She shrugged out of her light-blue jacket and hung it in the closet. The reality of her life was that she had work to do. And as much as she wished she could ignore her responsibilities and just take off to indulge her latest whim the way Cassie did, someone had to clean up before ants found their way into their apartment.
Caitlin had spent the last week of May reconnecting with her father on Chesapeake Bay. Shed wanted to get away once the school year had finished, and she always enjoyed spending time with her dad. It had been relaxingdigging up crabs, sailing, chatting about the warm spring weather.
But after a couple of days of kicking back and relaxing, shed found it boring. Not the time spent with her father. Her. She was boring. Shed had nothing more exciting to discuss than that shed finally found a stylist who knew how to cut her curly hair without making it frizz like steel wool.
No wonder Retired Brigadier General Hal McCormick kept dozing off. She was reliable, sensible, boring old Caitlin. The only daughter in a long, tough tradition of rugged military men. She had no rank of distinction in front of her name like her brother Ethans Major. No notorious tag line to follow her name like her brother Traviss Action Man.
She answered to the inauspicious title of Ms. McCormick. And her tag line went something like Dull As Dishwater. Same Old, Same Old. Good Girl.
Her father probably never dozed when one of her brothers was recounting a military mission or listing the names of dignitaries hed hobnobbed with at a diplomatic function.
Caitlin carried her suitcase into her bedroom and set it down with a heavy sigh. While she unpacked, she pulled her cellphone from her purse and punched in her fathers number. She did share her brothers dutiful habits. Being responsible meant checking in as per her fathers request.
He picked up on the second ring. McCormick. Her fathers gruff voice held less bark than it had in years past, but Caitlin still found herself subconsciously anxious to please him.
Its me.
The generals tone never softened, but she knew thered be a smile on his face. Hows my best girl?
Caitlin smiled at their secret code. A-okay, Daddy.
Was your trip uneventful?
Caitlins breath seeped out in a humiliated sigh. Uneventful. Was there any other way to describe her life?
But her father didnt need to hear her complain. I got home just fine. Looking around her apartment, she despaired at how much work it needed, but he didnt need to hear that, either. I really enjoyed our visit.
Me, too. He cleared his throat. Uh-oh. Prelude to fatherly lecture. Be sure you call the doctor tomorrow. Im sorry the chemicals we used to clean the boat got to you.
It was just an allergic reaction. A mild attack. I have an ample supply of all my meds, she assured him. My asthma is just fine. Im fine.
Your mother used to take care of all that stuff when she was alive.
That was when I was a little girl. Im twenty-seven years old now, Dad. I can take care of myself.
Though straight talk and some TLC usually brought her father around to her point of view, some dayslike this onehe made her feel as if she was stuck in a time warp. As if she was still that toddler whod run out across the tarmac to welcome her daddy home from overseas, instead of an adult who still loved her daddy but who wanted the chance to make her own mistakes and earn her own triumphs without her omnipresent family waiting to oversee every choice she made.
After several more reassurances that her Memorial Day asthma attack had not been life threatening, Caitlin gave her father her love and promised to call again over the weekend.
Unless you have a hot date
Caitlin laughed. She hadnt realized hot date was in her fathers vocabulary. Without a division of troops to worry about any longer, the general focused all of his concerns on his three children. Dont worry, Dad. When I get serious about a guy, Ill be sure you get to meet him.
Damn straight. I dont want some sweet-talker like your brother Travis turning your head and gettin you into trouble.
Me? Trouble? She wished. Im the most down-to-earth of all your children. Not counting her rich fantasy lifethat would remain her own little secret. Dont you trust me?
Of course I do. But youre my youngest. It was a needless reminder of how well her two older brothers and her father overprotected her. Youre also the one I rushed to the hospital when Travis brought home that cat and you stopped breathing.
He still thought she was that ten-year-old girl whose allergies and asthma hadnt yet been diagnosed. Caitlin tried to remember this was love, not control, talking. Dont worry, Dad. I wont let any man tell me what to do. I wont let any man give me a cat, either.
Her father laughed as shed intended. Good girl.
Good girl. Responsible. Levelheaded. In other words? Boring.
She needed to get a life. Maybe she just needed to live the one she had. She knew the one she wantedone filled with adventure. One in which her father didnt worry about her health. One in which her brothers didnt request personal leave so they could check out her latest boyfriend to make sure he passed muster and minded his manners.
She wanted a life with the heady adrenaline rush of having her mind engaged in a creative challenge. A life filled with fascinating people. A life filled with great sexokay, any sexwith a real, live, breathing man instead of one of her bad-boy fantasies. A life in which her body cooperated with her goalswhere shed push herself to her limits and then soar far beyond them.
An Olympic athlete.
A movie star.
An astronaut.
A spy.
Yeah, right.
She didnt realize shed muttered her frustration out loud until her father spoke. Whats that, sweetie?
Caitlin pulled herself to attention and covered her slip. Nothing, Dad. Id better go. I have some things to take care of here.
All right. Call if you need anything.
They said their goodbyes and hung up. Caitlin pushed aside her gloomy spiraling thoughts. So she wanted independence and adventure, huh? Without alarming her father or putting half the Marine Corps on her tail?
Fat chance.
Maybe shed best stick to her books.
Sure, she was doing her part to keep the public schools of Alexandria, Virginia, running smoothly. And her eighth-grade students could reconnoiter a sentence with the best in the country, uncovering subordinate clauses and adverbs long before they infiltrated high school. But what was she doing for fun and excitement in her life?
Caitlin picked up her roommates discarded sweater from the floor of the closet and sighed with fatigue. Today, it seemed, she was destined for nothing more laudable or exciting than cleaning up after Cassie.
She spotted the sticky residue of fast food on the plate beside the telephone on the entryway table and cringed. The leather-bound book that her roommate had used for a coaster caught her eye next. Cassie!
Caitlin picked up the paper cup and muttered an unladylike oath. The cup had been sitting there long enough to soften up and spring a leak. The book was now marked with a permanent circular tattoo. After trashing the cup, Caitlin thumbed through the pages, bemoaning the damage to one of her favorite stories.