, young lady?”
“Oh, hush,” she huffed, frowning at how easy he spotted it. “And I’m friend-zoned anyway.”
“So there is a boy.” Her dad seemed so damn amused by this turn of events. “Why didn’t you just ask to come to the game earlier?”
“Because I was fine spending the night with you like usual,” she replied offhandedly, not tearing her eyes away from Ethan, who was currently cheering wildly with his team. They had only managed to tie up the game so far. Still needed to kick that extra point. With thirty seconds left. Her eyes watched as the ball sailed up and in between the posts.
“Islanders have done it! They won!” the announcer yelled through the PA. “Final score: 21-20.”
“Maverick?” a familiar voice spoke behind them.
She watched her dad instantly spin on his heels and salute. “Sir.”
“What are you doing here?” Cyclone glanced at them both in obvious puzzlement.
Amelia, on the other hand, tilted her head to the side, confused to see the usual uptight Navy dude dressed down in a pair of jeans and Islanders football shirt. He almost looked . . . normal, human even, which she didn’t realize he could do.
“My daughter goes to school here,” her dad stated, draping an arm around her shoulders loosely. “Thought we should catch a game. How about you, sir?”
“My son plays on the team.” Cyclone blinked, likely choosing not to comment further. His eyes then darted behind them onto the field as someone approached.
“Hey, D—Amelia?!”
She spun back around the second she heard Ethan’s voice. She couldn’t hold back her wide smile when she saw him. Oh, now that was a damn good look on him.
“Nice catch,” she smiled, trying to ignore the green eyes that were now trained on her.
“Thanks,” Ethan laughed, running his hands through his messy, damp hair and sweeping it back like he usually did. “I was going to give it to Dad when I thought you weren’t going to show, but I’m a man of my word.” He then held out the game football to her. “For you.”
She felt mortified when she giggled in response. God, she was acting like Bradley had around Jake before the two idiots finally married. All giggly and ridiculous and positively awkward. However, she gently grabbed the football from him, tucking it into her chest like it was a prized possession now.
“Navy hoodies look good on you,” commented Ethan with that adorable smile of his.
She felt her cheeks redden instantly, glancing down and biting her lip. Goddamn boys.
“You two know each other?” questioned her dad, voice neutral. He was staying guarded when he spoke to Ethan, so she couldn’t quite tell which way he leaned on him. Not like it had been for Aaron.
“Sort of. I waited with her earlier on the steps when she was originally waiting for you, sir,” Ethan replied respectfully. “Glad to see you’re doing okay.”
She caught her dad’s instant flinch and hesitant glance at Cyclone.
Cyclone, however, only remained perfectly straight-backed and ordered stiffly, “Go get your stuff, son.” There was a bit of paternal warm underneath the order.
“Yes, Dad,” Ethan sighed before his eyes fell back on her.
“Bye,” she said for the lack of anything better to say. God, would they ever not have a horribly awkward moment between them?
Once again, before she could even realize what he was about to do, Ethan surged forward over the waist-high chain-link fence, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek and causing her stomach to swoop into dangerous territory. Both kids heard their fathers’ matching surprised gasps, but the kids ignored it.
She playfully shoved Ethan back in response, seeing the surprise in his eyes at his own actions. “Go already, will you?”
Seemingly snapping out of his own head then, he bowed to her with a wink before he rushed down the small hill after the last stragglers of the team while they all headed inside to change.
She glanced back at the two men, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip with a guilty smile.
Her dad’s boss looked absolutely floored as he stared at her. Her dad, on the other hand, was smirking with crossed arms and a clear dad look on his face.
“Mitchell,” Cyclone brusquely said before he turned and walked away.
Her dad chuckled the moment they were both alone.
“What?” she asked, failing to see the humor in any of this.
“You couldn’t pick any other boy. No, you had to pick my boss’s son this time.”
“For the record, Dad,” she huffed, glaring mildly at him, “I didn’t pick him. He came talking to me and then things snowballed from there. I completely was committed to the no boys this year.”
“Until a certain shaggy-haired, hazel-eyed pretty boy jock walked into your life, you mean?”
“Like I said, he friend-zoned me. I’m too young for him.”
Her dad chuckled louder. “Yeah, maybe that word has changed, but that was not friend-zoned, Tomcat. That was smitten, shy boyfriend right there.” He then shook his head. “For all our sakes, just tread carefully please.”
“Wait. You’re not telling me to stay away from him?” He shook his head she noticed. Okay. That was weird. “Why?”
“Because I have a feeling Jock Romeo there is going to get a stern talking to from his father tonight about his behavior with you just now.”
“He only kisses my cheek. And honestly I don’t think he means to do it. It just happens.”
“So I saw.”
