Page 86 of The Auction
“It wasn’t something I thought about. At all. Ever. But when I got out, I had to look forward to see a whole new future.”
“Do you ever look back?”
He nodded. “Sometimes. I was ridiculously good at what I did.”
“Not that good. Remember you were only in STS for two jobs.”
He smiled. “Yeah. But there are a lot of guys who never get picked at all.”
“Good point,” I said, and hoped he knew I was teasing him.
“There’s money out there for people with my skill set. I had a bunch of offers as soon as I discharged.”
“But you didn’t take them,” I pointed out.
“No. Because I wanted to look forward and not back. So if you’re asking me if I want kids, that seems like something future me might want. So yeah, just putting that out there.”
“Okay. Well, future you and future me should have a conversation in the future. Right now, I’m tired and want to go to bed.”
“What do we do with her?” he asked.
“I want to try and feed her one more time before bed. Then I’ll need to set an alarm for four hours.”
“Won’t need an alarm. I’ll wake up in four hours.”
I guess that was one of his Ninja Seal skills. Waking up on command. “We can put her in a cardboard box with a bunch of blankets so she’ll be safe.”
His expression told me to come up with another solution.
“Or we can bring her into bed with us, but she’s going to pee and poop and stuff.”
“We’ll put extra blankets down and set her up between us,” he said.
And that was how we both slept in half-moon shapes around AP, our knees pressed together and our heads bent so we could watch her sleep.
Four hours later, Creed woke up to feed her.
TWENTY-ONE
JULIETTE
We were lyingin bed two weeks later and AP was hunting our fingers. We’d taken her to the vet only to find out she was he. Doc Stan declared him healthy and ready to be weaned off the bottle and on to wet food. We bought a kitty litter box, because neither one of us trusted him to be outside without us.
“What are we going to name him?”
“Ouch,” Creed said, as AP pounced with both claws onto his finger only to lock his teeth down.
“Dragonslayer,” I said.
“Seems pretentious. What about Harry?”
I shook my head as I ran my finger down his soft back, only to tweak his tail. He immediately turned in search of his next opponent. “Nowhere near regal enough. Can’t you come up with a Native name that speaks to your heart? He is your first born son. What’s that thing around your neck? What about that?”
He held it up and looked at it. “It’s a bear claw. A symbol of strength for my people.”
“Your mom gave it to you?” I asked him, quietly.
He nodded. “The day I left to join the Navy.”
