Page 69 of Avenged

“Where would we go? And with what money? We barely had anything left after the judge awarded a huge settlement to the Perez family. They took the house and wiped out any savings Dad had. Plus, we’d never really been anywhere else.”

“Wait. Like, you’ve never traveled anywhere?”

She gave a sad smile. “I’ve been to New York now, and before I was born, Jersey and my parents went to Disney World. That’s the farthest either of us have been.”

I sat appalled, and angry, and frustrated, and sad, but it filled me with new determination. I would make Jersey’s day something special. Something worthy of her. I wanted her to look back on it and add it to the list of best days of her life just as she had the Comic Con.

? ? ?

On Thursday, Jersey texted me while I was just tying up the Chinook and scooting the crew off of it while the captain finished up paperwork.

WIFEY: I got an email from the jail. You’ve been approved. They say we can see Dad tomorrow. Do you still want to go with me? Does that work for you at all?

Damn. I didn’t want her to think of her father over her birthday weekend. I wanted tomorrow to be the first day of her being able to just celebrate herself. But maybe having it over and done with would mean she could enjoy it more because it wouldn’t be hanging above her. It wouldn’t be another brick on her shoulder waiting to be removed.

ME: Yes, I still want to come. Yes, that’ll work. And stop.

WIFEY: Stop what?

ME: You know what. Stop feeling guilty for letting me come. I want to be there for you.

She didn’t reply. Which meant I’d been right. She was eating herself up, even now, because she felt like she was imposing on me.

I’d taken a couple days of leave, and after clearing it with Captain Andrews, I ducked out early. It was one of the reasons I liked working under him in New London. He wanted his team to have a life that wasn’t all Coast Guard. He understood the importance of our blood-and-bones family as much as our Coastie family.

I drove downtown, made a quick stop, and then parked in the bookstore parking lot.

Through the window, I watched as Jersey helped a mom and a little kid at the register. She was smiling, which still didn’t happen very often. Seeing it for almost a whole day at the Comic Con had been a rare experience. I wanted her to have that smile permanently on her face. I wanted her to feel like she deserved it, but I also knew from my own experience and from my time with Dawson, that I couldn’t make them feel something they didn’t. At the end of the day, they had to walk through those demons to the other side alone.

Once the mom and the little boy left, I got out of the pickup and went inside. She looked up when the bell chimed, and the smile that was on her face stayed there and took my breath away.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, but there wasn’t the bite to it there might have been earlier in our relationship.

“Geez, can’t a man surprise his wife without getting the third degree?” I teased, and she flinched.

She twisted her ring before turning back to the computer. “Ha, ha.”

I walked up to the counter and set down a pink box.

She looked down at it.

“What’s this?”

“Just a treat.”

She went back to worrying the ring. “How can I stop feeling guilty when you continue to do things you shouldn’t for me?”

“You act like I do things for you that I wouldn’t do for any of my other friends. I can tell you for a fact, Mac would almost expect this.” I pushed the box toward her a little.

“Is that what we are? Friends?”

I stared at her, willing her to agree. “I thought so. You don’t?”

“I feel like the drowning rat scrambling up the body in front of it to reach the surface.”

“That’s quite the visual. Am I supposed to be the body?”

She nodded then flushed because she realized there were lots of ways scrambling bodies could be interpreted.

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