Just a Soldier

Chapter 30 - Visit from the Colonel

Y/n's POV:

After Ava's birthday, we kind of fell into our new normal. Ava was back at school, I was back to full time with work, and Scarlett had started with two new movies so was having a lot of meetings and script readings before she starts filming in October. We still saw each other about four or five times a week, but it was very different from when she first got back, and it was the summer holidays.

However, we spend most of the weekend together at one of our places. Normally it ends up being Scarlett's as Ava wants to stay in her room. She nearly always gets her way as Scarlett can't say no to her puppy dog eyes. She's definitely going to have to work on that!

The first week of October I'm taking Ava out of school for a few of days so we can fly to New York and finally meet Scarlett's family. I'm excited but I'm also really nervous. I know her mum and brother have been looking forward to it and Scarlett assures me that neither of them care that I'm a woman or have a kid. However, she hasn't said anything about her dad. So, I have no idea how that meeting is going to go. But we've got a couple of weeks yet until we fly so I'm trying not to get too worried about it all.

This morning, I woke up missing Scarlett. I've turned into that clingy girlfriend that doesn't see her for three days and now she misses her. Thankfully, I've got my daughter to keep me entertained and happy. Her sleepy morning look is always my favourite. Scarlett always compares us, and I can totally see why. I'm pretty sure Sophie has photos of me at that age and we could be twins.

Tonight, Scarlett is picking Ava up from school. She's a little nervous as it's the first time since she's been added to the authorised pick-up list. I told her everything would be fine and worse comes to worse, they'll call me, and we'll sort it out.

With Scarlett getting Ava, it means that I can work a little later and get some of the big projects signed off ready for the upcoming deployment schedule. When I get to my office, I greet some the guys that are already there. Jimmy's not in his office this morning, so I assume that he's working from home and just forgot to let me know.

However, when I get to my desk and finally work my way through the emails in my inbox, I see one from Jimmy. He's in a meeting with the Brigadier this morning and then has asked for a meeting this afternoon. He's put in a proper meeting request and everything. Jimmy is a technophobe and will always just drop in, so this must be serious.

Our meeting isn't until 3pm so I spend the day, focusing on work, trying to stop my mind from wondering what he needs to talk about. If it's coming from the Brigadier, it's likely a new project, but who knows.

The hours tick by at a slow pace and my eyes are periodically looking up at the clock, getting frustrated at how slowly the hands are moving. Eventually, 3 o'clock comes around and almost on the dot, there is a knock at the door. "Come in." I call and Jimmy's face pops through the gap. "You good to talk now?" He asks and I nod. "Yes Sir. You put in an official request, so I knew I needed to have everything up and ready for when you got here." I respond.

He walks into the office and closes the door behind him. I notice that he observes a couple of the photos of Ava and I my desk as he takes a seat. I observe his body language, trying to get any clue for what was going on.

His body is tense, his shoulders are slightly slumped, which is odd as Jimmy usually has impeccable posture. We nicknamed him pigeon breast for the way his chest is always puffed out. But today it looks deflated. The way he was looking at the photos on my desk made me start to realise where this conversation was going.

As he gets comfortable, he leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees, his hands interlinking for him to rest his chin on. Looking into his eyes, I can tell that he is trying to work out how he wants to broach this subject, so I decide to do it for him. "It's me Jimmy. You don't need to tiptoe around the subject. Just tell me. Rip the bandaid off." I say with an awkward chuckle.