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“Whose Ferrari is that?” Dylan commented as he took the 10-pack ginger beer out from Kate’s SUV.
Kate frowned as she stood next to Dylan while staring at the obnoxious car currently parked on Chris’ driveway. “I don’t know. Maybe another friend is visiting too?”
Dylan huffed, “who has a Ferrari in our circle? The Navy doesn’t pay us that much.”
“Obviously non-Navy friends then. Maybe one of the parents in Chloe’s school?” Kate shrugged, “come on, we’ll meet whoever it is very soon,” she nudged him forward while pressing the lock button on her car remote and then carried the container with Chicken Pot Pie in it.
“Maybe I can borrow it for a joyride.” Dylan smirked at the thought.
“I doubt you’d fit in it.” Kate replied teasingly.
“I’ll make it fit….” Dylan waggled his eyebrows at her.
“Eww….” Kate made a face hearing his dirty connotation. “Seriously, do you really need to go there?”
Dylan just laughed, “it’s worth seeing your disgusted face. You’re too prim and proper sometimes, just like Chris. He’s so prudish for a Navy bloke.”
“Hey…. some things are meant to be private. You probably could learn a thing or two from him.” Kate defended their friend, whom they hadn’t seen for 10 months because of their recent deployment with HMAS Ballarat to various ports in Southeast Asia. It had been a great experience for them, but she was also glad to be back on home soil.
“Of course, you’d say that.” Dylan smirked, “he’s so your type, broody, quiet, tall, dark, and handsome. Too bad he’s married.”
Kate scowled as she pressed the doorbell to the house, “you’re so off base. I do not have a type.”
Dylan raised his eyebrows, “really? Should I remind you of the men you’ve gone on a date with since we’ve moved here? And of course, a certain Commander from the past….”
Kate gave him a dirty look, “shut up. I don’t need to be reminded of all the failed dates I’ve been on.”
Dylan softened at the flicker of sadness in her expression, “sorry…. I don’t mean it like that. I just mean that you need to broaden your horizon a little bit. Maybe date a tradie, or health worker or IT guy, someone with the same weird schedule as us, not the office executive type that works 9 to 5 and expects dinner to be ready when they get home. No offence to you, but you would never be a traditional wife like our mothers’ generation, so you must look for someone who would respect your career.”
Kate sighed; Dylan was right of course. And as her housemates, both him and Nikki had been there for the debrief of every date she had been on, which had only been a handful in the last 2 years.
“Who are you and what’s your business here?”
In her musing, Kate didn’t realise that the front door had opened, and an unknown man was standing in front of her.
Kate’s eyes narrowed seeing the man only wearing a boxer brief while greeting visitor. Chris would never allow a guest to be so indecent in a house where his young daughter lived.
She saw from the corner of her eyes that Dylan has now transferred the 10-pack drinks from two-handed hold to one handed, freeing his dominant hand to anticipate any perceived danger from this unknown man.
“Who are you?” Dylan ended up answering first, his voice cold, “what are you doing in our friend’s house half-naked?”
“It’s none of your business what I do in my girlfriend’s house.” The man answered cockily with a smirk, “in fact, you two are disturbing us right now. So, fuck off since you’re not a Chinese restaurant’s delivery boy.”
Dylan and Kate looked at each other confusedly, before Kate finally spoke, “and what’s your girlfriend’s name?”
“Why? Do you want to join our party?” The man gave Kate a leery look, “although your boobs are too small to my liking.”
“Hey, watch it!” Dylan moved forward and straightened his back to appear even taller. “Another word and my fist wouldn’t be so forgiving.”
But before the situation could escalate, a familiar voice could be heard from inside the house.
“Greg, who is it at the door?”
Before the man could open his mouth again, Kate answered quickly, “Sal, it’s Kate and Dylan here.”
The sound of a door closing, then followed by footsteps from inside the house greeted their ears next, before Sally appeared in front of them, “you guys are finally back. How long has it been? 9 months?”
Kate was cataloguing the scene in front of her with dread in her heart. Something horribly wrong must have happened in the last 10 months with Chris and Sally’s marriage to have Sally cladded in a bathrobe snuggling to an unknown man, while the man put his hand on her ass possessively and sending them a smug look.
Kate looked at Dylan to gauge his reaction, and his grim face showed that he must have reached the same conclusion as her. She had so many questions in her head, but her priority was Chris and Chloe’s wellbeing and their whereabout right now, so she needed to stay calm and take control of this situation.
“Sorry Sal for disturbing you during the weekend. We didn’t know you have company.” Kate then stepped forward from behind Dylan’s protective stance and stood slightly inside the threshold, “apparently Chris has forgotten to tell us where he lives now when we messaged him last week. He said that he was unwell then, and we haven’t heard anything from him since, so we were worried, and we thought we’d come and visit him with some comfort food and drinks. If you could just let us know his new address, we’ll be on our way soon.”
Sally gave Kate a relieved smile, and Sally looked like she was about to answer Kate’s question when the man opened his mouth again, “I should have known that you two are the loser’s friends.”
Kate heard Dylan stepped forward from behind her menacingly, so she held up her fist to stop him, “Dylan, no.”
He stopped at her request slash command of course, although she could feel him vibrating with anger behind her. She then gave the arsehole a frigid look before ignoring him and gave a stiff smile to Sally, “Sal, the address please.”
Sally had a decency to glare at her new man before giving Kate an apologetic look. “Unit 12, 18 Hefron St. Still in the same suburb. For custody reason of course. Chris has Chloe from Friday afternoon to Monday morning, and I have her for the rest of the week.”
“Thanks Sal.” Kate nodded curtly, “we’ll go now. Take care of yourself.” She didn’t wait for a reply and simply turned around from the porch, trusting that Dylan would follow her lead.
She kept walking towards her car and only looked back at Dylan when she heard the front door closing behind them and they’re far enough from the porch. “What the fuck is happening?” She whispered harshly to Dylan.
