Page 12 of Strangers in Love

“And we’re glad you were,” Nana Naz said.

Emotion clawed its way up my throat as I shook my head. “It should’ve been me who died. Leo should be the one here.”

Nana Naz reached over and smacked my leg. “Don’t say that.”

“It was my fault.” My voice was hoarse.

“No, Eoin, it wasn’t,” Israel said. “Leo loved the army, and he knew what he was risking.”

“Did…did they tell you what happened?” I’d been staring at my beer, but I glanced up at Israel as I asked the question.

“They said it was an ambush. That there’d been some explosions.” A pained expression crossed his face. “That’s why there wasn’t…” He cleared his throat, as if the rest of the words were stuck.

“I’m sorry.” I mentally kicked myself for bringing that shit up. “I shouldn’t have…I mean…fuck.” My eyes went wide, and I looked at Nana Naz. “I’m sorry, ma’am.”

“It’s all right,” she said. “If any situation calls for ugly words, it’s this here.”

After a minute of silence, I spoke again, telling them the reason I was here. “Leo and I promised each other that if one of us…didn’t…come home, we’d take care of each other’s family.”

None of us said anything about how that had been more for Leo than me since I had plenty of siblings who’d make sure our parents were okay. Israel and Nana Naz only had each other. Angel had been Nana Naz’s only child, and as far as I knew, Israel didn’t have any extended family, at least not around here.

“He was a good boy.” Nana Naz smiled as she looked at Leo’s graduation picture, and then she turned that smile to me. “And so are you, Eoin McCrae.”

I didn’t want her to tell me that I was a good kid, that it wasn’t my fault, or that it shouldn’t have been me. I wanted her and Israel to be as angry at me as I was at myself. I wanted them to tell me to get out. That I was the reason Leo was gone. I wanted them to hate me.

But I couldn’t tell them any of that because it would hurt them, and they didn’t deserve to be hurt. They’d suffered more than enough.

So I’d be whatever and whoever they needed me to be. I’d take care of them. I’d keep my promise to Leo because I refused to let him down again.

Nine

Aline

I’d heardthe term ‘butterflies in the stomach’ before, but I’d never experienced it until now. This was really happening. October twelfth had been marked on my calendar for months, and we were finally here.

Freedom and I were going to Iran to work on teaching underprivileged kids English. Well, technically, I was doing the teaching because that was my field, but Freedom would be in the classroom with me to act as translator.

Over the summer, she’d taught me some basics of Persian and Arabic. I might’ve been able to muddle through on my own, but she was fluent, and translating had always been what she’d wanted to do with her International Relations degree. It’d just made sense to say we were a matched set.

Plus, our parents would’ve had a fit if I’d wanted to go on my own. They’d freaked out enough when Freedom had told them what we were going to do. It wasn’t because they didn’t think it was a good cause, just that they were worried about us, but Freedom and I kept telling them that we’d be completely fine. It wasn’t like we were just going to go wandering around, asking random kids if they wanted to learn English.

Neutral Ground was a well-respected organization that traveled all over the world, offering various services. Because they didn’t have allegiance to any particular nation and were one hundred percent funded by private donors from all over the world, they could get into places that wouldn’t normally allow foreigners.

Despite what my parents thought, I’d done my research. Sure, there were times I could be a little overenthusiastic and spontaneous, but not for something this big. Besides, everything had risks. Martina and I going to Las Vegas this past summer could’ve been dangerous. And it wasn’t like education was the safest career path anymore. Honestly, it hadn’t been since before I’d been born. I’d grown up in the era of active-shooter drills and lockdown procedures.

“Did you remember to give Mom and Dad the number to call if there’s an emergency?” Freedom asked as she shifted her carry-on from one hand to the other. “I know Dad said he was fine, but it’s not like they’re young anymore.”

“I wouldn’t let them hear you say that.” I laughed. “You were there when the doctor tried to give Dad the ‘at your age’ speech.”

That prompted a slight smile. “I was.”

It’d been the day after Dad’s surgery, and we’d been sitting with him and Mom when the cardiologist had come in to give Dad the whole ‘here are the lifestyle changes you need to make’ lecture. She’d only managed a few words before Dad had cut in with a ‘listen here, young lady.’ I was fairly certain that it’d been the ‘young lady’ rather than the interruption that’d caught her off-guard since she had to have at least been in her early sixties.

“That’s some of what I’m worried about,” Freedom confessed. “I feel like Dad will push more at his restrictions if he knows Mom can’t call in back-up.”

“If she’d been worried, she would have asked us to stay,” I pointed out. “I know they aren’t thrilled about what we’re doing, and they could’ve played that card to keep us here, but they didn’t.”

The look Freedom gave me said she didn’t necessarily agree with me, but she didn’t say it. I hated when she did that. She was four years older than me, not a decade, and my sister, not my mother. I sighed. I loved her, but sometimes, I wanted to tell her that she was suffocating me.

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