Chapter 4 #3
“Are you kidding? If I were on my own, I would be having toast, or a sandwich at best, and crawling into bed.” He studied her, his gaze assessing. She held up a hand. “I’m fine.”
“Well, you’re fine, but you’re also exhausted,” he pointed out.
“Sure, but that is not necessarily a surprise,” she noted, with a smirk.
“I mean, think about it. This is hardly an easy job right now. I’m just trying to finish something that’s been in the works for a long time, and I had lots of distractions along the way, but now there’s just this big push. I want to get it done.”
“And you’re almost there.”
“I am. So how can I help with the food?” she asked, turning to him.
“I’ll go light the barbecue. You want to toss together a salad?”
“Oh, I think I can manage that,” she said, moving to the fridge. “Sometimes that’s about all I can manage.”
“And that’s okay,” he told her. “Those times are coming to an end.”
She laughed. “But that’s implying I’m actually going to cook more, even when I have time.
I’m not so sure about that though.” When he eyed her in surprise, she shrugged.
“Cooking became one of those jobs that I had to do, and it was generally criticized, so it’s not something I’ve ever really wanted to do. ”
He nodded. “Well, you don’t have to do it here, but—”
“No, but I want to help here and to contribute. I don’t want you thinking I’m freeloading.” He turned to stare at her, and she winced. “I know what you’re going to say, and it’s fine.”
He laughed. “You don’t know what I was about to say,” he countered, “so here it is. Please stop saying things like that or even thinking them. You’re not freeloading. You’re here because you’re invited to be here, no strings attached.”
“I have to pitch in though,” she argued. “I don’t want to get kicked out.”
He was in the act of stepping outside to the barbecue, then abruptly turned to her. “That was always a thing with Penny, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, it was,” she admitted. “There was no security knowing I could plan to stay for however long I needed. It was very clear that I was good to stay as long as it was convenient for my mother and as long as I brought money in, for my mother. But the minute that changed, everything else changed too.”
“I forgot what a bitch she could be.”
She laughed. “You have no idea.”
“No, and I don’t want to,” he stated. “Rest assured, that’s not how I operate.”
“No, and you’re lucky that isn’t how you operate and that you have options,” she said, with a smile. “Not everybody was so lucky.”
“No, and all I could ever think about was having that family and bringing my mother back—which wasn’t an option—but that doesn’t stop a kid from wishing things were different.”
She immediately nodded. “And, for me, I just never thought that there would be any change. I would just be stuck in a miserable situation,” she shared, with a laugh. “So, from my perspective, I needed to make the change happen if I wanted something different.”
“Which in a way is perfect,” he said, “because then you grow up very quickly.”
“Even if it wasn’t a great way to grow up,” she pointed out.
“I’m not sure there is a good way to grow up. I certainly grew up quickly, and that wasn’t easy,” he shared, “but we move on because our choices are limited.”
As she made the salad, and he came back in from putting the pork chops on, she asked him, “Do you know anything about Joel’s story?”
He shook his head. “Nothing I remember about his life before the military. Even in the military, I didn’t know much.
I served some time with him when he was a mechanic, but he’s also some sort of specialist in computer cyber something or other.
” He shrugged. “He was talking about hooking up with this friend of his who does cybersecurity stuff. They just weren’t sure what role he would play or what that would look like, but it sounds like it’s definitely an option.
” Sterling smiled. “Joel’s pretty good at whatever he sets his mind to.
So, with the experience he already has and a place to get his foot in the door, he’s bound to do very well,” he said. “I don’t know how all that works.”
“No, I don’t either,” she replied. “It seems like everything these days involves computers.”
“It absolutely does,” he agreed, with a laugh, “but that doesn’t mean that it’s easily sorted out. I don’t know whether he needs credentials or anything in terms of education. I don’t know if he would take the time to get that if he did.”
She nodded at him and then shrugged. “I guess that’s always one of the things, isn’t it? No matter what field you guys go back into, if it’s not what you previously did—”
“Even if it is what we previously did,” he interjected, “it doesn’t mean that during our surgeries and our rehabs that we had a chance to maintain our trades.
So our associations, any updates that must be done, any professional standings that need to be kept up,” he detailed, “in every instance, there is a chance to revive all that. However, it does take time and money. So, in that case, you have to decide if that’s what you really want to do. ”