CHAPTER 16
Sean
Eight weeks later
I’m supposed to be shipping out for the next six months, but all I can think about is her.
Brittney.
I still can’t believe we got caught. I thought for sure we were home free, but in the morning her dad decided last minute to call her first instead of just showing up and surprising her. That was all well and good, until he wondered why it seemed like he could hear the call ringing both in his ear and in the bedroom. At first he just thought his equilibrium might be out of balance due to all the travel and proximity to the constant barrage of mortar rounds he experienced daily during his last stint in the Middle East.
He figured all the noises of military life had finally caught up with him, but he wasn’t ready to admit he was getting older or losing a step. He decided he’d try again just to make sure his ears weren’t playing tricks on him. He called again and realized maybe he was onto something. Then he started to think his daughter was in my closet.
It wasn’t her, but it was her phone. It had fallen out when she made her escape. There was really no explaining away that one. Why couldn’t he just show up uninvited at her place like he did at mine? That would have solved everyone a lot of trouble.
But now everything’s all messed up.
Rick took her phone and forbid her to see me, at least in the short-term. To make matters worse, he pulled her out of college and enrolled her in one of those study at home undergrad programs. If he wants to punish me, fine, but don’t punish your daughter’s future in the process.
I felt terrible. Not seeing Brittney was the worst, but knowing I may have had a hand in sabotaging her future was equally as painful.
And to make matters worse, my NCIS stint was up. Somehow they wanted me to do a tour abroad now, even as a single parent. That made no sense to me. My ex was happy to have Isabella all to herself for the next half-year, but I’m not so sure the feeling was mutual.
My wife’s career had taken off, but then it hit a snag. She had a lot more time on her hands now, which opened up possibilities for her to “get back to being a good mother.” The sound of those words angered me more than she could have ever known. There are no breaks in parenting. It’s a commitment you make to yourself as well as your children. I know she was committed to doing a good job now, but her word choice still had me feeling shaky.
I was doing everything I could to fight the deployment. I thought if I put up a big enough fuss via the right channels I might be able to stay where I was. I only had another three years until I retired. Why send this old man back into the thick of things?
I definitely wasn’t one to shirk responsibility, but in this case I just thought my talents were better put to use elsewhere. Sitting around in the heat and the dust all day with guys in their late teens and early twenties was doable, but solving crimes with my mind here was much more appealing and valuable to country and Corps. Plus my last case had been a big hit. I found all the guys behind the Veterans Day Parade terrorism attempt and got them put away for good. I was good at this kind of work, and I felt I could save a lot of lives if I stayed where I was.
But now everything was in the hands of the powers that be in Quantico, and it wasn’t looking good.
But the real reason I wanted to stay was that I knew if I had enough time I could convince Rick that what Brittney and I have is real. And word choice here is critical. I say what Brittney and I have, and not what we had, because my feelings for her are just as strong as they ever were. If he could just see us together he’d know, but he wasn’t about to give it a chance. Not now. Not ever.
Still I knew time could heal, and time could make him see.
But I was running out of time. In three days I was shipping out. I had to come up with a plan…and fast.