“She serve?” Tim asked.
“Air Force. Aerospace med tech.”
“What’s that?”
Jase sighed. “You remember when I came home for a few weeks, middle of my last tour ‘cause I was escorting a guy in my unit back?”
“Yeah, is that what she did?”
“No. I was a non-medical escort. Just someone to help the guy out in Germany. Get him to appointments, that kind of thing.”
“What did she do?”
“The plane we took back was a C-17, configured for medical patients. The aerospace med techs take care of the patients onboard the plane.”
Tim raised an eyebrow. “Like a flying nurse?”
“Kind of. But they have those, too.”
“So she’s probably seen some pretty serious shit.”
Jase pulled from his beer. “Probably. We haven’t talked about deployments or anything.”
“But she’s probably gone through some stuff too, even if she wasn’t kicking in doors.”
Jase laughed. “She called me a door-kicker today.”
“Well, you were.” He looked at the bottle in his hand and swirled the dredges. “Where do you see it going?”
“Honestly? Long term. Bree’s the first person to make me want things since Tony killed himself.”
“It’s good to hear that. You had Mom worried for a while. Hell, you had us all worried. You went kind of wild when you first got back. Mom thought you were going to self-destruct. Then, after Tony… Even though you started V.E.T. Adventures, you still weren’t really all there. I think that scared Mom even more. Happy looks good on you. Good to have my kid brother back.”
Shit, is that what it was? Happy? He felt like something had been lifted from his shoulders. Even before Tony killed himself, he didn’t really engage with people. It took too much energy to answer the questions, ignore the looks when people found out he was part of an elite team of U.S. soldiers. Bree just saw…him.
But that wasn’t something he was going to articulate to his pain-in-the-ass brother. “We gonna hug? Do I need to go get you some tissue so you can dab your eyes?”
“And there’s the little shit I know and love.” Tim toasted him with his beer before taking a sip.
Jase lifted the cover of the grill to check on the steaks as Bree and Denise came out carrying a salad and other sides. They set everything down on patio table.
“Do you guys need a refill?” Bree asked.
“Sure,” Jase said.
Tim drained the last of his beer. “I can do another. Thanks.”
The patio door closed behind the girls and Tim asked, “So what’s Denise’s story?”
“Not sure. I know she and Bree are really close. I got the feeling they met while in the service. Ask ‘em over dinner.”
Bree and Denise returned with plates, silverware, napkins and beers for everyone.
“How much longer?” Bree asked.
“Depends on how you take your steak,” Jase said.
“Medium rare.”
