Ride in this Life With You //Bradley Bradshaw

Chapter Sixty-Three

August

Haley threw her arms around the one person she had felt like she really needed to see. It had been a day of ups and downs she hadn't known how to handle. It wasn't like her either, usually she kept it together and could handle anything that came her way. Rooster reminded her she was human too, even though she seemed to think otherwise sometimes. She held herself sometimes to a standard that was too high and not realistic.

"Bradley called me and gave a heads up."

Haley pulled back and made a face. "I hate when you use his real name. It sounds serious." She told her brother. Jake rarely called Rooster by his first name so it was always weird when he did use it. She wasn't entirely surprised Rooster had called Jake.

"It is serious." Jake replied, looking down at her. They had met at a coffee shop down near one of the beaches. He took a seat across from Haley.

"I guess." Haley agreed, "I felt bad reaching out to you. I know you guys are busy a lot." She hated taking him away from Sabrina and the girls. Just as much as she felt bad about leaving Rooster with their kids, but he had encouraged her to go. He seemed to hope talking with Jake might help.

"Haley, it's fine." Jake told her. "I'm not going to push and pull, so you tell me whatever you want to. Or if you just want to sit and talk about other shit, that's fine too." They ordered their drinks a moment later.

"How are you doing today?" Haley asked, instead of answering.

"Is today something special?" Jake responded, diverting her question. "It's not our birthday, not any of our spouses or children's birthdays........."

Haley narrowed her eyes at her brother. "Deflecting isn't helping."

"You'd know, you're the queen of it." Jake told her. "I'm......okay I guess. I thought about it a few times. I think it would be abnormal not to. I think it's gotten easier with time for me. Not that it doesn't suck on occasion, but it doesn't affect me the way it once did. I stayed busy at work, ran test planes, then spent the earlier part of the evening with my girls." He answered. "You, on the other hand, dear sister have not been as well."

Haley sat back when their waitress brought their drinks.

"You two make a cute couple," She said, and Haley thought she was going to vomit. Jake, however, looked entertained.

"Thank you kindly, but this is my sister. We're not into the whole Targaryen and Lannister vibes." Jake replied, which did get a laugh from the waitress.

"My bad." The waitress replied, before heading off. She had seemed a little embarrassed though.

Haley wondered what the hell prompted that but she guessed maybe just an assumption was made. And her and Jake both wore wedding rings, who knew. She shook her head. "No, I'm not. I don't know why I keep getting triggered by things. Three years ago, the accident Beckett Floyd had. I didn't really deal with that. I got pregnant and focused on that, rather than the stuff it brought up about mom and dad. Actually I think I was pregnant and didn't know when it happened....but that's not the point. Then the anniversary today......." She said to Jake, sipping her coffee.

"You saw a lot that night they died. It's trauma. And not to mention all the shit we've seen and done in the Navy. Including what happened with Floyd." Jake said, "We both stuff things down."