by Dale Mayer
Sandrine frowned, then shook her head. “No. Look at them.” The two had their arms wrapped around each other as Brenda’s father led her to the front door.
At that moment, Brenda realized she hadn’t said anything and came racing back. “I wanted to say, Thank you,” she explained.
Sandrine took the moment to hop out and hug her friend. “Get some rest. I’ll call you.”
Still sniffling, but with a smile on her face, Brenda waved at the two men. “Thank you so much for everything.”
Her father lifted a hand, and that was it, and the two walked inside.
Sandrine jumped back in the SUV. “I’m surprised her father didn’t thank you.”
“He already has,” Keane replied. “We spoke to him on the phone earlier.”
“Wow.” It seemed rather cold to her.
“He’s an admiral,” Keane said. “We did our job, and he knows it.”
“I guess it doesn’t matter if you’re okay with it,” she said. “Just seems like a handshake and a thank-you wouldn’t have been out of order.”
“But neither is necessary,” Lennox said. “So shall we drop you off too?”
“If you must,” she said. “I’m not looking forward to going home though.”
“What? I thought you were,” Keane replied.
She nodded but frowned. “I know. It’s just the thought of being alone doesn’t thrill me right now.”
“Well, I can always drop off Keane too,” Lennox said. “I’ve got to report in and do a couple other things,” he said, “but Keane can spend some time, if that’s what the two of you decide on.”
Keane looked back at her and said, “I wasn’t planning on leaving you alone tonight.”
She looked at him, relief washing over her. Tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I know I’ll have to get over it soon, and that some would say I don’t really have anything to get over,” she said. “It’s just—it was so goddamn lonely out there.”
“Hey, let’s get you back home and settled in your own space,” he said. “You just need some time, and you’ll be fine.”
She smiled and nodded. Soon they pulled up in front of her apartment building. She hopped out and patted her pockets, where she had put her house key, so she didn’t need a purse when going sailing. “I don’t have my key anymore.” She stared at the brick building. “It doesn’t look like much, does it?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “It’s not about what you live in. It’s about who lives there.”
She loved that. “I’m glad to hear that. Most of the time people are all about what you own.”
“But they haven’t lived through something life-threatening. You have,” he said. “And you already know that what you own has nothing to do with who you are.”
She looped her arm through his and said, “And it’s midafternoon, and I’m already exhausted.”
“You probably need more food too,” he said.
“Well, a solid meal would help,” she said. “If I can convince you to stay at my place overnight, maybe we could order in something.”
“Or we could go out for dinner,” he said.
She looked up at him and whispered, “But that’s almost like a date.”
He laughed. “Almost,” he agreed. “Would you be against that?”
“Hell, no,” she said. “I certainly would not. I was hoping to see you again, naturally. After all, we have this thing between us. I just didn’t know what the protocol was.”
“No protocol,” he said. “Just life as we choose to make it.”
“It’s hard to argue with that,” she said.
“Let’s get settled in and see how we do. You might just want to go to bed and stay there,” he said.
“Maybe so.”
At the door, she stared at the lock. “I don’t have a key. I used to keep a key under the mat… then decided it wasn’t a good idea considering my ass of an ex…”
“Good. And no key is no problem.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small case, then a small tool. Within seconds the door was open. As soon as she got inside, she walked into the living room, looked around and said, “You know what? I really don’t like this place.”
He laughed. “It took you getting washed out to sea and abandoned on a not-so-deserted island to decide you don’t like where you live?”
She turned to look at him. “I know it probably sounds foolish, but I think it’s more a case of suddenly wanting to change things that may have bothered me before, but I wasn’t willing to make the effort.” She glanced around the apartment, shrugged and said, “I need a shower and a change of clothes.”
“Do you have any coffee?”
“Oh, of course,” she said. “Coffee.” She headed into the kitchen, put on a pot, then turned to face him. “Did you bring a bag or anything?”
He pointed at the bag by the door. “I’ve got my laptop and stuff in there,” he said. “I have some work to do.”
She beamed. “So, are you okay if I have a shower?” she asked hesitantly.
His eyebrows shot up. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
She shrugged irritably. “Never mind.”
“Wait. Does it have something to do with Scott? No, don’t answer. Just let me tell you something about me. This is your home. You can take a shower or do anything else any damn time you please. And the day I have a problem with it is the day you should throw my ass out.” Taking her gently by the shoulders, he turned her and pointed her in the direction of the hallway. “Go get a shower. You’ll feel better.”
“That I will. Thank you.” She headed down the hall and into the bathroom. Turning on the water, she quickly got undressed.
When she stepped into the hot water, the whole sensation was such a shock to her system that she stood there shuddering, her body enjoying the hot water streaming over her. The last few days—exposed to the sun, sand, salt water and wind—had dried out her skin, and she still felt like she had sand everywhere. She was reminded of her early attempts to even relieve herself in that difficult environment. Not exactly her finest hour. Hopefully she wouldn’t have any other chance to practice.
