He didn’t respond, and she left right after. Settling down and having a family was the subject du jour. Stan brought up the subject nearly every time they talked. Now that his brother was free of the first Mrs. Wanamaker, he was open to finding something different. Something real.
For Arnie, his real had a name. Summer.
In his office, he swiveled in his chair and stared at the wall. When he gave it serious thought, Arnie saw a pattern in his life. A disturbing pattern where everything and everybody else came first over his needs.
Work took precedence over most things. What he did for NIGHTWIND and what he’d done in the past would always dominate his time.
Next on the list were the people who mattered.
He’d dropped everything for King and Dawn. Same for Jon and Lorelai.
And then there was Stan. Working on his brother’s situation accomplished a lot. It helped heal the cracks in their father and son dynamics and gave Darnell Senior a grandfatherly thrill.
Building shit for Ali on his free time and hanging out with a kindergarten kid made it glaringly clear his needs were at the bottom of his priority list. If he was serious about finding Summer, and he was, things had to change.
He made a snap decision. After the NIGHTWIND holiday party, he was going to tell King he needed more personal time beyond the Connecticut trip so he could go to California and pursue the destiny he’d been forced by duty to put on hold.
Yep. Seemed like a plan. But first, there was the matter of dinner with his dad. It had been a long time since the Wanamaker men were in the same city and in a good enough headspace to get together. He was looking forward to spending time with Stan, their dad, and Granddad. Not so much the extended family but one thing at a time.
“Gosh, I feel so bad for Joanne,” Summer murmured to Lynda as they finished packing luggage and Christmas presents into her car. She and the baby were headed to Barstow near Fort Irwin to spend family time with Reed.
“Yeah,” Joanne replied. The sadness in her voice matched the expression on her face. “Cy tried to keep things together while Jo’s mom received hospice care. Nobody expected her to rally. As the weeks dragged on, poor Jo lost it. And now?” Lynda shuddered. “To have it all end so dramatically and right at the holidays too is quite a kick in the head.”
They hugged. It was what you did when the grief of close friends hurt your heart.
“Are you going to be okay?” Summer stroked Lynda’s arm and searched her face. She didn’t like to see her friends—any of them—struggling. “We can stay if having us around helps. I don’t want you and Bud to be alone.”
Draping an arm around Summer’s shoulder, Lynda slow-walked them from the driveway into the house.
“Not to worry, honey. Brigit and our fur grandpups are coming to stay through New Year’s. They’ll be here when you get back from Barstow.”
At the door to her apartment, Summer quietly shared something that had been on her mind. “I don’t want the Sergeant Major to be upset that he hasn’t held up his end of this arrangement. When I talked to him the other day, he wouldn’t listen when I tried to tell him it’s okay. It’s perfectly understandable, considering what he and Joanne are going through. He has enough on his plate.”
Lynda gave her a look best described as dubious. “You know damn well that’s not how Cy looks at it. He feels responsible.”
“Yes, well, so much time has gone by I’m sure there’s no use in trying to hunt down a man who skipped town and never looked back.”
“You don’t mean that,” her friend chided. “Now’s not the time to lose hope.”
She had no idea why it made any difference whether she lost hope last week, today, or at some time in the future. The facts were hard to ignore.
“I have to start thinking about the future—our future. Arianne and me. At the very least, I have to get a job. The baby is almost three months old. It’s time.”
“Promise me you won’t make any decisions before the new year. Take this time to relax and let Reed run the show. Think of the next ten days as a mini-vacation. Let all this stuff go and just enjoy the family time. There will be plenty of opportunity after the first to make changes—if any are necessary.”
As Summer finished packing a cooler with travel goodies and baby food, she thought about Lynda’s words. Letting Reed run the show was an interesting suggestion. It wasn’t in her nature to take a passive role or to let others make decisions for her, but in this instance, she felt a willingness to add other points of view to hers.
Ari’s impatient wail made her hurry up and finish. Her daughter wanted food, and judging by how loud the complaining cry sounded, she wasn’t happy about waiting.
Clutching her boobs, she chuckled. Having nearly made it through three months of nursing without losing her mind, she was trying to wean the baby with supplemental bottle feedings even though Ari resisted. There were decisions to be made. If she jumped into a job to earn cash, Summer knew she couldn’t be actively nursing. Her maternity leave was coming to an end.
“Here I come, sweetie.”
Her baby’s demanding screech abruptly stopped the minute Summer leaned over the crib rail and smiled. Ari’s face lit with excitement. She giggled and cooed. Her little hands and legs moved to show her happiness.
Being a mom was the coolest thing ever.
“Who’s got milk?” she asked with a chuckle. Raising her hand, she answered, “I do,” to the baby’s cooing delight.
Scooping her healthy twelve-pound baby from the crib, she danced around the bedroom, singing silly ditties and covering sweet Ari’s face with kisses.
After a diaper check, they sank onto the comfy rocker glider that was a gift from Bud and Lynda. She loved the overstuffed pink cushions and padding. The rocking mechanism gave the chair an easy glide, and it even had a matching ottoman.
