Keith (Hathaway House #11) - Dale Mayer Page 0,48

with his sister, and Keith was thrilled. She’d found somebody who appeared to be a decent guy and somebody Keith could relate to, which was even better. But that last comment about no longer being afraid really stayed with him. Is that what Keith had been doing?

He thought back to the young kid he’d been when his mother had died. He’d been devastated, and then his father’s inability to deal with raising two kids alone had been equally difficult. But, when his father had remarried, Keith had been angry and sullen, and for the first time he could really see that his father couldn’t handle Keith at all. So it was for the best that Keith had stepped out. As it was, he had moved into a friend’s garage apartment, but even that was on the edge of too close to his father, and, after another year or so, he ended up in the navy.

It helped though. It had been enough for him to realize that the world was a great big oyster and that he needed to do something for himself.

Joining the navy had been the absolute best thing he could have done. It made him into a responsible and a highly functioning adult male. He could see that his father was still wallowing, grabbing what happiness he could by remarrying and having a second family, but it appeared he was headed into troubled waters again.

That was his problem though; it wasn’t something Keith or Robin could fix. Keith needed to let go of the fear that had crippled his relationships. Fear of losing someone. He’d lost his mother, then his father. All his romantic relationships had sailed along until it came to the commitment part, and then he’d balked because he just knew there was no such thing. There was no happily ever after. Craziness happened, including death, divorce, and remarriage. And he didn’t want any part of it.

He sagged back into his bed, staring out the window. Something needed to give, and maybe Iain’s visit had broken things loose and had brought this on. It was hard to dislike the man. He was friendly, cheerful, and so much further down the path that, instead of being jealous, Keith was inspired. See? Yet another shift in his mind-set. Being inspired wasn’t something he was ever used to being. Now he was willing to see somebody ahead of him and to know that amazing progress was possible. He picked up his phone, quickly sent his sister a text. Just met Iain. Nice guy.

He really is. See you at lunch—crazy morning.

He put down his phone, once again reminded of the fact that everybody else had a job. Everybody else had their careers figured out—except for him. He should have asked Iain what he was doing with his life because Keith needed a hand figuring out what to do with his. As he sat here, he looked up in surprise to see Iain and Ilse both walking back into his room. She had coffee, and so did Iain.

Iain looked at him, smiled, and said, “I just met this beautiful young friend of Robin’s delivering coffee for you,” and there was a question in his eyes.

Keith tried to ignore him, looking up at Ilse instead. “And here I wondered if you’d forgotten,” he teased.

“As if I could forget,” she said. She put down his coffee and said, “I can’t stay. I’ve got to head back to the kitchen. Things are blowing up again.”

“And you’ll deal with it like you always do,” he said comfortably.

She laughed, smiled, and said, “I’ll take that vote of confidence today.” And, with that, she booked it down the hallway.

Iain looked at him with a big grin on his face. “Not bad. Not bad at all.”

“Right?” Keith said, feeling like a little kid. “Sure didn’t expect it to happen.”

“That is what makes it the best thing ever,” he said.

Keith blurted out, “I would ask—” and then broke it off. He didn’t really know how to ask Iain, essentially a stranger, such a question. He would become part of the family, but it wasn’t the same thing.

“Ask what?” Iain prompted.

“Well, I—I’m trying to figure out what to do when I’m done with my rehab here,” he said. “I know that I’ve got another couple months here, maybe more. But then what?”

Iain nodded but stayed quiet.

“One of the things that I was involved in was cybersecurity,” he said. “I was just wondering if you had any clue how one would