“You’re seriously not mad.”
Her dad snorted with a cocked brow. “Tomcat, I hardly am one to talk about any of this, all right? And at least with this one, I know his pain-in-the-ass uptight dad, so I know he’s been taught how to respect you, unlike Aaron. Also, unlike the idiot from before, I know I don’t have to worry about him dragging you down into a world of drugs and sex clubs. So, yeah. I’m okay with this one. Just . . . tread carefully. All I’m asking. And remind yourself frequently of the fact that you are fifteen. Hold hands with him, kiss his cheek, do all that innocent crap to your heart’s content. But don’t have sex with him unless you’re willing to deal with the consequences of a pregnancy.”
“Ugh! Dad! Seriously?”
“I mean it. Your mom and I are in our fifties, and you’re seeing firsthand how difficult it is.”
“Aren’t you supposed to give me the abstinence bullshit here instead? Like ‘Don’t have sex ever?’ ‘Pre-marital sex is a sin.’ That sort of crap?”
“Then I would be a hypocrite, not to mention wasting my breath.” He gave her a lopsided smirk. “Plus, you are your mother’s daughter, a fact that scares her to death sometimes.”
“Was she this boy crazy when she was my age?”
He laughed before shaking his head with an awkward smile. “No, she was much worse when our paths met.” They walked back towards his bike. “Her dad was stationed at the same base I was at. I had just come back from a hop and ordered to an office near her father’s. I ended up accidentally going into the wrong one and found her in your grandpa’s office with her feet up on his desk, not a care in the world. I realized my mistake and went to leave when she told me to stay.”
“And you did?”
“Your grandfather was one of the higher ups on the base, and I knew she was his daughter. She had me where she wanted. So, I stayed. We talked for a bit, and I must have said all the right lines because she kissed me . . . in her father’s office.”
Amelia laughed. “Did Grandpa catch you?”
“Not that time. Goose told me to tread carefully with her, but I didn’t listen, of course.”
“How old was she?”
“She was six months shy of her eighteenth birthday.”
“So that wasn’t long after her date with your boss?”
“Probably.” He sighed heavily, rubbing the back of his neck as he shook his head. “Everyone thought I was the one who pursued her first, but it was actually the other way around. She was hot after me in the beginning. Then she broke up with me when I got shipped off her father’s base. Met up with her a year later on another base, took her up into my jet with me, got shipped off again with Goose. It wouldn’t be until she was pregnant with you that our paths crossed again. Only that first time she did pursue me. After that, I was the one always chasing after her. Probably because she wanted someone to put in the work with her for once.”
“And did you?”
“I like to think so, but anytime I was deployed or transferred to another base, we’d split. Sometimes I’d do it to let her be free and not have to worry about me. To let me go. Sometimes she’d do it because I just couldn’t behave and always left her. To save herself.”
“Was it like that with Ice?” she asked quietly.
“No.” He laughed gently, opening up the small storage compartment for her to store the football. He then swung his legs over onto his Kawasaki and offered a hand to her to help her on. “Ice very much was the one pursing me. I just was too much of an idiot to realize it, which exasperated him to no end. Even when he finally had enough of my obliviousness after we got back from the Layton and he had his tongue halfway down my throat, I still didn’t think he wanted me. Convinced myself I was just a stand in for whoever he was meant to be with.”
She settled against her dad’s back. “And now?”
“Now I know better,” her dad answered quietly. “However, I wouldn’t change any of it for the world. It may have taken me an ungodly amount of time to figure everything out, but I meant what I said, Amelia. I love you and your mother tremendously. And I can’t wait until I’m holding your little brother or sister in my arms with you two.”
She couldn’t either honestly. To have her family she always wanted.
“In another universe, I know Ice and I got our shit together. This one . . . we just couldn’t overcome it. But he was right in the end. I needed to find a way to move on and be with your mom instead. He and I . . . I’ll always have a bit of him in my soul, but I chose your mom. I chose our family, and I think . . . I think it’s what he knew I was eventually going to do someday but just couldn’t give myself permission to do actually as long as we were stuck in this limbo. So, in his Ice-like way, he made sure I knew it was okay. That he loved me enough to release me from any guilt I’d feel. He offered me the one option to get what I’ve always wanted in life, knowing his time was limited and it wouldn’t be with him. He’s—was—a slick son of a bitch like that. Always taking care of everyone and planning everything so meticulously, down to the littlest detail. Plans on top of plans.”
She closed her eyes when he started up his bike.
When she felt her dad’s laugh, she jerked her head up to try to hear him over the Kawasaki.
“Figures that your mom goes on her trip and you find yourself another boy,” he stated.
“No, the boy found me. I was sticking to my no boys, thank you. I’m innocent here.”
