Page 65 of Sergeant O'
Not date-worthy good, though.
“Hopefully it’s a familial trait. Lainey and Conor deserve a good man.”
“Adam has been nothing but a standup guy. He’s freaking head-over-heels for Lainey, and he adores Conor. I’m convinced Shawn arranged for them to be together. He wouldn’t have sent someone unworthy. Adam’s going to be a good dad to that little boy.”
“That’s true. Justin said that after Conor was left alone when Lainey was kidnapped, he was inconsolable. No matter what Kristy and Justin did, the baby wouldn’t stop crying. But the second Adam held him, he immediately calmed down.”
“There’s a reason Lainey calls him the baby whisperer.”
Jade dug a seashell out of the sand and examined it as she remarked with a wistful tone, “I hope it works out for them. Lain deserves a happily ever after.”
“So do you.”
She brushed the dirt from the shell and murmured, “Don’t we all.”
I found my own shell and studied it as I asked, “You think you’ll ever have kids someday?”
“I hope so. What about you?”
“I mean, yeah. But it feels so far away that it’s hard to fathom. Kind of like, I obviously want to retire someday, but I can’t imagine it right now.”
Her laugh sounded hollow. “Well, I hope for your future children’s sake, you get around to having them before you reach retirement age.”
“Me, too. I worry I’m going to wake up someday and wonder where my life went. Getting shot has put a lot of things in perspective. I need to make some changes.”
I’d been thinking about that since I lay in the hospital bed staring at the ceiling. But saying it out loud made it real.
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
This is where I should have said something like, “Settle down,” or “Stop working all the time, so I have more time for a girlfriend.” Anything like that to let her know I was ready to get serious.
No, instead, my dumb ass said, “Oh, you know… enjoy life to the fullest. Find time to spend with my friends. Try to go fishing more.”
Fishing?
I don’t even own a fucking fishing pole!
Granted, I’d thought about taking Conor when he was older, because Shawn had loved to fish and I wanted to pass that on tohis son. But I knew I’d done a shit job of conveying that’s what I was talking about.
And the only time my friends wanted to hang out anymore was to watch a game at Hannigan’s and maybe shoot a game of pool before they headed home to their wives or girlfriends. Soon they’d be having kids, and the only games we’d be hanging out to watch would be Little League.
With one hand wrapped around her ankle and her chin on her knee, she poured sand from her hand and snarked, “Wow, that’s deep Brian. It took getting shot for you to realize that?”
I wanted to be offended, but I couldn’t because I knew she was right. Not to mention, it turned me on that she called me on my bullshit.
She tossed the remaining grains of sand in her hand, stood up, dusted her butt off, and headed toward the house.
“I’ll leave you to your deep thoughts.”
It took five seconds for me to follow after her.
****
Jade
“You’re right—that was lame,” Brian said once he walked inside the screen door and sat down next to me on the navy blue couch that’d seen better days. “I guess I’m just embarrassed because I don’t know how I’m supposed to answer that. I had this near-death experience, and I know I should make changes in my life, but I’m not exactly sure what those changes should be.”
“You could have just said that.”
