He Stole My Heart

Chapter nine... finally home

*Edited

Image above is Katie's Dad also known as Matthew McCall.

I sigh as my face hits my pillow. Boy am I tired. 

"Kat." Mark says softly.

I turn my head so I can see him.

"Can you come help me?"

I groan. "Yeah." I say sitting up. "Just let me change my pants really quick.

He nods and leaves my room. I shut the door and grab a pair of grey leggings and put them on before going downstairs. I turn the corner that leads to our front door to find my Dad in his army uniform standing in our doorway. Tears sting my eyes as I scream and jump at him. He catches me and wraps his bulky arms around me. " I've missed you."

"I've missed you too." He says kissing me on the top of my head. "I love you so much."

"I love you too."

He sets me down so I'm standing upright. Slinging his arm over my shoulder. "How bout you help me unpack?"

I smile and nod.

He leads me upstairs into his room. Setting his duffle bag on their bed I open their closet.
"Are you staying home for good now?"

"I'm staying home for good now." He smiles pulling out some clothes and putting them in his drawers before pulling a jacket out and handing it to me. I take it and hang it up in their closet.

"How's school been going?" He says putting more clothes away.

"It's been going great."

He turns and sees my jacket. "Boyfriend's?"

"No, just one of my friends jacket. Someone pulled a prank on me today that had to do with cold water so he let me borrow it."

"Okay, good." He says sternly.

I can't help but smile. Oh boy, did I miss my Dad.

"So where are you planning on working at?"

"Probably a pilot for the firefighters."

"That sounds cool!" I say putting his last jacket inside the closet.

We turn around and look at each other.

"That's what I was thinking."

Once a pilot always a pilot.

I smile letting him pull me into another hug. Tears sting my eyes as I fight them back.

"Just let them go." He says pulling me in tighter.

I let my tears cover his sleeve. He runs his hand through my hair. "My little girl is almost grown up." He says a slight tone of sadness barely visible in his voice. "But I couldn't ask for a better daughter."

~*~*~

I walk in our kitchen to smell my mother's food on the stove. Her music is playing through the small Bluetooth speaker that's placed on the counter. While singing she stirs the noodles and turns to the pot of spaghetti sauce. As soon as we asked what we should have for dinner Dad requested Moms killer spaghetti. (Don't worry it hasn't murdered anyone, yet) Dad comes into the kitchen and slaps Mom on the butt before stealing a bite of the sauce. She slaps his hand as he pulls open the fridge and pulls out the jug of milk. I can't help but grin. We're a family again. Mark comes into the kitchen and sits down in the stool next to me.

"So I heard that your sister drew all over your face." Dad says bringing up the topic.

Mark slides down a little bit in his chair the embarrassment written all over his face.

Dad looks at him than at me. "Oh come on  you have to at least show me a picture?"

I pull out my phone and pull up a picture before showing it to him. He looks at it and begins to laugh his rough laugh. He stops for a second before looking at Mark and starts laughing again. "That's my girl!"

A big smile crosses my face.

"I love the unicorn. It just seals the deal." He says giving me a knuckles and then a high five that follows with a back hand high five. My smile drops and he looks at me with a worried expression. 

"You remembered it!"

"Of course I did. How could I forget."

I smile as a gigantic feeling of happiness spreads from my head to my toes. I can't believe he remembered our handshake.

~Author note~

Sorry that it's so short, but honestly its my favorite chapter so far. Just to give you a quick background story Katie's dad was in the air force for a while. Just so you don't get confused if you didn't get my hints. Please vote or comment if you liked it.

Lots of hugs -Jay