A/N — I am terribly behind responding to reviews. I will catch up soon, promise! xoxo — kals
A/N — oldest child struggles with proper story structure. We are working on "First, next, then, last" paragraphs. I noticed only after proofing that this structure ... made it into this story. Hahahahaha. — kals
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Chapter 19 — Andrea/Tex
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Andrea was sitting at the kitchen table, staring out the window at a bright yellow bird she thought might be a goldfinch when she heard the door open. She listened as Tex emptied his pockets into the basket she put on the table by the door for exactly that purpose, sick of having to search the house for his wallet and keys. A moment later, she could tell that he was sitting to yank off his boots from the soft shuffling sounds. Then he headed towards the kitchen, presumably bringing the groceries that he promised to pick up on the way home.
Home.
Funny how easily that rolled off her tongue. When she first moved into this house almost two years ago, she had seen it as nothing more than a place to crash between deployments — a barrack, for lack of a better term. Then Kat moved in, followed by Tex, and at some point, the building transformed from a place to sleep to a home, the change so gradually that Andrea wasn't sure when — or how — it happened.
Tex was halfway across the room, headed towards the refrigerator, before he noticed Andrea at the table. He paused, eyebrows lifting, before he set the bags he was holding on the table and began emptying them. "They were out of sourdough bread but I found a couple bottles of wine. Good stuff, from before."
Andrea watched as Tex began putting things away, making no move to help. "Kara suggested that I call your bluff."
Rummaging in a drawer to find the wine opener, Tex returned to the table. "What bluff?"
Andrea waited for him to pour before picking up the glass of red wine. She sipped. "This is good. What is it?"
Tex shrugged, dropping into the chair across from Andrea and helping himself to a handful of the crackers sitting in the middle of the table. "Beats me. But Cooper said it was top shelf. I figured that she knew what she was talking about."
Taking another sip, Andrea conceded that Sasha did know good wine.
"You said that if I wanted you to show up at Russ's office with a marriage license, I just needed to tell you when," Andrea said after another sip, studying Tex's face for any tell.
But the old goat was too cagey to reveal anything. Instead, he smiled. "And you think that I'm bluffing?"
"Actually," Andrea said, taking another fortifying sip, "I don't. So I decided to ask. Are you bluffing?"
Tex scoffed. "Rookie move there, Red, going right for the jugular. You need to ease into these things."
"Assuming that I'm correct and your suggestion was not a bluff," she began as though Tex hadn't said anything, "I have to wonder why you would want to get married. And don't tell me that this is about Kat, because despite those romance novels she gobbles up, the kid's smart enough to understand that adults don't actually get married because they get caught having sex."
Tex swirled his wine. "Even if it's great sex?"
Andrea rolled her eyes. "Just for that, you can sleep by yourself tonight."
The silence stretched as Andrea waited for Tex to speak, suspecting that he was sizing her up, trying to figure out what she wanted to hear before he said anything. Tex was good at that, figuring out what she wanted before she knew herself. She found herself smiling unintentionally at the thought.
"I'm a simple guy, Red," Tex said finally, his eyes focused on her lips. "A full belly, a place to sleep, and regular sex. Why wouldn't I want to make that permanent?"
Andrea considered that response, before shaking her head. "Nope. You have to do better than that."
Tex's mouth opened and, for half a second, Andrea was certain that he was about to make a flip comment. Then then paused, as though reconsidering that impulse. "Cards on the table?"
She nodded.
Tex set down his glass, glancing towards the window where the goldfinch still sat. "When you offered to let Kat move in here while I was traveling with the team, I said yes because I didn't want Kat to be alone. Then, staying here while you were gone just seemed to make sense. But then you got back and the three of us fell in together and ... it was all so easy. One day I woke up and realized that it was like being married again, without all the fighting. Not that I blame Claire for the divorce, mind you, but she sure did have a lot of complaints. I was gone too much. I let Kat get away with murder. My feet stink and I wear socks during sex. My ..."
"For the record, those things annoy me too," Andrea interrupted. "And I doubt Claire was the only one complaining."
"That's the thing, Red," Tex continued, meeting her gaze. "I figured that it was different with you because we weren't having sex. But then we started having sex and nothing changed. You still weren't pissing me off. And then it hit me that the reason I wasn't itching to get out of town was because I'd done gone and fallen in love with you. And I'm guessing that the reason you aren't screaming at me right now like a JO who slept through a shift is because you feel the same way about me."
Glancing down at the wine, Andrea ran her finger around the rim of her glass over and over again. Then she met Tex's gaze. "You aren't the only one. I do love you, Tex." Tex's grin was instantaneous, but Andrea held up a hand to stop him from saying whatever he was about to say. "But I need you to know that I still love Bill too. Part of me probably always will."
She half expected Tex to bristle but she should have known better. Instead, he went the opposite way, waggling his eyebrows. "The woman has a past. Wait until I tell the guys."
Andrea snorted. "So where does that leave us?"
Tex reached out a hand, taking one of Andrea's in his. "I'm not asking you to let go of Bill or Lily any more than you're asking me to let go of Claire. I'm not trying to replace anyone, Andrea. All I'm saying is that there's no reason to mess with a good thing — and we've got a good thing going."
Andrea watched him for a moment, before nodding sharply. "Okay."
Tex wiggled his eyebrows. "Does that mean you want me to show up at Russ's office with a marriage license?"
Andrea turned her hand so she could entwine their fingers. Then she took a sip of her wine to hide her smile. "No need. Russ is coming by on Saturday at noon and he's bringing the marriage license. I invited Danny and Kara to be our witnesses but thought that you would want to talk to Kat yourself."
Tex smiled then, his eyes twinkling. "Like I said, easy."
