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“Okay. Spill. How the hell did you manage to pull this off without me finding out until now?”
Johnny looked up from his phone and fixed his wife with an innocent look. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, sweetheart.”
Sonya dropped into the seat next to him, trying to keep her voice quiet. There was really no need. Seated amidst the chaos of twelve ten-year-olds, the volume was always at max. Somewhere between a rave and New York city at rush hour. “Bullshit, I saw you on the phone this morning, and again, while we were rounding up the girls for the bus. There is no way in hell you didn’t plan this.”
Johnny grinned and leaned back in his seat to gaze at a sleeping figure across the aisle. “I think a better question to ask is, how did I convince him to go along with it without telling you?”
Jax didn’t even open his eyes as he spoke, raising a finger in warning. “Don’t drag me into this, Cage. This chaos is totally on you.”
“Judas!” Johnny feigned an aghast look. “You said you thought a ski trip was a great idea.”
“Yeah, as a vacation, not a chaperone.” That was a lie, and they both knew it. It had taken amazingly little to convince Jax to help him surprise the gymnastics team. He’d also pulled strings to make sure Sonya’s calendar had been clear of any interruptions. “So maybe I could spend some time with my wife that wasn’t going just going to bed or waking up.”
“The resort bar has a jazz showcase every night from 10PM to midnight.” Vera interjected, never taking her eyes off her magazine. “And they do custom rolled cigars. I’m sure we can sneak away for a bit once the girls are all asleep.”
“You were in on this too?” Sonya leaned around Johnny so she could see her best friend. “Am I the only sane adult here?”
“Sonya, relax.” Johnny picked up her hand and brought it to his lips. A risky move when one’s spouse was annoyed and could throw a killer right hook, but worth it. “The resort is gorgeous, and the parents all signed liability forms. I rented us a private chalet; the kids have a whole floor to themselves, and they are over the moon. They worked hard for this. They deserve it.”
“We all deserve it.” Vera interjected with a yawn. “All those early morning and weekend practices, driving to all the away competitions? I think we all need a much-needed reward.”
“I can’t argue with that,” Sonya admitted grudgingly. “But four adults, and twelve kids? That’s chaos incarnate to keep in check.”
“We survived an interrealm war. We’re two former drill instructors, an active-duty combat nurse and the coolest dad in the world. Johnny scoffed. “Plus, Emma’s parents are meeting us there, so we have reinforcements. How much trouble could we get into?”
Although he hadn’t had a lot of time to throw things together, by the time they reached the Aspen Ridge resort, Johnny was feeling fairly pleased with how everything had worked out. It was almost three hours from Denver to Aspen, and he had spent most of that time both convincing and reassuring Sonya that he hadn’t totally lost his marbles. His point still stood, though. The team deserved the surprise, and he’d been more than willing to make it happen. Johnny was fiercely proud of all the time that both Cassie and Jacqui had devoted to the sport. Hell, when he’d been off set, he’d even willingly gotten up at the ass crack of dawn to drive them to competitions.
That being said, Johnny would have been lying if he had said he didn’t have slightly ulterior motives. The last year had been one of the busiest he could remember in a long time. He’d been on and off set filming back-to-back Ninja Mime sequels and Sonya had spent so much time working that he was fairly certain she’d spent more nights sleeping in her office than in their bed. Sex had become something they enjoyed in between bouts of exhaustion, and they desperately needed to have some fun together.
To put it bluntly, he missed his wife and he sure as hell wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to give them some time away.
Johnny had made Vera a deal. He’d booked the chalet for four days. One night, she and Jax would get some time to themselves, and he and Sonya would be on chaperone duty. The next, he and Sonya would get to spend time alone while Jax and Vera did the same and the last night belonged to Emma’s parents. Johnny planned to take full advantage of the time. He’d booked a couple’s massage and reserved a table at one of the resort’s top restaurants. Even if it was only a few hours, it was going to be a blissful break that they needed. Badly.
Johnny snuck a glance at Sonya, watching as she skimmed through a magazine on her tablet, idly tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she read. For a moment, he felt his breath catch as a fierce love spread through his chest. Before they had gotten together, he never would have believed he could love somebody as much as he loved Sonya and then Cassie had come along and it grown even more. The stark realization that while he loved making bank and seeing his name on movie posters, it was nothing compared to the two of them, was always humbling.
“Stop staring at me.” Sonya quirked a smile, her eyes never leaving the tablet. “I can feel your eyes from here.”
