Sammy & Ilna - Famliy. Family, family, family. Love you both.
And Sammy, thanks again for the title and the great line.
REALMcRollers - We have so so much in store and are very happy and grateful you're along for the ride.
Better Than Okay
Casey Allen tossed her head back and laughed at something her friend said. Her teammates were excited by a great day at their meet and the coach had treated them all to ice cream at the parent-manned refreshment stand before they boarded the bus back to Kukui.
"Can you hold mine?" She handed her cone to her friend saying, "I just wanna text Kono."
When she'd typed, We won! ! ! ! and received, Excellent! Talk ASAP she grinned, pocketed her phone - Cody's old one - and took her ice cream back. Kono attended quite a few of her meets, both home and away, but today she was out on a case. Even when she couldn't make it though, she was always anxious to hear.
"Ladies, ladies, let's finish up and head for the bus!" The coach clapped and waved her clip board.
Most of the parents and spectators were exiting the area for the parking lot and Casey stopped before boarding the bus to take the last bite of her cone. She'd grabbed the handrail when suddenly she stood stock-still, her body tensed to the point the coach, Kim, who was standing near the door, placed a hand on her arm.
"Casey? Hon? Are you okay?"
Her eyes fixed a few yards away, she took a full ten seconds to respond. "Oh, yeah, sorry, Coach. I'm fine." She shuddered slightly and climbed aboard, dropping into her seat and staring out the window until the bus pulled away.
Forty five minutes later, Casey was waiting outside the governor's offices to be escorted inside. She thanked the aide and took a seat in the hall on a large wooden bench to wait for her brother.
When Cody stepped out a few seconds later, he tensed and looked around. "Casey, what's wrong?" She'd texted asking if she could meet him there after work and he'd been slightly puzzled but agreed. Seeing his sister's expression he approached quickly. She stood, and the look on her face made him take a seat and motion for her to do the same. "Did something happen?"
The normally stoic teen's eyes moistened as she said, "I saw Dad."
Cody stiffened. "We have to call Steve right now." He reached for his phone.
"What? Why?" Her eyes widened.
"Because he's not supposed …" He took a breath. "Where, Case? Where'd you see him?"
"At the meet. He didn't see me. I kinda ducked behind the bus. He wasn't looking for me or anything, he was ... I just looked at a bunch of people and he was in the crowd." She paused and looked in her brother's eyes. "He looks … older."
Cody breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, okay, good. It was a coincidence? You're sure?"
She nodded.
"Did you tell Mom?"
"No, I came to tell you."
He ran a hand through his hair in a gesture that was very Steve-like. "What was he doing?"
"He was with some lady." She shrugged. "And a couple of kids. Little ones, like maybe four or five. Younger than Jacob." At her brother's look, she answered his unasked question, "They're not his or anything. They're Asian. The lady was young. Younger than mom." Her eyes held his and her jaw was set. "They definitely looked like they were together though. You know … together."
Cody placed a hand over hers and squeezed gently. "Okay, you know what? Catherine's here. I'm gonna text her." He tapped out a message and sat back, holding out his arm. "Are you okay?"
Casey nodded, smiled wanly and glanced around the empty corridor before leaning forward to hug her brother with all her strength. "Yeah," she said quietly into his shoulder.
A minute later the siblings looked up at the tap of shoes and saw Catherine approaching. She looked concerned as she said, "What's wrong? Is everyone alright?"
Cody nodded. "Casey saw our … she saw Jason."
Catherine ushered the teens into a nearby conference room. Her phone was in her hand as she asked where and what transpired. Listening while offering Casey a bottle of water, she placed a hand over hers. "So he didn't see you, sweetheart?"
"No. Definitely not." She shrugged. "He might not have recognized me anyway." Her eyes flashed. More angry than hurt, she continued, "It's been a long time. Years. I'm not a little kid anymore." Her hand subconsciously touched her short, sandy hair. "I look different."
Cody placed his hand on his sister's shoulder. She, more than the others, remembered the comings and goings of Jason Allen. Mostly goings. And lots of unpredictability.
Of all the siblings, they had the most in common there. He felt a twinge of pride in how Casey was offering more and more help at home as she got older. Not only to help Jenna, but to help Cody. She often offered to watch the younger kids so he could spend a few hours with Jess or doing homework and he appreciated his sister's efforts so much. "You're amazing. It's his loss, Case, we talked about this, remember?"
"Cody's right." Catherine smiled softly. He sounded so like Steve sometimes. "You know what? I'm done here. I have the truck. I'll drive you guys home. I just need to stop and let Cammie out if Steve's not there yet."
Cody stood and Casey followed. "If we stop at your house ... I don't want to barge in on your night, but I … I wanna to talk to Steve in person if I can, okay?"
Catherine placed a hand on his shoulder and nodded. "Absolutely. I know he'll want to hear about what happened from you guys. Give me a minute to lock up my files, I'll be right back." She exited the room quietly, thinking to herself how incredibly far Cody had come to not only tell her, but want to see Steve to share what was going on right away. Her smile grew. While she was sorry Casey had had an upsetting experience, she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt she would have all the help she needed to process it. Catherine texted Steve a brief explanation and said they'd be at the house soon.
Steve was waiting for them when they arrived at the beach house.
