He took the towel from her, as the phone still clanged on the wall. “I’ve got it. No problem. Answer the phone.”
Sure he had things under control, she stepped around him and picked up the wall phone. “Hello?”
“Mrs. Prichard? This is Principal Gibbs at Stormville Elementary.” Panic assailed her but he continued before she could ask what was wrong. “I’m sorry to call you, but I need you to come down to the school. I have Justin and Taylor in my office for fighting with two other boys.”
“What?” Behind her, Curt froze at the shock in that one word. Her boys had never gotten in trouble for fighting before. “Um. Okay, I’m on my way. Is Amanda there, too, or did she get on the bus.”
“She’s on the bus. By the time I was alerted and stopped the fight, the buses had already started to pull away. Do you need to wait for her?”
Dana sighed. “Uh. No. I don’t. A friend is visiting and he can get her. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
After the man acknowledged her, she hung the headset back on its perch. She slowly turned around and found Curt eyeing her with curiosity. “That was the school. Apparently Justin and Taylor are in the principal’s office for fighting.”
“Each other?”
“No. Two other boys.” She grabbed her cell phone from the table and her purse from where she’d placed it on the counter earlier in the day. “Can you get Amanda off the bus? It stops in front of Peggy Olsen’s house. Ryan’s bus will be about fifteen minutes later, but he can walk home on his own.”
“No problem. I’ve got it covered. Should I do anything about dinner?”
Glancing around, she spotted her car keys on the small table in the foyer. “I’m just making spaghetti and meatballs. The sauce and meatballs are already made, so all I have to do is make the pasta later. Thanks.”
She was about to turn for the door, but he put his hand on her elbow. His voice was gentle as his gaze met hers. “No thanks necessary, Dana. You should now that by now. I’m just glad I can be here to help out.”
Biting her bottom lip, she wasn’t sure what to say to that. There was something in his expression she couldn’t quite zero in on. Certain her brain was misreading everything, she nodded. “I’m glad you are, too. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Tell Ryan to start his homework, since we’re going to the amusement park tomorrow.”
“Got it. Go. I promise I won’t burn down the house or let Ryan turn into a junior high school dropout while you’re gone.”
The smile that spread across her face was genuine. Curt had always been able to make her laugh…but now he was causing her to feel things she wasn’t sure she should be feeling. Sighing to herself, she marched out the door. She needed to concentrate on her kids at the moment. Everything else would have to wait.
Chapter 4
“Uncle Curtsy!”
The little imp jumped off the bus and right into his arms. He hugged her, then lifted her onto his shoulders and strode back toward the house, waving goodbye to Dana’s neighbor Peggy. Her husband, Phil, was a sheriff’s deputy and Curt had hung out with him many times while visiting the Prichard household.
Eric’s hometown in Iowa was pretty similar to Curt’s own hometown in Montana. Both had less than twenty-five thousand residents and were an hour away, give or take a few minutes, from the closest major city. They were large enough where one didn’t know everyone in the town, but if one of their own needed help, not only would the entire town come out in force, so would half the surrounding county.
“Where’s mommy? She’s going to be mad Justin and Taylor missed the bus again.”
“Again?” He hadn’t heard about this, so he doubted it was anything of concern. He’d become Dana’s sounding board at times when she was stressed. She had plenty of girlfriends, but they had their own kids and she felt bad about complaining to them. So he’d told her anytime she just needed an ear to bend, she should call him. Lately, though, it had gotten to the point he was kind of hoping the kids would get into trouble, just so she would call him and he could hear her sweet voice—pissed or not.
“Uh-huh. They missed it a few weeks ago ‘cause they were playing catch. Mommy was mad.”
“I bet she was.” He lifted her down onto the porch and helped her get her pink and purple backpack off. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t miss the bus because I’d still be out there twiddling my thumbs.”
She giggled. “What’s widdling?”
“Twiddling. Watch.” He put his hands together and rotated his thumbs around each other. When she mimicked him, he grinned. “There you go. You officially know how to twiddle your thumbs.”
