Page 9 of Christmas in Coconut Creek

When Delta cut us loose we were two guys that had been through Hell and back together for the better part of ten years, so we just kept the ball rolling. It felt ridiculous at the timenotto go halves on the house. I wouldn’t admit it three years ago, but I needed a lot more help than I let on after everything that went down on that last deployment. My pride was buried so far in the dirt there wouldn’t be a shovel in the world strong enough to dig it back up.

The sliding glass door off the living room was cracked open, and I slipped outside onto the stone patio that opened into the backyard.

“Ay, look what the clouds dragged in.”

Mateo was lounging in the hot tub with a dollop of sunblock on his angular nose, massage jets bubbling around his chest. He was right about the clouds too. In the minutes since I’d last been outside, the clear sunset had grayed and heat lightning flashed across the sky.

“Having yourself a night out here, Cap?” I dug into the mini fridge for a beer and popped it open. We all had call signs in our unit—Mateo’s was Captain. And unfortunately it didn’t matter if you loved it or hated it, nicknames always stuck.

“Relaxing before the night ahead, brother.” He tipped his beer to me. “How was it? Got the job?”

I pulled a patio chair out and sank into it. “No, you know how this stuff works. It was preliminary shit. Touring the base, kissing ass, paperwork. Round one of a billion fucking interviews.”

“Echo said you were a shoe-in; he has connections over there.”

“I shot him a text on the first day. He said he was working some magic, but with Tyler that usually means he’s gonna be getting his dick wet. Probably fucking the command’s wife.”

“You think that he’d have it any other way?”

“No, but I don’t know if I can guiltlessly accept a job from a man I know is getting cucked on his days off.”

“To each their own.” Mateo shrugged. “But it went well though, you’re excited?”

“You know I’m still on the fence, man. I told you before I went, I’m just putting out the feelers on it. I haven’t flown in…” I trailed off, picking at the damp label on the sweating beer bottle. “Then there’s Addy and my mom. That’ll be a lot for them, not having me around. It’s a lot to think about.”

“Your sister and mom are fine,” Mateo assured me. “They’ll survive, you’ve done everything for them since you were fucking twelve years old, Pike. I don’t know if you know this, but Florida is like Heaven for the sixty-five-plus crowd. They can walk around the clubhouse pool with their tits down to their ankles in a bikini top and no one is batting an eye.”

I shuddered. “Don’t put that picture in my head.”

“Maria’s still got it. She’s gone on a couple dates.”

“My mother? Has gone on a couple dates?”

“I call your mom. I’m her favorite son.”

Mateo was thedefinitionof momma’s boy. Those Italian sons grow up too spoiled for their own good. My mother was fawning over him from the moment she met him. Instead of a friendly wave, my best friend had pulled her into a bear hug like you’ve never seen before, letting her hold his face and kiss his cheeks, giving her that dazzling Mateo smile with his sharp canines sparkling like a fucking Crest commercial.

Every time I talked to my mother, she asked about him.How is my Mateo? He looks so handsome in his new pictures on The Facebook. You should really cut your hair more like his, Francesco, no one can see your eyes when you’re in that hat all the time. Has he found a girlfriend yet? Adriana is still single, you know, and your sister needs to have babies soon.

I wouldn’t let my sister near any of the men I was in with, not with fucking riot gear on. Especially not Mateo. Besides that point, he’d been shacked up with Tally for almost a year now, and apart from the paranormal sex dungeon they seemed to be sleeping in, she was a good girl. I was happy for them.

My mother dating, on the other hand, made my skin itch. I knew the possibility was always there; my dad had been gone for over twenty years. There was no reason she shouldn’t, but the idea of someone slipping into my well-earned shoes and assuming caretaker over my mother without even meeting me first didn’t sit right.

“She said she’s dating someone?”

“Don’t get your panties in a bunch.” Mateo chuckled, standing from the bubbling water and sloshing it over the edge. He dried off, grabbing another beer from the fridge before sitting down next to me. “Forget your mom, man. You can call her yourself, don’t kill the messenger. I want to know aboutyou.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re going to be disappointed.”

“Don’t tell me that,” Mateo complained. “Not one fuck? The whole week?”

“You say that like I can just go around collecting women to have sex with like fruit in the produce section.”

“I set up the apps on your phone specifically designed for finding people to fuck. It’s like fishing in a man-made pond. You’re gonna fucking catch something. Close your eyes and cast a line, Pike. Jesus Christ.”

Ididcast a line. I spent basicallyallof my free time in Colorado, actually, scrolling through the thousands of pictures of women on those apps. My problem had never been finding a person, it’d been finding the right one, at the right time. I did the dance when I was in my twenties. Fuck, the first half a decade I was in the Army it was a revolving door. You get orders, you deploy, you make your fucking bed with the sheets so tight to the mattress you can bounce a quarter off of it, and then you get a girl naked in them. Rinse, repeat.

Then my buddies started getting married to the women they were sleeping with, and it felt like I was all of a sudden playing the game wrong. I wanted what they were having. Those sappy fucking military homecomings where wives came whipping down the airport terminal and jumping into their husband’s arms. Showing up unexpectedly at a Little League game in my camo. A newborn baby meeting Dad for the first time.

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