“Consider it already done. Although if you want to lay it on a little thicker, I won’t hate you for it,” she teased. “You’re good at handling minutia, like… Have you, in your ultimate impress-Lace-mode, decided what we’ll do with my rare afternoon off today? Zip lining? Rock climbing?” she teased, tongue-in-cheek.
“Ah,” he responded.
How did she already understand him so well, that she knew he’d formed a plan?
He laid it out. “Ihavecome up with a tentative agenda. First, we grab something to eat at a place of your choice,” he enumerated. “Then, if it’s okay with you, we’ll go to my mother’s house because she’stickedI haven’t brought you over yet. Plus, she has some visitors she wants us to meet. Then, we’ll end up at Diver Downeast, where I’ll impress you with my diving knowledge.”
Lace smiled delightedly. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be impressed,” she laughed. “But I’m really going to love seeing your mom again,” she admitted. “It’s been way too long. And who are her guests?”
“Friends of a family friend,” Vince informed her, knowing Lace wouldn’t be familiar with the Sothard’s buddy, Tex. “Their names are Obi-Wan and Zita.”
“Obi-Wan?” Lace asked, cutely scrunching up her nose.
“Obadiah,” Vince explained. “Obi-Wan is his military call sign. He’s a Night Stalker; a helicopter pilot.”
“Wow. That’s pretty cool. Is it like you being a Navy SEAL?” she asked. “A special operations thing?”
“Absolutely.” Vince should have known she’d understand the many layers of the military. “I can’t wait to meet him,” Vince admitted, allowing a little of his hero worship to bleed through. “His wife kicks ass, too,’ he said as an afterthought.
“Is she also a pilot?” Lace questioned.
“Nope. Or…maybe. I wasn’t given that information. What Idoknow, is that she’s a paramedic.”
“That job is thankless, and takes a lot of dedication,” Lace responded. “I like her already.”
They headed across the lot toward his truck.
“Hey?” she questioned, pausing for a moment before opening her door. “Doyouhave a call sign?”
“Yeah. Although I’ve retired it completely.”
Right.After his last mission, that name no longer applied, yet it remained a happy reminder of the wild, semi-irresponsible man he’d once been.
“Can I ask what itwas?” she implored.
“Sure,” Vince huffed. “It was Maine-iac. Like a play on the word, Maine.”
Lace giggled, which brought more redemption to the put-to-pasture handle.
“I can see why you’d want to shed yourself of that,” she agreed. “You’re much too regimented and careful these days for it to be a fit.”
“Regimented? Me?” he scoffed, albeit a bit artificially, because down deep, heknewhe wasn’t the devil-may-care person he’d once been. He reminded her… “Uh, who’s wearing the clown suit, here?”
She eyed him, far too knowingly.
“Who has his eyes everywhere, all the time?” she argued. “Who saw the situation with Inez and within days had put in an application for foster parenting? Who finagled their way into my home, quite adeptly, I might add,” she put in cheekily. “And just to ask. Where are you in the class hours you’re supposed to complete?”
Vince ducked his head. “Okay. You got me. I actually got it all done over the last few nights.”
“Thirty hours’ worth of studies,” she stated, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Yeah. But… Wait. How did you know it was thirty hours?” he queried.
Now Lace looked smug as she got into the truck and closed the door behind her.
Vince hustled around to his side, and entered adroitly.
“So?” he asked.