He slipped an arm around her shoulders and pressed a quick kiss to her neck. “Can’t help it. I’m married to a gorgeous woman. It’s hard not to.”
Sonya closed the tablet case and rested her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes and growing quiet. Something was bothering her, and it was the rare occasion where he could see it plainly brewing below the surface. Of the two of them, Johnny knew he wore his emotions on his sleeve and in his expressions much easier than Sonya ever could. She kept hers tightly buttoned away, tucked between her dress uniform and her favorite M16 rifle. The fear of being perceived as weak was something she felt compelled to hide from everyone.
But Johnny wasn’t everyone.
“You wanna tell me what’s really bugging you?” He spoke into her hair, aware that they were surrounded by people, and he didn’t want her to feel called out. “Or am I just going to have to play twenty questions?”
The silence stretched for a moment until Johnny was almost sure she was either ignoring him or perhaps had drifted off. Then she spoke more to the air than anything. “What type of parent feels guilty about spending extra time with their kid?”
The question still took Johnny by surprise, although he supposed it really shouldn’t. There was no doubt that Sonya loved both him and Cassie, but her devotion to her work surpassed everything else. She’d missed birthdays, holidays, anniversaries to lead OPs into some of the most dangerous places in the world and take down some of the worst criminals in the process. Her idea of love was a safer world for everyone in her life, even if it meant she missed out on a good chunk of it. Even if it meant that her daughter was a stranger to her in many ways.
Johnny would have been lying if he’d said that there wasn’t resentment at times between them. At times he’d felt like a single parent, trying to balance his career and a daughter that he had had to reassure wasn’t doing anything to drive her mother away. Still, to bring that up now wouldn’t help.
Instead, he hugged her close, the tightness in her shoulders a steel bar that she couldn’t release. “Beating yourself doesn’t help Sonya. There’s only one way to fix that feeling.”
She sighed and pushed away, already back to building the surrounding walls. “I try. Sometimes I feel like I don’t know how to relate to her at all.”
“I think that’s just being a parent.” It was definitely something he’d felt watching their daughter grow up. There were days when he missed Cass being small, toddling after him with a relentless devotion. Now she often came home and went straight to her room, talking to Jacqui on her phone all the while. “And if she’s independent, doesn’t that mean we’re doing something right?”
Sonya glowered, but there was no malice in her words. “I hate it when you’re the logical one, Johnny. It scares the hell out of me.”
“I know.” He gave her shoulders a reassuring squeeze and watched as her gaze drifted down the aisle to where Cassie sat, head bowed in conversation with Jacqui as they watched a movie on her tablet. She was Sonya’s mini me, from the blonde hair to the way she screwed up her face in amusement at something on the screen. Maybe that was part of the issue, whether her mother realized it or not. They were so similar and as Cassie grew, that was becoming even more apparent. She was smart, wilful and determined, all things Johnny was unabashedly proud of in both of them. “You just need to find common ground, find something you both like doing together. Like when Cass and I watch movies together or go surfing at Zuma Beach. Find the things you can do together and have fun doing. It’ll get…better.”
“Not gonna say easier, huh?” There was almost humor in her voice. Almost. A sign the thunderclouds were passing and, at the very least, they wouldn’t spend this bonus time away sniping at each other.
“She is our kid. Stubbornness runs in her blood.” Out the window, Johnny caught a glimpse of the resort sign as they trundled past and towards the offloading area. At the end of a long day in sight, suddenly all Johnny could think of was getting everyone settled and crawling into a comfortable bed with Sonya next to him.
As the bus pulled to a stop, the girls realized that they had reached their destination, and let out a collective whoop, making Johnny’s ears ring. In a second, there was a flurry of voices, elbows flying as bags were grabbed from the overhead compartments.
The keeper of the itinerary, Johnny realized that it was going to be up to him to wrangle everyone inside, checked in and over to the private chalet he’d arranged. It was clear the energy level was high, and the whole endeavor was going to be like wrangling cats in high ponytails.
Turning back to Sonya, he gave her his best Hollywood style. “Oh babe, I don’t suppose...”
“Hell no, Cage.” Sonya snorted. “Don’t expect me to play squad leader because of your hare-brained plans.”
Johnny fixed her with a hang-dog look from under his lashes, knowing it would work.
It always worked.
With a grumble, she half rose from her seat and, sticking her fingers in her mouth, produced an ear shrieking whistle. Johnny winced, watching as every bit of movement on the bus stopped, the kids freezing in their tracks.
