Chapter Six
It’s fascinating to think you’ve seen someone at their best, it wasn't possible for them to be more beautiful but the punch to Sebastian’s gut when he opened the door and saw Aeslyn told him he still had so much to learn about her. His mother basically telling him not to come home was humorous, his own mother was pimping him out.
Walking down the driveway he hesitated on who should drive. “Those are some killer heels; do you want me to drive?” Mortification engulfed him as she lifted one eyebrow and gave him her best are you kidding look. “I didn’t mean anything by it, I’ve never worn heels so I don’t know how hard it is.” He let out a deep breath of frustration, his hand rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “Ten feet from my door and I’m already screwing this up. I’ll be honest with you, I don’t have much experience with dating and I was just trying to make sure you were comfortable and had a good time.”
He could see her ire subside, “It’s considerate of you to ask, you aren’t screwing anything up and if you want later I can race you in these heels and show you what I can do in them.” She stopped and glanced at him over her car, “I’m nervous too, how about we both agree to relax and just have fun?”
“Sounds good to me.” He smiled before climbing in the passenger side. “I can put the address in your GPS if you want?”
Aeslyn tapped the map icon on her dashboard screen and waved to him to continue.
The fifteen-minute drive was quiet at first, he was afraid to say something else idiotic, he should have read a book earlier like Dating for Dummies or How not to be a jackass. He didn’t know if those books existed but they should.
“So, Sebastian, what do you do for a living?” Aeslyn looked over at him curious.
“I’m a Captain in the Air Force, I’m lucky and was able to train and travel as a combat medic. How about you?” A lot of women don’t want anything to do with military men, they aren’t cut out for that life, he knew he was taking a risk telling her so early in the date.
“I’m nowhere as accomplished as you are. I own my own business; my partner is my best friend from childhood. We are consultants which is a fancy way of saying people hire us to help them solve problems.” The best way to avoid lying was to keep turning the conversation back to him. “I don’t think I’ve ever met someone that was in the military, what made you join?”
“It’s been just me and my mom for as long as I can remember. I was always interested in medicine but we didn’t have any money. The military paid for all of my training, I thought I would do the minimum time required then leave the service but I found out I loved it. I have met some awesome soldiers from different branches and I know I had an impact on them, it made it so easy to keep re-upping.” His mind traveled back to that last month of his last tour and the incident that altered him forever. He didn’t realize he was staring off into space till he heard her clear her throat. “Sorry I didn’t hear your question.”
“I was saying how hard it must have been to leave your family. I’ve lived within a couple of miles of all of my extended family my entire life.”
He felt the anger rushing up inside him, he didn’t want to talk about his family so soon. How do you get to know someone on a first date if you aren’t willing to talk about everything that makes you-you? “I didn’t meet the boys until nine months ago, they were born while I was still overseas. I regret every day not being there when they were born but there wasn’t anything I could do.” He let out a deep breath, he just wanted the car ride to end so they could stop talking about such heavy topics. Not that he blamed her, she was asking perfectly normal questions, he just had complicated answers. “I’ll save you from asking the difficult question, yes their mother is still alive, she doesn’t have custody though and doesn’t see them.” He tried to keep any emotion from his statement but people are curious by nature and he gets that question all the time from strangers so he knew she was probably dying to ask.
He looked down when she reached over, grabbed his hand and squeezed. “You are a good dad, it makes them twice as lucky to have you fill both roles for them.” She pulled her hand back and put the car in park. “Now, before we go in is there anything I need to know about any of your friends? I want to make a good impression so don’t let me walk into any embarrassing situations like bringing up a bad topic like I just did with you.” Her smile melted the turmoil that was rolling around inside him. Nine months and he was still bitter.
“They are all pretty normal, most of them are military like I am. Jackson is a bit of a handful so maybe sit away from him.” He gave her a teasing wink then got out to run around and open her door for her. Even if she was driving he was still going to try to be a gentleman. Plus, he needed to make up for that dramatic ride they just had. It was time to turn on the charm and try to be a normal guy for a few hours, not that he knew what normal was.