Derek rolled his shoulders dramatically.<\/p>\n
He looked around the yard as though he had finally gotten the audience he wanted.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou sure about this?\u201d<\/p>\n
I nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cCompletely.\u201d<\/p>\n
My sister Mallory stepped away from the grill.<\/p>\n
\u201cDerek, maybe this is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
He waved her off.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re having fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked toward Caleb.<\/p>\n
He was not having fun.<\/p>\n
Neither was Emma.<\/p>\n
Derek stepped closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou remember any of this from your paperwork days?\u201d<\/p>\n
I smiled slightly.<\/p>\n
\u201cA little.\u201d<\/p>\n
What Derek did not know was that I had spent years deliberately keeping my service separate from family life.<\/p>\n
There were photographs he had never seen.<\/p>\n
Qualifications I never mentioned.<\/p>\n
Training records packed inside boxes in my closet.<\/p>\n
Assignments I chose not to discuss at Thanksgiving dinner.<\/p>\n
I had never hidden those things because I was ashamed of them.<\/p>\n
I simply never needed my family to be impressed.<\/p>\n
Derek interpreted that silence differently.<\/p>\n
He thought there was nothing to tell.<\/p>\n
He moved first.<\/p>\n
Confident.<\/p>\n
Fast.<\/p>\n
And careless.<\/p>\n
I shifted away.<\/p>\n
He stopped and laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome on, Laurel.\u201d<\/p>\n
He moved again.<\/p>\n
This time I redirected him and forced him to reset.<\/p>\n
The laughter around the yard disappeared.<\/p>\n
Derek looked surprised.<\/p>\n
Then annoyed.<\/p>\n
He tried again.<\/p>\n
I stayed calm.<\/p>\n
No dramatic movements.<\/p>\n
No attempt to embarrass him.<\/p>\n
Just enough control to keep him from doing what he expected.<\/p>\n
My mother slowly put down her iced tea.<\/p>\n
Mallory stared at me.<\/p>\n
Caleb\u2019s posture changed.<\/p>\n
For the first time all afternoon, he was no longer looking at the ground.<\/p>\n
Derek stepped back.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat exactly did you do in the Marines?\u201d<\/p>\n
I looked at him.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve had twenty years to ask me that.\u201d<\/p>\n
His jaw tightened.<\/p>\n
Then he came forward again.<\/p>\n
This time, he was no longer joking.<\/p>\n
And that was when I realized something.<\/p>\n
This had never been about demonstrating anything to Caleb.<\/p>\n
Derek needed everyone around him to believe he was the toughest person in the yard.<\/p>\n
My silence had helped him maintain that illusion.<\/p>\n
I was finished helping.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Derek rolled his shoulders dramatically. He looked around the yard as though he had finally gotten the audience he wanted. \u201cYou sure about this?\u201d I nodded. \u201cCompletely.\u201d My sister Mallory stepped away from the grill. \u201cDerek, maybe this is enough.\u201d He waved her off. \u201cWe\u2019re having fun.\u201d I looked toward Caleb. He was not having […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","class_list":["post-584","sr_chapter","type-sr_chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/sr_chapter"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/sr_chapter\/584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fantatv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}