by Regan Black
He glared at the pods in the drawer. “Tea is not coffee.” He put a bite into each word.
Poor man. Unable to resist, she rubbed his shoulder. “I’ll go out and—”
“No.” He sidestepped away from her touch. “Thank you.” He gave her a patently false smile. “Tea works.”
She couldn’t let him break the news to his mom about having a son without the buffer of his morning coffee. “Hold on.” She sent a text message to her next-door neighbor and received an immediate reply. Less than five minutes later, she heard the knock on the back door.
She went to answer it, Matt’s clean-soap scent shadowing her as he followed. When she reached to turn the deadbolt, Matt slapped a hand against the door. “Ask who it is.”
She stared up at him, trying to ignore the appeal of his sculpted arm. “It’s Tina, with coffee for you.”
Matt didn’t move. “Ask anyway.”
“Who is it?”
“Tina. I have the coffee pods for you, Ms. Trent.”
She unlocked the door in a rush, smiling through gritted teeth as she struggled to open the door wider against Matt’s stubborn weight. “Thank you.” She took the small sack of coffee pods.
“Is Caleb okay?” Tina was in a few of Caleb’s classes at school. “I heard he, um, skipped yesterday.”
Bethany was sure she’d heard it from Caleb himself. She made a mental note to confiscate his cell phone. “He’s fine,” she assured her young neighbor. “Though he’ll be grounded for quite some time.”
“I bet.” Her eyes went round as she caught sight of something over Bethany’s shoulder. Matt, no doubt. “Well, okay. Have a good day, Ms. Trent.”
“Thanks again.” She hoped the words reached the girl before Matt shoved the door closed. “That was rude.”
He shrugged and nipped the sack out of her grasp.
She managed not to laugh as he scowled at her brewer, looking rather desperate for it to finish. Or when he inhaled the aroma he found so appealing as if he’d been spared a fate worse than death. Grumpy or not, she enjoyed his presence in her kitchen and she’d slept better knowing he was here.
That sense of ease was the perpetual risk with Matt. Not to mention the desire that pulsed through her whenever she looked at him. If she didn’t keep the boundaries clear, the center of her life would slip until she and Caleb were orbiting around him. Matt needed time with his son, but he didn’t need her leaning in too, dragging him away from all he was meant to do. And she’d worked too hard to toss away her career and goals in favor of following him around the country or the world.
Caleb wandered in, eyeing them both with open suspicion and offended-teen hostility. “You’re still here,” he said to Matt.
“Told you I would be,” Matt replied, taking his coffee to the table.
Bethany didn’t say a word. Clearly this was Caleb’s new attempt to get in his digs about her lie of omission. Fighting about water under that bridge was a waste of energy, and Bethany needed all of her resources to keep her hands off Matt.
When he’d held her close last night, she’d been so tempted to take the comfort he offered. She’d nearly admitted her longing for him had never faded. Thank goodness she’d kept those words inside. Leaning on him now seemed like too much added burden for the man who was carrying a heavy load already.
I missed you. His words had echoed in her head all night and sparked dreams she wished could come true. She yanked herself back to the moment as Caleb poured cereal into a bowl. “Matt told me about the messages you received. I’d like to take a closer look at your cell phone.”
“He did that yesterday, at the Pentagon,” Caleb said.
She held out her hand. “Just give me the phone.”
“Why?”
Bethany didn’t dignify that with a response.
From the table, Matt snorted. “You’re old enough to know nothing changes her mind when that look sets in.”
She managed not to grin at his remark. On a gusty sigh, Caleb slapped his cell phone into her palm. “Thank you.” She dropped the device into her purse. Once she’d checked his social apps, she’d give it back to him, with a lecture if necessary. “Would you like eggs or pancakes for breakfast, Matt?”
“Coffee works. We should get going ASAP.”
She caught the glint of triumph in Caleb’s eyes. “We have time for breakfast.”
“Eggs, then. If it’s no trouble.”
“Not a bit.” Grinning, she settled onto a counter stool. “Caleb, you’re up.”
“Aw, man.” He froze, gallon of milk in hand. Shaking his head, he put the milk back.
Matt raised his coffee mug to her in a silent toast of approval. “Sure he won’t poison us?”
“He’s a good cook and enthusiastic about it most of the time,” she said. “Besides, I keep all the hazardous materials locked up in the laundry room.”
Caleb shuffled his feet as he gathered utensils and ingredients. “Stuff tastes better when I get to fix what I want.”
“And yet, that’s so rarely how life goes,” Bethany pointed out pleasantly.
“You want pancakes?” Matt asked. “I could be talked into pancakes.”
“We’re having eggs,” Caleb grumbled. “Make one mistake. Sheesh.”
“We all make mistakes,” Bethany said, sliding around him to brew another cup of tea. “It’s how we handle the consequences that makes the difference.”
She turned at the sound of a cell phone humming. Matt’s, she realized. He was staring at his phone as if it was about to bite his hand. When he lifted it, she saw Patricia Riley’s face on the display. She caught his eye and shook her head, but he hitched a shoulder and swiped to answer, putting the call on speaker immediately.
