Chapter 21

A week later,

Bobbie was at the fresh farmer's market as it was not a lunchtime habit for her. Andrea true to her word got her a job. She was a receptionist for the new Naval recruitment and training centre in St Louis. She basically pushed paper and took calls but she loved the job and the Naval officers who staffed the offices loved her and didn't mind training her, or explaining things to her as she didn't have the background knowledge.

But the work was good, having a paycheck was even better not that she'd been paid yet but it would happen. She just loved feeling useful and that she was just as capable as the next person to her in the office. Sometimes she was more efficient which gave her a zing of pleasure as she was proving her worth and not letting anyone down. She really liked being in an environment where people were like family it was what she'd missed from Iowa but she had it here.

Luckily, her path didn't cross with her son's so he was able to maintain his own career without worrying about her babying him. Not that she would but she felt it was important to feel as though he still had his world where he was his own man. They met up with couple of days for a meal or coffee. She liked their relationship as adults. She would always be his mother but she appreciated that he didn't need her to look after him the same way he'd needed when he was 5 years old. The space of living semi-separate lives helped them have what she felt was a healthier relationship.

Tonight, she was babysitting Clara for Cruz so he could take his girlfriend out for dinner. So she was spoiling herself by making her favourite meal as she knew Wolf and Miller would be out too. She was excited for Miller's friend as she knew the struggle of being a single parent and wanting to also be in an adult relationship. Not that Bobbie had that struggle as she'd been a teen mother with Miller but there had been times when she'd yearned to be seen as a woman but she'd squashed that down and focussed on making sure Miller grew up to be a good man.

Bobbie smiled at the vendor and took the bag of tomatoes placing them into her carry bag. She was about ask for some more capsicums but stopped as she something caught her eye to the side of her. She looked and saw a familiar face a few feet away from her. Her heart stopped in her chest with a thud and she felt like she'd been pulled back in time. Fear and panic seeped through her body like freezing cold water. She turned back to the vender and gave him a weak smile.

"Ah excuse me, I forgot something I had to do." she said quickly as her body just told her to run. She turned and saw he was still there in distance but he was walking to her which made her move faster. She pushed through the crowd blindly to get away as fast as she could. Her attention was focused solely behind her that she hadn't realized but she stepped out onto the road. The sound of a horn and screeching wheels made her turn just in time to see the car but it was too late.

Wolf was pottering around the kitchen when Miller's mobile blared the most obnoxious ring tone. He shook his head as he couldn't believe that the guy had picked up his phone by mistake as he headed off for his duty shift guarding a ship that was in dry dock. That was their punishment, to stand on guard while construction was in full swing. there was nothing worse than the grating noises of power tools and men gasbagging about the most useless topics. Wolf imagined that having a hangover would make the experience even worse so it made him feel just a little bit better that Burk was stuck on the same duty as them but he also had to submit to alcohol breath analyser every day and drug testing every two days to make sure he didn't turn his drinking habit into something worse.

So far it only pissed Burke off more than teach him a lesson while Wolf and Miller learnt their well. They had to decide if they'd watch Burk go down the hole he was in or help him out, either meant losing the friendship between them and the trust they needed to work together. But either way, Wolf had Miller's phone and so he went over and answered the phone. Unlike Wolf, the only phone calls Miller got was from his dentist and a financial adviser telling him how to maximize his portfolio. Boring phone calls, so he figured this had to be another mundane call.

"Hello?" Wolf asked as he answered the phone.

"Mr Miller, this is St Louis General Hospital. We're calling because you're listed as the emergency contact for Miss Barbara Miller." A female voice aid over the line. Wolf could hear the background noise of a hospital and knew this wasn't a prank.

"Yeah, she's my Mum." Wolf said pretending to be Miller as the little white lie was needed. He just hoped they didn't think too deeply on the fact that he had a very think Australian accent.

"How you going there?" Ava asked Maria, as she'd been working on the young woman's tattoo for over half an hour. She sat back on the stool straightening her back as she took a break for herself.

"Good." Maria said.

"Like some water or juice?" Ava said as she set her equipment down and cleaned her station up a little so when she came back in a few minutes she could just jump right back into it. The tattoo was coming along beautifully and Maria was a trooper as she held still, didn't flinch or groan from the bite of the tattoo gun. She figured that she was probably in that sweet spot where Adrenaline kicked in and the pain was almost pleasurable. Ava had seen it happen before.