“Something truly fucked up,” Dylan gave the front door a menacing glare before whispering back in disbelief, “how could she replace Chris with that arsehole?”
Kate shook her head and unlocked her car, “maybe because of the Ferrari? Although Sally had never seemed to be the gold-digger type. She has always seemed so wholesome to me.”
“I don’t know about that.” Dylan frowned once he was settled on the passenger seat, “she is really nice, but I’ve always thought that she’s a bit too simple for Chris.”
“Not every man likes the leggy supermodel type like you.” Kate glared at Dylan at the perceived slight towards Chris’ life choice, “Sally is beautiful.”
“I don’t mean physically.” Dylan glared back at Kate, “give me some credit here, I’m not that shallow.”
Kate sighed, the unpleasantness of their encounter with the new couple had rattled their equilibrium and she took a few deep breaths before turning on her car. “Sorry, I’m just in disbelief right now.”
“Me too.” Dylan sighed as well, “and what I meant before was about her values. Chris is always so driven towards helping people, the community and his mates. From the bits and pieces that I’ve overheard, or Chris has shared to me over the years, it seems that she doesn’t like him spending so much time and energy towards other people outside her and Chloe. She seems to be nuclear family oriented while Chris is extended family oriented.”
Kate looked at Dylan in contemplation, “you mean that Chris thinks of his mates, including us, as family too?”
“I think so.” Dylan nodded, “and not everybody could understand that. He needs a partner who won’t resent him for choosing to be part of something bigger than his nuclear family. Maybe what’s happening right now is a good thing for him in the long run.”
Kate gave Dylan a sad look, “I don’t think he’ll see it that way right now, while everything is still so fresh.”
“I know.” Dylan then frowned, “you really should’ve let me buy a proper beer before. It would’ve helped him more than the ginger beer.”
Kate chuckled sadly, “I thought he was physically sick, not heartsick.”
“Yeah….” Dylan chuckled back, “come on, let’s get out of here. I don’t want to see that Ferrari ever again.”
Kate scowled at the reminder and gave one last murderous look towards the pretentious car before changing the gear and pressing on the gas pedal of her own car.
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Chris was helping Chloe trying on a few costumes for the book week parade on Monday when the doorbell to his unit rang out.
He frowned as he wasn’t expecting visitor. He hadn’t really told anyone his new address, except Navy HR and the post office for mail redirection. He had been lucky that all his friends had either been on deployment or on mining sites far away from the suburbia, that way he could get used to his new reality in the last 4 months with his last shred of dignity intact.
Although with Kate, Dylan and Nikki back on shore last week, he didn’t know how long he could keep up the guise of his old life. He had feigned sickness last week when Kate had texted him, but karma was on him now as he felt himself coming down with a cold last night. His head had been a little heavy, and his nose had been a bit stuffy. Hopefully he’s not going to give it to Chloe. His little girl would be very disappointed if she had to miss out on the costume parade on Monday. Maybe he should give her chewable vitamin C to keep her immune system strong.
The bell rang out once more, followed by persistent knocking. Whoever that was wouldn’t just go away voluntarily then.
He sighed and kissed Chloe’s temple softly, “it looks like someone is at the door, so I’m going to see who that is and what do they want. Can you keep trying all these costumes please, and just show me the one you like best? And then we can return the rest?”
“Ok Daddy.” Chloe then frowned a little bit, “but what if I like more than one of them?”
Chris smiled, “well, you can pick the better one.”
“What if they are all equally good?” Chloe pouted, “how am I meant to choose?”
Chris sighed inwardly, “ok, then maybe choose the best two costumes for now, and on Monday morning, you can pick the one you feel wearing that day between the two of them. Because sometimes, how we feel about an item today might not be the same as how we feel about it in a couple of days.”
“Promise you wouldn’t be mad if I changed my mind on Monday?” Chloe gave him a pleading look.
Chris shook his head with a smile, “of course not. As long as you promise to wake up early enough so that you’ll have time to choose comfortably and still be on time for school. Do we have a deal, young miss?”
Chloe held out her hand seriously, “deal.”
Chris smiled fondly at her and shook her smaller hand firmly.
Chloe then gave him a tight hug, which he reciprocated, before giving him a beaming smile, “thank you, Daddy.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” he caressed Chloe’s hair briefly before opening Chloe’s bedroom door and closing it almost all the way through. He then crossed the open plan kitchen and living room towards the front door.
When he peeked through the peephole on his door, he ended up closing his eyes in surrender as he saw who his visitors were. It looked like he had to face the music today.
“Took you long enough.” Dylan greeted him with a scowl when he came face to face with his mates.
Meanwhile, Kate just stayed quiet and looked at him in contemplation, almost as if she was trying to look through his soul and found out how he was exactly.
He averted his eyes from her gaze and pasted a smile on his face. “This is a surprise. How do you guys know I live here now?”
“How do you think we find out?” Dylan answered sarcastically, “by going to your old address, of course. Only to find out that you no longer live there and your ex is currently entertaining a dickhead. A warning beforehand would’ve been appreciated, mate.”
“You could’ve told us, Chris. Maybe emailed us if you didn’t feel like talking through Skype.” Kate then said with enough compassion in her voice, but he could still hear the underlying disapproval in her tone.
He then stepped out to the porch and pulled the front door close, before whispering harshly to his friends, “and said what?” He stared at them challengingly, “that Sally told me she’d been having an affair with her high-school boyfriend whom she met again at her part-time job at the car dealership? That I had to fight to even get weekend custody of Chloe? Because according to Sally, I had been an absent parent all Chloe’s life and knew nothing about raising a child and Chloe would’ve been better off living with her future stepdad, instead of with me?”
He felt his head getting heavier as his blood pressure rising, but he found that once the floodgates opened, he couldn’t stop now. “And when would be the good time to tell you both about this? When you just finished partying in Bangkok? Or after your day out at the new casino in Singapore? Or when you just finished snorkelling near Boracay in the Philippines? You guys were living the high life at the time, so forgive me for keeping my own shitty life to myself, but I didn’t want to be a party pooper!”
