Looking at Ryer, he was calm and collected, In a weird way it helped calm me down. I was fretting about what was going to happen when I got out of the car. Ryer took my hand suddenly his eyes looking into mine as I looked up at him.

“Breathe, you can do it. I believe in you, and I have your back.”

“Thanks.”

His hand felt nice in mine. Really freaking nice, but it was not something I was about to welcome here and now. I had enough problems at this moment then unpacking my romantic feelings to someone I couldn’t see myself having a viable partnership with. I would ignore them like every other uncomfortable feeling in my life. Which was the reason it had been three years since I last saw my parents.

Taking a deep breath, I opened the door of my SUV and got out. My back was not having it, there was definitely some breakthrough pain. Rubbing my fingers into the tender spot helped just slightly.

“Alright, Let’s do this.”

“After you then Sasha.”

He locked my SUV and passed me the keys.

“We can come to get the bags after I see my parents and see about how this is going to go.”

“Sounds like a plan, And Sasha, don’t force yourself to do anything to prove a point to them or anyone else, you are still actively healing.”

“Yeah, yeah. I got it.”

Stepping inside, everything looked and smelled the same, minus the different colours of paint on the walls in the doorway. The original soft yellow was now a bright and lively sea green. I couldn’t even remember the last time my mother had changed the paint colours, they were repainted every few years, but all the same colours. That clearly had not been the case here.

The white tile floors were spotless like they had been when I was growing up.

“Ryer, you will have to take your shoes off, My mother is particularly moody about tracking dirt all over her white marble floors.”

“Of course, I would be too.”

Ryer slipped his shoes off before lending me a hand with my own, without asking if I even needed help, which I did. But it was still embarrassing. The sound of someone clearing their throat made me lookup. My father stood there casually in slacks and a classy black sweater. He looked good for his age, which wasn’t all that surprising. It was because of my father that I had been fit and healthy most of my teenage years.

“Nice to see you, Sasha.”

“It’s nice to see you too Father.”

He sighed but said nothing. His attention flicked to Ryer who lingered a little closer to me than what might have seemed appropriate for a friend. My father stuck out his hand and introduced himself to Ryer who did the same back. My father had a soft smile on his face that confused me more than anything. I rarely had seen him smile so softly before.

“Where’s mother?” I asked wondering where she was, normally she would have been here to greet me too.

“Your mom is in her garden, she got some new plants. She wanted to make sure they were planted and looking their best for when you came.”

“Ah, Mother and the gardener must be busy then?”

“No gardener, just your mom. She took up gardening on her own in the last two years.”

“We are talking about the same women right?” I had to ask to make sure.

My father chuckled, nodding his head.

“Yes, we are. She wanted a hobby garden of her own. I’d never seen her play in mud or dirt before that day, but she was quite pleased with her own work. She works particularly hard on keeping her lovely little garden in perfect condition.”

“Huh. Never thought I would see the day she would play in the mud.”

My father gave me a soft look as we walked from the front room to the back of the house towards the backyard. With the door insight, I looked at Ryer.

“Head on out there and we will catch up with you.”

“Alright, Just call for me if you need anything.”

“Alright.”

My father waited until Ryer was out of clear earshot.

“Who is the man and what the hell happened to you?” He said sternly.

I sighed. This was his normal behaviour.

“That man is Ryer, he is a co-worker of sorts. As for what happened, I’m not really sure what——”

“Sasha Greyson Dean. I am more than old enough to know when you are lying to me and I saw you limping. Kindly tell me what is going on with you for once. I am your father.”

I sighed at the use of my full name.

“It’s more than just a little to unpack. A lot happened. There isn’t even a condensed version.”

“Start with why you look like you were steamrolled.”

“Mission went wrong you could say.”

“How wrong Sasha?”

“You could say wrong enough that I took a bullet to my spine, and they had to break it to remove the bullet.”

“Your fucking joking?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Christ, Sasha you are lucky to be walking.”

“I know. I’m all too aware of this, Father.”

“Sasha, You don’t have to be so formal, Mom and Dad are more than enough, we don’t need to be called Mother and Father. You can relax around us.”

Passing up on bringing up every time they both had been hard on me and drilled things into me, I settled with just a nod.

“Are you seeing anyone finally?”

“No, Not particularly.”

“You are not getting any younger Sasha, You have a career, maybe a family is——”

“Father. I get you mean well with that. But——”

“Sasha Dean. Come here and say hello to me. I am your mother.”

From the doorway, My mother was coated in mud to her elbows and had a pleasant smile on her face. I forced myself to walk normally and at a normal pace. I didn’t miss the click of my father’s tongue at my behaviour. He didn’t say a word about what I told him though. For that I was grateful. She would make a big deal out of it like she was the one who was injured.

She wrapped her arms coated in mud to the elbows around me and gave me a hell of a squeeze. Ryer who had been holding a watering can, dropped it, and come running. Only stopping when I glared at him. She didn’t need to know. I would take the pain.

She pulled away and looked me up and down.

“Where are you injured this time?” She said softly a frown on her face.

“Sasha took a bullet to the spine. They had to break it to remove the bullet.” My father said sternly.

“Hmm. And you let me squeeze you without saying a damn word. I swear.”

She muttered under her breath before looking back at Ryer. And her watering can.

“And your friend Ryer, He knew about your spine?”

I wanted to sigh and tell her to drop it but it would only make her worse.

“Yes.”

“I have been lending my skills to help get Sasha in tiptop shape again.”

“Have you, What exactly do you do?” My father asked him suddenly.

“I work, personal security. But I am medically certified for rehabilitation on service members and I was an active service member myself.”

“I see.”

My mother was less thrilled with the turn of the conversation.

“Sasha come see my garden. Can you walk the far?”

“I will try.”

We ventured to her garden; she didn’t take more than a moment once we were out of earshot to press me for details on Ryer. She wanted to know if he was married if we were more than friends, how we met and on and on.

“Sasha, I saw the way you looked at him.”

“Mother, I can promise you there is nothing going on—-”

“At this moment. But your eyes soften when you look at him. I’ve never seen that in you. It would be nice for you to have a relationship with something other than your work.”

“You were the ones who pushed career over friends and relationships.”

“Yes, we did. I won’t lie about that, but once you were grown-up, you didn’t have to follow that anymore, hell you could have lied to us and gone and made relationships, now you are in your thirties and don’t have anyone you can have an intimate relationship with.”

“I can assure you, My intimate relations are just fine.” I sighed.

Ryer was still chatting with my father.

“You know, He looks at you the same way you look at him.”

“Your reading too much into our friendship. We are friends nothing more.”

“Sasha... you're getting older, I just want you to have someone you can rely on no matter what happens. You need someone like that, even if you don’t think so.”

“I think you understand nothing about want I want or wanted because you both have always pushed what you wanted for me more than anything.”

“You’re not wrong about that. We did. We just wanted the best for you. We wanted you to be successful. We have our regrets about that.”

“Don’t. It’s well done and over with.”

She frowned, her eyes lingering on Ryer again.

“You need more good friends. Keep him, He cares about you, Sasha.”