Chapter Seventy
Sloane
She sat in the passenger seat of the Odyssey as I legally drove us back to the beach house.
“You’ve been a busy boy this last week,” she remarked as she looked over at me with her head against the seat rest.
If you only knew how busy, baby…
“So, you’re going to be officially retired on January ninth. Does that mean you have to leave the regiment?”
“Yes.”
“Any idea where you’re going to go?”
“I have an idea. I’m actually hoping to get into it before the holidays so we can spend Christmas and New Year’s there. And I can finally get Tank back.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful? Where is it?”
“I’ll show you tomorrow, if you have time.”
“Jeff is coming for one last appointment with Stu before he moves out this weekend.”
I chuckled. “Stu’s getting his wings? That’s great. Good for him. Where’s he going?”
“He’s following Crash’s footsteps and enrolling at your alma mater. And, he and Crash are actually going to live together. Which opens up a whole different set of concerns.”
“Mainly for the women of San Diego,” I supplied with a grin.
Those two might be Wounded Warriors, but I think they also had the propensity to be lady killers.
“It seems like all the little birds from my first clutch have moved on.”
“That’s good, right?”
“It means I’m doing my job.”
“So, no one took Crash’s place; is there someone scheduled to take Stu’s spot?”
“No.”
“I guess that’s a good thing, but probably not necessarily for you.”
“Since Bobby got back from spending time with his family in Arizona, he’s talked about moving there to be closer to them. Travis said I can stay at the beach house, but he won’t be able to pay me unless there’s someone there for me to work with. The VA can only keep me at part-time like they are now, since they hired someone to take my full-time position. But I’ll still be okay since Travis isn’t going to charge me rent.”
“Then you could probably go to school full-time.”
“I don’t know. I mean, I know you’re going to want to get a job, and I really don’t like the idea of putting Millie in daycare more than necessary… I think anything more than three classes would be too much.”
“I already got a job. I start the end of January, after I’ve recovered from my skin graft. I’ll work from home Mondays and Fridays, and every other Wednesday, then be in the field on Tuesdays and Thursdays.”
“ You got a job ? Already? ”
I tried to hide my smug smile.
“Yep. A pretty good one, too.”
“Doing what?”
“Working for Armstrong Labs.”
“Armstrong Labs? Don’t they do prosthetics?”
“They actually do a lot of technology development across several fields, but yeah, I’ll be working in their prosthetics division.”
“I don’t understand? I thought your degree was in business administration. What are you going to be doing for them?”
This time I didn’t disguise my grin.
“Sales. And my contract is pretty damn sweet.”
“That’s amazing, babe! Congratulations. Did you meet someone on base, or…?”
“No, Grace told her sister, Hope about me. Hope developed a patent for a prosthetic, and she partnered with Armstrong Labs to bring it to fruition. And they made a boatload of money in the process, so now they’re trying to market it worldwide.”
“So, does that mean you’re going to have to travel?”
“No. Well, yes, but nothing overnight. I’ll be responsible for southern California.”
“Is that why you decided to retire?”
“It played a factor. Between my retirement and this job, we’re going to be set, sweetness. You won’t have to work unless you want to.”
“I want to. At least part-time. Hopefully by the time Millie starts school I’ll have my doctorate and can then work full-time as a physical therapist.”
“Whatever you want, sweetness. I’ll support anything you decide to do. But what if we have another baby? Or two?”
****
Ashley
Another baby? Or two?
“I—I guess I hadn’t thought about that.”
“I mean, obviously not right away. But maybe in another year or so?”
“There has been a lot for me to try to wrap my head around tonight. Maybe we can talk about this some other time.”
He shrugged. “I’m not going anywhere.”
My head was spinning. Not more than an hour ago, I was nervous he was going to ask me to marry him in front of everyone and now, I find out he’s retiring from the Marines, going to work as a salesman making beaucoup bucks, and he wants more kids.
But wait, there’s more!