“Chris, breathe please….”
He then felt Kate’s hands squeezing his shoulders tightly after his outburst; he had forgotten to take a breath properly. He closed his eyes for a few minutes to centre himself and followed the sound of Kate’s exaggerated breathing.
Feeling a bit better a few minutes later, he opened his eyes again and met Kate’s. He tried to find disappointment showing in her green eyes, like he had so often found in Sally’s eyes, but he couldn’t find any, he could only find understanding and compassion shining through.
“Oh Chris….”
His eyes were blurry now, and he felt his body started to shake, no longer able to keep the composure that had carried him through for the last 4 months. He had tried so hard to be strong for Chloe, to remain stoic in the face of Sally’s betrayal, and to remain calm against the openly mocking tone of the entitled arsehole that had bulldozed through his life and wrecked his family. But he found himself struggling to get out of bed lately, if not for Chloe and for his conviction that studying medicine had been his calling, he would’ve given up altogether.
“Mate, come on, let’s get you inside.”
He then felt Dylan’s tight grip on his right elbow while his mate’s other arm draped across his back. Meanwhile, Kate had positioned herself under his left arm and circled her right arm around his waist to support him standing. Together, the three of them re-opened the front door and crossed the threshold before they deposited him on the couch.
He put his head on his hands and closed his eyes tightly, trying to regain his composure before Chloe could come out from the bedroom and realised that her father had had a meltdown.
“Daddy?” Chloe’s scared voice reached his ears next, and he realised that he had been too late, Chloe had seen him.
“Kate, Uncle Dylan, what happened to Daddy?”
“He’s fine, Chlo, maybe just give him a minute please?”
He heard Kate replied to his daughter from his left side and he could also feel her hand rubbing circles on his back through his shirt, trying to soothe him like a small child.
He almost lost it again.
“Actually Chlo, why don’t you sit next to him and give him a hug? Your dad is just a bit sad right now. He’ll feel better if you hold him.”
He then felt the weight of his daughter sitting on his right side and her small arms trying to hug him. Her head was also resting on his bicep now, and he felt overwhelming shame coursing through him for the fact that he couldn’t shield his daughter from the harshness of life in her young age, and that he couldn’t give her the stability of an intact family unit that his parents had given him throughout his life.
“Daddy…. Why are you sad?” Chloe’s voice reached his ear again, “is it because of Mummy’s boyfriend?”
He lifted his head from his hands and came face to face with his daughter’s blue eyes staring at him; the eyes that had mesmerised him ever since Sally had handed him the bundle of blanket containing baby Chloe.
He then rubbed his wet cheeks with the back of his hand before lifting Chloe to sit on his lap and hug her close. “Daddy is sad because now you have two separate places to call home and not just one place like before. I feel like I’ve failed you.”
Chloe frowned at him, “but you’re still my dad, right? So, where I live doesn’t matter much, as long as you’re still my one and only dad. Mummy’s boyfriend is not my dad. You are.”
He sucked in a shaky breath upon hearing Chloe’s words, feeling such relief at her conviction, “that’s right, Chlo, I’m always going to be your dad. No matter what happens in the future, I will always be there for you.”
Chloe nodded, accepting his promise easily, “besides, I don’t like Mummy’s new boyfriend anyway. He’s Ethan’s dad.”
He raised his eyebrows in surprise at the new information, “Ethan, your classmate? The mean boy who keeps pulling your hair even though you have told him to stop?”
“Geez, apparently there is a mini him running around in school.” Dylan commented from his seat on the armchair adjacent to the sofa.
“Have you told the teacher, Chlo?” Kate commented as well.
Chloe nodded again, “I’ve told Mrs Daisy, my class teacher, but she said that Ethan probably just likes me and that’s his way of showing it. She said that I could just ignore it or be nicer to him so that he’d stop.”
“That’s a terrible advice!” Kate now scowled, “I can’t believe the teacher still doesn’t understand the concept of respecting boundaries and consent and still asks young girls to be nicer to boys so that they stop their harassment instead of telling the boys to stop the harassment in the first place. What on earth?”
Dylan chuckled at Kate’s outrage, “you better talk to the teacher on Monday, Chris, otherwise Kate might come to school and give the teacher a long lecture on the subject.”
Kate glared at Dylan for his running commentary, but he indeed knew her well, as the thought of tagging along with Chloe and Chris to the school drop-off on Monday morning had indeed crossed her mind.
“I think it's because Mrs Daisy is in her fifties, she comes from a different era,” Chris explained to Kate, “I will talk to her. Don’t you worry yourself about this, Kate.”
“Fine. But I will ask Chloe again next weekend about that boy and if he hadn’t stopped pulling her hair then, I would ask that you consider letting me talk to the teacher. Or maybe I could use my XO voice towards Ethan’s dad so that he could pull his kid in line?” Kate raised her eyebrows at Chris, “your choice.”
Chris smiled at the way Kate was just so fiercely protective of Chloe and him. “Let’s see what happens next week please. As much as I’m grateful for the offer, I don’t want to burden you with my family problem.”
Kate frowned, “but we’re your family too. You’ve treated us as one over the years, haven’t you? You’ve helped us navigated our careers, our health problems, our love lives, basically everything really. You’re our anchor, Chris. And now that the anchor is being rattled, it’s our turn to steady you. So, will you accept our help please? Especially in the next two months since Dylan, Nikki and I are ashore. That way you can take a break occasionally. I’ll email Charge and 2Dads as well to check their FIFO schedule, so that Dylan could organise a fishing trip for the blokes while Chloe, Nikki, and I have girls’ weekend here. What do you think?”
Chris could only stare at her quietly, feeling so overwhelmed by the warm feelings in his heart at her generous offer and the fact that she had considered him her family. He had never expected payback from his friends for the little kindness that he had shown over the years, because he had always considered it his duty to his fellow humans. Although he couldn’t deny that it’s a nice feeling having his friends supporting him now.