Bringing her into the kitchen, he made a little plate of cheese and crackers for her since she didn’t care for the meats on the platter. Then he retrieved the jug of sugar-free fruit punch from the fridge and poured her a glass. “So how was school?”
“Good.”
“Learn anything new?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Not really.”
It amazed him that after six or seven hours a day in school, every kid he knew gave that same response. But then again, he’d probably been the same way when he was young.
A few minutes later, the front door opened and he tilted his chair on its back legs so he could see who it was. Another thing about small towns, it wasn’t unheard of to leave your doors unlocked while you were home. He knew Dana locked it when it was just her and the kids, which was good. “Hey, Ryan. Mom will be back in a few. She had to go get your brothers at school.”
The junior high school student dropped his bulging backpack with a thud and made a beeline for the fridge. Sticking his head in, he asked, “What? They missed the bus again?”
“Something like that.” If Dana wanted Ryan to know what happened, it was her right to tell him. “She said for you to start your homework since we’re going to the indoor amusement park tomorrow.”
Ryan’s head spun around so fast, Curt was surprised he didn’t get whiplash. “Seriously?”
“Yeah!” Amanda cheered through fruit punch stained lips.
Uh-oh. Dana hadn’t told them yet. He hoped it wasn’t supposed to be a surprise that he just ruined. “Yay, but don’t tell your mom I told you. She may have wanted it to be a surprise.”
“No problem. I can fake being surprised, but I’m not too sure about short-stuff over there.”
“I can fake surprise, too. See?”
Biting his lip to keep from laughing at the ‘surprise’ faces she was making, Curt couldn’t help but see the little girl’s father in her expressions. He’d never really noticed it before with her, but Ryan and Justin were the spitting images of their dad, while Amanda usually looked like her mom, just as Taylor did. A thought of what their child would look like if Dana and he had one together flickered through his brain. Whoa. Shit. Where the hell did that come from? Pushing it to the far reaches of his mind, he cleared his throat. “Anyway. Start your homework, so you don’t have to cram it all in on Sunday.”
Ryan shut the refrigerator door after retrieving a can of root beer and nothing more, before sitting at the table and making a few towers of meat, cheese, and crackers. Curt just shook his head. He’d had a perpetually empty stomach when he was a teen, and Ryan would be turning thirteen in about six weeks, so he hoped Dana was ready for the increase in food shopping.
“I’ll get my history stuff done, but I’m leaving math until Sunday.”
“What’s the problem with math? I thought you liked it.” The kid had always been a whiz at math, even at an early age.
“I like the math Mom teaches us. Not this core-math crap.”
Curt gave him a sharp look. “Hey, watch your mouth. Especially around your sister.” Eric would want his sons to know how to respect women, especially the ones they were related to.
The boy’s gaze dropped to the table. His voice cracked as he apologized. “Sorry.”
Oh, shit. He wondered if Dana knew her oldest son was starting puberty. He’d have to offer to
teach the kid how to shave, now that he was noticing a little hair on his upper lip.
After stuffing his face, Ryan went to his bedroom to start his homework. In the meantime, Curt pulled Amanda’s classroom folder from her backpack and left it on the table for Dana to look at. He knew the teacher put all announcements and assignments in it for the parents to keep track of since first graders had a tendency to forget or lose things.
With nothing to do but help Amanda with her homework, he opened the dishwasher, which had been running when he arrived, and put everything where it belonged. He listened as the little girl read out loud a list of three-letter words which all rhymed with ‘cat’.
He’d just glanced at the clock and noticed it was almost five o’clock when he heard Dana’s car pull into the drive. Moments later, she stormed into the house with two solemn looking boys in tow. Both were disheveled and Justin’s shirt was torn. Slamming her purse on the counter, Dana ordered them through gritted teeth, “Go wash up and throw those clothes in the laundry, then start your homework. Dinner will be ready in an hour.” As the two boys headed down the hall to their rooms, she turned to her daughter. “Amanda, sweetie, can you go play in your room for a little bit. I need to have an adult talk with Uncle Curt.”