She quickly scrubbed herself down, washed her hair twice, scrubbed herself once more, and, when she finally felt clean again, she turned off the water and wrapped herself up in a big towel, grabbing another for her hair.
As she stood here in front of the mirror, she realized fatigue was once again draining her. But was it relief or fatigue or just the shock and adrenaline release now that she was home? Something had shifted, at least.
She made her way back into the bedroom and sagged onto the side of her bed. It was supposed to be just a nice day out on the boat with her friends. Just the three of them. But instead, it ended up being four of them, and even now she didn’t know for sure what she wanted to do. The fact that Brenda had independently backed up what Sandrine had said was huge. But what did Greg say?
She dressed in some shorts and a T-shirt, then walked barefoot into the living room. Keane looked at her with a smile and said, “You look like you’re eighteen.”
“Well, you can add a decade to that,” she said cheekily. “Thankfully I’m a few days older than I was when I went off that boat.”
He nodded in understanding. “Nothing like a brush with death to make you rethink your life.”
“Have you ever come close to dying?”
“Several times,” he said. “I was a Navy SEAL for a long time, so I was in and out of dangerous situations often. I’ve never come close to drowning though. I did go parachuting and ended up with my chute not opening once,” he said. “Thankfully it was a training session, and I survived. I’ve been shot several times and stabbed too.”
She gasped, and her eyes were wide and round. “What?”
He shrugged. “Like I said, it makes you a little more aware of what’s going on in your world, and a little happier to do the things you need to do. I find it makes me a little le
ss tolerant of bullshit as well.”
“Right,” she said. “So what I’m feeling isn’t all that odd?”
“Not at all,” he said. “Expect it, and realize that it’s a normal response to an abnormal situation. You will recover from this and will come away with a different perspective, which isn’t a bad thing.”
“I guess not,” she affirmed. “I suppose I won’t realize in what ways until a few days have gone by.”
“Probably longer,” he said. “You’ll start to think about the things that are important in life. Things that you still want to do.”
“I was thinking about that when I was on the beach, waiting to see if Brenda would survive or die,” she said. “I thought of all the things I still wanted to do and what I would regret the most if I didn’t get rescued. And I thought what I would change if I got a second chance.”
“See? That’s all really normal,” he said. “Now that you have your second chance, what will you do with it?”
“That’ll take some thinking.”
“Well, you’ve already done something,” he said. “You’ve broken things off with your boyfriend.”
“But I did that before,” she said with a smile. “That was a pretty easy decision.”
“Nothing he said while you were sailing convinced you to consider going back with him? Greg said Scott got angry because you were being difficult.”
“I was, in a way,” she admitted. “I was really angry that they had finagled that whole scenario in the first place. Scott was pressuring me to come back and wanted me to say I forgave him and all the rest of it right there on the spot, and of course I couldn’t do that,” she said. “Finally I’d had enough. I started yelling and told him that I didn’t want anything to do with him, that I’d have never gone on that trip if I’d known he’d be there and that he was the last person I wanted to spend time with.”
“Fair enough,” Keane said. “How did Greg react?”
“He snapped at me and said I shouldn’t be so childish. He said that men had affairs. That’s what they did, and I should forgive Scott and get on with it.”
“Wow,” Keane said. He tilted his head to the side and said, “Well, that pretty well lines up with what he told me in the hallway.”
“Right? What I don’t know is what Brenda will do now.”
“Again, she needs time,” he said. “It had to be really hard for her to hear that information, especially after all the trauma she’d been through already. And the trauma will put things in perspective.”
“Right,” she said. “I hope she ditches Greg.”
He chuckled. “Why? Because he had an affair?”
“Because he had an affair and because he had it with her sister of all people and because he’s lied about it all this time. And, if he did it once, he’ll do it again,” she said with a shrug. She walked to the coffeepot, grabbed cups from the cupboard and poured two cups, handing him one.
“Let’s go sit outside on the small deck.”
She led the way to a small deck off the living room. She sat in one of the two chairs and, with a huge sigh of relief, tilted her head back and lifted her feet so they rested on the railing. “That’s it. I’m here for the night.” She chuckled.
“Will you ever go sailing again?”
She had to stop and think about it. “I don’t know. It was pretty traumatic.”
“Have you done much sailing?”
“Yes, and no. I had gone out with them many times, but I’ve never been sailing on my own.”
“So you might like it under the right circumstances?”
“Maybe in a bigger boat. A much bigger boat,” she said. And he immediately started to laugh. She looked at him and grinned. “You’re really easy to be with, you know?”
“Good,” he said. He reached out a hand immediately, and she reached back. They sat like that, quiet and comfortable for the longest time. He wondered what he was getting into. “So, are you over the breakup with Scott?”