But before he could reply to Kate’s offer, his daughter spoke first, “Daddy, can I please spend the day with Kate and Nikki to watch Disney movies? I promise I’ll be good to them. I know Disney movies are boring for boys, so you can watch action movie with Uncle Dylan instead.”
Chris shook his head quickly, “I like watching Disney movies with you.”
“But you fell asleep before….” Chloe pouted slightly.
Chris could hear Dylan sniggering in the background at his expense, and he sighed inwardly, “that’s because I had a long day, Chloe, not because I didn’t like them.”
Chloe nodded, “that’s OK, Daddy, but can I still watch Tangled with Kate and Nikki? I want to know whether they can sing the songs with me. I want a singing partner.”
“Oh Chloe, guess who definitely has a great singing voice?” Dylan suddenly chimed in enthusiastically.
“Who?” Chloe perked up.
“Kate!” Dylan gestured to Kate smugly, while Kate gestured for him to stop talking.
“Really?” Chris raised his eyebrows at Kate, “I’ve never known this, and I’ve known you longer than him.”
“That’s because you’ve never taken her to a karaoke.” Dylan replied cheekily, “we did in the Philippines, and she was going toe-to-toe against local singers, that’s how good she was. I have video evidence too; in case you want to see proof.”
“You little shit!” Kate stood up from the sofa and tried making her way around the coffee table towards Dylan, “give me your phone now!”
“Swear jar!” Chloe shouted enthusiastically, realising that she would get $2 gold coin put into the glass jar in the kitchen for Kate’s slip up.
“Dylan, I’m serious, delete the video now!” Kate glared at Dylan who had now moved to be behind Chris and Chloe, effectively putting the sofa in between him and Kate.
In response, Dylan just calmly pressed the play button on his screen and then pressed the up-volume button on the side of his phone.
“I'm as corny as Kansas in August,
I'm as normal as blueberry pie.
No more a smart little girl with no heart,
I have found me a wonderful guy!
I am in a conventional dither,
With a conventional star in my eye.
And you will note there's a lump in my throat
When I speak of that wonderful guy!”
“Oh wow….” Chris was in awe by the voice that he had just heard. “Kate, why are you a sailor and not a singer?”
“And a perfect American accent too. I think the American Navy sailors around us were so enamoured by our XO here that they considered jumping ship to join Ballarat.” Dylan regaled the tale proudly.
“Are you done embarrassing me?” Kate just gave Dylan a tired look, “how many people have that video?”
“I only sent it to Nikki.” Dylan looked at her innocently, “and the CO…. and my bunkmate Josh….”
“Dylan, I’ve only been Ballarat’s XO for one rotation! Do you want me to get demoted or something?” Kate shook her head at him, “how am I supposed to command respect from 100 sailors under me if they knew me as the singing and dancing XO, huh?”
“Daddy said that respect is earned, Kate.” Chloe suddenly chimed in quietly.
The three adults stared back at the little girl with encouraging smiles, waiting for her to finish her thought process.
“I think you have earned my respect for being able to sing so beautifully. So, will you be my singing partner please?” Chloe stared at Kate with pleading eyes.
Kate melted seeing such innocent eyes directed at her. “If your dad agrees, of course we can do a sing along together, Miss Chloe.”
“Daddy, pretty please….” Chloe now directed her puppy dog eyes to Chris, and he knew that he’s powerless to resist.
“I hope you know what you’re getting into, Kate.” Chris gave her an apologetic smile, “the little miss here could be a handful.”
“I’m sure she’s an angel compared to the sailors under my command, Chris.” Kate sat back on the sofa, now on Chris' right side, before reaching out to tuck Chloe’s blonde curl behind her ear and smiling at her, “maybe we can watch The Sound of Music too, have you seen that one, Chlo?”
Chloe shook her head, “I want to, but Mummy said it’s a bit scary. So, I can’t. Until after my 10th birthday, she said.”
Kate and Chris looked at each other and scrunched their foreheads, trying to remember which part was scary that Sally had forbid it for Chloe.
“Maybe until the wedding scene would be ok for her?” Chris raised his eyebrows at Kate. “And she could watch the rest after she learned about the World Wars in school, whichever grade that would be?”
“I think so….” Kate nodded, “I think it’s mostly singing and dancing up until then. But do you want to ask Sally about it first? I don’t want you to get into trouble with her.”
Chris nodded back, “I’ll call her on Monday, but I think it should be OK if we’re strict about not showing the 2nd part to her.”
“Do you hear that, Chlo? Your dad will try to get permission from your mum to watch the first part of the movie. If we got it, then we might be able to see it the next time Nikki and I spend the day with you.” Kate smiled a tad too excitedly at the girl. She couldn’t deny that musicals were her guilty pleasure.
“Yay, it’s going to be so fun!” Chloe beamed at both Chris and Kate.
“Don’t get too excited please, Chlo.” Chris reminded Chloe, “I don’t want you to be too disappointed if Mummy still said no. We must respect Mummy’s wishes.”
“Respect is earned, Daddy.” Chloe repeated her words from before, but this time with sad expression, “I don’t think we should respect all of Mummy's wishes.”
Kate, Dylan and Chris exchanged a worried look before Chris prompted Chloe gently, “and what is her wish that you don’t think should be respected?”
“She wished for me to start calling him ‘dad’.” Chloe said with a small voice before looking at Chris with tears in her eyes, “I don’t want to. You are my only dad. The only one I ever need or want. Please don’t let her make me….”
Chris bit the inside of his cheek to keep his composure, while a mix of sadness and anger boiled in his heart as he heard his daughter’s plea. “Chlo, I swear I won’t let your mum force you to call him that.”
“She said that I’m going to have a baby brother or sister soon, and it would be weird if my sibling called him dad and I didn't call him dad too.” Chloe continued in between her tears, “she said it would embarrass him.”