“Hey, Mom. You’re on speaker.”
“Hello. Where are you?”
“I’m sitting in Bethany Trent’s kitchen. Her son is making us breakfast.”
“Is there a chance we could talk privately?” Patricia asked.
“Not if it involves either of them,” he said.
Bethany’s face was turning a thousand shades of red. Even if she hadn’t felt it happening, Caleb was snarky enough to point it out.
“You look like a cherry tomato, Mom.”
“Oh, hush.” She added a splash of milk to the bowl with half a dozen eggs in it. “Whisk.”
“Bethany?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m here.”
“I apologize for my son’s outlandish behavior. It’s hardly the example you’d want him to set for your son, I’m sure.”
“Not gonna work, Mom,” Matt said.
He sounded firm, but Bethany caught the subtle fidgeting. He wasn’t happy about defying her or behaving rudely in front of Caleb.
“Fine.” Resigned, Patricia explained the purpose of her call. “Your father and I received some disturbing news from General Knudson last night. When you have time to speak privately, call me back.”
“Hang on, you win.”
Matt carried his coffee and his phone out of the kitchen. A moment later, the security system announced his movement as he went out through the front door. She felt a little sorry for him and more than a little responsible.
“Yikes,” Caleb said. “She sounds mad.”
“That’s your grandmother, Patricia Riley,” Bethany said. “I imagine when you meet her in person, she’ll be far nicer to you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re her first grandchild.”
“I’m practically an adult.”
Bethany nearly dropped the small pitcher as she added cream to her second cup of tea. “Adulthood is more than height and age,” she said. “You have a ways to go yet before you hit reliable and responsible status.”
“So what is Matt’s family like?” Caleb asked, pouring the eggs into the hot
pan.
“Tight,” she said. She only really knew them by reputation and from stories Matt had shared during their time in school. “They’ll be excited when they hear about you. I’m sure they’ll want Matt to introduce you as soon as possible.”
“Won’t they want to meet you?”
Imagining the awkwardness of that kind of meeting made her palms damp. She’d kept Caleb from his father and extended family. The Rileys frowned on that sort of thing. “I met his parents when we were at West Point. His dad finished his Army career as a general. His mom was a nurse. They recently retired.” She did not want to go any further down this road. “I liked them a lot,” she said, hoping that put an end to it.
“He said he has brothers and sisters?”
“Yes. Two of each,” she remembered. “Watch the eggs.”
“That’s a big family.”
She agreed. Caleb had been six the last time he’d asked why he didn’t have siblings. She’d explained families came in all sizes. It had been enough of an answer for him at the time, though she knew how much he enjoyed the action of his friends who were part of bigger families. If she’d married Matt at twenty, would there have been more children? Probably. At twenty, an only child herself, the idea of being resigned to Army wife and motherhood felt stifling.
There had been a handful of moments through the years when she wondered if she’d made a mistake by not settling down with him. Then she’d get word of Matt’s next post or deployment and she’d remember why she’d chosen this path. Maybe Patricia Riley had effortlessly juggled the duties of her career with those of being an officer’s wife and mother, but Bethany had never been able to see herself rise to that particular challenge.
* * *
Matt stared into the empty coffee cup, wishing it would magically refill. He wouldn’t go back in the house until his mother had finished her rant. He held the phone back from his ear as his mother continued her lecture. Wasn’t she supposed to be sharing why Knudson had called them?
Apparently not yet, he thought as she hit the bonus round of the family, duty and honor talk. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t said to himself time and again where Bethany and Caleb were concerned. She had to know that, she’d been the one to drill those values into his head from the cradle.
“Mom,” he interrupted, exasperated. “I’m sorry you found out this way—”
“Or are you sorry I found out at all? I was listening for your call all night long.”
The hurt was coming through loud and clear now. “Mom, it wasn’t like that. Bethany had her reasons for raising him alone.” Was he going to have to face all of his faults today?
“Of course she did. You should have been able to overcome those reasons.”
His mother’s aim with the guilt arrows was dead-on today. “I tried.” He’d bought a ring. “I proposed.”
“You did? When?”
“When she told me she was pregnant.” That was the first time. There had been others. Somehow Bethany always managed to make marriage to him, life with him, sound like a fate worse than death. “She had a different plan.” And she’d done one hell of a job executing that plan.
“I want to meet my grandson and speak with Bethany. You know I was fond of that girl from day one.”
“I know.” And he’d never stopped believing they would have been close friends, given the chance.
He’d liked Bethany from the start, as well. It wasn’t exactly love at first sight, but that layer of affection had grown out of his initial respect and fast friendship. Once he’d looked at her through a different lens, he couldn’t shift the focus back to a platonic view. At the first kiss, he’d known she was where his heart would stay. If only he’d known how much it would hurt to be right.