“Sweetheart, you haven’t been innocent since you were in diapers. But we love you anyway.”
“Oh, just drive already,” she groused, smacking his shoulder.
“Considering he likes you in my hoodies, should I just hand all of them over at this point or—”
“Drive, Dad!” She rolled her eyes at his chuckles. Maybe she’d borrow one of Jake’s next time.
They walked in the house about ten minutes later.
“Hey, there you two are,” Slider glanced over the back of the sofa at them.
“Uh-oh. What happened?” Hollywood remarked, pausing to slap his husband’s hands away.
Wolfman ignored the slap and played with the collar anyway. “Is that a football in your hands?”
“The game-winning touchdown football actually that the wide receiver personally gave to her after the game,” drawled her dad with a shit-eating smirk as he hung his jacket up.
“Ha! Told you!” shouted Hollywood, holding his hand out. “Pay up, suckers! Told you so.”
“You three bet on me?” gasped Amelia, her mouth dropping. Those assholes!
“Look.” Slider sighed heavily, shrugging lightly. “We don’t have a lot of entertainment these days, kiddo, so yeah. If it makes you feel better, we also have one going that your dad there will be a sobbing wreck when Miracle Baby Mitchell’s born. Feel free to enter that one.”
She rolled her eyes before walking closer. “Hundred bucks that he doesn’t.”
“That’s my sweet girl,” drawled her dad, kissing the top of her head before he headed off to the kitchen for some reason.
She leaned closer to her uncles and lowered her voice so her dad didn’t overhear before she said, “Only because he’s going to pass out instead, though.”
Her uncles instantly burst out laughing drunkenly.
“All right. Which of you assholes moved the broom?” her dad shouted from the kitchen.
“It’s out here, Mav. Haven’t put it back yet. Why?”
“Why is it doing out—” Her dad then blinked as his eyes found the glass from earlier gone. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“It’s fine,” Slider replied with a dismissive shrug. “You good, though?”
“Getting there,” he said as he flopped down into his chair.
“So, you gonna share about this wide receiver of yours, young lady?”
“Come on, Wolfy. Give the girl a break, will you?”
“Oh, come off your high horse over there, Kerner. You’re curious, too. Just everyone’s too damn polite to ask. And we all know I’m not. So . . . share the deets, dear niece.”
Amelia caught her dad’s quiet laugh.
“Not much to say really,” she replied. “He just worked up the nerve to talk to me today.”
“He’s already kissed her cheek twice,” her dad revealed conspiratorially.
“Seriously? Already?”
Slider whistled loudly. “Damn! Boy moves quick.”
“Oh, and that’s not even the best part, guys.”
“Seriously, Dad?” She crossed her arms. Though, she was secretly enjoying how relaxed he looked right then. Maybe tonight would be a good night for him. “You four are worse than teenagers.”
“Thank you,” drawled Hollywood, bowing his head with a wide, proud grin. His eyes then darted to her dad. “Now, dish, Mav. What’s the worst part?”
“It’s Cyclone’s son.”
“No fucking way!” they shouted with Slider spraying out his beer in shock.
“Well, shit, Mav, you’re fucked three ways to Sunday now, aren’t you?” chuckled Wolfman, shaking his head as he patted the choking man beside him on the back.
“Cyclone?” Slider repeated, glancing at her. “Oh, kiddo.”
She rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t matter, okay? Because Ethan just wants to be friends.” She glared at them all when they snickered like the drunken fools they were. “I don’t know why I’m talking to any of you.” She threw her free arm up and headed to her room to drop off the ball and get ready for bed.
She paused in the hallway out of their line of sight when she heard one of her uncles ask her dad about his results on the paternity.
“Negative. Just like we knew it would be,” answered her dad. “You guys?”
“Negative here,” Wolfman and Hollywood both declared as one.
“Slider?”
“Huh?”
She felt her entire body tense in anticipation. Hadn’t he been paying attention?
“Did you get the paternity results yet?”
“Oh, uh, no. Not yet,” Slider replied after a moment. “Penny had a letter, though, from that lawyer’s office. It’s in the pile of mail there.”
“Snooping already?”
“Well, you know me, man. Got to make sure I know everything,” Slider joked half-halfheartedly.
“You good over there?” her dad inquired after another moment.
“Yeah, just, you know, thinking about Ice and all. Sorry.”
Her dad then sighed heavily. “We went to the cemetery before the game.”
“Yeah?” Slider paused again, likely to take another sip of his beer. “How’d that go?”
She waited anxiously for his reply. Would he be honest with them?
“She called me out on my bullshit.”
“Good for her.”
“I forget sometimes all that she’s been through. God, she’s fucking strong like her mom.”