Uh-oh.
“Okay, Mommy.” The girl closed her book and stood, but before she left the room, she ran over to hug her mother’s hips. “Don’t be mad. It’ll be okay.”
Dana sighed and squatted down to embrace her. “I know it will. Thanks, sweetie.”
“You’re welcome.”
As soon as Amanda skipped out of earshot, Dana lost it. Pacing back and forth, she spoke low enough that the kids wouldn’t hear her, but with plenty of venom. “I don’t freaking believe that school. Un-freaking-believable. The two of them are suspended for three days, starting Monday, because they stood up to a pair of bullies who were harassing Justin’s friend. Justin stepped in to tell them to back off and they both started in on him. Taylor saw what happened and ran over to help his brother. Once it was a fair fight, my boys kicked ass.” She paused with her hands on her hips, then grinned. “Does that make me a bad mother that I’m glad they were the victors in the fight?”
Curt chuckled as he leaned against the table, out of her way. “Not in my book. Although, I assume no one was seriously hurt.”
Pulling open the fridge door, she reached in for the pot of sauce and meatballs and placed it on the stove, then grabbed a clean pot from under the counter and began to fill it with water as she spoke. “No. Just a few scrapes and bruises on both sides. And Justin’s ripped shirt. At least the principal suspended the bullies, too. I don’t know the one kid, but the other one I’m not surprised about, since his mother is a bitchy bully, too. Of course, she’s screaming she wants my ten-year-old and nine-year-old arrested for assault. Like that’s going to happen. She’s lucky I didn’t need to be arrested for assaulting her. You have no idea how much I wanted to bash her face in.” She put the water on the stove and then turned the dials for both front burners to heat the pots. “I feel bad for Connor though—the kid who was being bullied in the first place. He’s Justin’s best friend and he’s got a physical disability. His hip was deformed at birth, so he walks with a pronounced limp—that leg is turned in a bit. The doctors want to wait until he stops growing before doing a hip replacement so he can walk better and be more active. It won’t be a one hundred percent fix, but his limp will be dramatically less noticeable.”
“That sucks.”
“Yeah. And the thing that really sucks is he adored Eric and has been saying since he was five he wants to be a Navy SEAL, but you and I know that will never happen.” She wasn’t putting the kid down, but the BUD/s training for SEALs was so intense, very few men passed. With a limp, it was doubtful the kid would even be accepted into the military at all, no matter how slight the disability might be at that point. “I hope as he gets a little older, he’ll find something else he dreams of doing which won’t be hindered by his disability.”
“I’m sure he will.”
“Well, for now, I think that was part of why he was being bullied earlier. Telling everyone he wants to be a SEAL.” She stirred the sauce, and then pulled a box of spaghetti from one of the cabinets. “And he’s just got his mom. Dad was a deadbeat who left town before Connor was even born, so she’s had it rough. I’m helping her plan his birthday party. She wants to make it military themed.”
“She does, huh?” The wheels in his mind started spinning. His former teammates and he all had soft spots for kids, especially those who idolized the SEALs. “When’s his birthday?”
“Two weeks from tomorrow. Why?”
He shrugged. “Let me make a few calls and see what I can do about surprising him with a few real SEALs.”
Her eyes widened. “Really? I honestly didn’t think of that. But I don’t want the guys to fly in just for the day.”
“Let me worry about that.” He glanced at the clock, then pulled his phone out of his pocket. “I’ll be right back.”
Chapter 5
Stepping onto the back porch, Curt hit the speed dial for Ian Sawyer. While waiting for the call to be picked up, he surveyed the huge back yard. The only animals left on the farm were the chickens, but the old barn, which had once housed a few horses, pigs, and goats, was still there along with two storage sheds. Eric had wanted to begin getting farm animals again, like he’d grown up with, and had been getting the buildings usable once more when he’d been killed. Since then, they hadn’t been touched except for the shed with the lawnmower and tool bench. The setup would be perfect for what he was planning, though, if he could get a few of the guys in.
