Page 8 of My Orc in Uniform

“Yeah, well…” He huffed out a breath that might’ve been a laugh, might’ve been anger, his gaze locked on the tabletop to my left. “And how do you think that makes me feel? To know that you’ve spent the last how many years avoiding guys, avoidingfun, because you didn’t want to…I dunno.”

“Because I didn’t want to hurt you,” I whispered. “I didn’t want you to get attached to some guy only for it not to work out.”

Scooping up my garlic bread, I shoved it into my mouth to keep from blurting out something else. After a long moment, Patrick seemed to accept the impasse and picked up his own fork to stab at his salad.

I was almost done eating—the silence heavy and awkward—before he cleared his throat. His attention on what was left of his meat sauce, Patrick said too nonchalantly, “The guys and I had a crazy idea today.”

Oh no. “Oh yeah?” I tried for nonchalance.

“Yeah, we were talking about maybe…” Blue eyes peeked up at me from under his too-long hair, then flashed back to his food as he mumbled something.

I leaned forward. “What?”

“Starting a band,” he said to his plate.

Huh. I knew Ethan was musically inclined—he played the horn for the school pep band, and the guitar at home—but Patrick hadn’t mentioned this interest before. “A…band?” I clarified carefully, not wanting him to think I didn’t approve. “Like, a garage band?”

He shrugged. “We’re not using the garage except for Christmas decoration storage.”

Well, that was true. “Who’s going to be in your band? What instrument are you going to play?”

Slowly, Patrick lifted his gaze, as if hesitant. “Um…Ethan on the guitar and Jaxon on his base and Hank on the keyboard if he can get his mom to let him take it out of the house. And Brian wants to sing. And I thought…I could play the drums.”

My brows rose.

He’d never shown an interest in music before, but Patrickdidhave pretty good rhythm. I wasn’t sure I could afford a full drum set right now, but… “Maybe we could find a set used on the mainland or something.”

It wasn’t until his expression lit up that I realized I’d said it out loud. “So you’re cool with it?”

Was I? I mean, the thought of a bunch of teens blasting “music” in my garage made me wince. But…at least if they were here, I’d know they weren’t out getting into trouble. So I smiled as genuinely as possible. “Yeah, of course I’m cool with it. I can be the cool, non-boring mom.”

He snorted, but his lips curled. “Thanks. Thatispretty cool.”

And I gotta be honest; I felt like I’d finally done something right.

Suddenly, inspiration struck, based on his earlier complaint.

“Hey! How about tomorrow after school we take the boat out?” I shook my head. “Well, actually, how about after school weworkon the boat, make sure it’s ready for the season?” I had a nineteen-foot Boston Whaler in a slip at the marina, and Patrick was right; we hadn’t used it since last year. “Then the day after tomorrow we take it out, get some clams?”

His smile grew. “Clamming? Heck yeah, we haven’t done that since last spring! You could make linguine!”

“Only if you make the Caeser salad again.”

“Deal.”

We shared a smile, and I felt a band around my chest loosen. Maybe, just maybe, I didn’t completely suck at this parenting thing, or this adulting thing, or thisnot-having-funthing.

I can’t believe my kidwantedme to date!

Simbel

Breakfasts had become…boring.

For ten years, since we’d left the research facility where all of us orcs from our cohort had been sequestered as the government ran experiments and whatnot, it had been Memnon and me against the world. We’d moved to New York together, since it had seemed the most excitingway to interact with humans. We’d graduated from the academy together. We’d pushed each other competitively to make detective and solve cases.

And then Sakkara’s call had come.

It was hard to deny the attraction of having a real home, a place to belong. Eastshore had welcomed the orcs with open arms, and it was amazing to see all the guys finding their places—and Mates—here on the island.

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