“My mate was Amiée!”Stan couldn’t help the outburst.“Command Sergeant Major Kouris is not my mate.You only get one love in your life, everyone knows that, and Amiée was mine.”Stan swallowed a lump forming in his throat as he said his late wife’s name and then raked a hand through his hair, frustrated with himself and how much he still missed her.
“Stan, regardless of what laws of fate you believe in, see this for what it is.You’ve been granted a second chance at love.Maybe it’s your karma from all the FUCs you helped shtup.”
“Shtup?”Stan raised a curious eyebrow.
“It’s a Yiddish word I learned when Amira and I honeymooned in Lancaster, New York.I learned a little Yiddish while we were there.Such a fascinating language!Anyway, I’m digressing.You need to feel what it’s like to be in love again, Stan, and the best way to do that is to, you know, make that man-part of yours work again.Plus?What was it you said to me when you forced me to work with Amira?”he asked as he tapped his chin with his index finger.“Oh, that doesn’t matter because I think I have a better phrase.One you’ll understand since it’s from your own generation—or maybe close?I always get Xennials, Millennials, and Gen X mixed up because I was born on the cusp of Millennials and Gen Z.But I’m sure you’ve heard ‘suck it up, buttercup,’ right?”
“Leave it to you to end your diatribe like that.”Stan crossed his arms and shook his head before letting out a chuckle in frustration.“The sad part about this conversation is that you are right.I don’t know how it’s possible, but Kalliopi is my mate.I sensed it the minute I laid eyes on her.But what difference will any of this make?In the end, I have to work with her and the job has to come first.”
“So?”
“So?We are really going there?”
It was Richard’s turn to cross his arms, only he let out a huff instead of a chuckle.“Stan, we all know you have that stupid three-date-max thing going on, and it’s time to retire that sacred rule of yours.”
Stan shook his head again.“I don’t know, Richard.My life is complicated enough with the dangers of my job and my kid in the mix.I can’t imagine being with a woman in the same field.I have to think about her, too.”The vision of Kalliopi on the ground flashed through his mind again, mingling with the grief he endured with the loss of his first wife.There was only so much one man could handle in a lifetime.
Richard placed his hands on Stan’s shoulders again.“Jewel’s a wonderful daughter.You raised her right, and she’s following in your footsteps, wanting to be a good agent, just like her father, but don’t you think she wants to see you happy?”
“Richard, I don’t know.She just transferred in, and it’s been hard navigating the whole ‘adult child’ dynamic with her already.She didn’t even want my help to move into her dorm on campus!Doesn’t every kid understand parents need that?It’s kind of the closure we need.Helping them set up their new nest since they’re flying the home coop, leaving the original nest, ya know?”
“But she still sees you every day on campus, doesn’t she?”
“Well, yeah.But that doesn’t mean that I don’t feel her absence when I go home to an empty house every night.I’ve been having to fall asleep with the TV on because the quiet is too deafening for me.It’s like I’ve reverted to a security blanket in my old…olderage.”Stan stressed the word older for good measure.He’d just turned forty-five, and from his daughter’s perspective, that made him old.Not that he felt that way.He was still far from the day of donning a fishing hat and spending his day in a boat on Quesnel Lake.And he refused—and outright, he might add—toputteraround the house fixing things, like the drawer in the kitchen that always seemed to run off its track, or replacing the worn-out carpet on the stairs leading up to Jewel’s room, or fixing the ceiling fan because the light never worked.He wasn’t that old yet!
He gazed at the phone once more and lifted his hand slightly to reach for the receiver.That was when it rang.
2
“What the fuck?Treasure!Get in here, please.”
Kalliopi took a few deep breaths as she read the email for the third time.She was sure she’d blow a gasket before Treasure walked through the front door of her office.She wanted to lambaste the turtle for meddling in her love life for the billionth time.Ever since Treasure saw Stan carry her bridal style to the hospital a week ago, she’d been relentless about Stan being Kalliopi’s one and only.And then she told Kalliopi that Stan was the perfect white knight to ride into the sunset with.
Kalliopi let a sigh escape her lips at the last thought.She had nothing against white knights.They had a place in fairy tales, just like woodland creatures who helped with chores, but they didn’t exist in Kalliopi’s world.Of course, if she had to pick one, she was more upset about the latter not being true in her life.Who wouldn’t want cute bunnies and birdies cleaning their house for them?
Having a thing for a white knight at this point in her life was only asking for trouble.She didn’t need one to save her because she was strong enough to take care of herself, thank you very much.
“What’s going on, Kallie?”Treasure asked as she appeared in the frame of Kalliopi’s door with folded arms.
The gesture was cute and reminded Kalliopi that she’d been a little too grouchy with her friend this past week.But truth be told, if she’d been at the top of her game during SHIT, well, the Shifter Hellenic Island Talks would have turned out differently.She shouldn’t have been staring at Stan, possibly giving him heart eyes while on the job.That was how she’d gone down.If she’d been on top of her game, then Stan wouldn’t have had to play the role of said white knight to begin with.This was all her fault as far as she was concerned.
Also, sadly, if she hadn’t been—for lack of a better term—flirting with the idea of dating again, she would have seen that demon bull-griffon shifter Zagan coming.Ugh!And why was she even entertaining the thought of dating again?It’d been a year since her breakup with the guy-who-shall-remain-nameless.It still stung—romantically speaking, of course.But sex?A year was long enough for her to go without it as far as she was concerned.A stork shifter had needs!Yet, to go gaga over the first someone who made her head swirl, especially while on the job, was ridiculous, even for her.Was she really ready to jump back into that murky—at best—dating pool?Especially at her age?Women in their twenties and thirties always complained that the good ones were married, and perhaps there was some validity to that because, as a woman in her forties, it felt like she was dating the bottom-feeding leftovers all the time.
“What is this?”Kalliopi asked as she turned her laptop around to face her best friend, Treasure, whose brows furrowed.
“It appears to be your itinerary for your flight to British Columbia with the troops.”
Treasure’s voice was way too bouncy for Kalliopi’s taste this early in the morning.Why didn’t she stop for coffee at Java Hut this morning before work?Right, she’d been running late.Sigh.With only half a cup of the battery acid from the barracks downed, her ears protested the jubilant way Treasure confirmed the upcoming mission.
“And why am I going with them?We all agreed I should stay here.”
“No.You said you were staying here.None of us agreed to that.”
“FUCN’A?Really?Treas, my MILF duties are here—not at Furry United Coalition Newbie Academy.”
“Yes, well, I was discussing this with Teo, and the fact of the matter is these troops are all young and impressionable.So, until they are officially enlisted as FUCN’A cadets, we thought it best for you to accompany them on the plane ride over.”
“As what?Their den mother?We both know I’m not exactly doting-mother material.Heck, in myth, I’m the one dropping them?—”