Cuddling the baby, she helped Ari latch onto her nipple and relaxed as the familiar tug and waves of oxytocin hormones transported her to a place of maternal bliss.
When feeding time was over and the required burps produced, there was one more cleanup followed by a quick mommy snack before it was time to get on the road. She had a two-hour drive ahead of her—more if there were stops along the way.
In the car with everyone safely belted and ready to go, she backed to the end of the driveway and stopped to check for moving people or cars. Looking in one direction and finding it clear, she swung her head to gaze in the other direction and nearly crapped her pants when Todd Dinkins tapped on her window and put his face an inch from the glass.
What the fu-
Pressing the window button, she rolled it down but not too much.
“Summer,” his thin-sounding voice said. “Road trip?” he asked after rudely peering at the luggage and baby paraphernalia taking up the back seat.
In the back of her mind, she heard the sound of a railroad-crossing bell and instinctively tapped her mental brakes. Something was not quite right about the guy, and while she felt sorely tempted to tell him to back the hell off, she proceeded with caution.
“Heading home for Christmas.”
“Ah,” he replied. “Sacramento?”
Every conversation she ever had with Todd whirled in her mind, although she needn’t have bothered. There was no goddamn way she would have given up any information about her hometown.
Her heart began to race. Maybe Bud or Lynda had mentioned it? The possibility was there but remote.
Making a face, she shook her head but didn’t offer details. “Good heavens, no.”
His eyes darted to the baby. Her blood boiled and protective feelings closed the ranks.
“See you later, Todd. I have to go.”
Closing her window, she continued backing up although this time without looking and prayed no one was coming down the street. As she sped off, Summer glanced in the mirror and saw Todd watching as she drove away.
Summer loved seeing her brother talking with boyish enthusiasm over something as m
undane as garage storage and the efficiency of overhead racks. She wondered if it was his military experience that made him so keen to have an orderly space for everything.
She chomped on the inside of her cheek to stop from either laughing or rolling her eyes when he pulled out his cell phone to show her a schematic for the overhead system.
“So all the stuff in the short part of the L configuration are outside decorations. Each bin is labeled by season.”
He pointed at the long rack running the length of the garage.
“And here we have all of Dad’s stuff—what’s left. Next to that are boxes of paperwork.”
Listening to Reed yammer about things she didn’t care about was proof she loved her brother despite his annoying traits. His habit of coloring inside the lines no matter what drove her nuts, but who was she to judge?
Perched on Summer’s shoulder, Ari watched Uncle Reed with typical infant curiosity.
“What’s in the floor units?” she asked.
Two tall heavyweight plastic cabinets sat side by side. One had doors and the other looked like stacked lockers.
Reed chuckled. “Car gear for when the detailing mood strikes. Some random camping equipment. Whatever I dragged home from Iraq. You know. Stuff and shit.”
“You’re the only person I know who organizes his junk.”
“Hey,” he playfully grumbled. “Be nice. It’s stuff and shit—not junk.”
“As if that makes sense,” she teased.
“Shut up.”
Ari cooed and gave her uncle a drooling smile.
“See? She agrees.”
They shared a loving moment, and then she sensed a shift. If she read the tea leaves correctly, Reed had something on his mind.
Decisions, decisions. If she came right out and asked, he’d probably clam up, but waiting for him to take his shot could take forever.
Men. Sheesh.
“Let’s go inside,” he muttered abruptly. “There’s something I need to tell you.”
Her relief at not having to dance around or try to cajole information out of him was tempered by his serious tone.
They sat on the area carpet in his family room with Ari on a play mat between them. Her daughter preferred being held to tummy time, and like a good mommy, she ignored her daughter’s diva antics and kept up the recommended activity.
“She doesn’t know what we’re saying, Reed, so spit it out.”
Summer wished there was a scorecard for rating sighs. As it was, she decided her brother’s long exhale charted at abrasive with a side of venom. Oh, shit. Not good.
“Dad was a believer in the fast rip when it was time to take off a Band-Aid, so I’m going to follow the old man’s lead and just lay it out.”
“Laying it out does not require a preface. You sound like an instructor.”
“Just trying to soften the fastball hurling in your direction.”
“Reed, come on,” she bitched. “Stop trying to manage me.”
He grimaced. “Here goes.”
She raised her brows and waited.
“Mom surfaced.”
Summer blinked. “What?”
“Yeah, I know, right?” He lifted a shoulder like he didn’t care, but she knew better. Reed was older when their mother left. His memories were harsher than hers and fiercely bitter.
“When you say surfaced, what does that mean?” she asked, stammering with shock.
“Christmas card.”
Summer knew a pregnant pause when one popped up. She scowled. “And?”
“A note expressing interest in talking to you.”
She jolted at this announcement. “Me? Why? She’s never taken any interest before. Not in more than twenty years. Why now?”
He looked at Arianne, and Summer went batshit.
“No!” she barked. “No, no, no. There’s no way she knows.”
In a surprisingly gentle tone, Reed said, “Didn’t you tell me the obnoxious cunt who offered money for your baby mentioned Mom, right?”
Rising to her feet, she wrung her hands and began to pace. “Oh my god, oh my god. It’s happening, isn’t it?”
