Link: Every Day Is Your Last Title Page and Description

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True to his word, Jack called the CO first thing Monday and laid it out for him, that he and I had never had a relationship, that it was always a ruse so I wouldn't be pressured for dates, and Erica backed him up the whole way! He was skeptical, but when Erica nearly bit his head off at the accusation that Jack was cheating on her, that sold him. He dropped the whole deal, with no ticklish questions about why. Within hours, I heard that it had gotten around that Jack and I had been a big lie the whole time.

The funny thing is, it didn't get worse. In fact, I hardly ever got hit on again after that! Seems once they learned Jack and I had never been a couple, that I hadn't dated anyone for over five years, the trouser hounds lost interest. Oh sure, I got a few asks right afterwards, but all I had to say was 'no' and they wouldn't ask again. My rep went from 'she must be great in bed' to 'she's frigid' in two days. I was never so thankful for being unpopular!

So my Leave started the last week of November and, since I hadn't used any that year, I was able to take three full weeks. I decided I wanted to take a trip back home on the way out to Heather and Richard's place and spend a day to introduce my best friends to my folks.

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Stepping out of the rental car they had driven from the airport, Jack looked around. "So this is your old man's place?" he asked. "Nice."

Brooke looked at him suspiciously as she climbed out of the back seat. "OK, so what's the gag, then?"

"What? I mean it! It's nice!" Jack held his hands up defensively.

"Jack, you have never given a serious compliment in your life! So, what's wrong with it?" she barked.

Erica smiled as she got out. "Nothing's wrong, Brooke! I just told Jack that if he embarrassed you while we're here he'd be sleeping alone for the rest of our trip!" She closed her car door and arched her eyebrows at Brooke.

"Huh!" Brooke leaned on the door, closing it. "Well, I'll be damned! He can be serious!"

"Only when absolutely necessary." he corrected her. "Well, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din! Lead the way!"

The trio coming up the walk, the door opened before they were even halfway up. "Brooke, darling!" her mother exclaimed as she ran down the walkway. Reaching her daughter, the older woman threw her arms around her. "We've missed you so much, baby!" Rocking her back and forth, she finally released her. "I'm sorry, dear! I didn't mean to embarrass you!" She wiped her damp eyes and looked at Jack and Erica. "I'm Carolyn Hathaway!" she said gaily, extending her hand to Erica.

"Erica Dunning! This is my husband, Jack!" she said with a smile. "It's a pleasure, Mrs. Hathaway!"

Looking at Jack, she smiled politely. "How do you do, Jack. Won't you all come in?" She led them into the house. "Mark! Brooke's home!" she shouted. "Please, make yourself at home! Brooke, dear? Why don't you sit and rest? I know it's a long way from San Francisco. Mark!"

"I'm coming! Jeez, woman! The girl's not going anywhere!" Brooke's father stepped into the living room from his den, a cane in his left hand.

Looking him over, Jack could instantly see the veteran inside the man. His pride was only tempered by the white hair that topped his head. While his clothes were common jeans and a polo shirt that wouldn't look out of place anywhere, Jack noticed that his shoes were polished black boots with not a scuff or smudge and his clothes were neatly pressed. He fought the almost instinctual desire to salute; the man's baring screaming 'officer on deck'. It wasn't until his eyes met his daughter and his face cracked a smile that Jack could finally see the father inside the veteran.

"Brooke, sweetie!" he exclaimed. Recovering quickly, his face once again became an emotionless mask. "Ehem! I see you're looking well. Would you mind?" He nodded toward Jack and Erica.

"Oh! Sorry!" Brooke apologized. "Dad? This is my best friend Jack and his wife Erica. Jack? This is my dad, Colonel Mark Hathaway!"

Extending his hand to Jack, he grimaced. "USMC, Retired, she should have added!" Noting Jack's sharp handshake, he smiled slightly. "You've got the look, but it's gone slack. How long you been Outside?"