“I’ll make sure you get to meet Caleb. It’s going to take some time. We’re all adjusting here.” He explained how he and Bethany had planned to speak with Caleb last night and then share the news with his family. “Things changed in a hurry when Caleb came to Washington to find me.”
“I’m putting you on speaker,” she said. “Your father needs to hear this.”
“Hi, Dad.” Matt didn’t bother arguing, just moved on with the recounting of last night’s drive-by. “General Knudson wasn’t happy when I informed him of the incident, but I don’t understand why he’d call you?”
“We do go back a ways,” Ben Riley answered vaguely.
“And?” His dad was on a first-name basis with nearly every officer at the highest echelons across the various Military branches.
“He called us as a courtesy as soon as he realized he couldn’t keep the story quiet,” Ben continued. “He wanted to let us know you weren’t seriously injured. When we pressed him about why you were in New Jersey, he told us Caleb was your son,” Ben said. “Not a big surprise once your mother recognized Bethany’s name. He wasn’t sure when you’d be able to call, and he thought we should hear the news from a friend.”
Matt desperately wanted another jolt of caffeine. “If I’d thought the incident last night was newsworthy, I would’ve called.”
“You didn’t see the news,” his mother said under her breath.
“No, I was tangled up with the fallout here.” Trying to figure out if there was room to carve out a place for himself in Caleb’s life.
Behind him, the door opened and Bethany handed him a fresh mug of coffee. If he hadn’t been in love with her already, that would have done it. He gave her a nod of thanks and got a quick smile as she ducked back into the house.
“What did I miss?” he asked when his parents hesitated.
“Someone sent a cell-phone video of the drive-by shooting to the media.”
“What?” He couldn’t have heard her correctly. No one else had been on the street at the time. He stared out at the street as he thought it through again. The shooter had rolled up only a few moments after he and Caleb arrived. The window behind the driver had rolled down and the street was clear when the bullets started flying.
“Knudson tried to suppress the video and the story,” Ben said. “Unfortunately your face was easily identified and confirmed. Caleb’s face was hidden by your body and his name was protected, since he’s a minor.”
“This was on national television?” Matt asked, incredulous. That made no sense.
“Yes,” Patricia replied. “Breaking news on all the late-night broadcasts. I was so grateful for the general’s call so we could let your brothers and sisters know you were safe. The video...well, it was disturbing, to put it mildly.”
Great. He could envision his dad comforting her. He wanted to blast the news outlets, though it wouldn’t do any good. No mother should have to watch her son being fired on, and now both Patricia and Bethany had endured it.
“Mom, I’m really sorry.” He focused on the one thing he’d tried to control. “I swear Bethany and I planned it so you’d hear about Caleb from me first.”
“It’s okay. I believe you, sweetheart. They painted you as a hero for saving him. General Knudson said you weren’t injured. Did he soft-pedal that detail?”
Matt chuckled at how far down the list that question landed. “Only a little banged up. Whoever opened fire used a pistol and didn’t have the best aim.” He twisted around to look at the cardboard and plastic that qualified as a temporary repair on the door. Bethany would never agree to go to DC until this was fixed. “Her front door got the worst of it.”
“Well, that’s a plus,” his mom said. “Naturally, I’m less than thrilled with the way this has come out, but I’m confident you’ll deal with this properly.”
He didn’t need her definition of that term. She expected marriage and a family unit including Caleb at the next Riley family function, followed closely by duty and honor. He glanced at his 1967 Camaro in the driveway. It didn’t seem all that out of place. The patrol car on the street—that bothered him.
/> “Mom, you do remember it takes two willing people to make your idea of ‘properly’ work out.”
“Don’t sass me.” Her voice slid toward impatient. “I believe in your powers of persuasion and I expect you to apply yourself so I can meet and get to know my grandson.”
“Patricia,” Ben scolded gently. “Let us know what works out,” he said. “We can always come up there if it’s easier for the three of you.”
What would be easier would be having some time to figure out this new dynamic for the three of them before stirring in all the extended-family expectations. He didn’t bother pointing that out.
“First we’re going back to Washington.” He’d feel safer there, with a team he trusted and Military support to watch his back. “I’m hoping we can sort out a few things, starting with security. This must be tied to the data breach of the personnel records, though I don’t understand why anyone would care so much about exposing the existence of my son.”
“What about the weekend?” Patricia asked. “Can we come up to see you this weekend?”
“Mom.” His two-bedroom condo was way too small for that kind of family reunion. “Caleb has fall break next week. If I can convince Bethany to spend a few days at the beach with you guys, will that work for you?”
“Yes, definitely. We’ll—”
“We’d like that,” Ben interjected before Patricia got too caught up in her plans. “Just keep us posted, son. You know where to reach us.”
“Thanks, Dad. I’ll be in touch.”
He ended the call, his gaze on the street. He didn’t see the street in the bright morning light, his mind caught up in recreating last night. Either they’d been fortunate enough to be randomly targeted by a poor marksman or they’d been played, moved to this location by an expert.
Matt wasn’t sure where they’d find any evidence to point them toward one theory over the other, but it was past time to start digging in.