“There’s more.”
Summer stumbled when her feet stopped moving while her body was in motion. “How could there possibly be more?” She snarled and threw her hands up.
“In my experience, there’s always more.”
An explosion of pent-up anxiety and fresh fear made her want to run away as fast as she could and hide. Her eyes went to the baby. Running wasn’t the answer. She wasn’t a coward, and she’d never been a wimp before, so why start now?
“Give it to me.” She crossed her arms and stared down at Reed. “Don’t parse and don’t skimp.”
“Someone tried to access my DoD file.”
Startled, she blurted out, “Excuse me, what?”
“You heard me right. And it wasn’t just any attempt. It came via an encrypted server and had a security designation higher than mine.”
Her mouth moved, but no words came out. Reed studied the baby for a long silent moment. When he looked up and held Summer’s gaze, she swallowed the panic lodged in her throat.
“I think there are two things happening at once.” His voice was restrained—soft. He was trying not to scare her.
Good luck with that. “What the hell do you mean?”
“Easy, twerp. Don’t alarm Ari. Sit back down.” He patted the carpet and gave her a stern do as you’re told frown.
She dropped like a marionette with cut strings. Cross-legged and visibly shaking, Summer fought to keep up.
Reed knew how short her fuse could be, and to his credit, he didn’t waste time with bullshit nonsense.
“I’m a boots in the dirt kind of guy. Drawing maps in the desert sand, dropping stealthily out of the sky, shit like that. I let the other guys collect the intelligence and come up with an assessment.”
“Uh, okay.” Where the hell he was going with this?
“All I have is a gut feeling, but it’s strong and makes strange sense.”
Her brows shot up into her hairline. Gut feelings were something she understood.
He turned his face away for a few seconds. She could feel him organizing his thoughts.
“Anyway, here it is. Before family matters sidelined Cyrus, he was running down the 4-1-1 on this NIGHTWIND business. Your baby daddy has a serious firewall around him, and I can’t get involved. In my position, if I went poking around, I’d get court-martialed and thrown out of the service faster than a whore dropping her undies for rent money. So I left it to Cy and his contacts outside the active military to pierce the wall.”
Summer more or less knew this but not in such blunt terms.
“Obviously, life happened. For all of us. The world doesn’t hold still just because we need it to. There’s no point in trying to catch your breath because every day, there’s something more.”
She scowled. “Why the lecture? What’s your point?”
He gave her a meaningful look. “I just want you to remember as this thing plays out that there are no superheroes. We’re all human, doing the best we can at a time when life comes at us fast.”
Why did it seem like maybe Reed was softening his stance toward Arnie? She listened carefully—with her heart.
“There’s no new information on NIGHTWIND. But, and this is a huge but, only someone with high-profile anonymity and a government level firewall has the sort of access that gets you close to DoD records..”
Summer squinted—it helped her think. “I don’t understand.”
He sighed. Heavily. “Summer, this is personal. Think about it. Some unidentified twat stalks you at your job, tries to intimidate you, and does so by invoking Mom? Really? Jesus. The ploy is so amateurish as to make great fodder for a Hallmark movie.”
“I never looked at it that way, but you’re right. I freaked when she brought up Mom but not out of fear. Marie Hall has no meaning to me or connection to my life. I freaked because anyone who would stoo
p that low to scare me was capable of much worse.”
“Exactly. So what does this mean? Hmm? On the one hand, we have an amateur villainess with unclear motives. Taking her or her threats at face value is a mistake. There’s no evidence whatsoever that she acted on anyone’s authority but her own. She has an ax to grind, and you yourself said that you saw her try to verbally shiv your boyfriend in public.”
Her brain began to rearrange the deck chairs. What if Maleficent was an outlier? Someone who was still dangerous but only had a bank account and no power? And what if Arnie didn’t know any of this? What if he had come looking for her only to find that she’d run to ground and disappeared? It made a convoluted kind of sense and bolstered her belief that he just didn’t know about Ari because if he did, the man she knew would move heaven and earth to find them.
Nodding, she mumbled, “Following,” and hoped Reed had more to say.
“But the other hand,” Reed said in a somber voice, “that’s where shit gets interesting. If we take into account how deeply hidden you are, and allow for a shitty case of bad timing, we arrive at an interesting conclusion. What if he figured out your last name and went looking? What would he find? I did a Google search. There’s a convenient rabbit hole of dumb shit from high school. Newspaper archives and whatnot. The only other thing is Dad. His obituary. I’m named.”
It hit her like an avalanche of rock-hard, day-old dinner rolls. She went underground, but her brother was still out there, and by virtue of his military status, he was rather easy to find.
“An encrypted server and government level defensive security protocols are not within the purview of an amateur. Two things, Summer. Two distinctly separate things—most likely operating without the knowledge of the other—with you and Arianne in the middle.”
“Or just me in the middle, Reed. If what you suggest turns out to be true, there’s every likelihood Arnie doesn’t know about the baby.”
He nodded solemnly. “Mom slithering through a crack in hell is not the work of a pro.”
Finding Summer (Nightwind Book 3) Page 43