“All right troops, listen up!” Sonya moved past Johnny to the aisle. “This is how it’s going to be...”
The next morning, to no one’s surprise, including his own, Johnny was one of the last down to breakfast. It had taken a good three hours the evening before to get everyone’s bags into the chalet amid overtired pre-teens, and then they had to figure out a late dinner (pizza turned out to be the universal panacea) and figure out who was sleeping in which bedroom on the kid’s floor. That alone had been a minor war, with both Cassie and Jacqui arguing uncharacteristically over which room they would share. Thankfully cooler heads had prevailed, and Vera had managed to talk them both down. In the end, all the girls had made it into bed, if not to sleep, and the adults had then staggered to their own rooms.
If Johnny had even had the notion of anything intimate with Sonya, it had been squashed flatter than a Kytinn larva. He’d been asleep almost as soon as his head had hit the pillow, and he was certain she hadn’t been far behind. He’d slept the deep, dreamless sleep of the exhausted. When he had woken up, morning light had been streaming in through the balcony doors, and he’d been alone in their room.
The girls had a ski lesson at 10am that he’d agreed to chaperone with Jax, so it was a quicker shower than he would have liked and down the stairs to the spacious dining room to see what the resort’s chefs had laid out for them.
As he walked into the dining room, Johnny was unsurprised to find it was organized chaos. With twelve girls and four adults stretched along the butcher-block table, again the volume level was high and boisterous as serving plates of food were passed along.
What was surprising, however, was the sight of Sonya seated at the end of the table, coffee at her elbow, and deep in conversation with Cassie. The sight of two blonde heads, heads bowed low as they poured over something on Sonya’s tablet, was a rare and welcome sight.
Casually, Johnny approached the sideboard and poured himself a cup of coffee, bringing the mug up to his nose to inhale the heady aroma. Taking a sip, he ambled over to the table. “Well, if it isn’t my two favorite girls.”
“Daaaad.” Cassie rolled her eyes and flipped the tablet over, so the screen was hidden on the table. “Be cool, not a spaz.
Dramatically, Johnny clutched his heart. “I’ll have you know, I am the epitome of cool. Just ask your mother.”
Sonya snorted. “I’d agree with you, but I’ve seen you dance.”
Johnny’s jaw dropped.
Sonya mimicked a jerky dance, not unlike the robot, and Cassie hooted with laughter, nearly choking on her glass of milk. A smile flitted across Sonya’s lips, a real smile, Johnny noted, genuine and relaxed even.
He dropped down into the empty seat next to her and pressed a lingering kiss to her neck. “Good morning.”
“Ewwww.” Cassie was gone like a shot. Grabbing her plate, she retreated down from the table to sit next to Jacqui and Emma.
Johnny reached over, intending to steal a piece of bacon off of Sonya’s plate, not remotely surprised when she slapped his head in censure. “Get your own.”
“But baby, we share everything.” He cozied up to her playfully, aware that down the table Cassie was making a dramatically disgusted face.
“Nothing in my marriage vows said anything about sharing my bacon or my coffee. I’d have played runaway bride if it did.”
Johnny was relieved to hear the jovial tone in her voice, even more so when she leaned into his shoulder slightly and seemed to allow herself to relax. It wasn’t easy for her. He got that. There were a lot of things Sonya kept tucked away, emotions she wasn’t willing to share. Letting down the walls meant the chance of someone she cared about paying the price, and she’d be damned if that happened on her watch. “Are you coming skiing with us today?”
“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that.” Sonya chased the last bite of her eggs around her plate and then speared them with her fork. “I know you said you’d chaperone, but Cass and Jacqui begged me to go. Would you mind? You and Jax could swap with Vera and I, we'll take the skiiers and you two take the others to the tubing hill.”
“No, if that’s what they want. Not at all.”
“Excellent. Meet back here this afternoon for lunch?” There was something in the way that she spoke that grabbed his attention. An animation in her words that both thrilled him and yet sent the vaguest sensation of apprehension down his spine. Still, if it meant she got to spend more time with Cassie, he could let it go, or at least try not to over-analyze it.
Before Johnny could do anything more, Sonya tossed her napkin on the table and rose to her feet. “Okay troops, anyone headed to the ski hill is with me. Finish up, we need to hit the equipment rentals before we head out.”
And there it was. She was back to business.
