Page 11 of We Thought We Knew It All
The boy I’d met when I first arrived came out, pulling a smaller boy by the arm.
“You’re the soldier Mommy hit,” the younger one blurted, earning himself a swat from the older boy.
“Hush, Liam.” He then stood as tall as he could and looked me in the eye. “Hello, sir.”
“Jackson, right?” I asked, holding in a laugh.
“Jacks.” His tough demeanor slipped as he spotted the guitar. His face brightened. “Do you play guitar?”
“I used to.”
“My dad plays. I’ll bet he’s better than you.”
“I’ll bet.” I had no doubt he was. He’d been smart enough to marry Callie. But then, he’d let her go eventually too—or at least I assumed he had since I was still alive after kissing her. Whoever that guy was, he was the father of her children and they’d always be connected. I was a ghost from her past who had no claim on her future.
Jacks let go of his brother and sat next to me. “Your lip is all blown up.”
“Jacks,” Liam whispered as if I couldn’t hear him. “That’s because Mom hit him.”
Jacks eyed his brother seriously then turned his hardened gaze on me. “Mom told me I wasn’t allowed to hit anyone, but if you kiss her again, I’m going to have to overrule her. Besides, she’s a girl. What does she know about fighting?”
I liked the kid enough not to laugh at him. I matched his dour stare and nodded.
“Good,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to hurt a soldier.”
“Jacks?” Callie called down the stairs, making us all jump. “Liam?”
“Here, Mom,” Liam hollered back.
Callie’s heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs until she came into the room and froze, obviously not expecting to find me there.
“Your boys here were just giving me a talking to.” I raised an eyebrow and was rewarded with a small smile. I’d take it.
“Why don’t you two go find Declan,” she said to them. “He’s with your Uncle Jay, and it’s time to go.”
The boys scurried past her up the stairs.
“You’re a good mom.” I stood to put the guitar back where I found it.
“Some days I don’t know.” She laughed nervously. “It isn’t easy.”
“You don’t do easy. Do you remember that simple creative writing project we had? We could have just gone to the beach like it was any other day. But no, you wanted to jump out of a plane and our stories were the best in the class.”
“I remember.” She hugged her arms across her body.
“My point is that you don’t need the simple in life. You always wanted to live on the edge. What’s more on the edge than raising little people? It agrees with you.”
She shifted her eyes away, looking anywhere but at me. “You heard us, didn’t you? I saw you leave the kitchen.”
“It’s fine. I mean, I get why he wouldn’t exactly want me here.”
“I don’t think you do.”
“Try me.”
Her eyes finally flitted back to my face. “You need some ice for that lip. Come on.”
I followed her up the stairs where the crowd had thinned considerably. We stepped into the kitchen. Pulling an ice pack out of the freezer, she wrapped it in a towel and surprised me when she held it to my lip herself.