"Five months, sir." Jack snapped out of habit. "It's an honor to meet you, sir. Your daughter is a fine Marine!"

"She would have made a finer officer!" he barked as he made his way into the room. "Damn waste, her piddle-farting with handheld radios, generators, and crap like that!"

Jack's habit of taking the heat off his friends was hard to break. "Oh, but she's the best at it! She once fixed a radio that no one could figure out what was wrong! Saved my bacon from our CO that thought I was skating!"

He only grunted in reply. "Still, she had the makings of a finer officer! Like myself and my father before me!"

"Dad!" Brooke almost whined. "We've been through this countless times! I wanted to serve my way! Not yours or grandpa's!"

"Bah!" he exclaimed, dismissively waving his free hand in her direction as he lowered himself into his easy chair. "I get it, girl! Still, don't amount to much!" Relaxing back, he looked at Erica who looked pensive. "Don't worry yourself over me, girl. I'm just a grouchy ol' fart who's all bark! No teeth left to bite with!" he smiled at her as he finished.

Relaxing, Erica sighed in relief. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hathaway! Brooke..."

"Call me Mark!" he barked. "I'm no 'Mister' anymore!" He looked at Jack. "Same to you! And don't call me sir again, neither! I'm retired and I don't want you makin' me feel like I need to be ready to return a damn salute!"

Jack fought the comical urge to shout, 'Sir! Yes, sir!' and snap a salute with every fiber of his being. Biting his tongue, he just smiled and nodded. "OK, Mark. You can call me Jack!"

The old man grunted and nodded. "You were stationed at The Barracks in Alameda too, I take it? How long were you in?"

"Since eighty-nine, s... so I did seven years in." he just managed to bite off calling him sir again.

Mark grinned, knowing he had almost caught Jack out. "Mmmm. So were you in the Gulf then, or were you some damn box-kicker?"

"No, I was deployed with the First MEF out of San Diego then. Six months in The Sandbox with my buddy Rich. He's who we're off to see get married to the girl he's been dating." Jack explained.

"Mark!" his wife shouted. "That's quite enough, grilling our guests! They're here with Brooke and she's home to relax, not talk war stories!" Turning to the three, she shifted to a kinder tone. "Would you all like lunch? I made egg salad sandwiches!"

"That sounds great, Mrs. Hathaway!" Jack smiled.

The five sat around Brooke's parents' dinner table eating lunch and talking, Jack noticing her father eyeing him and then his daughter as if looking for any sign that they had been more than just friends. Clearing his throat, Jack excused himself.

"I'm gonna go rest my eyelids on the couch a few. If that would be alright, Mrs. Hathaway?" he said as he started to stand.

"Oh, please! Call me Carol! And you go right ahead, young man! We girls have a lot of getting to know one another to do!"

Mark grunted as he got up as well. "Well, if this is turning into a hen party, I'll be dealing myself out!" He stopped as he passed Brooke and leaned in to kiss her cheek. "Enjoy your talk with your mother. We'll talk more later." He hobbled out of the dining room and into the living room just as Jack was stretching out on the couch. "Shoes!" he barked.

"Oh! Sorry, s... so sorry!" he caught himself. Kicking his shoes to the floor, he stretched out and closed his eyes.

Sitting in his easy chair next to the couch, the retired Marine groaned as he lowered himself down. "I don't know how you kids do it now-a-days, but I feel every year of my thirty in the Corps right now!"

Jack nodded, his eyes still closed. "I feel all seven of mine every time you try to trick me into calling you sir, Mark!"

Chuckling, Mark relaxed. "I uh... I wanted to ask you, boy. About Brooke. She seeing anybody?"

Jack half-smiled. "At the moment I would guess your wife and mine!"

"Don't be a such smartass, boy!" he growled. "You know what I mean! Is she dating anyone? Hell, even a civilian would be good news!"

Sighing, Jack shook his head. "Sorry to disappoint, but she hasn't dated any guys the entire time I've known her, but she told me the first day we met that she wasn't going to date so long as she was serving, so..."