“And her dad,” Slider declared firmly. “She’s got bits of you, too, Maverick. You’ve been in her life since the beginning practically. You raised her more than that shithole Blake ever did. Loved her as your own and did everything you could for her. When I look at her, I see you and Penny in her.”
“Well, fuck, that doesn’t bode well for Simpson’s kid, now does it?”
The men chuckled.
“No, no, it does not. You give her the speech already?”
“In a way. I mean, at least with this one, we know he’s Cyclone’s kid. And I bet the boy’s getting a hell of a speech right about—”
The doorbell rang surprisingly.
“You expectin’ company, Mav?”
“You mean, other than you fuckers who won’t leave? No.”
She slipped into her room before her dad could see her in the hallway. She placed the football on her desk next to her bookbag. A second later, she quickly changed for bed into her tank-top and shorts.
“Amelia?”
She paused in confusion at hearing her dad’s yell, stepping out and glancing down the hallway.
“You have a visitor.”
Her eyes widened in horror. What? Now? She rushed back into her room, yanking her extra plush bathrobe to cover up. It was almost 2300 at night. Who would be here at this hour?
“Yeah?” she said as she stepped around her dad. All the blood instantly disappeared at the sight of the familiar figure standing on the porch. “Ethan?”
“Hey.” He wasn’t looking at her, eyes trained completely on his sneakers. “So, before I chicken out on this entirely, any chance you’d be willing to go to the Homecoming dance with me tomorrow? It’d be strictly platonic. Like, we’d be going just as friends. That’s it. And I’d have you back right after court’s announced and maybe one or two dances afterwards tops.” He was rambling, the words blending together in a rather adorable manner. “So, um, what do you say?” His eyes then finally lifted, widening when he saw her. “Fuck me.”
“Excuse me?” four identical voices spoke up behind her. Of course her uncles would have come closer to back up her dad.
“No! Not like that!” Ethan squeaked, swallowing with wide eyes. “Honest! I meant more like . . . you know . . . ‘shit’ or something of the like. Um, damn, this is going badly.” He hung his head and groaned.
“I don’t know,” she sighed, her teeth sinking into her lower lip as she stared back at him. “I didn’t buy any tickets to go.” It was a lame excuse. He’d see right through it.
“That’s okay. I have an extra one,” he stated, digging into his pocket before holding it out. His eyes then glanced above her and swallowed again. “I, um, I’ll have her home by 2230 at the latest, sir.”
“I don’t have a dress either.”
“We can get you a dress,” her dad remarked quietly.
“Is that, um, is that a yes then?” Ethan’s eyes stayed locked on hers. “Would you go with me?” He must have noticed her nervous fidgeting because he flashed that wide charming smile of his, and she nearly melted in response. Damn his smile. “Please? I’m not above begging if that’s what you want.”
She sighed, rolling her eyes before she glanced up at her dad.
“It’s your decision, Tomcat.”
“Say yes. Say yes,” she heard Hollywood and Wolfman chant quietly. “Say yes.”
“Sure, why not?” she replied a moment later. It wasn’t like he was asking her to his prom, after all. It was just homecoming.
“YES!” Ethan shouted, jumping up as if she just said yes to the most important thing ever.
She couldn’t help but laugh at his exuberance. She watched him turn around a moment later.
“She said yes!” Ethan yelled happily towards the car waiting outside at the curb.
Amelia instantly kicked backwards towards her uncles when she heard their snickers and elbowed her dad at his subdued groan. They were not going to ruin this.
“Awesome,” he said with a sigh of relief when he turned back, seemingly not noticing her uncles and dad’s reactions thankfully. “All right. Well, I’m probably going to wear a navy tie and lighter blue button down, um, if you want to go matching. We don’t have to. Just . . . you know.”
“Cool.” She had nothing that would match that in her closet.
“Yeah. Cool.” He smiled widely at her, leaning closer before quickly stopping himself as he realized what he was doing. “I’ll pick you up at 1830 and have you home about 2230 or so?”
“Make it 1700 and you can have dinner over here.”
Ethan’s eyes widened before he nodded excitedly. “Done. I’ll see you then.” He then tipped his head towards her four fierce protectors. “Sirs.” He turned away and happily skipped towards the car.
As soon as the car pulled away, she turned towards her dad and uncles.
“Happy? Now you can give him the shovel talk and scare the shit out of him,” she sighed. And likely scare the poor kid so bad she’d lose her one friend at school in the process.
“My baby girl’s going to Homecoming,” her dad beamed proudly. “Damn, your mother is going to be so pissed when she finds out she missed this.” He then glanced at the guys. “Lots of pictures, guys. I'm thinking as much as Goose used to take and two times more than that.”
“You got it, Mav,” her uncles replied cheerfully.
She groaned loudly. “Night, losers.”