Page 155 of All Too Well
Before I can say anything, she rings the doorbell and then enters. “Daddy,” she calls out.
“Ainsley? Is that you?”
“It is. Lachlan and I are here.”
Her father emerges from the back, where his office is. He smiles when he sees us. “I didn’t know you were coming.” He kisses her cheek and then extends his hand to me. “Lachlan.”
“Admiral.”
“Come in, I was just working on my coins.”
Ainsley smiles. “Always working on those coins, Daddy. You know they don’t change by moving them around.”
Challenge coins in the military are really special. My father has maybe a hundred of them that he’s exchanged over the years. It’s a commemorative coin that is unique to either the person or the team. I have one for being a fire chief that I hand out to other chiefs or law enforcement agencies. Where I may have ten, the Admiral has probably a thousand. Everyone wants to trade coins with the Admiral.
“I like to remember where each one came from,” he says with a hint of defensiveness.
Ainsley rubs his back as we walk into his office.
On the wall, where photos of Ainsley’s mother used to hang, are now rows of shadowboxes with the coins proudly displayed.
“This is incredible,” I say as I look at the first box.
“Those are the ones I got from Congress and the Senate.”
It’s impressive. “And these?”
“Those are deployment traded. I did my fair share of those and always left one coin with a sailor who went above and beyond the call of duty,” he explains. “So what brings you both here, and where is Rose?”
“Rose is next door. She’s spending some time with my father.”
The Admiral’s eyes widen, and then he smiles. “You spoke with him?”
“I did. A few weeks ago, I came here, and we discussed a lot of things that needed to be said.”
“I’m proud of you, Lachlan. I know you’re not my son, but it takes a strong man to face his demons and overcome them.”
I nod. “Thank you, sir. I’m hoping he and I can find a new way forward.”
“You will.”
He says it as though he has no doubts about it. While my father and I have a lot of things to overcome, we both are making an effort to work through the past and focus on a future. He wants to be a part of our lives, and he’s the only family I have left.
Ainsley looks over at me with a smile. “I’m proud of him too.”
The Admiral looks to her and then to me. Well, here we go.
“Sir, I came with Ainsley because we wanted to talk to you.”
He shakes his head. “I’m not sure I want to hear this.”
This is going just about how I expected. “We don’t want to lie to you, but I love Ainsley, and she and I are together.”
Ainsley looks at her father, and with zero finesse she blurts out the rest. “We’re living together also. I tried to quit my job, butthey wouldn’t let me. So I’m working forMetro NYstill, but in Ember Falls, and living with Lachlan and Rose.”
I swear I think she wants her father to kill me.
His gaze moves to her, then to me, then back to her. “You’re living with him?”