Mark grunted again. "Figures! I taught her too good to love the Corps! Now she's so gung-ho I ain't gonna be a grandpa before I'm dead and gone!"

"Well, you never know!" Jack shrugged. "Maybe she'll meet someone at the wedding! Awfully romantic time, weddings! Make people want to jump the broom themselves!"

"Jump the broom!" Mark exclaimed. "Jay-zus, boy! You talk like my father!"

"Blame my parents!" he chuckled lightly. "They probably were your dad's age! I was a late surprise! Dad served in the Pacific Theater in forty-two."

"Marine?"

Jack nodded. "Got blinded by a naval gun and when his sight came back he couldn't see straight ahead; peripheral only. Oh, he could work alright, but you can't fire a rifle at a target you can't look directly at. He spent the rest of the war doing laundry for Marines that could shoot. So he did his part."

"Damn shame!" Mark lamented. Despite his initial impression, he'd begun to like his daughter's friend, deciding to have a little fun at his expense. "So what's wrong with my Brooke, huh? Why'd you go and marry that other girl instead of her?"

Looking over at the man sitting behind his head, Jack chuckled. "Because she didn't want me, Mark! I'll admit, I was interested, but once she made it clear I wasn't her type, I let it go. Besides, I love 'that other girl', sir!"

Grumbling that Jack wasn't more unsettled by his rude question, he shut up and Jack closed his eyes again.

Caroline Hathaway sipped her tea while her daughter talked about how she had set up Erica and Jack on their first 'date'. "So, you've been in love with Jack since you were a little girl? Oh, that's such a beautiful story! There's just something about an older man that makes a woman feel loved!"

Brooke looked at her mother and then at Erica to explain. "Dad is ten years older than Mom. They met when she was only twenty and he was just shy of thirty."

"Oh!" Erica exclaimed. "Well, Jack's less than four years older than me, but when you're ten, every boy above twelve is old!"

The three laughed before Brooke's mother turned to her daughter. "Dearest, haven't you met anybody that you like while you were serving? Oh, I don't mean you should marry a fellow serviceman like your father, but..." She let her words hang in the air like a dangling sword.

"Mom! I told you when I left for Boot! I'm not going to date while I'm in the service! I don't need the distraction!"

"Nonsense!" she chided. "It didn't distract Erica's young man!"

"You have no idea how much it did distract him, Mom!" she retorted. "Jack never made Corporal because he was too busy going after this Latino girl that wouldn't give him the time of day and missed his cutting score!"

"Oh." she said, disappointed that Brooke had a legitimate comeback. "Well, you only have one year left and then... well... we'll see!"

Brooke sighed. "Yes, Mom. We'll see!"

Erica sat through the exchange uncomfortably. Trying to change the subject, she cleared her throat. "Brooke? Did you tell your mom when we get to New Hampshire you're going to be Heather's Maid of Honor at the wedding?"

"Really?" Caroline practically sang. "Oh, Brooke! Why didn't you tell me! Oh, sweetie! That's such an honor! You should be proud of it! This Heather must think very highly of you!"

While Brooke knew Erica was only trying to help by changing the subject, she groaned at what Erica had changed it to. "Oh, Mom!" She dropped her head onto the table with a loud thump. "This is why I didn't say anything! It's just a ceremony! All I do is stand there and get my picture taken after! It's not that big a deal!" She raised her head up and looked at her mother. "Don't even say it!"

"Mayb..." Caroline stopped herself. "Alright, Brooke. I won't." She grinned mischievously. "Who's the Best Man? Is he single?"

"Fortunately no, Mrs. Hathaway!" Erica giggled. "It's my husband, Jack!"

"Oh." she replied disappointed. "Will there be many Groomsmen or Ushers?"

"You want me to hit up the ring-bearer for his phone number while I'm at it, Mom?" Brooke asked snidely. "God, you have a one-track mind!"

