I wasn’t thinking of riding off into the sunset with Jackson, I wasn’t that naïve and dumb. But it felt like life had changed significantly since he’d come back into it. I just didn’t know what was ahead.
Was I going to stay on the train at a comfortable speed, never running out of tracks, or was I where I was meant to be? And what role did he have in it all?
Knowing I had no ways of finding out those answers and that I’d never have the guts to ask the question anyway, I was just about to start watching the movie Marcus had put on, when the familiar and well-known opening music started playing loudly.
“No offense, Ronnie, but your son’s an asshole,” I ground out as Top Gun started playing.
Bursting out laughing, he threw his arm back around my shoulder. “Sorry, Sashie. It’s time to buzz the tower.”
It was like having the big brother I’d never had… and never wanted.
Two weeks later…
Thanks to storm season, my dads hadn’t been able to get a flight out.
First, it’d been three storms hitting back to back, and then it’d been work that’d interfered.
Sam had three patients who’d needed reconstructive surgery, and Ryan, who was an insurance adjuster, was inundated with cases.
It didn’t hurt when they’d called with the news the first time their flight was canceled. I knew from experience they’d have work to do after the first storm, but no one thought the storms behind it would pick up speed and force, especially after they’d passed over the Caribbean.
I’d watched the news anxiously as they discussed it and then broke the information about them being upgraded from a category three to a category four, and I’d known then that they had to do their jobs.
I could see them anytime, but people needed their lives back as quickly as they could.
Marcus had gone back to his ranch four days after we’d watched Top Gun to relieve his best friend, Remy, who’d been holding the reins. The last bit of that sentence was his joke and a bad one because the pun was intended.
Ronnie and Wyatt had managed to fly back to Orlando just after the third storm, though, and they’d put my dads' minds at ease that I was okay. Plus Jackson had a new phone now, so as soon as I replied when they asked me if I was okay, they texted him to make sure I wasn’t lying after I’d told them I was fine.
Which I was. I was able to put some weight on my broken leg now, the x-rays showed the breaks were healing nicely, and I was doing regular exercises to maintain the muscles in my arm and leg.
Elijah and Sadie had flown back with them on the same day. Elijah had set up a company that created advanced warning technology and safety guards for fishermen and was needed for meetings.
I kind of understood what he was doing and how the death of his best friend had contributed to it. It was intriguing listening to him explain it and the difference they’d make to safety in the industry.
Milkshake loved the new space he had and even sat on the counter in the bathroom while Jackson showered—the lucky little bastard.
But this now left me with Jackson coming home when he had long periods between classes and doing my schoolwork online. It might sound boring, but it wasn’t.
For the most part, I loved the moments I had to myself. Then Jackson would come through the door, his eyes skimming over everything until he found where I was sitting at that moment, and then he’d give me a huge smile.
I think we got along because my idiosyncrasies matched his. When I found something, I put it back where I’d found it. I didn’t find new places for it because it made sense how he’d laid everything out.
I hadn’t admitted it to him yet, but his order made complete sense to me, so I didn’t have an issue with any of it.
Before his family had left, he’d gone over to my apartment with his mom and Marcus, and had packed up two more bags and three boxes of my stuff. Now there was more of me around the apartment in case I needed anything. We’d spent an entire day putting it in places that suited both of us, and now my stuff was incorporated with his.
Well, until I moved back to my place, that is.
I’d just finished a paper on the impact of a dredging company’s actions on an area in Indonesia when the door opened, and Jackson came in looking tired but happy to see me.
“Long day?” I asked sympathetically, putting my laptop on the couch beside my leg and then rubbing my eyes. There was something about staring at a screen all day that made my eyes feel like I had grit or sand in them.