Page 105 of Daddy, Sir

“I guess… I guess I wanted you to stop ignoring me.” That wasn’t quite right, but it was close.

A laugh burst from him, and there was a bitter edge to it. “That doesn’t make any sense. I’ve never ignored you.”

She half-turned in her seat, to meet his eyes. “You’ve been different with me since you got into high school. I thought it would change when I got to ninth grade, but it didn’t. I thought it would change when we had ROTC together, but it didn’t. When I act up you pretend like you don’t see it. Or you tell one of the Sergeants to deal with me.”

“Yeah, because it felt weird disciplining you and I thought you were mad at me, so I was trying to give you some space to work on it.”

“I have been mad, hurt, mad again, sad… honestly my emotions have been all over the place.” She blew out a loud exasperated breath. “But you ignoring it and treating me like I wasn’t there made it worse. I felt like I was invisible.”

“Do you still feel invisible?”

She snorted. “No.” She had enough aches in her body to remind her of that.

“That’s a start then.” He was quiet for a minute. “I meant it when I said I wasn’t letting you off anymore.”

“Good. Don’t.”

He jerked and gave her a startled look. “Seriously? You want to sweat your ass off doing burpees and sprints?”

“No, of course not. Only an idiot likes doing PT, but I—” She cut herself off, and quickly rephrased what she’d been about to say. “But it’s only fair that I get treated the same as everyone else.”

He examined her, trying to decide if she was serious, and then shrugged. “Fine. No more special treatment. When you act like a brat, I’m going to come down on you like a ton of bricks. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Deal. But, Ollie?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Yeah?”

“Don’t forget that wearefriends. You can boss me around as much as you like in ROTC, throw as many punishments my way as I deserve, but stop pretending like our friendship died just because you’re three years older. Neither of us magically changed when you entered high school.”

His mouth curved up on one side and he shook his head. “Okay, I hear you and I get it.”

“Good, because bad attention is better than no attention. And if I have to act up for you to notice me… I will.”

“You’ll regret it,” he warned her.

“Probably, but that doesn’t change anything.” She opened the door and swung her legs out, wincing as the muscle pulled. ‘See you tomorrow.”

Before she got two steps, Oliver called her back. “All of this aside… don’t let me catch you smoking again, Jamie. I’m serious. You know better.” He had a worried, serious look on his face.

“Fine, just for you I’ll quit. Happy?”

He grinned. “Yes. See, youcanbe a good girl when you try.”

She rolled her eyes, but oddly being called a good girl didn’t come off as condescending as it should have. She actually… liked it.

Of course, quitting was easy enough. She hated smoking, but there was no way she was going to confess the truth. She’d taken to lighting up, just outside the ROTC building, in hopes of him catching her on the way to the senior lot.

It had taken two weeks, and two packs of cigarettes, but it had been worth it. Though she might have reconsidered, if she’d known he was going to destroy her with a whole hour of nonstop PT. That part had sucked.

It took her some time to realize it, but that day had taught her two things. First, that was when she knew for sure she’d caught feelings for Oliver, or at least when she was positive those feelings went beyond friendship. Second… she kind of liked it when he was pissed off.

If there had been more time, maybe she could have explored those feelings, but the year ended before she knew it. Oliver graduated and was gone soon after, leaving her with years of unresolved feelings.

Chapter Two

“Jamie, are you coming to the reunion next week?”

Jamie frowned and tilted her head. “What?” She’d expected a different kind of greeting when she answered the phone, especially from someone she rarely spoke with, and the confusion had to be obvious in her voice.

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