The days leading up to my school speech went by in the blink of an eye. I spent most of the time resting and trying to shake the aches and pains, both physical and mental, from my time spent in Vegas. My scars were healing up nicely. With them being barely even noticeable on my pale skin, I didn't feel nearly as self-conscious about them. It was taking some time for my Achilles to get better, causing me to walk everywhere with a noticeable limp, but I felt like I had been making good progress each day. What Charlie did for the body’s regeneration process was remarkable. Still, I had no idea how people spent months in hellish rehab with worse injuries. If I didn’t get to cheat by having a healer, I’d probably just opt to not walk again and let them take my whole foot.
Then there was Lizzy. After what happened, it really felt like our friendship had gone to the next level from the unfortunate magic of bonding over traumatic events. She ended up staying with us for a few days, something that no one minded. She and Rebecca were getting along better than ever, and Megan was thrilled to have “Aunt Lizzy” over for a long sleepover. Shelly took the time to sit down and go over everything with her since she was the leader. My sister never pushed it farther than she thought she needed. Lizzy either was genuinely doing better, or she was doing an alarmingly good job of holding it all in, but there weren’t any issues I thought were red flags.
All in all, I felt good enough physically and mentally to go through with the trip to my old high school. Once I realized that I felt well enough to show up, of course, I started to get nervous all over again. It put the fact I was going to do public speaking back up in the spotlight of my mind. When I wasn’t spending time with any of the girls in the house, I was trying to put together an acceptable speech. It took me a while to get something I felt was good enough to use. Even if it was just in front of some disinterested high school students, I wanted it to be something I could be proud of.
The trip there wasn’t eventful, and for once, I was kind of eager for a road trip. Sure, public speaking in front of high school students was just about as horrifying as some of the other things I had gone on road trips for, but it was different. My family was with me, so we got to make it a fun family event instead of the long march to do something miserable. I got to show Megan and Rebecca where I grew up. There wasn’t a whole lot to look at during the twenty-one hour, so we had to entertain ourselves.
It was a massive upgrade over the previous trips that always had a feeling of dread smothered over them. We weren’t even trying to rip out each other’s hair and eyes until the last few hours of the ride. If it had taken us that long before we wanted to beat each other with bricks, then we had managed to do something right.
Settled in our hotel room on the day of the speech, I was going over some last-minute adjustments on my little notecards when Rebecca walked out of the bathroom in a backless, bright green dress. She kept looking herself over in the full-length mirror our room had, pushing and shifting the fabric around. She was the finest and most beautiful woman our little town had ever had grace its borders. I would have to make sure to apologize at my mom’s grave for that realization.
“Honey, you look great, but you know I’m just going to be talking in front of some kids for an hour, right?” I put the notecards down and stood behind her while she kept fiddling with the dress. “Isn’t that dress a little...excessive for something like that?”
Not that I was complaining about the view. There was a small part—okay, bigger than I would have cared to admit part—of me that wanted her to wear it to my old school just so I could be the one wrapping my arm around her. It was oddly possessive for me, and for what? To impress some students that I wasn’t going to ever see again?
“Lizzy helped me pick out this dress and I haven’t had a reason to wear it yet. Hm, it makes my back and shoulders look broad.” She tried to look over her shoulder but kept having trouble, so I put my phone’s camera on selfie mode for her. “Wow, it makes my ass look good too.”
“Well, you do have a broad back and shoulders. You have that farmer’s strength.” I wasn’t going to voice my agreement on the second part of her correct observation. With Shelly or Megan liable to burst in at any second, complimenting her ass was not going to happen. With my luck, that would have been the exact moment they chose to cheerfully burst through the door.
“Oh, I know, that’s why I wanted to wear it.” She winked at me, her sly grin telling me she likely caught me ogling. Ah well, we would both live. “I got it from my dad. That man was wide. Your back and shoulders finally got bigger than mine when you bulked up off Earth, but he was easily bigger than both of us put together.”
I chuckled at the slight dig. Yes, I hadn’t been huge, and her back and shoulders were wider than most women, but biology had still given me a slight edge before I’d put on some extra muscle.
“I’m glad you’ll be able to carry me for our wedding. I think it’ll make for some fun pictures.” I put my arms around her waist and rested my chin on her head. “You know, plenty of guys my age like strong women. I’m not sure how much I’ll enjoy seeing them fawn over my fiancée.”