“I was over the breakup the minute I realized what had happened, and even more so as I managed to get through the actual act of breaking up,” she said. “That was more traumatizing than anything. It took a while to recover from the betrayal afterward, from a man who was closer to me than anyone else. But, once I realized he was a cheat, I was done with him emotionally.”
“But do you regard all men like him?”
She rolled her head and looked at him and said, “Meaning, do I see you the same as Scott is? No.”
“So, if we went out for dinner tonight, you might be okay with that? If you’re feeling up to it, that is.”
“I’d be totally okay with that,” she said with a bright smile. She sat back, did a self-assessment and said, “Yeah. I think I’m strong enough to go out. And maybe that’s a perfect plan. Go out for a nice dinner and then come back and finally get a good night’s sleep.”
“That’s probably a good idea.”
“The police, they won’t need me for anything, will they?”
“Yes, they probably will,” he said. “I’m not exactly sure to what extent, but it’s quite possible.”
“Ugh,” she said. “I was hoping it would end with the coast guard.”
“Maybe, at least if we’re lucky. But otherwise it won’t be that big of a deal.”
“Well, there’s no point in worrying about it now,” she said. “I’ll deal with it if I have to.”
“That’s the way to do it,” he said, just as his stomach gurgled.
She looked at him and gasped. “Of course you’re hungry,” she said. “You haven’t eaten, have you?”
“I have but not a whole lot.”
“Where do you want to go for dinner?” He named a popular steak and seafood place close by. She nodded and said, “I’ll get changed.” She hopped up and walked back inside again.
“Don’t change for my sake,” he said.
She stopped, looked at him, frowned and said, “Really?”
He raised his eyebrows. “I can’t change. I’m wearing the only clothes I brought with me,” he said.
She smiled, walked back over and said, “Do you think the restaurant will let us in?”
“They’ll let us in just fine.”
She laughed and said, “Okay, prove it to me.”
He grinned, then hopped up, grabbed his wallet and his phone, and sent a text message to Lennox to tell him what they were doing. Then he headed out the front door with her laughingly towed behind him. “Do you have a car?”
“I do,” she said with a grin. “It’s not fancy, but it does the job.”
“That’s fine,” he said. “But we’re close enough to walk. I thought maybe it would be good to get out for a bit.”
“Walking is a great idea.”
As they walked, she suddenly said, “I told the captain. About being pushed.”
“I heard,” he said comfortably.
“I’m afraid now that I shouldn’t have.”
“Why is that?”
“Because I’m sure it’s gotten back to Scott.”
“Won’t matter as I told Greg the same thing. He was supposed to send Scott down to talk to me while we were still on the cutter, but that didn’t happen.”
“I don’t really want to face him over it.”
“Maybe not,” he said, “but do you know if there is any chance that he overheard the fact that Brenda saw him?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe Brenda said something to Greg, but I’m not sure when that would have been.”
“Or to her father.”
“Right,” she said. “I really didn’t want to open that can of worms.”
“The can of worms is open,” he said. “The question is, what will you do about it?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I guess I was hoping to avoid the whole thing.”
He smiled and nodded. He worried about it though because he didn’t know what Scott’s basic character was. “Is Scott likely to be vindictive?”
“Some joke.”
“I know,” she said.
“Well, how about we forget all about it for now,” he said, as he led her across the street and into the restaurant. Inside, they were given a table and spent the next two hours thoroughly enjoying their meal and each other. He really liked who she was as a person. He didn’t know that he’d ever pick her out of a lineup as being somebody that he’d enjoy spending time with, as he tended toward brunettes. She was a blonde. As he got to know her, her real beauty started to shine.
By the time they were ready to head back home again, he tucked her arm into his elbow and led her outside.
She yawned. “I’m sorry.”
“Come on. Let’s get you to bed.”
She yawned once more and said, “I’m so damn tired.”
“I know. That’s understandable. You’ll be fine. You just need a little time.” They walked slowly all the way back, and she let him into the apartment.
Once inside, she turned and said, “I’m just too tired all the time now.”
He placed a finger against her lips and whispered, “I know. Go on.”
She smiled, hooked her arms around his neck and gave him a big hug.
He held her close, surprised but delighted, loving the feel of her warm and sexy body in his arms, but knowing that nothing would happen right now. She was too exhausted and confused for anything right now.
She kissed him gently. “Thank you for a wonderful evening,” she said, then slowly made her way to the bedroom and closed the door.
He pulled out his laptop and settled at the kitchen table. First he sent Lennox a text message, saying they were back and that she was safely locked inside again. When his phone rang, he pulled it out. “Lennox, what’s up?”
“You clear?”
“Yeah, she went to bed.”
“I got a phone call from the admiral,” Lennox said. “He called me about ten minutes ago.”
“What’s up?”
“He was taking Brenda back to his place,” he said, “over in the Hillcrest area. Anyway, they had just barely gotten out of the parking lot, and they were involved in a head-on collision.”