"Yeah, some juice would be good." Maria said, Ava looked at her seeing Maria turn a little pale.

"You ok?" she asked her, as she didn't want Maria passing out and wndered if maybe she'd pushed the woman's body hard with shading in the tattoo for so long.

"Yeah, I'm good." Maria assured her as she pushed up on the bed and blew out an exhausted breath.

"You went a little pale there. We can finish up for now if you want." Ava told her, while mentally she made sure they had at least a 15 minute break and got some food into the woman. She did not want Maria to have a dizzy spell from their session today and end up passed out on the street. Ava knew how much of a hard worker Maria was and being the sole provider for three kids was no easy feat.

"No, I just sat up too quickly." Maria said dismissively. Ava gave nod not arguing with her as she knew it would be a lost cause.

"Alright, I'll be back. Just lay down and rest." Ava told her, Maria gave a nod and laid back as Ava left the room. She moved into the front reception and smiled as Preacher was on the floor with Mateo; Maria's son. "How you two doing?" she asked them.

"Just fine." Preacher said as he bounced a stuffed dinosaur toy on the floor which Mateo crawled after with much enthusiasm. The scene made Ava wonder if Preacher had had kids before the pandemic as he seemed to be a natural with them. He'd even taken care of throwing a blanket on the floor for Mateo to crawl around on as the tiles weren't soft on the knees at all.

"Maria needs some rest time, I was hoping you could order in some lunch for us all." Ava said as she moved to the fridge behind the register and pulled out bottles of juice and water.

"How bad?" Preacher asked in concern that raised a red flag in Ava. Not the bad kind of flag just the 'why does he care so much?' kind. They took their duty of care to their clients very seriously but never had they bought a meal for one but then Ava liked Maria. She felt they would be friends and one look after their friends.

"Little woozy, she wants to finish though but we'll see after we put some food into her." Ava told him.

"Ok, I'll call in for some pizza." Preacher said.

"Ms Miller, your Fiance is here would you like to see him?" Patty asked with a smile, she was the nurse who'd had the most contact with Bobbie since she'd woken up in the hospital. The doctor said she was lucky; she had a mild concussion, bruises, scrapes and cuts a long with 3 broken ribs. She was off work for at least six weeks but Bobbie wasn't going to stay out of the office for that long if she could help it.

"Fiance?" Bobbie said with a frown.

"That car must of hit you good if you can't even remember me." Wolf said as he strolled into her curtained off room. Bobbie's eyes went wide in surprise as she wondered what the hell he was doing and why he was telling people he was her fiance.

"Wolf." Bobbie said, mortification slid over her as she couldn't believe he was here.

"Not that hard I see." Wolf said in a teasing manner that had Bobbie blushing herself. She had to mentally shake herself as she was not Wolf's fiancé, she was the mother of his best friend and with that thought any slight sexual feelings that might have been aroused in her were quickly doused. She'd later blame the drugs she was on and the shock of being hit by a car. Something that was entirely her fault given she hadn't been looking, now mortification came back full force as she felt like a moron. She'd mistaken a stranger for someone else and gotten scared and stupid. She remembered the hours of watching Sesame Street with her son and how they taught children to cross the street. There was a song and everything for it.

"Well, I doubt anyone could forget a tall drink of water like you." Patty said, the woman even pumped her short hair in a flirtatious manner.

"Patty, you're making me blush. I'm a taken man." Wolf said flirting with the older woman. The nurse blushed and smacked his arm playfully before she left them alone.

"What are you doing here?" Bobbie demanded, once they were alone.

"Miller picked up my mobile by mistake and I got the call. They weren't going to tell me anything so I stretched the truth a little." Wolf said with a smile that nearly made Bobbie forget her middle name. It was the concussion she told herself as she had admitted to herself that Wolf was an attractive man but like all men she'd become immune to them. Sexual deprivation, helped her realise sex was not love, sex was not something she needed live unlike her 16 yr old self had believed and learned the hard way not to be true.

But she had since her son joined the Navy wanted to experience just a sliver of what romance novels spoke of. She usually glossed over the sex parts craving the companionship of a man, of the couples doing things together where the woman felt special or cared for. That's what she craved most, that and a marriage like her grandparents who'd been married for years but she ultimately felt invisible to the male species. When they did notice her, she felt somehow demeaned by their attention as they didn't see her, they just saw flesh.

