“Eddie, that doesn’t make any sense. You said you are familiar with this area so go have fun. I’m not going anywhere until tomorrow evening. I can look after myself.”
“Fine.” He was resigned.
I didn’t want to argue anymore. It was hot yet it felt hotter than Gates Point and frankly I didn’t think that was possible. The heat here was vicious. It was an angry heat. Back home it was a kill you with kindness sort of heat. It snuck up on you slowly.
***
Tonight, was the night that I would go to my grandfather’s house for dinner. The heat had not subsided, so I decided on palazzo pants and a loose-fitting blouse. We were stopped at the gate and checked briefly. No one can just drive into the Secretary of the Navy’s home, not even his granddaughter. I didn’t mind. I’d rather his security detail be safe rather than sorry. Eddie explained he would be back sometime later to pick me up. They wrote down the car’s information and Eddie’s license and waved us through.
“Kay, so good to see you!” Grandpa called stepping out of the front door as Eddie opened the car door for me.
“Grandpa!” I hugged him and kissed his cheek.
“Let me look at you!” He held me at arm’s length. “You look so beautiful.” He smiled.
“Thank you. You look handsome as ever.”
“Eddie, good to see you.” He reached over to shake Eddie’s hand.
“You too, sir.”
“She giving you any trouble?”
“Always.” Eddie deadpanned.
“Hey!” I objected.
“She’s a lot like her mother in that way.” Grandpa added.
“I am standing right here.” I pointed out.
“Well, I’m not sure about that but I believe she gets her stubborn streak from her father.” Eddie continued to ignored me.
“Well, you’re probably right there.” My grandfather laughed. “You want to join us for dinner?”
“No sir, you two need some quality time together.” Eddie gracefully declined.
“You’re welcome to hang out in the guest house, there’s cable and I’m sure we can scare up some dinner for you,” my grandfather offered.
“That is too generous,” Eddie objected.
“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re staying. I’ll call the gate and let them know.” My grandfather looked over at one of the security guards. “Jimmy, Eddie here is going to hang out and wait for my granddaughter. He is her bodyguard so take good care of him. Let him watch TV or something in the guest house, okay?”
“Yes sir.” And just like that Jimmy and Eddie were gone in an instant. “Now then, come in and tell me what you have been up to.” Grandpa got right to it.
“Well, just work, you know how it is.” I hedged.
“Yes, I do that is why I worry about you.” He squeezed my shoulder in a one-arm hug “Are you taking any time for yourself?”
“Yes, I went to the zoo today.”
He turned and looked at me, clearly surprised.
“Yeah, I did. It was a lot of fun. I love watching all the animals.”
“Eddie go with you?”
“You know he did. He wouldn’t dream of letting me go alone in the big scary city.”
“He is only trying to help.”
“I know but it is something I am not used to. It feels like he is smothering me sometimes.”
“He cares about you.”
“I know. You care about me too and you don’t follow me around.”
“I would if I could.” He laughed.
I rolled my eyes. “You probably would.”
“You’ll understand one day.”
“What do you mean?”
“When you have kids of your own.”
I stopped walking. “Are you serious?” I was shocked by his comment.
“Yeah, of course I am.”
I wanted to tell him I didn’t want kids. I didn’t want to have a deep philosophical conversation about having children or not before dinner and I didn’t want to start an argument either. “You’re probably, right.” I let it go at that and hoped he did too.
“When you have someone, you care for them more than life itself and you tend to do things like follow them around and make sure they are okay.”
I immediately thought of Ethan. “I suppose but Eddie has his own children and grandchildren and he doesn’t need to worry about me.”
“He does and you should respect that and be grateful.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t grateful,” I corrected.
“No, of course not, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you were ungrateful.” He stopped to kiss my forehead.
We sat down in his study. I loved this room. It was like my grandfather’s personality filled every corner. It was a dark, earthy room, with natural colors and textures. He had a heavy wooden desk that was well worn and had a few scars of its own. The furniture was soft and comfortable. You sank down into the sofa and it was like getting a hug. The books were all shapes and sizes and everything from military history and reports to James Michener.
“So, tell me about your meeting on Monday.” He asked as he sat down in a worn leather chair.
“Well, I’m meeting with the head of orthopedic surgery to talk to him about the prosthesis we developed and see if he would be willing to offer it as an option to patients particularly veterans before going straight to amputation.”
“Do you think he’ll agree?”
“I hope so, I mean it is patented and it has FDA approval, not that, that means a lot. They require it before they will use it in the hospital.” I informed him.
“What do you mean the FDA approval doesn’t mean anything?”
“I just mean that our standards for success rate are higher than the FDA, they allow a larger margin of error than I do.”
“Honey, everyone does.” He chuckled.
“And it already has a proven test case.” I lifted my leg slightly.
“How has it been?” He looks sad for a moment. “Are you still in a lot of pain?”
“No, it only hurts when it rains or if I run too much on it. I do a lot of swimming these days and running indoors on a padded track.”
“Well you look wonderful.” He deftly changed the subject. Any discussion of my near-death experience was
