Page 53 of Remade

Thanksgiving was shaping up to be a good day. Leighton spent the morning FaceTiming with a few of the Quinns, mostly Mary and the sisters, and apparently Willow was growing more comfortable. She wasn’t verbal yet, but she could laugh and be more relaxed in Leighton’s presence now.

After that, we swung by a bakery to pick up a cake before we headed out toward Emerson and Danny’s farm.

Leighton was in a good mood. Alex was busy with a new game on her phone—and she’d FaceTimed with family too. Ma was in San Diego again. Kat had invited her. The change of scenery seemed to work for our mother, and I couldn’t blame her. It was probably for the best she got out of the house.

Maybe she’d sell it eventually. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind it if she moved to the West Coast too. She’d have more loved ones surrounding her there, and Kat could use the babysitting help. Besides, what was Ma gonna do with that big old house? I’d only stayed there temporarily, and it seemed to remind her too much of our losses. She missed Dad. She missed Vince.

In addition, Alex was reaching a stage where friends mattered more than family in terms of who she wanted to chill with after school—or listen to, period. I’d expected some kind of reaction, for instance, when we’d told her Leighton and I were dating. She’d had a minute of curious wonder about my dating a guy, but that was all. She’d reacted more to Netflix removing one of her favorite movies. She was, however, thrilled to have her “Nugget” in the family now. Not that she wanted to spend that much time with him after school either. She was aggressively devoted to her group of tomboy buddies, Heather M, Kaley, and Anvi.

“Uncle Bo?”

“Yeah?” I met her gaze briefly in the rearview.

“Can we go to Nugget’s family for Christmas too? He’s going.”

Right. Leighton had shared the news yesterday while we’d had dinner in the cafeteria. I was happy for him, but Alex and I would likely fly out to San Diego.

“I’m not sure, mouse. Aunt Kat and Grandma probably want us in San Diego,” I answered.

She huffed.

I didn’t point out the obvious here. The fact that Leighton had been invited to Washington didn’t mean Alex and I were. It was his family. Leighton had expressed his happiness about going there for a few days, and then Alex had taken over the conversation by quizzing him about all the kids in the family. Mainly, she wanted to know if there were any girls her age.

Was it too soon to spend a holiday together? Not counting today. Em and Danny had a tradition of inviting operators who were far away from family. But Christmas was a big deal, and we’d only been dating two months.

I didn’t wanna put that pressure on him. Our top focus was still his training, and we had Alex too. The dating part ran quietly in the background until we had a moment to ourselves.

For the first time in my sorry life, the tables were turned, and I was the one itching for more.

I’d almost asked Doc for help to sort out my feelings last week. Because what the fuck did I know about love? I’d never felt anything remotely like this before. I was ready to move Alex in to Leighton’s room, to make that hers, and have him in my bed every night. As it was, we snuck around here and there while she was asleep. I fucking hated sleeping without him. Lunch was another meal I preferred to share with him, but I held back most of the time so he could sit with his friends and whatever. We had dinner. Dinner was ours, with Alex. Dinner had become sacred.

I side-eyed him as he peered out the window.

This was what I got for dating someone I worked with after swearing up and down to never date a coworker.

I wasn’t supposed to dateanyone.

And now I was fucked.

It wasn’t my first Thanksgiving with the Paynes, and it wouldn’t be my last. Surrounded by fields and a smaller forest, their farm shone like a beacon, promising good food, beer on the porch, and countless dogs.

They knew how to take care of fellow operators. The Tenleys were here, though that had more to do with history than loneliness. They were family. Mathis had flown down from Boston, so it was nice to see him again. He’d quit the game years ago, but he stayed in touch. Wilde was here too, having just rotated back home after her first major op.

“Well, thank fuck!” Danny exclaimed. “I was worrying we wouldn’t have dessert.”

“I picked the cake, Uncle Danny!” Alex cheered. “I got our favorite!”

“Attagirl—I can count on you.”

While Alex dragged Leighton over to Shay, Danny, and River in the living room, I aimed for the kitchen, where I spotted Reese, Em, and none other than Kyle. At the risk of wounding Hyatt’s ego, Kyle Finlay was the best pilot I’d ever flown with. He’d saved my ass in Mogadishu when I hadn’t been able to leave without Vince’s body.

“Or you could tell your brother,” Reese was saying as I put the cake down on the packed counter. Everyone had brought something.

“Yeah, that’d be hysterical,” Kyle drawled. He nodded at me. “Hey, man. Good to see you.”

“I was about to say.” I shook his hand firmly. “It’s been a while. You still taking gigs at Hillcroft?”

He hadn’t been with us long, and he wasn’t a trained operator. Instead, he was a retired skid pilot with the Marines who was struggling to let go of the job.

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