Twisted Saga Aftermath (Book 2 of 3)

Chapter 4 - A Time to Remember

The conversation between Josh and Gwen goes on until Brooklyn arrives home from her date. Before she's five feet inside the house, Josh bumps his hips to give Gwen the notion to move.

"Hi young lady, have a good time this evening?" Josh says.

"Hi daddy, and yes, I had a wonderful time. Please don't go outside and embarrass me! Kyle's a nice guy, and I don't want you running him off." She pleads, already seeing that look in his eyes.

Josh ignores his daughter's plea when he makes his way outside to see a young man just a bit taller than himself at just over six-foot-one with a lean athletic build. Josh sees a striking resemblance from when he was that age with long hair and a soul patch.

"I take it; you must be Kyle; allow me to introduce myself. I'm Josh, Brooklyn's father. Nice to meet you, young man."

Kyle beats Josh to the punch extending his hand out to greet one another. Although something Josh wasn't expecting was for Kyle to pull him close to give him the same threat he did to Paul a few months back.

"Nice to meet you too, sir, and I'm going to be upfront and honest. I am a high school dropout working for my GED, and if you think you're going to show up and boss them around or hit Brooklyn like that other son on a bitch Paul has, I'll beat your ass too."

That revelation shocks Josh with a new fire in his eyes.

"Say what! He put his hands on my daughter. That clown has it coming then, especially since I'm a federal agent. Know where he is right now?" Josh replies, tightening his grip with Kyle's hand.

"I wish I did; he ran like a little coward when I put my fist across his jaw. I'm not done with him just yet!"

They release their hands and stand there with their eyes locked with intensity. Brooklyn and Gwen stand at the door observing the two of them, nearly praying they won't be forced to break up another fight.

"You sound like a good man with good intentions. Keep it up, youngster, and after you get your GED and wanna job in law enforcement, let me know I'll help you out." Josh offers when their stare down begins to cool off.

"This your ride?" Josh questions to change the subject.

Kyle nods after he takes a couple of steps back when he feels the tension ease within himself. He looks over to his rusted and red paint faded late 80's model Nissan 200SX sports coupe.

"Yeah, this is my ride, about the only thing I could afford right now. I love my sports cars, and it's done pretty well." Kyle explains as they discuss the details of cars they've owned or driven.

The girls give up and return inside the house when the guys get started on talking cars. All Gwen cares about is how she feels at that very moment, with Josh being there, making her feel like time has finally given her the one wish she's had since the kids used to ask about daddy coming home.

"Wow, mom, I ain't seen you with a smile like that since forever. Dad being here really does make you that happy, doesn't it?" Brooklyn says when she sees her mother glowing.

"It does. I've loved that man since we were kids, which is now literally a lifetime ago. Granted, how things were there for a while wasn't ideal, but we're about to get that rare second chance, and well, I'm not letting it go this time. You and Aaron are going to be gone to college soon. I feel like I deserve to be happy, after all." Gwen explains her intentions to make sure Josh doesn't get away again.

After about twenty minutes, Brooklyn gets tired of waiting for her father to come back inside. She gets up, going back outside to see Kyle and Josh discussing the 3000GT and the modifications. She feels a bit frustrated as Kyle has always been a sucker to discuss cars and leaves her hanging around while he could spend hours on the topic.