While sitting on the sofa, Casey played with the hem of her shirt before letting out a breath. "I kinda feel sorry for her. That lady. And those kids. They were cute." She sighed and ran her hand over Cammie's head. The dog had come to sit near the teen when she sensed the emotion emanating from her. "If they get attached to him - they're gonna end up crying, 'cause he's only gonna leave." Her eyes met her brother's- a look of astonishment on her face. "I just realized, I'm not even sad. Is that weird, Cody?"
He shook his head. "No. I'm not sad anymore either. But it's okay to get angry. Just don't let it take over." He looked at Steve, who gave him a proud smile from his place in the chair. "I still get angry sometimes, but then I let it go."
Casey thought a moment before she said, "I don't feel … anything, really. When I saw him I was mad, then … I thought I'd feel more, but I don't, then I thought maybe I should and I felt bad about not feeling bad, you know?"
"I know," Cody replied and Catherine's heart went out to them.
Steve nodded. "You never have to feel bad about that. You have no relationship with him because he didn't allow one. That's on him. Always. Never forget that."
"If you do, I'll remind you." Cody one arm hugged his sister. "We're okay, all of us."
"We're better than okay." She smiled, the resilience of youth showing though. She glanced up at Steve and Catherine. "Thanks."
"That's what family's for," Catherine said and Steve agreed as he added, "Wanna stay? I can put some steaks on. We can call your mom and have everyone come over."
Cody stood. "Thanks. We gotta get home, though. Dylan's got his science fair later."
"That's right, Chin told me this morning." Steve grinned. "He's looking forward to it. Let's go, I'll drop you off."
He grabbed his keys while they hugged Catherine goodbye and the three headed to the truck. As they made their way down the driveway, she noticed Steve give Cody's shoulder a squeeze and the look on the young man's face when he turned to step into the truck was one of complete trust and confidence. She closed the door with a smile as she said, "C'mon, Cammie, let's start dinner."
"Everyone okay?" Catherine looked up to see Steve enter. He crossed to kiss her and nodded. "Yeah, Casey's good. Jenna was getting home just when I dropped them off. She'd picked the younger kids up at the after school programs a little early so everyone could eat and be ready for the science fair. I offered to start dinner while she and Cody talked to Casey about how he and I ran into Jason."
"You're home quick, then." She turned off the stove and placed a bowl of salad with avocado and goat cheese on the counter after topping it with grilled chicken. "Wanna eat in here or outside?"
"I just put chicken cutlets in the oven for them. They were all ready to go, I only had to light it and keep an eye. Chin got there about ten minutes later and I checked in on Jenna, Cody and Casey before I left. Kono was on her way over, too. Casey called her from the truck." Steve gathered several dinner rolls, two bottles of water, napkins and some cutlery and handed them to her before grabbing the salad and dinner plates. "Looks like rain, living room?"
She nodded and preceded him through the door, setting up on the coffee table. "That's great." She smiled, happy Casey seemed to be processing the incident well. "Cody's good?"
A small smile lit his face as she sat and he made a another trip to the kitchen. "Yeah. He is." Steve returned with the salad dressing and joined her. "That's pasteurized, right?" He said without missing a beat as they filled their plates.
Catherine nodded and answered, "From the safe cheese list."
He didn't say a word, just beamed at her and she leaned in to kiss his cheek. "Cody was great this afternoon," she said as she speared a piece of chicken.
"He was," Steve agreed. He took a piece of chicken and fed it to Cammie, before turning back to Catherine. "I still can't …" He shrugged.
"I know." She placed hand on his knee and squeezed gently.
"Five kids. Five. How the hell he could walk away from one is … unbelieveable, let alone leaving five kids to grow up without him."
"Jacob doesn't remember him much."
"You've talked about it?"
"Once or twice. Like when Kaitlyn asked Danny to come to her Father/Grandfather/Uncle or Special Friends lunch. She told Jacob Danny was the most fun uncle there. Apparently he had all the kids in stitches with some story about a snowman he and Angela built in New Jersey and tried to bring inside Nonna's house."
Steve smiled. "Danny loved going."
"And when we were reading once in the library Jacob said, 'I don't remember my dad too much, I think he kinda had hair like Cody,' " I could have cried.
"That's … he's such a scumbag."
Catherine could see the hurt in his eyes for the loveable little boy who'd captured all their hearts. "We talked for a minute and he handled it well. I mentioned it to Jenna when I dropped him off in case he brought it up, but she said he rarely does." She took Steve's hand. "Know what else she said?"
He shook his head.
"That since he's met you and Danny and Chin, he never asks about Jason. Neither does Kaitlyn."
"That's … I'm glad, if we make it even a little bit easier."
"That's everything, Steve. They see what I've always seen. And Grace saw from the day she met you. And Cammie did, too." She gave him a dazzling smile.
"Thank you." He leaned in for a kiss. "I hate that they have to deal with Jason being their father," his eyes clouded for a moment and cleared at her touch, "but they're great kids, Jenna's an incredible mom, they're gonna be amazing adults."
"You're right, you know." Catherine leaned forward until their foreheads touched. "And you're gonna be an amazing dad."
A smile lit his eyes. "You think so?"
"I know so." Catherine pulled back, took his hand and placed it on her tummy. "We both do."
# End thanks for reading
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