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“You can explain that,” Julie said to me, “While I go put something on.”
I watched her figure as she walked away. Her hair was much longer now and left little drips in her wake. It was like breadcrumbs begging me to follow.
Instead, I met the eyes of the little girl still waiting for her answer.
I walked with her over to the table, and she sat down. Taking out the doughnut, I put it on a napkin in front of her.
“You ever saw the Princess and the Frog?” I asked.
Emma nodded her head between enormous bites of doughnut. It must have been true that Julie didn’t give this kid much sugar the way she was wolfing it down.
“Only one time,” she said with a stuffed mouth. “Mommy said it was too scary.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Well, you know that bad guy?”
She nodded again.
“There you go. That’s voodoo.”
“Auntie Savannah does that?” She asked truly terrified.
“No,’ Julie said firmly coming back down the hall.
If she had no interest in me, she sure as hell was going to make a point to flaunt what I couldn’t have.
Julie was wearing the shortest shorts I had ever seen paired with a floral tank top. She was still drying her hair with the towel as she walked our way.
Julie didn’t even give me so much as a glance as she leaned over me and reached into my bag for a bagel. I took the moment to inhale her sweet scent. Every muscle in my body was itching to take her in my arms and sit her on my lap.
Julie didn’t seem as affected by our closeness, and instead sat in an empty chair nibbling on her dry bagel.
“I was just joking,” I finally said to Emma. “I use to know your Auntie before you were born. I like to make fun of her.”
“Did you know Mommy too?” Emma asked looking between the two of us.
It was the first time our eyes really met since I walked through the door. In that look more was spoken then could ever be put into words.
“Yeah, we use to be good friends too.”
“So what happened?” Emma asked.
“Man, you like to ask a lot of questions,” I said with a soft laugh as I rubbed my beard.
“That’s my Em. Never satisfied with just one answer,” Julie said looking lovingly at her little girl.
“Well, I joined the Navy. It’s part of the military. I was a doctor for a group of guys that traveled all over and had special missions to capture the very worst bad guys. We were called Navy SEALs.”
I pulled out the dog tags I still had around my neck. I probably shouldn’t have worn them anymore, but it was still second nature to me. Emma got up and came over to inspect them. I took them off so she could hold them in her hand.
“Are you still a SEAL?” Emma asked trying the word out for the first time.
“No. I got hurt pretty bad. When you get hurt bad enough it's not safe for you to still be apart of the team.”
“Do you have a bionic leg?” Emma asked suddenly excited.
I looked at Julie surprised at this five-year old’s vocabulary. Instead, I saw pure shock staring back at me. I guess Julie didn’t know what had brought me to retire.