"None of that, Brooke!" her mother snapped. "You don't need to be flippant with me! I just worry is all! I want to see you happy!"

Brooke nearly lost her temper, but checked it at the last second. "I am happy, Mom! Really! Do I want to find someone to be happy with? Damn straight, I do! Who doesn't! But I'm not going to force it!"

Sighing, Caroline shook her head. "Alright! I'll let it go!" Looking at Erica, she lowered her tone. "I apologize if we embarrassed you. I didn't mean to."

"It's fine, Carol. Really!" Erica put the older woman at ease.

"So, tell me about the happy couple!" she said, changing the subject slightly.

"It's my brother Richard and his fiancée Heather." Erica explained. "They've been dating for just over two years and they finally set a date!"

"Your brother asked your husband to be his Best Man, but you're not her Matron of Honor?" she asked. "Isn't that a little unusual?"

"Heather's known Brooke longer than she's known me, Mrs. Hathaway." she explained further. "I didn't meet Heather and Brooke until late last year."

"Oh! I understand, now!" She shot a glance at her daughter. "You might have at least written to me and told me about friends so close to you, dear!"

Brooke just laid her head back down on the table with a satisfying thump.

After lunch, Brooke took Jack and Erica on a tour around where she spent the latter part of her youth, including her last high school and the first place she'd taken a girl on a secret date. She didn't actually have that much to show them, having only spent two years living there after her father retired, but it was gratifying to get out of the house and away from her parents for a while.

"I swear to God that woman can drive me to drink!" Brooke fumed.

"Why not just tell them?" Jack asked. "It'd save you a lot of headache!"

She looked at Jack as though he'd suggested she set her hair on fire. "Are you nuts, Jack! Tell my old man, mister original Clean Marine, that his daughter digs chicks? He'd turn me in himself! And Mom? God, she'd have a stroke! She's been harping on me to get married since I was five!"

"Now, now!" Jack admonished. "Let's not exaggerate! I'm willing to bet she didn't start really harping on you until you were at least twelve!"

"I'll take that action!" Brooke shot back. "For my fifth birthday, she got me a little girl's wedding dress and play wedding set!"

"It's normal for a five year old girl to want stuff like that for her birthday!" Jack countered. "Maybe she thought you'd like it!"

"I asked for a football!"

Erica couldn't hold it back anymore and started giggling hysterically.

"What do you think is so damn funny?" Brooke asked, still fuming.

"S-sorry! I... I can't help it, Brooke! Now I've got this image in my head of five-year-old you in a cute little girl's wedding dress playing football!" Her giggles grew into full belly laughs.

She tried to stay mad, but soon Brooke was smiling and then laughing along with her.

Shaking his head, Jack drove around aimlessly. "If you two hyenas are quite through, I think we should start heading back."

Walking back into her parents' living room once more, Brooke yelled out to them. "Mom! Dad! We're back! We brought ice cream!"

Caroline came out from the kitchen, smiling politely. "That's very thoughtful, dear. Here, I'll put it in the freezer until after supper."

Holding on to it to delay her from taking it for a moment, Brooke looked down. "Just a little peace offering, Mom. I'm sorry for earlier."

Smiling genuinely, she looked away embarrassedly. "It's fine, sweetie. I... I just... I worry! That's all!"

"I know Mom, and it's sweet really, but honestly, I'm fine! I'm happy! And when... not if... when I find someone that I can share that with, it'll be when it is ready to happen. Not a moment sooner. OK?"

Nodding in acceptance, her mother looked at her. "I know, baby. I'll... I'll try not to make an issue of it anymore, alright?" Looking at the three, she took a cleansing breath. "Well! We're having the best meatloaf in Oklahoma tonight! I assume you can stay for supper?"