I wouldn’t have minded it as long as they knew she was my fiancée. I was ready to go up to Shamrock’s crappy little water tower to loudly proclaim that she was my fiancée to everyone who would listen. For a guy who typically wasn’t eager to show off, I was more than ready to strut Rebecca around as one of the greatest things that ever happened to me.
When she saw me smiling at her in our reflections, she gently slapped my hand. “Please, I’ll be the one who will be staying on guard the whole time. Famous, tall, muscular, a strong jaw, and now with a full beard. You basically look like a movie star now, and yes, I’ve learned about how good movie stars look. You’re going to have all these girls who didn’t know your name ‘innocently’ want to get to know you now, and you’re too damn nice to realize it.”
I shuddered at the thought. Being the center of attention for a speech was bad enough. There was exactly one woman whose affections I wanted. My brain couldn’t process the idea of other girls finding me genuinely attractive. Somewhere along the line, a screw had almost certainly come loose in the part of my mind that controlled how to handle courting and ideas of physical attraction.
“I was trying not to think about it. The only girls I ever had any real conversations with were Lori and a girl who was at my bus stop. I was acquaintances at best with that girl.” We both shared a small laugh and I let her go back to doing all the adjusting she wanted. “Of course, wear whatever you’d like. Since it’s a high school and it’s not even prom night, you’ll be overdressed no matter what you wear.”
Before Rebecca could say anything, Shelly walked in with Megan tied to her hip. The kid immediately bounced up on the bed next to me, wanting to check over my notes for me, which I let her do. She would have had a much better chance at winning over the crowd than I would have, so adding a little bit of her charm to my speech wasn’t something to turn my nose up at. Shelly sat down in the empty chair in the corner of the room, where she looked at Rebecca.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Holy smokes, that dress looks great on you.” Shelly’s eyes flicked to me for a moment, her glare subtle. “Did he tell you how nice you look?”
I frowned. I wasn’t so inept with women that I didn’t know when to compliment my own fiancée. I would concede I had no game, or at least next to no game. I could still do a few things right. I was almost offended that my sister—my flesh and blood—didn’t think I could manage that much.
“He did, and he even noticed how hard I’ve been working on my back and shoulder muscles.” Rebecca flexed for my sister, and I just ignored her wolf whistle in response. “He says I’d be overdressed.”
“Why would you tell a lady who looks like that she’s overdoing it? You're a fool of a man.” Shelly shook her head, and I threw up my hands. I was totally falling for the bait being left right in front of me.
“It’s a school in our old small town. Our idea of fancy is a collared shirt and khakis. Half the time the students just show up in their pajamas. You’re seriously going to tell me that she wouldn’t look a touch overdressed if she’s standing next to girls in tank tops and sweatpants with bags under their eyes?” I paused and thought about it for a second. “But you might be right, I might be a fool.”
“You should be proud of me,” Rebecca said, slipping back into the bathroom, poking her head around the door. “I managed to shave my armpits and legs without cutting myself this time. I’ll have to tell Lizzy. She’ll be so thrilled.”
“Huh, good job. I still cut my face a couple of years after I started shaving.”
“I was careful. Just so you know, I think the whole thing is stupid. Lizzy was very kind and patient when describing some of the beauty standards of today, so I wasn’t going to embarrass you in front of your school with tarantula armpits or yeti legs.”
I snorted. “Sweetheart, I appreciate the thought, but do whatever you’re comfortable with. I didn’t propose to you based on your grooming habits. That said, I’m adamant we should bring South Korean beauty standards to the United States.”
“Oh man, the ladies would love to hear you say that one,” Shelly said. “Male beauty standards are nuts there too. Just import all their standards over and watch everyone start killing each other. I’m down for that.”
Rebecca laughed and shut the door behind her. I started to go back over my notes and Megan started to play with a little yo-yo she brought with her.
“Hey, after this, I was wondering if you’d like to take Rebecca somewhere.” Shelly stretched out and put her feet up. Her voice didn’t need to have any specific tone for me to take a solid guess at what she was referring to.
“Mom and Dad’s grave?” I asked, not looking up.
“Yeah, I thought you might want to take her there since neither of you can exactly meet the other’s parents. Part of the engagement drama is the parents, so it has to happen somehow. I was planning on swinging by before we go back to Nebraska.”
“Why don’t we all go?” I suggested, setting the notecards down. They were about as good as I thought I could get them. I bumped Megan with my foot. “How about you, kiddo? Want to come with us?”
“Yeah!” She put the yo-yo down and climbed over my chest. “They’re kind of like my grandpa and grandma, right?”