Chris could hear muttered profanities from Dylan as his mate heard his daughter’s words. And he could feel one of Kate’s hands squeezed his shoulder tightly to anchor him while her other hand was rubbing his daughter’s back to help calm her.
He then took a shaky breath before gently tilting his daughter’s head so that he could see her eyes, “Chloe Blake, please listen to me,” he only continued when Chloe’s eyes were truly focused on his, “you are my daughter. You are my flesh and blood. I’ve been holding you in my arms since you were just a tiny little baby. I’ve fed you, burped you, and bathed you; I held your hands when you were learning to walk; I’ve helped you with your homework; I’ve been loving you since the moment you were born and I would always love you until my last breath on earth. So, I’m asking you now, do you think I have earned the privilege to be called dad by you?”
“Yes.” Chloe nodded solemnly, “you are my dad, the only one."
“And has Greg earned that title from you?” Chris asked next.
“No.” Chloe shook her head for emphasis, “I don’t think he even likes me. He just ignores me every time I’m at Mummy’s.”
“Then you shouldn’t let anyone that hasn’t earned their place in your heart telling you how to call them.” Chris continued seriously, “if he felt embarrassed that you called him by his given name, then that’s his problem, not yours. Mummy has no right to force you to call him anything other than his name. If your mum or Greg had any problem with that, they could come and see me, and I would set them straight. If I wasn’t around and you needed help about this, you could call Kate, Nikki, Uncle Dylan, or Riley’s parents. I will give you a small notebook with a list of their phone numbers which you must always keep. Do you get all that, Chloe?”
Chloe nodded, “Yes.”
“Good.” Chris caressed Chloe’s face gently, “I love you sweetheart, we’ll get through this together, OK?”
Chloe then buried her head to his chest and hugged him tightly, “I love you too, Daddy.”
.
.
“Here you go.”
Kate handed Chris a plate of the warmed-up chicken pot pie as they stayed inside while Dylan was playing with Chloe outside.
Chris looked at the pie and smiled at her softly, “thank you. You really don’t have to go to trouble for this, especially since I’m not truly sick in the first place.”
“Don’t thank me yet….” Kate gave him a deadpanned look, “this is my first attempt making it and of course it’s gluten-free and dairy-free since my kitchen is setup that way now. So, it would be different from your mum’s.”
Chris took a bite with a smile, “this is nice,” and took another bite, and another.
“Yeah?” Kate just looked at him sceptically, before taking a bite from her own plate and tasting her own creation, “ok, this is not bad.”
Chris chuckled, “of course it’s not going to be bad, you're always going for perfection in whatever you do. The result will always be good at least.”
“You didn’t see my disastrous attempt in making Yorkshire Pudding for Dylan a couple of days ago. It exploded, oil and batter everywhere! I refused to even try again. If he still craved it, he could call Bomber and have her mail it to him from the Gold Coast. Too bad 2Dads is gatekeeping Bomber’s new number from him.” Kate just rolled her eyes remembering Dylan’s complaint about it.
Chris chuckled again before smiling at her sadly, “I’ve missed you guys.”
“And we miss you too.” Kate bumped his shoulder gently, “we wished you were there with us in all these places that we’ve visited,” she then sighed, “I’m so sorry about you and Sally.”
Chris sighed too, “it’s alright. The writing had been on the wall for a while, ever since Deb’s passing late last year. Sally blamed herself for not being here for her mother sooner, and in turn she blamed me for being injured and needing long recovery time in Cairns after the explosion 2 years ago, which prevented her from moving permanently to Perth sooner. And of course, her resentment also extended to my time in Hammersley and all the time I was away on patrol, leaving her and Chloe alone to fend for themselves.”
“But you haven’t been at sea for 2 years….” Kate frowned, “so that shouldn’t be a point of contention anymore.”
Chris just shook his head, “it’s water under the bridge now. She has moved on. All I can do is learning from my many mishaps and be better.”
Kate hummed, “I’m not sure the bloke that she’s moving on with is an improvement. He seems like a dick….”
Chris snorted, “did you say that to his face when you saw him before?”
“Sadly no.” Kate then smirked slightly, “Dylan almost decked him twice though, once because he commented that my boobs were too small to his liking.”
“He what??” Chris exclaimed.
Kate shrugged, “it is small. That’s the factory setting, so I’m not bothered by it.”
“Kate….” Chris tightened his jaw in anger, “he was out of line.”
Kate shook her head, “that’s nothing compared to when he commented that you were a loser. Now, that’s unacceptable,” she stared at him pointedly, “but I can’t let Dylan go down for an assault charge, so I told him to back off. We just asked for your new address from Sally and then we got the hell out of there.”
“Kate, you don’t have to fight my battle for me.” Chris sighed, “I can handle that dickhead.”
“I have no doubt that you could. But I think Dylan and I wanted to let him know that you’re not alone. That you have loyal friends behind you.”
Chris went quiet at her words. “I’m more worried for Chloe more than anything.”
Kate scowled remembering Chloe’s tears for Sally’s unreasonable request to call that dickhead ‘dad’. “Maybe you need to negotiate for bigger custody portion.”
Chris frowned, “I don’t see how I could, unless I postpone my medical studies until Chloe is in high school and could be more independent. I can go back to full-time work now and maybe have a modified start and end like 8am to 3.30pm to accommodate school schedule, and that would make me look favourable at family court.”
“How long can you stretch your course work for? Usually, an undergraduate degree would be 8-10 years maximum, but yours is postgraduate, right? Maybe you don’t postpone it entirely, just take 1 subject at a time, even during summer semester, or move to a more flexible university with three terms a year that could accommodate your work schedule. Surely, you’re not the first mature-age student that must do this? Maybe you just need to discuss it with the admission office.”
“You have too much faith in me, Kate.” Chris shook his head sadly, “lately, it’s much harder to get out of bed, let alone seizing the day and having an intense schedule ahead of me.”
Kate looked determined, “do you have a pen and notebook or just scrap of paper?”
