Stitch by Jaime Lewis (ebook reader online .txt) 📗

Ace’s eyebrows rose before he brought his beer to his lips, and Stitch waited.

“Christ, man, can you at least let me get used to you two dating first?”

Stitch chuckled, but then Ace sobered, “I couldn’t ask for a better person to marry Mia. I know you’ll take care of her just as she will do the same for you. Of course, you have my permission.”

Stitch exhaled the big breath he had been holding in.

“Just don’t beat me down the aisle, or I’ll never hear the end of it from my mother or Alex,” Ace followed up with.

“Well, you and Alex better start planning because I don’t intend to wait too long. I’ve already wasted almost an entire year. I don’t have that much patience.”

Ace leaned back into the chair and got comfortable, stretching his legs out. The forecast called for a light dusting of snow in the area.

“Alex and I can’t seem to get on the same page in terms of a new date. I know she wants that wedding just as bad as I do, but we can’t ever find an open date. Shit is just non-stop right now. Between work and her Foundation that has taken off to extraordinary levels, we hardly see each other as it is. I just hate it hanging over our heads. More so for her. She had worked so hard getting our original date planned, and then you saw how that went to shit.”

Stitch took a drink of his beer. “Sorry, man. I know Alex has been itching to get married. You both deserve it.”

Ace smiled. “She deserves the wedding she wants.  I mean, after all, you only get one, and if she wants the big dream wedding she planned, then that’s what she’s going to get.”

Stitch chuckled. “But you have to have a date first.”

Ace pointed at him. “Exactly.”

“Well, you have a three-hour ride home. Maybe bring it up in the car.”

Ace nodded his head, and Stitch could only wish his friends the best.

They sat in silence for a minute or two.  The only sound was the fire crackling between them. Finally, Ace broke the silence.

“Derek said you had to report to base for that new training you’ve been helping to design.”

“Yeah, it’s this weekend. I thought I’d take Mia down with me. It could be good for her to get together with the others and have some normalcy. Maybe even make plans for Saturday night dinner at Bayside. Derek said things have been quiet, and nothing or nobody seemed out of the ordinary hanging around.”

Ace thought about it, then shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t see what it can hurt. Are you staying at your place?”

“No, I talked to my dad last night and explained everything to him.  Mia and I are going to stay with him and mom.”

“You know you guys can always stay with Alex and me. Shit, we have plenty of room.”

Wasn’t that the truth. The house had been bought initially by Alex when she moved back to Virginia Beach. Why she had decided to buy a five-bedroom home still puzzled Stitch and everyone else for that matter.

“Thanks. Mom and dad are excited to meet Mia. Have you heard any news out of New York?”

“Tink spoke with the detective yesterday. They’re following up on a few possible leads, but whatever those are, he isn’t sharing. Yet. Alex and I are taking a trip up there on Wednesday. Some of Tink’s guys are going to go along.”

“Why is that?”

Ace shrugged his shoulders. “Call it intuition. I just want to have a look around her apartment. Tink set it up with the detective. It’ll be a quick trip up and back in the same day.”

Ace leaned back in the chair.

“How is Mia really doing? I know my sister, and she isn’t one to sit around on her ass. She doesn’t know the meaning of taking it easy.”

“She has been taking Dr. O’Neal’s orders seriously. She is down to only one pain pill a day, and that’s at night. If she has some discomfort during the day, she opts for something over the counter that won’t make her tired.

“Is she getting the rest she needs?”

“Yes, yesterday was the first day I even let her out of the house. We took a drive along Skyline, stopped at a couple of the lookouts, then finished up with an early dinner in town.  She even passed on stopping in some of the antique shops along the way.”

At that news, Ace raised his eyebrows, clearly shocked. “My sister actually said no to going into an antique shop?”

Stitch laughed and took another slug of beer. “Yeah, that’s how I knew she’d had enough for one day. After dinner, we came home and just relaxed.  Well, I finished up that presentation I have to give this weekend on that new medic kit the government wants us to transition to.”

“Well, everyone will be happy to see you back this weekend.”

“Likewise,” Stitch replied, clinking bottles with Ace.

◆◆◆

An hour later, after Stitch and Mia had said their good-byes to everyone, Stitch turned to her.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

Stitch’s voice grabbed her attention, and she looked up to see him standing in front of her with a concerned expression.  When had he gotten there?  She blinked her eyes.

“Mia…”

“Yeah, I’m okay; why?”

“Well, I called your name a couple of times, but you were staring at that fire like you were in a trance.”

She noticed he had put a sweatshirt on. He smiled.

“I saw how you enjoyed sitting outside last night and again earlier today with your mom, so I thought we could sit out on the deck again and get some fresh air next to the fire.”

God, could he get any sexier. Two qualities she loved about Stitch were his calmness and patience. Even though she had never seen him in action on the battlefield, nor would she like to for several reasons, she sensed that those traits followed him while deployed. Being