𝐓𝐨 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐀 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 | 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐰

𝐎𝐍𝐄

𝐒 𝐀 𝐕 𝐀 𝐍 𝐍 𝐀 𝐇

"Whole milk?!" I scoff, slamming the door shut. My eyes snap over to Bruce or Brutus as I like to call him, is the owner of the local convenience store. "Brutus! What is this?" I walk up to his counter holding up the jug of milk.

"That there would be whole milk, Miss Ledger." The old man's cane shakes as he plops himself down into his chair behind the cash register.

"I can see that." I place it on the counter. "Where's the 2%?"

"We don't have any over there?" He points back to the wall of refrigerators that I'd just come from.

"I wouldn't be asking if you did." I glance down at my watch. My babysitter is waiting on me, gosh I'm going to be late.

"Oh I must've forgotten to request more in my shipment order." He gives me a sorry look. "My bad, Miss Ledger."

Poor guy. He's 83 years old and he doesn't have much help around here. His brain seems to be fleeing from him. Either he has dementia or he's severely forgetful.

"It's okay, Brutus. The kids can just suck it up and deal with it." I shrug.

"Ah yes. How are Sawyer and Sage? They out of school yet?" He questions me as he picks at his dark wrinkled skin.

"Yep! They just graduated Pre-K." I smile as I hand him over some cash. "Sawyer loves school, Sage not so much."

He counts out my change. "I'm so glad to hear that." He drops it into my hand. "You have a blessed day, Miss Ledger." He smiles brightly. "You tell them kiddos I said hi!"

"I will! Thanks again, Brutus!"

***

"I'm back!" I yell as I enter my humble abode. "I'm sorry I'm late, Saoirse!"

"Bout time you got here." She throws her golden hair up into a messy knot on top of her head. "What took you so long?" She looks to her watch. "You were supposed to be here thirty minutes ago!"

"I know, I know!" I sigh as I put the groceries on the counter. "But I had to get milk. We're about out." I open the fridge.

"Correction. You are out." Saoirse says in a matter of fact tone. She grimaces at the milk jug. "Whole milk? What kind of monster gets whole milk?"

"They were out of our usual." I grab the milk and put in where it belongs.

"Let me guess Brutus forgot to place the order again?" I nod in response. She shakes her head and glares at the milk. "Stupid old man."

"Hey." I warn her. "Be nice. I know He's gotten forgetful recently but give the man a break.

She waves it off before glancing at our mail stack that has gotten rather tall over the last few days. "Oh you got a letter in a few days ago. I forgot to tell you about it." She slides an envelope over to me. I slide my finger through the seal and rip it open. "Is it a child support check?!" She smiles gleefully.

I give her a "really?" look. "I wish."

Her smile immediately drops. "That son of a-" I put down the paper and give her a warning look. "-biscuit eater!"

I nod. "There ya go."

I do not like swearing. I find it repulsive in fact. My number one rule in the house is that Saoirse and her choice of words must be kid friendly. She struggles with that at times.

"When are you going to take his butt to court?"she asks. I shake my head.

"Not for a long..." My eyes widen as I read over the piece of paper.

"What is it? What's with the face?" Saoirse panics.

I relax my face and look between her and the letter. "The navy." I toss the letter onto the counter. "I've been called back to Top Gun."

Her eyes widen and she grabs the letter. "Top Gun." She smirks to herself as she reads over the letter. "Says here you're the best of the best."

"Yeah well believe it or not they like to lie too sometimes." I unpack the rest of the groceries.

"This explains that strange voicemail." Saoirse mumbles. I furrow my brows and look back at her. She gives me a weird look before realization hits her. "Oh! Um some guy called earlier asking for you. He didn't give a name but he said to meet him and the other pilots at this address in an hour." She hands me a sticky note with an address scribbled down.

I know this address. "The Hard Deck." At least they have good taste. "I can't go." I sigh, tossing the note in the trash.

"Why not?!" My roommate exclaims.

"Oh I don't know. Maybe because I have two kids that I need to take care of while you go out on your date." I roll my eyes at her obliviousness.

"Forget my date! You are going!" She points a finger at me. "My love life is stable. Yours is like a dang roller coaster... on a cruise ship... in space!"

I quirk a brow at her outburst. "It's rude to point. You're setting a bad example." I nod towards my twins as they nap on the couch. Good thing they are deep sleepers.

"Savannah, you haven't done anything fun in like a million years. Of course you are going." She grabs my hand and drags me into our shared bedroom. "Let's find you something to wear." She practically tears apart my closet as she tries to find me something suitable to wear. She holds up my brown leather jacket and my good jeans. "Ooo wear this." She throws the articles of clothing at me.

"I don't know, Saoirse..."

"Don't be ridiculous, Vannah. You are going." She walks out of the room so I can change.

I never go out. I haven't gone out since my divorce was finalized. Maybe this will be fun. Maybe I need this.

I change into the outfit and walk out to show Saoirse. She claps happily. "You look amazing! I did pretty good."

I roll my eyes and grab my keys. "Okay, Saoirse. I will be back here by 9:30 at the latest. Do you think you can hold the fort down for two hours?"

"You can stay out all night if you want. Just make sure you have fun!" She pushes me towards the door.

"Make sure the twins don't nap for too long. They won't sleep tonight." I look to my two kiddos on the sofa. Cuties.

"I know! I know! Go! Have fun." She smiles as she shuts the door.

This will be fun. Hopefully.

***
⚠️ This is unedited. If there are mistakes, I'll fix them.

Saoirse= Sir-Sha