Brooke nodded weakly. "Yeah, Mom. For dinner, then we're gonna have to go. Stopping off was supposed to be a just layover, but I managed to swing a later connecting flight so I could see you two. We got a ten o'clock flight to Detroit." Seeing the disappointment on her mother's face, Brooke smiled to try and turn it around. "We have the rest of today, though! Maybe after the wedding I can stop on the way back and stay a while. I have Leave time."

Looking up, her mother squared her shoulders. "Yes! We do have the rest of the day! Let's make the most of it!"

While the three were driving back to the airport, Jack looked over at Erica sitting in the passenger seat beside him, Brooke reading in the back seat with a book light. "Something on your mind, love?" he asked his wife.

"Just wondering what they'll say when Brooke does find someone." Erica mused. "I mean, it's obvious they love her very much, but... I... I just..."

"But?" Jack asked. Nodding knowingly, he grimaced. "But you know your mother loves you, and yet she barely speaks to you for who you married. I guess it's not just people like Brooke that have their families torn up because of who they love." He sighed and let just a moment pass before asking his question. "Any regrets?"

"None!" Erica said without hesitation as she looked over at him. "Not one! Not ever! Not for anything! I wouldn't care if the whole world hated me for loving you! I'd never regret a single moment of it! I love you!"

He smiled at her a moment before turning back to watch the road. "Ya' know, sometimes I feel bad that I came between you and your mom. Oh, I know she can be a pain sometimes, but I know you still love her and she loves you." Pausing he sighed. "Unfortunately, she loves you so much she'd rather you be in a gilded, loveless cage where you'd want for nothing, except the one thing you always wanted."

Erica nodded. "My Jack!"

"My Buttons!" he returned.

"You two mind clapping a lid on that gunk?" Brooke sighed. "I don't want to get car sick!"

Waking in the dark to the phone ringing, Richard reached over and grabbed it mumbling, "Hargrave."

"Rich!? It's me! Jack!"

"Jack?" Richard pried his eyes open. "What time is it? Are you just leaving Detroit now?"

"No, we just landed at Boston-Manchester! We're here, buddy-boy!"

Richard sat straight up as Heather rolled over next to him and tried to cuddle. "Jack! I thought your flight was delayed! You weren't supposed to be here for another... um... What time is it?"

"Four in the morning!" Jack laughed. "Turned out the layover in Detroit was only delayed a few minutes, but we didn't have a chance to call and let you know! Don't sweat it, Rich! We'll snag a place to flop for what laughingly passes for the rest of the night!"

"No! I'll... I'll come get you, Jack!" He yawned in the middle of speaking. "Let me just... um... just let me..."

"Go back to sleep, Rich!" Jack ordered. "I just wanted to let you know so you weren't down at the airport at seven in the morning looking for us! We'll call when we're up and about and have you pick us up when you won't fall asleep behind the wheel!"

"Alright." he yawned. "See you tomorrow, Jack." he said groggily as he hung up and rolled over, already asleep before he finished settling in.

Later that afternoon, Richard pulled up in front of a motel near the airport. When he saw Jack turn around and flash his half-grin, Richard chuckled and almost leapt from his BMW before coming to a stop. "Jack!" Wrapping his best friend in a tight hug after months apart, the longest time since the day they'd met, he slowly released him and embraced Erica. "Missed you, kiddo!"

"Missed you, too!" she replied. "How's Heather?"

"Doing good!" he replied. "Busy, but happy!" Turning to Brooke, he clasped her hand and pulled her into a quick hug. "How've ya' been ya' Devil Dog ya'! Jack still keeping the hounds at bay for you?"

"Actually, he doesn't need to anymore!" Brooke half explained.

Richard turned to Jack. "What? You figure some angle to keep guys from seeing her as gorgeous?"

"Not exactly." Jack quickly explained what had happened after Richard left while they put their luggage in Richard's car. "So now they just ignore her! Since the word is out that she hasn't dated any guys in over six years, they don't want her anymore!" Closing the trunk, he leaned on it. "Huh! I guess women are right! Guys are stupid!"

