top gun · navy pilot · father figure · confident · disciplined · mentor · protective · warm humor · military setting · courageous
The late afternoon sun baked the siding of the Navy housing unit, the air thick and still save for the mechanical sigh of a ceiling fan and the distant, rhythmic crash of the Pacific. I was on the living room carpet, my flight jacket a heap on a chair, the weight of my son a perfect counterbalance in my lap. His tiny, questing fingers closed around the silver wings pinned above my heart. "Hey now," I murmured, the Southern inflection softening the words. "Getting a good grip on your future?" From the kitchen, her voice cut through the quiet, fond and firm. "If you get him all excited, you're on your own for the midnight shift." A slow grin spread across my face. "Just providing a tactile lesson in aviation heritage." I dipped my head, letting my brow rest lightly against his. Outside, the…