"Stretched the truth?" Bobbie asked wondering if she was entitled to feel angry and hurt at him invading her privacy like this.

"I got really upset about your engagement ring being knocked off in the accident but I'm sure I'll find it when I go to where it happened." Wolf deadpanned, Bobbie felt her stomach twist in knots as she didn't want him to go there. She didn't even want to talk about it.

"I didn't ask them to call anyone." Bobbie said not playing into his game.

"Yeah but you can't be released from here on your own. You have a concussion and Miller's not off duty for another 6 hours. I could call Commander Garnett." he offered.

"No, I just want to get out of here." Bobbie said, she looked to Wolf. "You don't have to tell Eric about this." she added.

"I think he'll want to know." Wolf said as he felt red flags pop up in his brain at how she was ready to run away from him and wondered why.

"I'm adult and I don't want to worry. It was just an accident." Bobbie said dismissively but Wolf was too astute to let that fly. "I have to get to your place, I'm babysitting Clara." she added.

Later that afternoon,

Ava looked in the mirror at her reflection wondering if she was completely out of her mind. She and Cruz had been officially dating for a week, he was taking her to a restaurant for dinner. It was a pretty big thing for her as she hadn't eaten in a proper sit down restaurant since before the pandemic. The only few times she'd been on a date, they hadn't made it to the place before Ava cried headache or just decided not to as she saw the way her date looked at her. The facial scars that put off majority of the world didn't seem to register in Cruz's world as offensive. Actually all of his friends didn't seem to care beyond a first glance, it made her feel normal to be around them.

Tonight she had her hair pulled back and away from her face in a messy chignon with a few tendrils framing her face. She didn't know why but she felt confident enough that Cruz would make her forget about the scars and anyone who was going to gawk at her. She'd donned a floral maxi dress that was a mix of purple, pink and red hues with a light weight cream long line cardigan. Yeah, she was very girly and was completely blaming Alisha as the woman had made her buy the dress. It wasn't even a special dinner, it was just a night out. Ok, it was a little special as it was their first date alone, just them as Clara was being looked after for the evening and they were going somewhere Cruz claimed none of his friends would venture to spoil their evening. Something she found very amusing.

A knock sounded at her front door and she smiled as she quickly slipped on her sandals and headed to the door. She opened the door and her smile broadened as Cruz stood before her with a bouquet of what looked to be paintbrushes and acrylic paint tubes. So much better than flowers in her opinion.

"For you." he said as he held out to her though his eyes were drinking her in. A warm feeling rushed over her as she could sense his approval and she liked that he looked a little torn about taking her out as she could tell he'd prefer to stay in. Hell, she would too but they were taking things slowly and if they stayed things would progress fast.

"Thank you," Ava said, as she took the bouquet.

"You look beautiful." Cruz told Ava, he enjoyed the light blush that graced her cheeks but it was true. He didn't know why but to see her hair fully pulled back for the first time ever, even the tendrils of hair she had framed her face instead of obscuring it; it made him feel pretty special. He knew why she hid it, but it really didn't bother him. what bothered him was that she felt the need to hide it. Part of him wanted to hunt down the asshole who'd marred her face but knew it was a waste of time. He'd learnt from Preacher not to push the subject but was assured the man had not gotten away. Her scar was grotesquely artistic, it wasn't an accident but intentionally made but Cruz put that aside as they all had scars, he saw the entirety of her not that one section.

Yes, that scar was a part of her, it didn't define who she was or her beauty. Right now she was breathtaking because he knew in some part he'd given her the confidence to not hide but also because she was gifting him with her presence.

"Thank you, you're not so bad yourself." Ava said.

"Only one outfit change and it was Wolf's fault not Clara's." Cruz said smugly as he stood before her in a grey suit and a navy button down shirt with the collar open with black dress shoes. He'd had on a white shirt but Wolf who been cooking dinner for himself and Bobbie had accidentally flicked sauce at him with a wave of the spatula. Clara had gurgled in a fashion he could have sworn was a giggle but Bobbie assured him it was just a gurgle.

"He spew on you?" Ava asked teasingly as she tugged playfully on the lapels of his jacket and stepped towards him.

"Nope, kitchen mishap. You ready to go?" he asked.

"I will be after you kiss me." Ava told him with a smile.