Chapter 10
TEN
Two Years Later
As per usual, Renn was ready twenty minutes ago.
Nate, however, was in a mad dash to find his peaked cap, clothes flying across the room as he searched.
They had picked up their new uniforms a week ago, for when they would make the official transition from the cadet marron to the dark navy that the officers adorned.
“How could you have lost it? You haven’t even worn it yet,” Renn nagged, leaning on the doorframe.
“Shit. What if I left it at Kylie’s?” Nate said, emptying another drawer onto the floor already covered in clothes.
“Why would it be there?” Renn asked, crossing his arms in annoyance.
“Well, Ky wanted to see how it looked, so I tried it on for her and well . . . it must have looked amazing because two seconds later, she tore it off me.” He grinned proudly. Renn couldn’t help rolling his eyes as dramatically as he did. “Ah! Here it is!” Nate raised it over his head triumphantly.
“Good, hurry up and change. We need to go.”
It was graduation day—the campus was packed with family and friends to support their graduates, all heading to the auditorium for the ceremony.
Nate and Renn stood out in the crowd, not only because they were running maniacally, but two good-looking twenty-year-olds like them never went anywhere without a few heads turning.
Sprinting to the front of the stage, Professor Shapiro was tapping her foot, glaring at the pair of them. A few of the cadets shouted and whistled as they finally made their appearance. Nate was smug, giving them all a salute in appreciation.
“Let me remind both of you, that graduating is not simply a tradition but is required to be accepted into SEA as officers. This is important—something earned—and if you still can’t be on time, even after all these years .
. . well, maybe I should tell the dean to shred your diplomas,” Shapiro lectured.
Renn placed a hand on his chest. “Professor, you know I hate to disappoint you.” He paused for dramatic effect. “I truly did my best to get him here on time.” He winked and she tried to hold her smile back, settling for pursing her lips.
“Thanks for that,” Nate said, pushing past him and taking his assigned seat in the front row. Renn bowed his head to the professor and moved to take his seat, but she placed a hand on his shoulder to halt him.
“Aldrenn,” she said in a serious tone, and not in her normal lecturing voice. “I just want to say that you are one of the best students I’ve ever had the pleasure of teaching, and I think you know it’s for more than just the academic side, when it comes to you.”
Renn had never heard her say anything sentimental before and he didn’t know what to say.
“I am looking forward to watching what you accomplish with the SEA.”
“Thank you, professor. I’ll do my best not to let you down.” He stood straighter, and she actually gave him a real smile.
“I know you won’t.”
She left him standing there moving to guide other students on where to go.
Renn looked out into the crowd, looking for his grandparents, suddenly feeling nauseous because what no one knew was that, as of late, he had been contemplating delaying joining the SEA.
The last time he had visited his grandparents was different from any of his regular visits to their home. Of course they were getting a little slower over the years, and needed more help with tech or things to fix around the house, but it was a shock to witness a more dramatic decline in person.
When he was last at his childhood home, the weeds had overgrown the flower beds, piles of unfinished laundry were scattered throughout the house, and the vacuum was sitting in the hallway as if it had been sitting there for days.
That might have been nothing in someone else’s home, but Camille and Charlie would never.
Camille kept a tidy home, and Charlie loved yard work.
The money left from his father would help to hire nurses and other care so they wouldn’t be alone to fend for themselves, but he couldn’t leave them.
Not now. It wasn’t as if he was moving across the country, where he could simply jump on a plane and be home in a few hours.
He was going on intergalactic missions. The SEA allowed people to go home for family emergencies, of course, but that didn’t mean you’d get there in time.
He hadn’t worked out all the details yet, but surely there was something he could do on Earth for the time being.
After graduation, he would be getting his assignment shortly afterwards.
He was running out time to make a final decision, though.
He’d have to get a hold of someone at SEA to explain the situation.
Maybe, in the meantime, he could do mechanic work, or maybe small journeys as pilot—something that wouldn’t take him away for long periods at a time.
Perhaps Captain Grey could help?
At last, he found their faces in the crowd. The two of them waved excitedly, and he waved back, holding back a sudden stinging sensation in his eyes, before he took his seat.
