Safeword: Storm Clouds(37)

"Your dad was an Admiral, that meant he was probably, ah, commanding? Do you think your parents had some sort of power exchange relationship?"

He laughed, "No, not at all. There is no doubt my mom ran the house. She made it clear that my dad might boss around the people under him in the Navy, but that she'd never enlisted in the Navy and he didn't get to boss her around. There were five of us kids and she kept us all in line and got us all healthily into adulthood as constructive members of society. My dad didn't let her push him around either, they were partners, but he also acknowledged that it was her job to make the house run smoothly and he did what he could to help it run smoothly, which usually meant doing what she said to do. I know she didn't like it when he took me rappelling and sailing and stuff, so it's not like he did everything she said, but when it came to how the house was run, he pretty much did. I think it was more about respect, he respected her enough to let her run the house and didn't want to come in and undermine her when he came home from a long trip."

"You were close to your dad?"

"Yes, though I was just as close to my uncle, to be honest. When he was on leave he spent just about all of his time with us. So, there were lots of times that my dad wasn't there that my uncle was. I'm not sure how they managed it, but they usually managed to get sent to the same areas of the world at about the same time. I mean, not exactly the same time, there might be a six month or even year long period of time when they were in different parts of the world, but eventually they'd usually end up close enough so that my uncle could stay with us."

"How often do you see your uncle now?"

"A couple of times a year. Sometimes I fly out to stay with him when he's got some free time, and sometimes he comes and stays with me on the yacht for a while. We email each other a couple of times a week when he’s not in communications blackout, so we're still pretty close."

"You have five sisters? Do you see them very often?"

"No, not really. I'm close to one of my sisters, but the others.. not so much. It's not that we don't get along, it's just that I guess we don't have all that much in common."

They were back at the Range Rover now and Kendra noted that Eric was standing up on the floorboard of the driver's side with his shoulders above the roofline and was doing something to the bicycles. "Are you making sure they are on good?"

"No, I'm getting them down. We're going to ride around downtown on this section of the riverwalk."

"Eric, I told you it's been a really long time since I rode a bicycle. I don't even know if I can anymore."

"If you fall while you are remembering how, you'll heal, right? I've got you a helmet so we don't get harassed about wearing them, but if you think you need knee and elbow pads too then we can run by one of the big box stores and buy them. I'd kind of figured you'd be okay, but if you need them..."

She started to glare at him but saw the twinkle in his eyes and her glare turned into a grin. "Fine. We'll see how well I do. But I have high heels on, it would have been nice if you had let me know to bring athletic shoes."

"I noted what size and brand you wore when we went rappelling, there are some socks and shoes in the back of the Range Rover that should fit you. You can put them on while I get the bikes down and put the front wheels back on them."

Once they were ready to ride Kendra was surprised to learn that she could still ride without much of a learning curve. They walked the bikes to the sidewalk going around the perimeter of the park so she could ride without worrying about cars, and within about ten minutes she had enough confidence to ride around town. They rode on the pedestrian bridge going over the Tennessee River, and they rode for a good bit of the riverwalk. She couldn't handle the sharp curves going up to the Hunter Art Museum and she got off and walked during that section, but she managed to handle most everything else they did. After several hours of riding and talking they made their way back to the parking lot of the theater and Eric stowed the bikes back up on the Range Rover and took her home. He kissed her goodnight at the door and asked her if she'd go out with him the next Saturday night.

And so it went for the next four weeks. They went out on Saturday night and they sent a few emails to each other during the week. Eric did no more than hold her hand or put his arm around her during the date, and then he kissed her goodnight when he took her home. They went to a few movies and a couple more plays at other community theaters in the area, and afterwards he always had something else for them to do. Once he brought four different sizes of rollerblades for her to try on (he said he would return the three that didn't fit) and he taught her to rollerblade. One night after a movie he took her dancing at a club not owned by Abbot (he'd had to contact Abbot to make sure).