Page 80 of In You
"What the fuck kinda name is that?" he says after he coughs, pounding a fist to his chest."Jesus,"he gives me a sharp side eye. "You kill the man that did that, son?"
"I gave him a single bullet between the eyes."
"Oh, wow. That's it?" he asks looking stunned, and I bristle at the judgement in his tone. "Caleb…"
I fold my arms, shaking my head ruefully. "Yeah, I killed himbeforeI knew what he did to her and I regret it everyday goddamn day," I say bitterly. "It's actually my only regret."
He nods, then looks at me expectantly.
"I don't know, sir," I say sadly. "I've been trying not to think about it, to be honest with you. If something like that happens, I….I don't know if I could continue to be with her after that."
Frank grunts softly. "Well, no need to get all dramatic and shit, Caleb." Now finished with his sandwich, he wipes his fingers on a napkin and then takes a swig of beer. "You need to sit in on a couple of those therapy sessions and talk about that with them. See what the therapist says. You don't just give up on a relationship because shit might get hard. She doesn't deserve that, and neither do you. She deserves to be loved despite the mental illness she's going through."
I take a deep breath. "Frank, you know how I feel about therapists."
He eyes me. "Look, I take full responsibility for how incompetent the on-base therapist was way back when. But son, you can't let one person who didn't do right keep you from snatching your dream life up. That's foolish. And Frank Jackson didn't raise no fool," he says so sternly that my eyes fly up to his. His finger comes up to point at me, and his brow pulls low. "Now, I got a good look at that girl in there, and she seems alright. Yeah, she may have a few extra personalities, but honestly, with how far to shit this world is going, who isn't a little psychotic anymore?"
I frown, clearing my throat uncomfortably. "Uh-"
"And besides all that, that woman looked at you with love, Caleb. Love. Don't you dare give up on her, I'll kill you myself. Hang you right up there with your targets at your range on the West side of this very land right here and blow your brains out myself. Do you understand me, boy?"
I blink, giving him a hard jerk of my head and then walking a few feet over to where my tools are, picking up a handle and a rag and start polishing it. "If I asked her to marry me, do you think you could come?" I ask softly, keeping my eyes on my pretend work. "Neither one of us have family, and well…" I trail off, not needing to finish it.
Out of the corner of my eye I see his chest puff out and then he grins. "I'd be honored to. Though, I might need to fly up next time."
"Oh, we're all flying," I say lightly, feeling energized now that I got it off my chest that I want to marry her. Frank didn't allude to him thinking I was too damaged to be a husband. "She's obsessed with the sea, so I'd like it to be a destination wedding."
He nods his head, and shrugs his shoulders in a dismissive way that lets me know he's not too particular with details like this.
We spend the rest of the day catching up, he asks me to come up to see Buckhead island, I tell him maybe. But I can't commit to being a trainer, or anything like I can tell he wants. And by the time bedtime rolls around hours later, Tamryn seems firmly in love with him. Just besotted with the man. We walk hand in hand down the hallway to our bedroom, and it's then I just now realize that this is the first time she hasn't felt the need to turn into Camilla, and I wonder if this means we're turning a corner finally.
And for the next week, I'm sure of it.
Exactly a week later she has a horrible day at therapy, and has a nightmare that's so bad it scares me.
29
DLG
Tamryn
"No!"Ishout,stompingmy foot. "I don't wanna!I said I want to eeeaaaaat!"
Mr. Calvin puts the silver thing to my head. The thing that makes me scared because when he used it on my puppy, she didn't move any more after he did it. "Get your ass down on the fucking floor and spread your legs before I blow your goddamn brains out all over this room like I did Princess."
My chin quivers as snot drips over my lips and down my chin. "Okaayyyy," I cry, lifting up my dress and then laying back on the bed. "M-Mr. Calvin, I'm scared. It's so dark," I whisper, trying to wipe at my face with my dress.
He removes the silver thing from my head and then smiles, rubbing his hand down my hair. I nuzzle into his hand and feel his hand working between my legs. When I go to lower my hand to scratch where it's itchy, he takes my hand and pulls it out of the way.
A tall figure comes through the door and then I blink. "Are you my daddy?" I whisper up to the man looming above me.
He looks over at Mr. Calvin and smiles. "Can I turn a lamp on? I'd like to see her."
Mr. Calvin nods, and the man reaches over to turn the light on. When I see his face, and his kind smile, I stop crying and I feel so safe because he already knows I don't like the dark. Thismustbe my daddy.
"Daddy!" I gasp, making grabby hands at him.
"Yeah," he smiles at me, leaning down to blow a raspberry in my tummy. "I'm your daddy. And I'm going to help you feel better down there, alright?"
