Intense

I tried everything after that, even hired a private detective, but nobody could find a thing about this ghost named Emory, and eventually I gave up.

I couldn’t spend my life hunting for a man that had completely disappeared. I had to focus on my new life, and that new life was Mason.

As I bounced Mason and made faces at him, I heard the doorbell ring. “I got it,” Mom called out. I heard her open the door and then some voices, and then Lindy walked into the living room.

“Hey, girl!” she said, coming over toward me.

I grinned at her. “Hey yourself.”

Mom went back to cooking as Lindy sat down on the couch with me.

“I heard Celine was cooking dinner, so I got my ass over here,” she said.

“Oh good. I’m sure you were expected.”

“Please. Celine always expects me.”

I laughed. “How’s it going?”

“Good. How was class?”

“Tiring,” I said honestly. “This little guy decided he didn’t want to sleep well last night. Right, Mason?”

Lindy laughed. “May I?”

I handed Mason over to her and she bounced him. “I can’t believe how big he is now. What is he, five months?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Sleeps through the night most nights, but of course not last night.”

She laughed. “Well I’m proud of you for getting back out there.”

I smiled at her. “Thanks, Lindy.”

Lindy had been amazing. She finished her degree and got a job working as an administrative assistant in Purdue’s alumni division, which meant she was still living nearby. She came over all the time and spent a lot of time with Mason, and we joked that she was basically like his second mother.

I’d decided to make that a little more official when I made her Mason’s godmother.

“How were your classes?” she asked.

“Good. It felt weird being back there,” I said honestly. “I remember being an actual college student before this little guy.”

Lindy grinned. “Yeah. Feels weird being graduated. I still sometimes think I’m going out to a kegger over the weekend.”

“You’re saying you don’t?”

“Only sometimes.”

Just then, Mason started to make a face. I knew what that meant, and I quickly took him from Lindy. “He’s about to cry,” I said, “and he needs a change.”

She laughed, shaking her head. “That’s all you, mommy.”

I flipped her off, smiling, and took Mason upstairs to his changing spot just as he began to cry.

I quickly carried him into the nursery. I laid him down on his back, humming slightly to him, and changed his diaper.

This was my life now: diaper changes and breastfeeding and walks through the nearby park.

And as I changed his diaper, I realized that I was happy. Having Mason seemed so daunting and terrifying at first, but my parents and Lindy had been so supportive, so helpful.

I wouldn’t give up Mason for anything. I loved him more than I could say, and he’d changed my life for the better.

The only thing missing was his father. Even though I had given up on finding that ghost, I still sometimes thought back to that night fondly. I wished I could find Emory and at least tell him that he had a son.

But that was never going to happen. Mason might never know his father, and I was going to have to be okay with that.

It just meant I was going to love Mason enough for two people.

2

Emory

Sunlight streamed in from the big windows overlooking my sparse bedroom. I woke up with it shining right in my face, making the hangover headache tingling in my skull that much worse.

I grunted, sitting up and putting a hand on my head. To my right, the girl from the night before stirred but didn’t wake.

I glanced at her. Thin, blond, and tan; pretty fucking standard for California. I remembered she’d been a pretty good fuck, even though she was vapid as fucking shit.

I slipped out of bed, trying not to wake her up. I didn’t feel like listening to her voice so fucking early in the morning. I went into the bathroom, shut the door behind me, and took a nice long piss.

Being a Navy SEAL meant I didn’t get to spend much time at home. Most of my life was spent abroad doing my country’s work. My ass was Uncle Sam’s, and I wouldn’t have had it any other fucking way.

But that meant my apartment wasn’t exactly decorated. I had the necessities, like a bed, a couch, and a TV, but there wasn’t much else. I didn’t need much, since I barely even stayed there for more than a few days at a time.

But now that I was getting some R&R, I almost didn’t know what the fuck to do with myself. I had a whole month off from work, a little gift from the upper brass for my quality work out in Pakistan over the last sixteen months.