AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Daniel
“Jeez Cole, why can’t you see it?” Mark complained as he balanced milk, cereal, and granola in his arms, nearly knocking over his calculus textbook on the floor. The boys were in the kitchen doing homework, and as usual, Mark was hungry. “She’s basically begging you to take her to the dance.” He toed the book aside as he dumped a large amount of granola over the frosted flakes.
“Michael Green’s into her, and I’m not. So let him ask her.”
“But she likes you.”
“She’s not my type.” Cole shook his head, and I smiled. It was always the same argument between my boys. Girls would chase after Cole, but he was too busy with his training and JROTC to see anything else. Mark, who was also in JROTC, was the charmer and always had a young lady on his arm, even though he would say he wasn’t officially dating.
“Do you even have a type?” Milk dribbled from Mark’s mouth, and I tossed him a napkin as I eased into a chair at the table next to him. I had some paperwork to finish before I drove up to Shadows, so I tried to ignore the boys’ discussion as best as I could.
“I do,” Cole downed half a glass of water while his eggs cooked, “and I’ll know what that is when I find it.”
“It better not be that new girl.” Mark gave an exaggerated quiver.
“What new girl?” That got my attention, so I had to ask. Redstone wasn’t huge, so new kids stuck out.
“Remember Ezra who owned the old shipping store just outside of town? It’s now the UPS Store.” I nodded, and Cole shook his head at me. “Yeah, anyway, they handed it off to Ezra’s nephew when his wife got pregnant. Guess she had issues or something.” Mark filled me in. “Now Ezra and his wife have split.”
“Not surprising,” I muttered.
“Right.” He shook his head. “Well, now he’s back to take over the store again, and his daughter Christina’s with him. She spent the last few days checking out our school.”
“Really? What’s she like?”Please, nothing like her mother.
Mark considered a moment.
“Have you ever been to a movie store and popped your head through the red curtains at the back just to see if ya could get a glimpse of a side boob picture?” He tried to look innocent, but it didn’t work, and I had to grin at him. “Anywaaay,” he grinned back, “instead you see where all the B-rated pornos are kept, the ones with the girls who have strange titties… Like that.”
“That’s incredibly specific.” I raised an eyebrow at him.
“Yeah, it’s a gift.”
I made a face at him while my son choked on a bit of toast.
“She’s not sticking around.” Cole flipped his eggs as he gulped some water to help his toast go down. “From what Billy told me, she only wanted to please her father by looking at the school. She’ll go back to where she came from by the end of the week, and we’ll never see her face again.”
I made a show of going back to my paperwork to let them go on with their normal banter. I relished moments like that, just being together with the boys. I thought about how close Cole and Mark had become since he showed up hungry on our doorstep. Though they had very different personalities, they rarely clashed and were closer than most brothers. When one would get into trouble, the other was always there to back him up.
Mark’s stomach was a bottomless pit, he wore his heart on his sleeve, and he had a wonderful sense of humor. He loved every moment of his life now and soaked up everything he could and never passed on an opportunity to have fun. Cole was more of the quiet, sensible type. He focused all his energy on becoming the best soldier he could be, even at such a young age. As a cadet in the JROTC program he already had an outstanding reputation. Sometimes I wondered if he missed out on a lot in life, but I also knew Cole did what made him happy, and a life as a soldier was what he wanted, and he was totally focused on that. It was what he’d wanted since birth.
“Mark,” Dad came in holding a bag full of donuts, “I stopped by Zack’s place, and he said he’d made your favorite this morning.”
“My God, Grandpa you’re too good to me. Are they chocolate, with chocolate glaze, and chocolate filling?” Mark nearly fell out of his seat as he dove for them.
“Yup, that’s it.” Dad smiled and handed one to Cole, who looked at him like he was crazy.
“No, thank you, Grandpa. I don’t need it.”
“No one needs it,” Dad teased, “but it doesn’t mean it isn’t good.”
“Yes, sooo good,” Mark shoved an entire donut into his mouth, and we all chuckled. “I’ll go call Zack and thank him,” he said through a stuffed mouth, then he gave Dad a hug and rushed off to his bedroom to make the call.
I thought about how I missed Zack at Shadows. Being part of Blackstone had been so good for him. He got to explore his love for cooking in the kitchen there. It was like a dream come true. He was more often found in that kitchen than outside training with the guys. It didn’t surprise anyone when a couple years later he and his brother, Alex, decided to take over Patty’s. He even found a new girlfriend. She recently moved close to the restaurant, and it was obvious they were well matched. I remembered our agreement, that when life changed and you wanted to embrace something else, you should go for it, even if meant you had to leave Shadows and live elsewhere. I’m just happy he didn’t leave our town as well. I couldn’t imagine life without my best friend.
Then there was Frank. Shortly after Cole was born, he was offered his dream position in Washington. A year later, he finally gave in to his feelings for Heather. They married and had a daughter. Zack and I gave him royal shit for actually calling his daughter Mia. We promised we’d take that secret to the grave. It was fun to hold it over him whenever his wife was around, though.
Frank was now the liaison for Shadows in Washington, but before he left, he founded a secondary team called Eagle Eye. We all teased him about that too because he’d always said he was going to have a team called that, and now he’d done it. Needless to say, Frank kept his word on a lot of things. I’d hated when he left, but now I was thankful he’d accepted the job. That move proved to be a good one for all concerned. We couldn’t have asked for a better person to act on Shadows’ behalf. He knew how we ran things, always listened to what we needed, and fought for even more than we asked for.
