He nodded.
She changed subjects. “So you’re not a morning person.”
A hard shake of his head. “All of my brothers are—but I don’t know if that’s nature or nurture. They all went into the military.”
“Speaking of dangerous tendencies.”
That made him laugh again. “One of my brothers is a pilot, so yeah.”
“Is it a family tradition, or…”
“The military service?” He shook his head. “My older brother Owen joined first. He’s a paramedic, and he was a teen dad, too. So the army reserve was extra income at first, and then when my mom died—she died a year and a half after my dad—his unit really stepped up and helped with us.”
“How old were you?”
“Fourteen.” His throat got tight, as it always did. He washed that feeling away with a sip of beer. “As far as brother guardians go, Owen was the best.”
She nodded. “Not a replacement for your parents, of course.”
“No. But he never tried. And my other brother Will was at university, studying to be a teacher. He joined the army too, so he’d have that extra income when he came home, because he wasn’t sure what kind of teaching job he could get in a small town right away. He helped a lot as I went through my roughest years. So after Owen and Will found the structure and support they needed in the military, it just made sense for Seth to go to the recruiting office, too. He went all-in, signing up with the Air Force. He just got out two years ago, and now he has a float plane charter service to the north.”
“Wow.” She leaned forward, chin on hands, the final few pieces of sushi forgotten. “That’s four of you. Who’s the youngest?”
“Adam. He’s a bit of an army bum. He talks about being a firefighter—our dad was a firefighter—but Will and Owen don’t want that for him.”
“Is he a lot younger than you?”
Josh laughed and shook his head. “Nah. He’s just the baby in our hearts. He’s twenty-eight.”
“I bet he loves the overprotective brothers routine.”
“Lovesit.” He sighed. “You don’t have any siblings, right?”
She shook her head. “Nope. Although never say never.”
“How would you feel about your father having another child? Or…your mother?”
“Just my father. My mom was young when she had me, but not that young. And I don’t know. It’s his life. But he says he’ll never marry again. Time will tell.”
Josh wondered if there was more to the story there, but he didn’t want to dig into Michael Fischer’s personal life. His job was to fix transmissions and tweak suspensions. That was it.
“So you didn’t want to join the army?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. No. Maybe? I can’t remember what teenage me wanted. But as soon as I found cars, that was it.”
Her eyes crinkled. “Well, I can’t be sorry about that, since if you hadn’t, we would never have met.”
He lifted his beer glass. “I’ll cheers to that.”
She clinked her tea cup against the glass.
“Ready to get going home?”
She nodded and raised her hand for the bill.
Everything inside him itched to tell her it was on him, but that would make this a date, and he wasn’t allowed to want to impress this woman. Couldn’t treat her, not a sushi dinner would be a treat for someone from her background. But it still pinched as she pulled out a credit card that justlookedlike it had no limit. Subtle logo, monochromatic design, gilt details that matched her expensive sunglasses now perched on her head.
Not that he cared if she was rich.