“I recognise your XO face now,” Chris smiled slightly.
“Oh shush, pen and paper please.” She poked his shoulder, “move Mister, I’m trying to help you here.”
Chris laughed but relented and put his plate on the coffee table before going to the kitchen and took the notepad and pen that he usually used for grocery list.
“Here you go, X.” Chris said teasingly as he handed her the items.
“If you missed calling me X that much, you should’ve chosen sea posting, Mister.” Kate gave him a mock glare.
“I’ve had the honour for 5 years,” Chris just smiled at her, “when the government appointed you Chief of Navy in 20 years’ time, I could honestly say that it’s been an honour to have been one of your sailors.”
Kate was touched by the pride in his voice, “you need to hold your horses, I just recently got an extra half-bar, it’s a long way to the top.”
“You’ll get there.” Chris patted her hand gently before grabbing his plate from the coffee table to resume eating.
“Just like that, huh?” Kate raised her eyebrows, “you said I have too much faith in you, but I’d say the chances of you being a doctor in 10 years’ time is much bigger than me being a Chief of Navy in 20 years’ time. So, I’d say my faith in you is justified and you need to start putting more faith in your own ability.”
Chris shrugged, “I guess it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when you’re still in the middle of it.”
“True.” Kate pursed her lips in contemplation. “You need a map of the tunnel then, just as extra assurance that you’re on the right path.”
“Huh?” Chris looked confused, but decided to play along, “how am I supposed to read a map in the middle of the dark tunnel?”
“Easy, memorise it or visualise it in your head beforehand.”
“What if one section of the tunnel from the map suddenly blocked or collapsed?” Chris looked at her seriously, “that could happen.”
“Then you dug a parallel tunnel that follows the same original path.” Kate replied, just as seriously, “then after a while, the parallel tunnel would end up at the intended cross-section, or if there was no cross-section, you would create a cross-section yourself, that way you could go back to the original tunnel and correct your path.”
Chris went quiet for a few minutes after her words, just staring ahead in contemplation.
“So, are you ready to draw the map with me now?” Kate just observed him patiently, willing him to believe in his own ability to dig himself out of the dark tunnel he’s currently in.
“Ok, I'm ready.” Chris replied simply; feeling grateful that he had a chance to cross path with someone like her in his lifetime.
“Good,” Kate then grabbed his hand and squeezed tightly in reassurance, “sometimes, or I guess when I’m onshore, I'll bring a torch with me to give you temporary reprieve from the darkness in the tunnel. But when I’m at sea, just remember to stick to the path that we’ve drawn together and trust that I'll be cheering you from afar. And if you’re feeling stuck when I'm away, just remember that I'll come home eventually, so you must stay positive.”
“Your friends would be lost sheep without you, you know,” Chris squeezed back her hand just as tightly, “if you say that I’m the anchor, then you’re the gravity that hold us firmly to the ground.”
Kate blushed a little at the way he stared at her right now, “ok, stop praising me, or my head will get too big.”
“I doubt it.” Chris chuckled, “you’re living and working with Nikki and Dylan, they’re like two little siblings that'll always pick on their big sister. They would pull your ego down so fast before it could even get too big. Remember the karaoke video?”
“Damn it!” Kate scowled again, “I have to remind Dylan to delete that.”
“Leave it be.” Chris replied seriously, “you can’t control your sailors' opinion of you. It’s only by working with them side by side, by holding them accountable to the rules, by being fair in your dealings with them that they will know who you are and what you stand for. They will learn to trust you eventually, just like we did at Hammersley.”
“Ok, can you be back at sea with me in the next rotation please?” Kate pleaded half-jokingly, “you don’t even have to be a coxswain there, just be my personal support person and give me a pep talk every day.”
Chris shook his head with a small smile, “I wish I could. Sadly, I won’t go back out there anytime soon. I could only live the experience through you.”
“How about email then?” Kate’s eyes lit up at the idea that suddenly popped into her head, “like a ‘Dear Diary’ entry. I can address mine to Dr Blake and you can address yours to the X or something like that, and we can each tell each other about our respective day; the raw and honest version of how our day has been. Oh, except if you’re hooking up with someone, then I don’t want the details.”
Chris grimaced at the thought, “yeah, nah, not happening.”
Kate pouted at his quick refusal, “you don’t like the diary idea?”
Chris felt his brain was short-circuiting when he saw the pout on her lips. He had only ever associated that kind of expression on Chloe. Seeing it on Kate awakened something in his bruised heart.
Interpreting his silence as negative answer, Kate then withdrew her hand that she just realised still holding his tightly, “forget the idea. It’s silly anyway.”
“What’s silly?” Chris now frowned a little, “wait, back up a step. You want us to start an email diary to each other, right?”
“If you don’t want to, that’s fine.” Kate waved her hand dismissively, refusing to meet his eyes. She was a little bit embarrassed by her own spontaneity, “forget I say anything.”
“Of course I want to.” Chris looked at her confused, “why do you think I don’t want to?”
Kate glared at him, “because you said before that it’s not happening.”
Seeing her glare and hearing her biting tone, Chris then tried to remember the sequence of their conversation just now, and once he realised his misstep, he couldn’t help but laugh at his own idiocy.
“Ok, that’s it, I’m not helping you anymore if you’re going to laugh at me.” Kate got up from the sofa, intending to wash her own plate and go home afterwards. She felt so embarrassed that she wanted to leave right now. She’s not even going to wait for Dylan to finish playing with Chloe, she’s just going to call a cab. Dylan could drive her car back when Chloe has had enough of him.
“Wait, Kate, I’m sorry.” Chris got up too and caught her elbow before she could go anywhere.
Kate turned and glared at him, “I’m not baking this pie for you, comforting you, giving you a pep talk and promising a playdate with your daughter, just for you to laugh at my face for a spontaneous silly idea that I had. You could have just say that you’re not interested. You don’t have to laugh.”
