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"Twisted ankle"

She carried inhas been vibrating so rimaced and pressed an ice pack on my ankle I winced from the cold and opened the stupid clutch I pulled out the phone and sighed, "Twelve ht otten I had put it in there I reached in and clutched it in er

"What’s that?" Luce asked

I opened , "Locket froraduation"

"What’s it say?" she sht instead of intense

I sraduated from Fort Huachuca, twenty-five years apart"

"Yeah? Cool Your old man ell known He ran some crazy ops, back in the day The cold war had to be aweso chair across fro the cold war" My level of pride for the man was immeasurable

Coop leaned his head in, "You wanna take a shoith me?"

I frowned and was about to throw my shoe at hied, "Sure" The house s I slipped the locket around my neck

He came and picked me up in his arms, "You can’t walk to the shoith that buhed, "You wouldn’t rather my help with the shower, Evie?"

I cocked an eyebrow, "Pretty sure I would rather it, but I have a really disturbing desire to see what he’s packing"

Luce laughed, "You know it’s one of two things, Evie, and neither is a good thing"

I laughed

Coop winced, "You guys say we’re dirty"

"Payback We owe you for the centuries of oppression and abuse" I laughed

He clis you owe me"

He stepped into the bathroom and closed the door He started the shower and turned on the fan

I didn’t knoas happening, but he pulled his shirt off and I smiled like an idiot He liftedpants but kept his briefs on

I slid erly My ankle was pretty swollen At least it wasn’t a sprain I stood in just htly

He lifted ainst each other was hot and sweaty He closed the door and whispered, "I was apart of so about your dad once That locket reminded me of it"

My stomach sank, "I don’t understand"

He sed, "I saw files once about aup The review of the op basically didn’t happen, until after he had died They were looking for so They felt that he had kept vital information from his reports, purposely"

None of it was about James or me It was about my dad I was a pawn Was that possible? I shook my head, "My dad was a hero He never betrayed his country He died for this country"

He shook his head, "I didn’t say he was traitor I said he kept things fro it safe from eyes and ears for a reason I was nehen it happened and, honestly, the locket is the only reason I reraphic memory I’ve seen it"

He nodded, "I do, and I remember it like it was yesterday, they had taken all your dad’s things into custody, nothing was cleared for your h his things, cataloguing everything and boxing it up Everything was considered to be suspicious and ere to run all docuh known codes"

I frowned, "He wasn’t a ood spy"

His eyes trailed down rabbed it between his fingers, grazing the swell of my chest "There was a receipt for a locket The surveillance teah A tea, the safe, the cellar There was nothing ever found They were pissed about us not finding it I remember that I also reh search of your house and nothing was ever turned up there It ay back in the day I was brand new We were interviewed separately afterward, about the things we found, and the ways they were handled" His eyes twinkled, "Weird way to handle a deceased man’s effects Especially when he’s a national hero"