Page 101 of An Adventure For Aster

“And you know I didn’t want it.”

“But you got it and you deserve to start your life over,” Carrington said. “I felt horrible when Dad told me you couldn’t go back in the service. Now you can do what you want. Can I ask what you’re doing?”

“Sure,” he said. “My old commander, his wife owns Blossoms. It’s lotion, candles, soap, accessories.”

“And jewelry,” Carrington said. “I’ve got one of their necklaces.”

He grinned. “That too. Zane needed someone to oversee their facilities. That was my specialty in the service. He was doing it along with his construction company, and with their third baby, his wife said enough was enough. They hired me. It all worked out.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Tucker said. “Truly glad. I’m not sure what I’d do or who I’d be if I didn’t end up with the family business. Sometimes you just know what you’re meant to do and if it’s taken from you, you can feel a little lost.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly.

The DA came in before anyone could say another word; they were prepped and then brought into the courtroom.

Aster was the first witness called and was asked what he expected. To identify the driver and the person following Carrington around the store. There were more questions on the attack and the fight, him getting shot. The defense had little to ask of him other than why he was in the store and maybe he was following Carrington too. The DA objected enough and Aster was glad he kept his cool.

Then he had to sit through the video of him being shot and Carrington being questioned.

It broke his heart to hear that, yes, she was getting counseling, but she was doing well. She felt she lost all her freedom and was filled with fear, but she was trying not to let it bring her down.

She was just a kid and, man, did she stand up to them and look them in the eye when she made that statement.

Thankfully after lunch, there were closing statements and he was free to go around four and hoped this chapter would be put behind him.

He could just take his fresh start in a new state with his girlfriend and move past all the horrors he’d witnessed and lived through.

“You’ve got my number if you need anything,” Tucker said. “I mean it. I can never say how thankful I am.”

“I do have it,” he said. “But I doubt I’ll use it.”

“I figured as much,” Tucker said. “Though maybe if you could check in on Carrington now and again. She’s struggling. She feels a bond with you and hadn’t known you left. I could have given her your number but felt you needed some peace too.”

It felt like a dump truck full of shit dropped on him hearing that. “I’ll be in touch with her. I promise.”

“She might hit me up for a trip out East this summer.”

“It’s a great place to vacation,” he said.

“Then we might have to plan on it,” Tucker said, shaking his hand.

Aster left the courthouse and drove back to his hotel after picking up a pizza to eat in his room alone.

And he hoped this would be the last time he’d ever feel this way again.

34

ALL A TEST

“How was Aster doing?” Raine’s mother asked her on Thursday night.

Her mother invited her for dinner, saying she knew it’d be hard for Raine to be alone knowing what Aster was going through that day.

She was grateful for that.

“He was quiet,” she said. “I thought I could get more out of him, but I think I got enough.”

“How much is enough?” her mother asked.

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