“Everything okay?” Nate studied him. It had been difficult to keep this from Nate as he had been running things over and over in his mind. Especially because he didn’t know what to tell Nate when he didn’t have a choice to keep quiet about the situation.
“Yeah. Just nervous.”
“Nervous?” Nate exclaimed, puzzled. “Dude, what’s going on?”
Renn did his best to give him an encouraging response, but he couldn’t, at the moment.
“Renn?” His voice turned grave.
“It’s nothing I’ll . . . I’ll tell you later.” He sighed, giving his friend a small, but unconvincing, grin.
Nate’s face faded from humor to concern in a second. He opened his mouth to speak, but the ceremony began.
A swell of pride rose in Renn’s chest when the dean pinned the metal on his shoulder, officially appointing him to Officer Anton.
It was exhilarating but fleeting, followed by great sorrow.
Had he really spent the last six years of his life to get to this moment, just to walk away before it truly began?
His chest was tight with an ache he couldn’t explain, his mind a jumble, working through every possible scenario he could think of to make everyone happy.
Would his grandparents be disappointed when he told them he was staying with them?
Or relieved that he would be helping them as they continued to age?
After the ceremony, Nate didn’t get a chance to talk with Renn alone, but he made sure he understood he wasn’t dropping the subject anytime soon.
“We’ll talk later. Yeah?” he said, gripping Renn’s shoulder forcefully. Renn nodded, braving a smile.
“Don’t worry about me,” he said, wrapping him in a hug.
“Have fun with Kylie.” He clapped him on the back for good measure.
Zigzagging through the crowd, he kept getting stopped by fellow comrades and other professors offering their congratulations before he finally found Camille and Charlie talking to other proud parents and grandparents alike.
“Aldrenn!” his grandfather exclaimed, spotting him over the crowd.
“Hey, Pop!” They embraced as his grandmother beamed.
“That was a lovely ceremony,” Camille said. “Where’s Nate? I was hoping to see him.” She scanned the crowd.
“He had to go, but he’ll come by the house in a couple days. He would love to see the both of you.”
Camille smiled, leaning on the cane she recently began to use whenever she ventured far from home.
“Lets get out of here,” Renn said, taking hold of her other arm for extra support, and the three of them headed home.
“Your Pop is turning in. Traveling tires him out easily these days.”
Renn could tell by her slow movements that she was exhausted too.
After one of Camille’s signature home-cooked meals—Renn’s favorite roast beef and mashed potatoes with an apple pie for dessert—the three of them played card games, settling into their easy conversation and laughter as they always did.
“Gran, you can go to bed too. I’m fine.”
“No, no. I want to sit with you for a while.” She slowly lowered herself into the chair beside him at the kitchen table. “So, do you want to talk about it now?”
“What do you mean?” He swallowed.
“Renn, sweetheart.” She placed her hand over his. “Don’t put your dreams on hold. Not one for a single minute.”
He sighed, tightening his grip against her fragile hand, her skin paper thin. The touch was just as comforting as it always had been—always would be.
“I know what you’re thinking, and me and your grandfather are going to be fine.”
He started to shake his head. “Gran.” His voice broke.
“Please, Renn. Don’t stop now. After everything you’ve been through, you need to go live the life you’re meant to,” she said fiercely, forcing him to look at her.
“But you and Pop took care of me for so long, and let’s be completely honest here . . . you raised me when it wasn’t your job to do so. I want to pay it all back to you. It’s my turn to take care of you.”
Camille looked at her grandson in awe as he still continued to impress her even after all these years. And here he was, a grown man. Watching him walk across that stage earlier made her heart want to burst with how much she loved him.
“Renn, if you really want to pay us back, which is absolutely not expected, by the way, then doing exactly what you have been chasing all these years is how you truly honor us.”
Renn’s lip trembled slightly. “Do you mean that? Truly?”
She squeezed his hand tighter. “I promise.”
Renn inhaled a breath, rubbing his eyes. “But what if we don’t have a lot of time left?” he asked, his voice practically a whisper.
“Listen. My time is not your time—that’s life. We are all on our own path. We get to be part of other’s journeys along the way—others we get to love—but we can’t always be together all the time.”
A tear slid down his cheek.
“Even when I’m gone, it’s only for a space of time. But I know we will see each other again.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because of you.”
He took a shuttering breath.