“You do when you buy them for only one date,” Julie shot back quickly, a smile following it. Everyone laughed, and a rush of happiness filled Brooklynn.
“What else do you need to finish for the Spring Fling?” Darcy asked, keeping the conversation away from Dave.
Brooklynn sighed. “Not much. We’ve had the event schedule up online and at the community center for a while. The bake-off has a theme and Michelle Dennesy got all the judges, so that should go smoothly.”
“Are you going to enter again?” Julie looked at Darcy. “She’s a great baker.”
“Is she?” Darcy looked at Brooklynn. “You never said that.”
It was strange bringing together two completely different parts of her life. Two different people. But they’d been getting along. “Yeah,” she said. “Stress reliever.” She looked back at Julie. “I don’t think I’m going to enter. I haven’t spent much time baking since I started dating Dave.”
“Oooh, finally, we can talk about Dave.” Julie’s eyes sparkled like stars. “How’s it going with him?”
Brooklynn glanced at Darcy. “We had a rough night last night. But we’re working through some things.”
Darcy said nothing about the text, and Brooklynn was glad.
“What things?” Julie asked, concern lighting her eyes now.
“I just found out he’s armed on the ship,” Brooklynn said, darting another look at Darcy. “It scared me. I…need some time to figure out how to not worry about him so much.”
“So things are serious,” Julie said.
“We’ve talked about serious things,” Brooklynn admitted. “And honestly, I think he’d ask me to marry him right now. But—”
“You think so?” Darcy asked.
“Does he know about the wedding ring?” Julie asked.
Brooklynn looked back and forth between them, unsure which question to answer.
“Do you love him too?” Darcy asked next, and the words hit Brooklynn like a load of bricks.
“Too?”
“You just said you thought he’d ask you to marry him right now. Which means you know he loves you. Has he said he loves you?” Darcy’s fork hung in midair, where her hand had frozen.
Brooklynn shook her head. “He hasn’t said that.” She could just feel it. She’d been loved before, and she definitely felt loved by Dave. The way he’d crawled into bed with her last night, held her close to his heartbeat, stayed until she’d quieted.
He definitely loved her, whether he’d said it or not.
She looked at Julie. “I told him about the wedding ring last night. I gave it to him this morning.”
“Oh, wow.” Julie leaned back into the booth, her eyes wide. “So you are in love with him.”
Brooklynn shook her head. “No.” She swept her gaze around the crowded café, where most of the customers were women out with their friends or businessmen and women taking a quick lunch break.
“No, I mean—” She looked at Darcy and then Julie.
Julie smiled and nodded, tears filling her eyes.
“Yes,” Brooklynn whispered. “Yes, I’m in love with him.”
Chapter Seventeen
Dave pulled up to his house and waited for the garage door to go all the way up. Brooklynn’s car sat in the driveway, and it made his heart thump in a whole new way. First, he was a little nervous to see her. Second, he was a lot excited to see her. He always wanted to find her car in his driveway after work.
Of course, today had been a horrible day on the boat, with fog and rain and general unrest out on the water with low visibility. He’d thought a lot about retiring, actually, and with the way his bones ached, it was sounding better and better.
He eased his SUV into the garage and got out of the car with a groan and a sigh. “You sound like an old man,” he muttered to himself. He felt like an old man—until he pushed through the door and into his house, where soft music played and Brooklynn sat on the couch with all three of her dogs.
“Well, look at you,” he said with a smile, taking off his Coast Guard jacket and hanging it on the hook by the door. “It’s so good to see you.” He started toward her, glad when she got up and received him into her arms. “It’s been a terrible day.”
“Yeah?” She swayed with him, and Dave took a slow breath in and let it out. “Well, I ordered pizza. It’ll be here in a few minutes.”
“Pizza is my love language,” he whispered, bending down to kiss her.
They were interrupted by the doorbell, which set off all three dogs. They ran toward the offender, yipping and skidding on the hard floor. Two of them stood up on their hind legs and pawed at the door as if they’d attack whoever was on the other side, if only they could get to them.
“Better go rescue the pizza delivery guy from your hounds,” he teased, and Brooklynn went to do just that. She picked up both yappers while Dave answered the door.
Except it wasn’t the pizza delivery guy—it was Bethany Ryan. “Oh,” he said, startled by the sudden appearance of a woman he hadn’t seen in a year. “Bethany.” He glanced over his shoulder to Brooklynn. “What are you doing here?”
Brooklynn came to his side, and he slipped his hand into hers, hoping his former seaman wasn’t going to cause a problem. Wouldn’t that just be the cherry on top of a terrible day?
Her eyes slid down Brooklynn’s body and went back to Dave. “I…was just stopping by to say hi.”
Confusion riddled through him, especially when she backed up and said, “I can see you’re busy. I’ll see you later.” She scampered down the steps and disappeared out of the halo of his porch light, the darkness swallowing her.