“Kate….” Chris sighed and took the plate, the pad and the pen away from her hands and put it on the coffee table before he pulled her close to him and held her hands tightly, “I swear I wasn’t laughing at you. I was laughing at myself for missing a piece of the conversation because I was distracted by your pout.”
“Oh….” Kate’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Yes.” Chris chuckled, “when I said that it’s not happening, I didn’t mean the diary, I meant the part where I would write about the details of any hook-ups that I could possibly have in the future. I was agreeing with you that I wouldn’t insult you by writing about any of that. And I honestly don’t want to read details about your hook-ups either.”
“Ok, yes, I agree to that term.” Kate nodded sheepishly, “I’m sorry for jumping to conclusion too.”
“Apology accepted.” Chris smiled fondly at her, “so, are we doing the email diary then?”
Kate raised her eyebrows at him, “if you want.”
“Yes, I want to.” Chris nodded firmly, “but if you’re going to address your diary entry to Dr Blake, which would be a possible future job title of mine, then I think it’s only fair that I do the same for my diary entry.”
“Like what? Dear Commander?” Kate tilted her head curiously.
“No, something a lot more aspirational.” Chris teased her, “something like Dear Vice Admiral McGregor….”
“No….” Kate scrunched her face, “what if someone saw it? Would we be in trouble?”
Chris shook his head, “of course not. It’s your last name, yeah? And this is just an aspirational thing for both of us. To remind us of the light at the end of the tunnels in our lives that we say we’re going to help each other traverse. Oh, speaking of tunnels, can we maybe draw that map now please? And please stay for dinner too, we can order pizza? That’s if you don’t have any plans though. Or a date....” He added as he grimaced internally at his own rambling.
Kate smiled fondly at the way Chris got increasingly nervous as he kept talking. She could even see a hint of a blush on his tanned face, and she knew that if she let herself, she could so easily fall for him in the future. Dylan hadn’t been entirely wrong earlier when he said that she had a type. But for now, she must let Chris healed from his ordeal and just be his friend.
“Yes, I can stay,” she finally answered, torturing Chris a little bit as she could see him getting flustered the longer the silence went. “Not sure about Dylan though. He might want to hit the clubs early.”
“Jesus, he’s still going like that every weekend?” Chris shook his head at his mate’s habit. “Just imagining the hangover gives me a headache.”
“He’s younger than us, faster recovery time.” Kate shrugged and the movement caused her to realise that they’re still holding hands. She then teased him, “do you think you can let go of my hands now? I will need it to draw the map.”
“Oh,” Chris looked down and smiled at her sheepishly, “yeah, sure.” He then let go of her hands, but not before squeezing it gently once more.
They then sat down on the sofa again, but this time, there’s little space between them, their sides almost touching each other and if they both turned their heads towards each other, Chris swore that he could count her eyelashes from this distance.
He knew that he’s in trouble since he could feel his eyes were drawn to her lips all the time now. And during his observations, he realised that she liked to bite her bottom lip when she was concentrating. The sight was now causing him to fight the urge to reach out and pull her bottom lip out or to lean forward and kiss her senseless. Both of which he’s not supposed to do as she had only ever seen him as a friend.
Of course, there was also the fact that he’s in the middle of messy separation and custody situation, so he’s in no position to offer her anything. And when you wanted to date Kate McGregor, you better brought your best offer to the table because she didn’t deserve mediocrity.
“Are you even listening to me?”
Chris’ eyes met Kate’s amused eyes at the next second, and he could feel his neck flushed in embarrassment, “sorry.”
Kate just looked at him in sympathy, “I think you need to rest. It’s been an eventful day for you. Maybe I should take a raincheck on that offer to stay for dinner. We can do it some other time. I’ll be ashore for the next 2 months anyway, so I’ll be around.”
Chris sighed and nodded, “yeah, I woke up with a bit of stuffy nose this morning, so I might just take a vitamin C and sleep earlier tonight.”
Kate frowned, “so you are sick….” She then reached out to put the back of her hand on his forehead to check whether he had a temperature.
Chris smiled at her gesture, “I’m fine, maybe it’s karma for lying to you last week when you texted me.”
“I doubt karma works that fast, usually karma works in years, not days.” Kate sighed, “maybe you just have a cold. Hopefully Chloe is not getting it too.”
“I hope not. Maybe I’ll give her an early bath and early dinner and we both can rest.”
“Ok, let’s call back the children inside then.” Kate smiled amusedly at her own words.
“Did you just call a 6’4 grown man a child?” Chris laughed.
“Just look at that!” Kate gestured to the back patio sliding doors where they could see Dylan giving Chloe a helicopter ride enthusiastically, “that kind of boundless energy only belongs to children, not adults. I like to stay inside on a hot day like this, not pretending to be a helicopter!”
Chris laughed again at her rant, “ok, you have a point. Do you want to call them, or do you want me to?”
“You can do it,” Kate nudged his side, “you’re the actual parent. I’m not going to overstep your authority.”
“I’ve never signed up to be the parent of the big guy,” Chris smirked at her, “you did when you insisted on taking him to move interstate. How about you call him while I call my actual daughter?”
Kate rolled her eyes at him, “you move first then.”
“Why don’t you move first? I’m sick remember?” Chris hadn’t had this kind of fun bantering for a while.
“Chris….” Kate pouted again.
Chris’ breath hitched seeing the pout again, this time in a much closer distance too. If he just moved forward a little bit, he knew he would be able to kiss the pout out of her.
“What are you guys doing?”
They sprang apart as soon as they heard Dylan’s smug voice from behind them.
Apparently, they were too engrossed in each other that they didn’t hear their friend opening the patio’s sliding door.
“Nothing.” Kate gestured to the plates on the coffee table, “we were eating, talking and planning.”
“Really?” Dylan smirked at the two of them, “it looks like you two were about to kiss before. Something you want to tell me?”
“Nothing, mate.” Chris shook his head, “we were just talking about calling you and Chloe inside.”
