Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 6

then he chuckled. "He was actually letting you and Bobby help, barking out orders to you both. But laughing too, and watching over you both to make sure nobody got hurt. I was a little jealous 'cause my Dad never did anything like that with me. And then, Bobby saw me standing there watching you all, and he waved me over. And your Dad just let me join in with all of you and help too." He paused to chuckle again. "Although I'm sure we were all too young and rowdy to be much help. But he never acted like we were bothering him. You and Bobby were so lucky, he was a great man. I always thought of him as a second Dad. Your whole family was like my second family."
    His words brought back all the memories of that day that I'd forgotten. I was really little, but I remember running around and tugging on Dad's arm to ask a question or bringing him a screwdriver... and I remembered his booming laugh and the smile on his face.
    My chest tightened and my whole body just let go. I couldn't hold it in anymore. I felt the tears streaming down my face, I felt my shoulders shaking. The dam of pent-up grief was blown all to hell, and once let loose it was unstoppable.
    I vaguely registered Chase's shifting body next to mine, and the next thing I knew he had his arms around me and my face leaning against his chest.
    "Finally... go ahead, Little A," he whispered. "Let it go. Just let it all go. I got you." He didn't try to console me with empty promises of "it'll be okay," he just sat there and held me while I fell apart.
    ****
    Bobby and I stayed with Mom for a while after the funeral to help handle all the paperwork and phone calls, and cleaning out of some of Dad's things. Bobby could only spare a week before he had to go back to work. I stayed for another week after he left, but then Mom was shoving me out of the house and back to school.
    My professors had been good about letting me miss classes, but now I was incredibly behind and had a lot to catch up on. After a week of burying myself in my books and literally doing nothing but going to class, studying, writing papers and sleeping (and very little of that), I was only halfway caught up to what I'd missed while I was gone. And I was having trouble trying to keep up with the current work. It wasn't so much that the work was difficult; it was just that it all took so much time. I was exhausted and starting to lose interest again. I tried to motivate myself by thinking of Dad and our argument at Christmas. He wanted this so much for me and I really wanted to give it to him. But, I still didn't know what I wanted to do with my life and so, I just felt like I was spinning my wheels. Like all this work and studying was just wasted if I didn't know what I was working toward.
    I had just got out of my English class one afternoon, pissed as hell, because I'd gotten a C on a paper I'd worked my ass off on. I was frustrated and upset and I had ten minutes to make it over to my modern history class, and my attitude was not motivating me to want to get there very fast. The last thing I wanted to do at that moment was waste another fucking hour in another hot, stale room, listening to a professor drone on and on and on about something I really didn't care about. I was heading across the quad when my heart jumped. There was a Marine recruiting table set up with a couple soldiers sitting behind it and glossy brochures set out in front of them. There was one student sitting at one end of the table talking to one of the Marines. There was also a third Marine standing in front of the table, passing a small brochure out to anyone he could snag for two seconds of their time.
    A lump formed in my throat because seeing them immediately made me think of Dad. I stopped still for a second or two, and then took a deep breath and continued on. The recruiting table was right in my path to get to the history building so I had to walk by them. I just kept my head down and tried to hurry on my way.
    "Sir, how are you today sir, please take into consideration becoming a member of the few, the proud, the United States Marine Corps after graduation. Thank you, sir, and have a great day."
    A brochure had been thrust into my hand as I walked by and then he was gone and on to the next person before my foot completed its step. I stopped and just looked back at him in shock. He certainly had the spiel down pat; that whole little speech had to have taken less than ten seconds. I shook my head and continued on, quicker now