Family Ties

Danny waited till the girls shut the door behind them. Then he raised the trunk lid and gestured me behind it.

“All right,” he said quickly, his voice low, “here’s the tactical situation before you roll in.” He stopped and chuckled to himself. “You probably—”

“I got it. Pilot’s kid. Remember? I speak the lingo.”

“Yeah, right, sorry. Anyway, I like you,” he said earnestly, “so I want you to stick around. Here’s what you should expect. Mom’s already on your side.

He grinned at the word. “Right, so… You’ll figure out Harry and Marianne when you meet them tomorrow.

Gonna be an admiral one day. She’s a sweetheart. You’ll love her. James and Lynne are here already. He’s pretty mellow. She’s nice enough but quiet and a bit of a fussbudget. Rich is… a good guy. But he’s disagreeable. Best word I can think of. He won’t like you, but it isn’t personal. He’s just wired different than the rest of us.”

“Got it. Your mom’s on my side. Call your dad ‘sir,’ but only when she isn’t around.

“Yep. That’s about it. The kids are all little versions of their parents, some more than others. Did Birdy—?”

The door from the house opened and a man’s voice said, “You guys need help?”

Danny raised his head over the lid of the trunk. He relaxed when he saw who it was.

“Mom sent me,” the man said as he joined us. He was shorter than Danny, but with the same build and the same blue eyes. He wore his dark hair short and sported a mustache. “You must be Paul,” he said as he extended his hand.

“Paul Hughes. Nice to meet you.”

“The girls were organizing a search party,” Jim said to Danny.

“Right. I was just giving Paul a head start on meeting everyone.”

“So we like him?” Jim said.

“Way more than the last one.” Danny glanced at me. “Sorry to keep bringing him up, but he made an impression.”

of this is Birdy’s?”

“How’d you know?” Danny joked.

I pulled out my backpack and suitcase.

“Come on, dude,” Jim said to his brother, “let’s haul these inside.

They each took a large suitcase and a smaller one.

Danny grinned at me. “Last chance to bail.”

“Are you kidding? I made it this far, didn’t I?”

“I see what you mean,” Jim said to Danny. He smiled at me. “All right.

Let’s go meet the family.”

I followed them inside, where a gaggle of pre-teen girls were waiting for us. They were brimming with curiosity but fell silent at the sight of me.

“Hi,” I said. “I’m Paul.