The call connected. “Elmer. What’s up?”
From the mild echo, he knew he’d been placed on speaker, which meant the man was probably still in his office. “Hey, Ian. Got a favor to ask, and since the six of you are the easiest way to get a group, I’m starting with you.” He proceeded to fill his old teammate in on the kid’s dream and how he wanted to surprise him.
“A SEAL birthday party, complete with SEALs, huh?”
“Yeah, I figure I could make a training setup in Dana’s backyard, and we could use the laser tag weapons and show the kids how we do things. Then make them part of the so-called ‘rescue’ or whatever. I’ll call Little Creek and have someone send me a bunch of Team Four hats and shirts, and I have some of our challenge coins we can give the kids. The only problem is his birthday party is two weeks from tomorrow. I can call around and see if anyone else can get in, but I figured I’d check with you first. I’ll reimburse you for the jet fuel to fly up here.”
“Fuck you, Elmer. Like I’m worried about that. But you’re actually…sort of…in luck.”
He could hear the other man typing on a computer keyboard. “Yeah? How’s that?”
“Well, Parker and Shelby have decided to fly to Vegas to get married that weekend and we’re all invited. Her sister’s family just relocated there and Parker’s disowned his, so instead of having a big to-do here, they want to do the Vegas thing. The team is flying up there with the women on Saturday, but the wedding is actually Sunday. We were planning on flying out of here around eleven or so in the morning, but let me see if everyone can leave the night before. We can stay at that nice hotel not too far from Dana’s, then do the party around noon, if that’s okay. That will still give us plenty of time to hoof it to Vegas afterward. It’ll be easy to fly in and out of that local airport just outside of Stormville. All we’ll need is a couple of SUVs or vans. Can you arrange that?”
“Yeah, of course. Are you sure about this, Ian? I know it’s last minute and all.”
“No worries. You know we love doing shit like this for the kids. Let me check with everyone to make sure we can leave the night before and I’ll call or text you back. Jake and Nick are meeting us in Vegas Saturday evening, though, because Nick has a training exercise scheduled for most of the day, so they’re out.”
“That’s all right.
Archer swapped with me, so he’ll be here that weekend and so will Urkel.” Steve ‘Urkel’ Romanelli was another former team member who lived just outside of Daytona. The man was a god on the basketball court and Curt had always made sure they were on the same team during three-on-three pick-up games because the guy was almost impossible to defend.
“Sounds good. I’ll call you back later after I talk to everyone. I know the girls will be excited. They’re all friends with Dana in that private SEAL wives and fiancées Facebook group and, according to my angel, they would love to finally meet her.”
“I’m sure she’ll love it, too. Talk to you later, and thanks.”
Before they’d finished dinner, Ian texted him to let him know everything was a go from their end. Dana would call Connor’s mom in the morning and tell her what they had planned. They would move the party to Dana’s house, which wasn’t a big deal since she had been helping with the arrangements anyway. Curt would then fly up two days early to get the backyard prepped for the SEALs vs. tangos showdown.
The cleanup from dinner went fast with everyone pitching in, then they pulled out a few board games and made an evening filled with laughter and fun. The domesticity and sense of belonging tugged at Curt’s heartstrings. He’d wanted this thing—a family—for himself for a while know…even before Eric’s death, but he hadn’t found a woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. And it never occurred to him the reason he hadn’t was because he had to bide his time until the right woman was available. Was that woman Dana? He wasn’t sure, but everything he felt during the evening seemed right…seemed perfect—except the ghost of a man who was in the room watching over them.
* * *
“Well, everyone’s tucked in and excited about tomorrow,” Curt announced as he strode back out to the living room where Dana had opened the pull-out couch and inflated the mattress. She was now in the process of putting the sheets on. Her back was to him as she bent over to pull the fitted sheet around one of the corners. His cock twitched, and he refused to let the groan in his throat come to the surface as he stared at her shapely ass.
Whiskey Tribute: A Trident Security Series Novella - Book 5.5 Page 3