In a moment, she had her portion of the girls rounded up and out the door with Vera in tow, leaving Johnny to wonder what exactly she and Cassie had been discussing earlier.
And why he got the feeling he was going to find out later the hard way.
“Okay guys, one more run and then we have to head back to the chalet for lunch.” Johnny rolled a crick out of his shoulder amidst the groans of disappointment. There was nothing like hurling oneself down a hill at eighty miles an hour to remind him that he was approaching forty, far faster than he would have liked. The exhilaration was eclipsed by the fact that his shoulders and neck felt like he’d been put through the centrifuge.
They’d been tubing for the better part of two hours, and it had gone about as well as Johnny had expected. Some minor bumps and more than a few tube flips, but everyone was intact and grumbling. They were also flushed, soaking wet, and bogged down in enough winter gear to field a small Russian platoon. He was more than ready to head inside and score something warm to drink and a chair by the fire.
“Let’s trek back and hit up the kitchen. Maybe see if we can find some hot cocoa.” Jax ambled up beside him, one of the large black tubes under his arm and the stub of a cigar in his teeth. Johnny cast him a sidelong glance. “And maybe a hot toddy for us.”
“Count me in.” Jax had spent more time than anyone lugging the tubes back and forth up the steep hill. Despite being in incredible shape, he was sweating and out of breath. “Remind me again when the word chaperone began to mean ‘beast of burden', Cage.”
“It’s right there next to ‘doting dad’.”
“My kid isn’t even here,” Jax reminded him. “She’s skiing.”
Johnny was about to reply when a small figure emerged onto the nearby path and darted in their direction. It took him a moment to recognize Emma, clad as she was in her ski gear.
Making her way over, she removed her goggles and squinted up at him. “Hey Cassie’s dad, the Lieutenant Colonel asked me to come get you and bring you to the ski hill.”
“Is everything okay?” Images of broken bones and Sonya’s “I told you so” flashed before his eyes.
“Yeah, she just wants you to come see Cass snowboarding. She’s really good.” Emma shrugged. “She said she wants you to take a video on your phone while they do a run together.”
“Well, we have to head that way anyway.” Johnny gave a sharp whistle to get the girl’s attention, mimicking what he had seen Sonya do the evening before. “All right guys, we’re headed over to the ski hill. Stick together and follow me.”
In his mind as he spoke, he pictured a pack of ducklings following along behind him as they headed in that direction. What he got was a herd of cats, constantly needing to be rounded up before they wandered off the well-kept trail and back into the snow-covered woods. It took them almost twenty minutes to cross the resort, and that was with him leading the way and Jax rounding up the stragglers.
The area between the tubing hills and the ski hill had been cleared and for an upcoming ice sculpture content. Johnny had overheard two of the staff that morning. Two long banks of snow had been pushed to either side, not unlike smaller versions of the tubing hill they had just left. To get to the ski hill, they had to pass between the berms and through some light tree cover along the pathway that designated the two areas.
They were about halfway through when the sound of a stick breaking nearby caught his attention. Stopping, Johnny held up a warning hand, bringing everyone to a halt. “Jax, did you hear that noise?”
“We’re outside Cage,” Jax scowled. “It was probably a squirr—”
The words were half out of his mouth when, from the top of the berm to their left, a snowball arced into the air and hit Jax in the face with alarming accuracy, snow sliding down his neck and chest.
Johnny smothered a laugh at the sight, but before he could react, another projectile came from over the ridge, aiming in their direction.
Then another and another.
Clearly, they were under attack.
“Take cover!”
As Johnny began to direct the kids behind the embankment, to his surprise Sonya appeared over the opposite ridge. Her group of children fanned out behind her like so many ducklings and Cassie at her side. With all the precision of a Lieutenant Colonel leading a cavalry charge, she gestured to where Johnny’s group was huddled. “Form up, artillery engage!”
Immediately, several of the girls stepped forward, firing snowballs from what looked like Nerf style guns. Johnny ducked reflexively, gesturing for the kids and Jax to stay low. “Sonya! What the hell! What are you doing?”
“Taking your advice!” She grinned and slung an arm around Cassie’s shoulder. “You said to find something we could bond over.”
“And you decided on open warfare??” He stole a glance over the bank at his wife and narrowly avoided taking a snowball to the groin. “Healthy!”
“Damn straight.” Turning to their daughter, she gave a nod. “All right cadet, you’re up.”
It was like watching a lioness teach their cub to hunt. The look of pride on Sonya’s face as Cassie stepped up was both sweet and chilling enough to make Johnny more than a little nervous.
