“Jae’s got an interesting since of humor,” he said with a smirk.
I cringed and chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah. That’s Jae. He loves a good sex joke.”
Sebastian chuckled, a knowing look in his eye. I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes.
“I can’t believe y’all have got your own damn house and Jae…the gym. I mean, you’re not teenagers anymore, huh?” He asked with another squeeze of my shoulder before he withdrew his hand. “It’s been too long.”
I nodded, glancing over my shoulder at the mass of people walking away from us. At the people I had missed beyond measure. At the people I was forcing myself to lie to. I swallowed against the bitter taste in my mouth, eyeing my sister as she picked up Benji who was pointing at one of the cars as we passed them.
He's never even met me in person before. Does he even know who I am? That he has another uncle besides Jae.I turned back, following the signs to the rental car.
“Hey, congrats on making Senior Airman,” he said. “You like your new unit?”
I cleared my throat and nodded. “Thanks. Yeah. It’s been good so far.”
Sebastian nodded and we fell into silence, my obvious lack of small talk turning into awkwardness. The last time I saw him was when my family saw me for a few hours after I graduated basic training. That was just over four years ago.
My mind wandered back to Shiloh and the newfound information about her ex—ex-husband. Or, fuck, I guessed they were still married seeing as how she went missing.
And he was still looking for her.
My stomach dipped and I felt guilty for wallowing in what was a blessing to have my family here but felt more like aninconvenience. Shiloh would have loved to be in my position. To have this family to love and support her.
We re-entered the airport, and I guided us towards the elevators. Ruthie stepped up on the other side of me after pressing the down button as instructed by her dad. I could feel her stare on my face. I glanced down with a wide smile, noticing just how much she looked like Eden.
“Hi, how was the airplane ride?” I asked her.
She looked past me at her dad and I swallowed. She didn’t know me and was obviously shy.
I eyed her Bluey t-shirt and leaned towards her, stage whispering, “That’s my favorite show.”
Her eyes went wide with astonishment before a smile broke out on her face. “Me too.”
I smiled back and straightened, warmth filling my chest as the elevator doors opened. I let them go first.
Ruthie and Benji stopped to stare at all the various artifacts and memorabilia displayed in the glass cases along the long hallway that led to the car rental counters.
When we finally made it to the counters, Sebastian left us to sit and wait. Eden placed Benji into one of the empty seats and he immediately stood up, holding onto the back of the chair to watch the people around us.
“Qué e’to?” he asked, pointing to a sign on the wall. “Bus!”
“Yeah,” I said with a smile, making him turn his head of curly brown hair to face me. “That’s a bus. It’s a shuttle bus.”
He stared at me, studying my face before shouting, “Bus!”
Eden shushed him, placing a hand on his back as he wobbled trying to turn his body around to face me.
“Utie, bus!”
I was beginning to wonder if maybe he didn’t speak any English. If maybe they were only speaking Spanish to him athome or maybe he went to a Spanish-only daycare. Shit, I didn’t even know if he went to daycare. Was my sister working?
Ruthie paid him no attention and instead tugged on Eden’s hand. “I’m hungry,” she whined.
“I’ve already told you, your options are a granola bar or a fruit pouch,” Eden said looking down at Ruthie.
Ruthie groaned, “I don’t want that. I want lunch.”
Eden sighed, clearly tired and trying to remain patient.