“You could say that.” I patted the top of her head. “I know we can’t replace your parents. You’ll always be part of our family anyway. I think it makes sense for you to meet our parents.”
“I know.” She smiled. “I miss them, but you guys are super fun. You help me with my homework, and you play with me, and you brush my hair, and you make me dinner, and you crab walk with me.”
I was beyond happy that she thought of us that way. It helped ease some of the uncertainty I felt with taking care of a little girl. I was still heartbroken that she had lost her parents so young. I knew kids tended to be forward with how they felt, so I assumed she wasn’t lying. I had no idea how to raise a kid, but she was someone who depended on me and everyone else in my life, so I was going to do my best to take care of her.
“They would have loved to meet you. They were some of the nicest people.” I started to tickle her, nearly sending her off the edge of the bed in a laughing fit. “If you think we’re fun, you wouldn’t have been able to handle how much fun you would have had with them.”
“See? You’re like me. Sometimes bad things happen, but we have each other.” Megan wrapped her little arms around my neck, and like everything she did, I thought it was just the cutest thing ever.
“When did you grow up so much?” I returned her hug. “You’re a great kid, so just enjoy being a kid for a bit. Don’t think about too much serious stuff. It’ll make your brain turn into a raisin. Then it’ll start rattling like a bean in a can. If that happens, I will start shaking you.”
I started shaking my head as fast as I could to show her what I meant. All it resulted in was giving me a minor headache and making her laugh, so I think my point may have been missed. I did legitimately wish she would be able to have as normal a childhood as reasonably possible. That felt like a dream that slipped farther away every time something new and weird popped up. Since that was all the damn time with us, the future for her normal childhood looked bleak.
“Anything else you want to do while you’re here?” Shelly asked. “Might not come back for a while.”
“I’m not sure.” I looked up at the hotel room’s ceiling. “You know, this place doesn’t have a lot of great memories for me. Outside of the graves, I don’t know what else we could do here. It's not like this town is exactly bustling or exciting on its best day.”
“Do you want to swing by the old house? Maybe the apartment?” Shelly didn’t look eager or disinterested in the idea.
I shook my head. “Honestly, not at all. I saw Mom and Dad...pass away there. I had been in such a bad state of mind for years after that I don’t want to go back there now. I wouldn’t even want to go by the apartment.”
“I understand.” There was something in her eyes that I couldn’t place. Maybe something close to respect and admiration. For what, I had no idea. “Are you okay here?”
“Yeah, I’ll be okay. Meeting everyone has put me in a much better place. Without seeing the shadows, I’ve been in a better state of mind for the most part. All of the new, wonderful people I have in my life don’t have anything to do with Shamrock. I feel like this is a chapter of my life I’m mostly done with.”
“You met Lori here,” Shelly countered.
“Technically, that’s true. Let’s not forget you also pointed a gun at Lori here.” Shelly went red and I started laughing. “See? I’m not sure our friendship got off on the right foot with that. We were able to rebound from that and from other issues we’ve had.”
“Maybe I overreacted. Maybe I was a little overprotective.” Shelly huffed. “I still don’t regret the decision I made.”
“No, I wouldn’t want you to,” I agreed, “but I don’t think I have many ties here. Now, if my family wanted to live here, that’d be different.”
The bathroom door opened and interrupted our conversation. Rebecca came out wearing a sleeveless green sundress, one that ended right above her knees. It certainly had a different vibe compared to the backless one, not that it mattered to me. She could have been covered in dirt and wearing a trash bag for all I cared. She was still the most beautiful lady in the world. I would hold that belief until the day I died.
“The other one is nicer for formal occasions and all. I think this one suits me better.” With a smile, she plopped down on the bed next to me. “What were you guys talking about?”
“About this little town,” I said, slipping my hand into hers. “Would you want to live here?”
“It’s cute. I think if I had to, I could live anywhere. I’ll have to decline, though. I like our place in Nebraska too much.” She looked over at Megan. “How about you, sweetheart?”
“Hm.” Megan crossed her arms and looked down. “Ryan isn’t here. My school isn’t here. I think I like Nebraska.”
At the mention of Ryan, I gently elbowed Rebecca in the ribs. She just quietly giggled behind her hand.
“Well, it looks like we’ll be staying in Nebraska for a while, yeah?” Rebecca invited Megan to join us on the bed and gave her a big kiss on the cheek. “But home is where we all are, so I think we could make it anywhere.”
“I hope all this family energy can get you through this speech.” Shelly checked her watch and got up. “Come on, we should get going. I know you want to get this over with.”