Page 16 of Mother Parker
That made me roll my eyes. But I did end up telling him about the shit that went down at the Outpost while he kept measuring stuff and noting numbers on the wall with a pencil.
“I can see why you would be upset,” he said when I finished.
“You can?”
He nodded.
“Of course. I told Wyatt the same thing, but the man is so obsessed with what’s going on that he can’t see straight. That’s why he needs us. People who can see clearly and stop him from making stupid mistakes.”
“But he was a commander. He knows better,” I said, feeling a burden lift from my shoulders.
Maybe I wasn’t as awful as I thought I was. Or Ash was equally as terrible as me.
“But this is his home. It’s personal. And he doesn’t have the same authority he had in 13. Hence…”
“He’s not thinking clearly,” I finished his sentence. “You’re right.”
“There is one thing you haven’t calculated in all of this, however.”
Ash let the tape measure roll back into its base and stood.
“What is that?”
He walked up to me, blue eyes all serious, and put his hands on my shoulders.
“Maddox would never let anything happen to Autumn. He’d die before letting anyone touch her,” he said.
A knot I hadn’t known was there untied in my throat, and my heart pumped harder.
Maybe Ash was right. Just because I wasn’t in the Navy anymore didn’t mean the people in my life didn’t have my back. Have my family’s back.
But everyone always lets me down.
“Where were you when I needed you? You don’t know my life. You don’t know what I’ve been through,”Autumn had said.
Maybe everyone always let me down, but I probably also let others down. Perhaps I’d been so focused on how my life had turned upside down that I hadn’t been there for others like I wanted them to be there for me.
Which only meant one thing.
I had some apologizing to do.
Agh, I’d rather get taken and tortured.
But it was necessary.
FOUR
HWAN
Ihanded the large peach-and-black bubble tea with the strawberry boba to my second customer of the day, and she took it in her hands with an expressionless face. That was until she put the straw between her lips and took a small sip.
Her eyes opened wide, her cheeks sucked in, and a moan escaped, causing her to dribble.
“Oh my, this is so good,” she said, reaching for a napkin.
She wiped her mouth.
“It’s not just good. It’s sinfully good, right? And wait until you try the taro milk tea with chocolate-chip topping. Your heart may stop beating for a second. May this be the first of many indulgent visits on your bubble tea journey,” I told her with a wide smile.
