CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Menace
May
Sitting under the heat of the late-May sun in my backyard, I watch the group of friends that have become family congregate. All of the MTF, and a whole slew of Caleb’s friends have come to celebrate his graduation.
“The sides are all set out,” Rina swoops in to sit next to me. She’s wearing a pair of cut-off shorts and a shirt that reads Property of the MTF. I have to completely agree with the sentiment. “You and Holden just need to get the grills going.”
I reach over, grabbing her up and sitting her on my lap. She puts her arms around my neck and leans in close. “You okay?”
“Hittin’ me hard today,” I admit as I look over, seeing Caleb sit with a few friends and Jess. “He’s not going to be here much longer.”
She kisses me on the cheek as she crosses her legs. It’s the most comfortable thing in the world for me to put my hands on her thighs and hold her tightly to me. “He’s going to be fine, Mason. You raised a good son, you have nothing to worry about. You’re going to be fine, I’ll be here to make sure of it.”
“I know.” I take a drink of my beer. “I know you’re right, but damn this is almost suffocating in the way it feels.”
“It’s fear, Mase, just fear. You won’t be there to hold his hand any longer, and it’s a scary situation. I feel it whenever I send my seniors off into the world,” I admit. “The end of every year is like a stab in my heart. I only have them for a few short months, but they wiggle their way in, and I care about them deeply. When it’s time to let them go, it’s hard, but I have to believe they have bigger things to accomplish. I have to believe I’ve prepared them for what this world has to offer and that they can make good decisions,” she runs her hands along my arms, soothing me. “I know you’ve raised Caleb to be one of those kids. You don’t have to worry, big guy.”
“Just gonna be weird not having him around, ya know? He used to be scared of the dark,” I tell her quietly. “Especially after I came back from being deployed. He used to get up in the middle of the night, sneak into my room, and I’d wake up the next morning with him curled against my chest, holding his pillow. He did that until he was ten.” I look out over the backyard, not seeing much of what’s going on, as I get stuck in my memories. “At the time, I was so glad he stopped doing it because it’d scare the shit out of me when I woke up and saw him there. Now, I wish he’d done it just a few days longer.”
“I’m sure every parent feels that way, Mase.”
Letting out a deep breath, I tap her hip. “Havoc and I need to start these grills if we’re gonna have time to eat before it gets too late.”
“It’s okay to be emotional, big guy.” She wraps herself around me, after we get up. “It’s actually a turn on.”
“Then you should be dripping, because I don’t think I’ve ever been this emotional in my life.”
She winks up at me, before I bend down to give her a chaste kiss. Turning from her, I whistle at Havoc who’s holding Ransom in his arms. “Let’s get these grills going.”
I watch as he hands the baby over to Leigh, and we get to work.
Karina
“He’s getting so big,” I reach out, running my finger down Ransom’s cheek. He’s in a sling around Leigh’s body as she helps me make drinks for the entire crew that has showed up for Caleb’s party.
“Girl, I know. That’s why I’m wearing him. Whoever thought up these sling things is a freakin’ genius. It leaves my hands and arms free so I can get work done. He’s so heavy now, that it’s hard to do things with him while I’m holding him, so this thing has been a lifesaver.”
“I’m gonna run in and get the cake, I’ll be right back.”
Mason and Holden are done with the meat, and people are starting to fill their plates up, but I want to get the cake out so we can have a proper celebration for Caleb. Grabbing it out of the fridge, I fight my way through the crowd and set it on its own table, putting graduate napkins and plates out.
Violet has made herself event photographer, making sure there are pictures of everyone and everything to commemorate this event. “Caleb, Mason!” She yells for the two of them. “Come over here before someone cuts into this cake. We need a family picture.”
I arrange it so that the Congratulations Caleb can be seen, and then start to step away as the two men come to stand behind it. Mason grabs my wrist. “Rina, where you goin’?”
“To stand over there, so you can get a picture,” I explain, the duh left unsaid in my tone.
“She asked for a family picture.” Mason levels me with a stare.
“And for us to have one of those, you’ll need to be in it,” Caleb finishes for him. “So, come get here in the middle and smile big, Kari.”
Tears prick the back of my eyes, and I have to bite my lip to keep from making an idiot of myself in front of all these people. I close my eyes, step in between them, and do my best to smile as Violet takes a bunch of pictures of the three of us. When she’s done, she comes over, showing us the back of the camera.
“I’m pretty sure–,” Caleb reaches in, cutting a small piece of his cake off and taking a bite, “–that’s the coolest first family picture in the history of the world.”
Seeing the happiness in all our eyes, I can’t help but agree with him.