“Infantry, engage the targets.” Cassie made a brisk hand signal, and the air was filled with a second wave as two other girls began pelting snowballs in their direction using plastic slings.
“We can’t just sit here and take this...” Jax growled.
“They’re kids!” Johnny protested. “I’m not hucking snowballs at kids.”
Another ball careened through the air and hit him squarely in the jaw, sending him reeling. That one hadn’t come from a kid but rather his loving wife, who was now receiving a high five from Cassie for her bang on accuracy.
Righting himself, Johnny wiped the snow from his face with deliberate care.
Oh, it was on now.
Johnny bent low and packed a snowball, then lobbed it in Sonya’s direction. It went wild, hitting the tree behind her and exploding in a spray of powder.
“Little wi—” Her words were cut off as another snowball, this one from Jax, hit her square in the chest.
In an instant, the air was filled with projectiles, the remaining children on both sides taking it as a cue to enter the fray. Both artillery and infantry were able to reload much quicker than Johnny anticipated. The gizmos they were welding provided ample ammunition to the barrage.
How the hell had Sonya managed to get hold of those toys so fast? Thinking back, Johnny suddenly remembered how she had hidden her tablet screen that morning at breakfast. Of course, she had Cassie had been plotting the whole thing out, and he’d interrupted their war meeting.
It was evident that the plan had been well researched and everyone on the other side had been briefed on their roles. One of Sonya’s squad took a snowball to the leg and went down in the powder. Immediately, Sonya turned her attention in that direction. “Medic on the field!”
Vera hustled over the ridge, hovering protectively over the girl and running her hands over her arms and legs. Satisfied that there were no injuries, she helped the child to her feet and brushed her off, then retreated back over the hill.
Jax stared at his wife’s retreating back and then turned to Johnny. “We’re getting our asses handed to us, man. We need a better plan.”
“Like what?” Johnny waved a hand in the opposite direction. “We don’t really have time to figure out a battle plan.”
Maybe, just maybe, he could try to appeal to reason
“Cassie, sweetie,” Johnny made an innocent expression and tried to put as much emotion into it as he could as he addressed his daughter from across the field. “If you stop this, I’ll take you shopping when we get home, or we maybe we can go surfing at Bondi.”
Cassie raised an eyebrow, looked over at Sonya and then casually lobbed a snowball in his direction, hitting him in the chest. Sonya let out a hoot and clapped her on the back, then gave her a high five.
Like mother, like daughter.
Johnny got the feeling he was going to have a world of trouble on his hands in a few years when Cass was a teenager, if that proved accurate. Thank God he could afford a good lawyer and bail money.
Jax tossed a snowball in Jaqui’s direction and sniggered. “How’d that go?”
Johnny scowled and flipped him the bird, uncaring if any of the children saw the rude gesture. “At least I tried something. Any better ideas?”
“Yeah, this,” Jax cupped his hands around his mouth. “Tubing squad, retreat! Back to the lodge!”
Organized chaos broke out as the girls took flight, skirting through the trees, nimble as heard of deer. Johnny and Jax made up the rear, tossing snowballs as cover as they went.
A rallying victory cry went up and Sonya’s squad took off after them down the hill at a surprising clip with her and Cassie in the lead. Johnny’s squad had a fair lead, with the safety of the lodge just beyond the tree line.
He was about to call it a win when his foot slipped and he landed on his ass in the snow. Stunned, he lay there, eyes closed, trying to catch his breath.
A faint clicking noise caused him to crack his eyelids, and he was unsurprised to find Sonya, alone, standing over him, the snowball gun pointed at his chest. With a grin, she fired mimicked firing a round. “Bang, got you.”
“Oh really?” Snaking a leg around hers, Johnny brought her down into the snow next to him. “Says who?”
“Cheap shot.” Sonya rolled on her side, tucking herself into his chest.
“And an impromptu winter attack wasn’t?”
“It was the most fun I’ve had with Cassie in a long time.” She raised herself up to study his face. “And I think you too.”
“Well, I did have fun planned for us,” Johnny admitted. “But it didn’t end with us in laying in the snow.”
“Well, I’ll tell you what.” She pressed a kiss to the crook of his neck. “Why don’t we do inside, and you can tell me everything you have planned for us over a hot toddy? “Call it an offer of truce.”
“Lieutenant Colonel Blade, that is an offer I can’t refuse.”