“If you’re sure there’s nothing….” Dylan raised his eyebrows at his friends’ unconvincing explanation.
“Oh shush, just bring Chloe inside, will you?” Kate rolled her eyes at Dylan’s teasing, “Chris is not well, so he wants to have early dinner and a bath for Chloe. And we’re going home.”
Dylan just shook his head at the two of them but relented and went back out to grab Chloe.
Meanwhile, Chris was rattled by the whole situation. He had never expected to catch feelings for Kate McGregor. He had watched all his mates having a crush on her in Hammersley, and at the time, he had known that she was indeed beautiful, but he had never allowed himself to think about her that way, so he had thought that he had been immune to her persona. But apparently, he’s not.
And judging by her own gesture in the last half an hour, where she had kept seeking his proximity and allowing him to hold her hands, there might be a chance that she felt the same way?
How was this even possible?
Was he dreaming? Was this part of his sickness?
“Daddy….”
Chris was startled from his thought by his daughter’s presence next to him, “Chlo?”
“Kate said that you’re sick?” Chloe frowned at him.
Chris smiled in reassurance, “it might be a cold, my nose is a bit stuffy. I don’t want to give it to you, so I’ll give you vitamin gummies after an early dinner, yeah?”
“Ok. I’m tired anyway. Uncle Dylan gave me awesome rides.” Chloe beamed a little.
“Have you said thank you to Uncle Dylan?” Chris nodded to Dylan in acknowledgement.
“I have.” Chloe smiled, “and I gave him a few kisses on the cheeks too.”
“Lucky bugger….” Kate smirked at Dylan’s sheepish look. “We’ll give you and your dad time to rest up, ok? I’ll see you for a playdate sometime soon, Chlo.”
“Thank you for coming, Kate.” Chloe moved to the other side of the sofa to give Kate a hug. Kate looked a bit surprised at the gesture, but simply hugged Chloe back.
“You’re welcome, Chloe. Take care of yourself, Ok? And take care of your dad too.” Kate smiled at the little girl gently.
“I will, Kate.” Chloe nodded solemnly.
Kate then let go of Chloe and got up from the sofa before reaching for the plate on the table.
Seeing this, Chris got up quickly and moved in front of her, “no, please, I’ll do that later. You’ve made the pie for me, the least I could do is washing up my own plates.”
Kate raised her eyebrows at him teasingly, “it seems that you want me to get out of the door faster. Are you tired of my company already?”
“No!” Chris’ eyes widened in panic, “I will never be tired of your company. I just don’t want you to feel oblige to wash the dishes.”
“Really?” Kate couldn’t help herself; she wanted to know how far she could push his button, “are you saying that you’re enjoying my company, Chris? And would you happen to want my company again sometime soon?”
Chris’ brain was officially fried; he didn’t know where his thoughts began and ended right now. It’s been so long since he’s playing a flirting game with a woman and he’s so rusty that it’s not funny at all. All his primal instincts were screaming at him to pull the woman in front of him to his arms and just never let go, but his logic was currently screaming at him to restrain himself, reminding him that he’s not yet able to do anything about his attraction to this woman.
“Oh, for god’s sake, Kate, have pity on him,” Dylan moved to the other side of the coffee table and grabbed both plates from the table, effectively ending their playful argument before, “he’s about to have a stroke there. You broke his brain.”
Kate glared back at Dylan but softened as she saw Chris’ overwhelmed expression.
“Chloe, can you please keep me company in the kitchen while I wash the dishes, so that your dad and Kate can say their goodbye to each other?” Dylan smiled at Chloe encouragingly.
“Ok.” Chloe replied simply as she followed Dylan to the kitchen.
Kate waited until she could hear the water running from the sink before stepping closer to Chris and gave him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I was trying to push the boundaries too much before. Please tell me if I’m crossing the line that you don’t want me to cross. I won’t be mad; I will always be your friend no matter what.”
Chris sighed, “I want you to cross the line. I truly do. But maybe not right now. As much as I want to, I know that I’m not in any position to be a good partner to you. I need to sort my life out.”
“Ok, I can work with that.” Kate nodded. She knew this already and she could be patient and see how things go. “So, friends?” She then offered her hand for a handshake playfully.
Chris smiled at her fondly and ignored her hand before cupping her cheeks and gave a lingering kiss to her forehead.
Kate gasped a little and her eyes closed involuntarily as the kiss lingered for more than a few seconds. She felt herself melted at his gesture, and she knew now that she’s truly in trouble by how much she was affected by this compared to the most passionate kiss she had ever received.
Chris waited until she opened her eyes again before continuing seriously, “how about friends for now; best friends in the next stage; and one day, when we’re both ready, life partners?”
“Ok,” Kate nodded before continuing, “I promise that I’ll be waiting for you at the end of the dark tunnel that you’re currently traversing.” She then smiled gently at him, “just don’t take too long please? I’m still human, so I might lose faith along the way too. I might need a reminder every once in the while that you’re still progressing forward towards me and not branching out somewhere else.”
She paused then took a deep breath, “if for some reason you want to choose a different path, you need to let me know too, so that I’m not withering at the end of the tunnel waiting for you and I could choose a different path myself. Can you do that for me?”
Chris swallowed the lump in his throat at the thought of not seeing her at the end of tunnel, “yes, I can. I promise to let you know along the way of how far I still have left before reaching you. And I promise to work on myself, so that the person that would meet you at the end of the tunnel would be a healed version of me.”
“Ok.” Kate said simply before reaching up to kiss his cheek and sealed their promise to each other. “I really should go. I think Dylan has wasted too much water for washing just two dinner plates.”
Chris smiled his full dimple smile at her and commented, “I might get a bill shock next quarter.”
Kate smiled back, “maybe. Although it’s worth it yeah?”
“Oh yes, there is no doubt about that. You are worth it.” Chris replied softly, and with one last caress of her cheeks, his hands let go of her for now.
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A/N: Stay tune for part D of the series, which will be set one year later.
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