"It's like a vacation," he said. "Although it's pretty boring most of the time. But my forward operating base has not seen a lot of fighting, so it's about as safe as a trip to any major American city."
"Why did the Army let you come home?"
My stepdad's face darkened. "Oh, just a little rest and relaxation," he said.
Whatever. There was something Patton wasn't telling me.
We were driving south on Interstate 35, past the car dealerships and strip malls that make up the suburbs north of Austin. There was another awkward pause. Patton opened his mouth to speak, then closed it.
"Almost home now," he said eventually. "I hope you and Aunt Maude didn't wreck my house while I was gone."
"Yeah, it's completely destroyed," I joked. "Sorry about that."
"Typical Aunt Maude. How is she?"
Aunt Maude was my great-grandmother. She was a sweet old lady who had come to stay at our house so I wouldn't be forced to move to a different high school during my senior year.
"She's great," I replied. "She's visiting her sister's family for the rest of the month."
"She left you home alone?" Patton asked, sounding incredulous.
"It's fine, Daddy," I assured him. "I can take care of myself for a few weeks. You do realize that I'm an adult now?"
Patton's eyes narrowed, but he didn't say a word. My face blushed with embarrassment, a feeling that was soon replaced by anger.
"Do you want to talk about this?" I asked. "I mean, let's just get it over with. Punish me. Tell me you're disappointed. Whatever you need to say, just say it."
My stepfather steered his pickup down the freeway, his eyes locked to the lane in front of him. I watched him, waiting for a reply-any reply. He did not say a word for what felt like an eternity.
Then he grunted.
"It's like you said. You're a grown woman now. It's your body … and your choice what to do with it."
I don't know why, but I burst into tears. My stepdad kept his eyes on the road and didn't say another word.
V.
For the first few days that Patton was back, we gave each other a lot of distance. He seemed more like a visitor, or a roommate, than my stepdad. The only exception was that instead of relaxing, he set about doing all the house repairs that Aunt Maude and I had let accumulate while I was gone.
He did all the usual dad stuff like cleaning the gutters, mowing the overgrown jungle of our backyard, anything that kept him out of the house during the day while I was home from my summer job.
"Tug is coming over tonight," he told me one morning when I was on the couch watching TV.
///
"Okay," I replied, not looking up. "I'm going out with my boyfriend."
Tug was my stepdad's nickname for his best friend Tugboat. Tugboat was also a nickname, of course. I think his real name was Glenn.
My stepdad and Patton had served in the Guard since they were both eighteen. He went over to Iraq the same time as Patton. Although I was surprised that Tugboat was also sent home in the middle of his deployment, I didn't really feel like asking a lot of prying questions, so I let it go and turned up the volume of my TV show.
That night, I was getting ready for my date with Chase when I heard the doorbell ring.
The front door opened, and my stepdad's happy voice boomed through the house.
"Tug! Come in, brother! Let me grab you a beer."
I sat still, listening to my stepdad and Tugboat's muffled voices and their footsteps as they walked through the house, making their way to the patio beyond the backdoor. The patio had been one of Patton's projects. He had sweated away an entire summer laying the flagstone and building the outdoor fireplace, then crafting the table and chairs from these old logs that he had found somewhere. Ever since he finished, there was no place he'd rather be on a summer evening when the breeze was blowing.
The patio was next to my bedroom. When I heard the men's voices outside, I cracked open my window so I could eavesdrop.
"But it's not fair," Tugboat said. I heard a loud thud, like he was slamming his fist down on the table. "You did the right thing-the honorable thing-and now we're being punished. It's obvious retaliation."
"I knew the risks involved," Patton said. "My only regret is that Commander MacAvoy dragged you into it."
"He thinks he can shut us up," Tugboat seethed. "Send us on the most dangerous and dumb-fuck stupidest mission ever imagined. He gets us both killed, and presto. The problem disappears as soon as we do."
"We might come out alive," Patton said.
"Yeah, I guess anything is possible," Tugboat replied. "But we wouldn't even be doing this if he thought we had a chance of surviving."
I pressed my face against the window screen. I could see the two men sitting at the patio table, Tugboat shaking his fist and my stepdad just sitting there in his stoic way.
"MacAvoy expects us to die in the desert," my stepdad said. "And that's fine. You and I are both willing to give our lives for our country. That's what we signed up for. Anyway, I think we have a real shot at taking out al-Farqi. It would be worth losing our lives to save so many more."
"You're right about that," Tugboat agreed. "I cannot wait to get that murderous son of a bitch in my crosshairs."
"Well, you'll probably get your chance. Unless I beat you to it."
Tugboat managed a rueful laugh and the men were silent for a moment as they sipped their bottles of beer.
My world was spinning. I could not believe what I was hearing. My stepdad was being sent on a deadly mission, and he didn't expect to make it out alive. The fact that he was ready and willing to die seemed insane to me. Not to mention incredibly selfish. Sure, he would get all the glory, in service of his country, but where would that leave me, his daughter? I had already lost my mom. I couldn't bear to lose my stepdad, too.
My heart was pounding so hard, I wanted to run outside to the patio and tell these two men what I really thought.
Then I got the text message.
Get your sexy ass out to my car.
Crap! Chase was here. I shot him a quick message saying I'd be out in a few minutes.
Timer set for 60 seconds
I wanted to stay and listen to my stepdad's conversation, but for some reason the idea of Chase actually setting a timer filled me with a sense of urgency. He wanted me to come with him, but he wasn't going to wait. And I definitely didn't want to be left out of whatever fun he had planned for us.
I grabbed my purse and dashed through my bedroom, pausing only for a moment to inspect myself in the mirror. I looked good, even sexy, as long as you ignored the worry in my eyes. My little black dress clung to my curves in all the right places.
When I raced out the front door, Chase was already backing down the driveway. I ran after his car, my hands waving and my boobs bouncing everywhere. He slowed down just enough for me to jump in.
"Shit, Evie," Chase said, his eyes raking down my body. "I'm glad you didn't make me wait."
"Just drive," I said.
///
"Jeez," Chase mumbled. "That time of the month or what?"
"It's nothing like that," I replied. "I just found out something about my dad. I really don't feel like talking about it, though."
"Suit yourself. I don't feel like talking, either."
Chase cranked up his rap music until it was so loud I thought my eardrums would burst. He sped out of my neighborhood, took a few more streets and turned onto Interstate 35.
"Where are we going?" I shouted over the music, but he ignored me, too busy with his phone.
We passed The University of Texas campus and the state capitol building, then Chase exited the freeway and turned onto Sixth Street. We all called it Dirty Sixth because it's where the college students and tourists went to do the kinds of things they would regret in the morning.
Bright and gaudy signs for night clubs lined either side of the one-way street. Dozens of people strolled along the sidewalks, taking in the sights. It was still a bit early in the evening so the road was still open to through traffic. Before long it would be closed and all three lanes would be taken over by rowdy club-hoppers and drunks wandering on foot from one bar to the next club.
Chase pulled up to a particularly swanky dance club called Pulse. A line of people had already formed in front of a velvet rope at the front entrance. A valet in a black suit and white gloves sprinted to the curb and opened Chase's door.