Page 79 of All Along The Watchtower

I almost choked on the last bite of my own bread. I had no idea how to answer that. Dating was definitely not what we’d been doing on our downtime from the hospital.

While I was still fumbling to find an answer, my kid continued, “You’re a total idiot if you’re not, because Bree is awesome.”

More with the declarative statements. Damn, did she know how much she sounded like my Mom? Amused and moved, I reached out to ruffle her hair. “Can’t say I disagree.”

She rolled her eyes again and smoothed her hair. “So are you?”

I thought about the promise I’d made Bree in the car, that we had time to figure this out. “We’ve been a little busy with Ed’s situation. But things are better.” That seemed a safe enough response.

Peyton nodded. “Good. That’s a good start.”

I needed to redirect her before she continued down this path. “You done with your homework for the weekend?”

“I’ve got some vocabulary in Spanish, but that’s it.”

“Wanna have aPirates of the Caribbeanmarathon?”

As I’d hoped, her eyes brightened. “Hel—er heck, yeah.”

“Look, I’m not gonna ride you about swearing. The deal is that you’re smart enough to know when and where it’s appropriate. School and in front of Mama Flo and Mimi are not it. In public, not it. But at home? I figure you should have the freedom to express yourself. Also, because I’ve been in the Navy for a really long time, and it’s gonna take me a while to retrain myself. Fair?”

She nodded. “Deal. Want popcorn?”

“We just had bread.”

“And?”

So teenage girls were also bottomless pits. Good to know.

“Fair point.”

We settled in and spent the rest of the afternoon binging the movies and talking pirates. But I kept glancing out the window, watching for Bree’s return. We were already intoAt World’s Endby the time I finally saw her light switch on. A couple of minutes later, Keeley bolted into the backyard to do her business.

Peyton was enthralled with the movie—she’d never seen past the first one before—so I murmured, “Be right back,” and slipped out the back door.

Bree stood in the dark, arms wrapped around her middle.

“Hey. Any news?”

Her face relaxed at the sight of me. “No. Everything’s fine. My team is incredible. I didn’t have to come back at all. But I’m glad I did. I needed to check in for me, you know?”

“Yeah. Nothing new about Ed?”

She shook her head, but I could still tell something was bothering her.

I stepped into her, rubbing my hands down her arms. “What’s bugging you?”

“Nothing. I just…” She glanced back toward her cottage. “I just feel a little weird being in the house alone. Which is stupid. I’ve lived alone for a long time. There’s no reason to think I won’t be fine.”

“Except that there’s a village-wide curfew, you just closed the Brewhouse early because of it, and there are multiple problematic people apparently roaming the island.”

She winced. “Well, I mean, there’s that.”

“Why don’t you come stay with us at our place?”

“But Peyton.”

I tugged her in, linking my hands at the small of her back, savoring the warmth of her against me. “I’ll have you know my daughter told me I was an idiot if I didn’t date you. She was very emphatic about it.”

---