Driving back home, he decided to hold off on catching up with them more until they were settled in so they wouldn't have to tell it all twice, once to him, and again to Heather. Instead, he talked about his and Heather's lives.

"She filed her Candidate for Licensure Agreement before we left Cali, and took the Clinical Mental Health Counselor Exam shortly after we got here. Since then it's been 'hurry up and wait' while she interns with this Therapist's office she's working for. For now she's a glorified secretary, but as soon as her license is approved she can start work! Should be any day now!"

"Is she going to get any time off after the wedding?" Erica asked. "I would hope she won't be spending her Honeymoon at work!"

"Not much." Richard laughed. "She has two weeks off after the ceremony, but then she's going to have to work through our first Christmas."

"That's too bad!" his sister pouted. "I suppose it's for the best, though. At least she gets time off to Honeymoon with you first!"

Jack tapped him on the shoulder. "What about you, buddy-boy? How's your new box-kicker job working out?"

"It's not box-kicking!" Richard barked. "It's actually an interesting job. I'm a Senior Business Analyst with the company. The lowest one, but my VP's a Leatherneck too, so he likes me. I think I'll be moving up pretty quick! The money's nothing to sneeze at! Low six figures!"

"Nice!" Jack complimented. "So what's the downside?"

"I have to wear a suit. That and everyone there thinks that because I was in the Corps that I must have the IQ and temperament of a rabid wolverine, so they either talk to me like I'm stupid or about to snap their neck!"

"I dunno, Rich. You sometimes struck me as the kinda guy who might end up in a news story with the words, '...finally turning the gun on himself'!"

The four chatted for a while until Richard pulled up into Heather's driveway. "This is it!" Richard stated proudly after a half-hour drive.

Jack looked out the window and had to do a double take. "Wait a minute! I thought you guys said you were moving to an apartment?" Jack looked out the window again, his brain not accepting what his eyes were seeing.

"Well..." Richard scratched his neck. "After we got here, I found out that the company I came to work for is actually headquartered in Keene, not Concord where Heather works. Only the final interview was in Concord. There was a miscommunication. Since Heather's home is in Hillsboro, about halfway between the two, we decided for now to just set up in her old home. It's a twenty mile commute for us, in opposite directions, but it could be worse!"

"Oh, yeah!" Jack quipped as he got out and looked at the place his best friend was living. "Twenty miles! I would definitely say it could have been worse! What a hardship for two of the upper crust!"

"At least it's twenty miles of relatively uncrowded highway." he pointed out as he walked around the car. "Nothing like the Bay Area or Pittsburgh! Even on a bad day I can get to work in under forty minutes, and it's forty minutes of gorgeous driving! Come on in!"

The traveling trio surveyed the 'old home' Heather had talked about. It was less a home and more a sprawling mansion. Three stories tall, the house was magnificent. Painted in stately white, the house looked to be of eighteenth century design with an expansive semicircular driveway in front that led to a six-car garage. The house proper looked like six buildings connected to one another with an old-fashioned barn further off to the north.

As Richard walked to the stone pathway that led up to the main entryway, he turned around to see the three guests standing there stunned. "What's the matter?" he asked concernedly. "Come on in!" Reaching the front door, his guests finally following, it opened and an elderly man greeted him.

"Welcome home, Master Richard!" he rasped happily. "Shall I see to your guests' luggage?"

Nodding, Richard greeted him. "That would be great! Thanks, Gregory!" Waving the three in, he almost glowed with pride. "Well? What do you think? Pretty nice, eh?"

Jack looked around the room he'd entered; the high vaulted ceilings making it feel open and homey, and yet still opulent. "No, Rich. Your parents' place back in Pittsburgh was 'pretty nice'. This is un-frigging-believable! You live here? This isn't, like, a museum exhibit or National Historic Treasure meant to preserve eighteenth century architecture? It's a house?"

"Yes!" Heather said politely but cheerfully as she entered from an adjacent room. "It's a house, Jack! It's my house! Welcome to Moore Estates!"