Something told him to go after her, so he said, “Be right back, sweetheart,” and started after Bethany. At the bottom of the steps, his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, and he saw her cutting across his lawn to her car parked on the street.
“Bethany,” he called, starting across the lawn. Boy, it was cold out here, and the water on the grass seeped through his shoes. “Wait up a minute.”
She yanked open her car door, which threw light onto her face. Something is definitely wrong, his gut screamed at him. But it has been wrong a lot lately—first with that boat they’d boarded and found nothing, and second when he’d walked away from Brooklynn’s, thinking everything was over.
He went around the front of the car too, pausing with the door between them. “You look upset,” he said. “What’s wrong?”
“No one wants to be told by their ex-boss that they look upset.”
“Well, you do,” he barked. “Now, why did you come here tonight? I know it wasn’t to say hi.” He’d had to file paperwork to get her off his crew last year, and their professional relationship had not ended well. She’d been transferred to the Seattle Base, and last he’d heard, she was doing fine.
She sighed and looked away, the light illuminating her clenched jaw now. “No, I didn’t stop by to say hi.”
“Yeah, because I never gave you my home address. Which means you used the Coast Guard database and came here for something.” Headlights cut a path through the darkness, and he watched as a car with the pizza delivery light on top pulled into his driveway. He glanced to the porch, where Brooklynn stood, sans dogs, her arms folded as she watched his conversation.
Bethany’s eyes met his. “I’m in trouble, Captain.”
Dave’s heart squeezed, and he reached for her. “Come in and tell us about it,” he said. “We have food and dogs.” He put a smile on his face, glad when she edged around the car door and closed it.
He didn’t touch her, but gestured toward his porch. “Give me a couple words for what kind of trouble before we get back to the house.” He wasn’t sure if this was military trouble, legal trouble, or personal trouble, and he’d have to explain who Bethany was to Brooklynn, who signed for the pizza and managed to watch them at the same time.
“Personal issues,” Bethany muttered. “My boyfriend’s been hitting me.”
Dave’s fists clen
ched then, and he opted to go down the sidewalk to the driveway so he wouldn’t have to cross that soaking wet grass again. “Where is he now?”
“I’m not sure,” Bethany muttered, a definite hint of embarrassment in the words. “I left, and I told him I wasn’t coming back this time. But I don’t have anywhere else to go, and he won’t think to come down here to find me.”
“But you have to report to your ship tomorrow morning, right?” he asked.
“I’m off tomorrow,” she said. “I’ve put in for a transfer, but it’s still a few weeks away.”
“So what’s your plan?” Dave asked, because surely she had one. She might be in trouble, but her brain worked, and Bethany had been one of his best problem solvers. If only she’d have been able to follow orders, he might’ve kept her.
She slid him a look out of the corner of her eye, and Dave didn’t like it. Not one little bit. “Bethany,” he warned as they climbed the steps. They followed Brooklynn into the house, and Dave closed and locked the door behind them, unsure if he was willing to deal with her tonight. He and Brooklynn needed some time to talk, and Bethany being here was a problem.
One look at Brooklynn’s face confirmed it. He had to get rid of her.
“Brooklynn,” he said. “This is Bethany Ryan. She used to work for me on the Adelie.” He nodded to Brooklynn. “Beth, this is my girlfriend, Brooklynn.”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” Bethany said, reaching to shake Brooklynn’s hand.
“Oh, she doesn’t like it when you call her ma’am,” Dave said with a forced chuckle. Neither woman said anything, and the smell of the pizza was making Dave’s stomach claw itself out.
He opened one of the boxes and took out a slice. “Tell us what’s going on,” he said, making eye contact with Brooklynn. He hoped his expression said, I’m working on it. Sorry.
She explained about her boyfriend, and she showed them a few bruises along her arms. Brooklynn didn’t eat, and her eyes stormed with every minute that Bethany spoke. She looked at Dave, who had consumed half a pizza, and back to Bethany. “Dave, could you excuse us for a minute?”
Fear gripped his stomach and squeezed, making those four pieces of pizza regrettable. “Uh….”
“It’s fine,” Brooklynn said. “I just think Bethany…I just need a minute with her. Maybe we could go in your spare bedroom?” Her eyebrows went up, but she didn’t wait for him to confirm. She got up from the table and marched away, Bethany going with her. Whatever silent conversation they’d had while he wolfed down pizza, he wasn’t sure. He knew he didn’t even really want to know.
Five minutes later, Brooklynn said, “I’m taking her to the hospital, and then a hotel. She’ll be safe there until tomorrow, and then we’re going to file a report with the police and the Coast Guard.”
Dave stood in his own kitchen, dumbfounded, as Brooklynn put on her coat. “Really?” he asked.
“I’ll meet you out front,” Brooklynn said to Bethany, who moved toward the front door. Brooklynn stepped over to Dave and kissed his cheek. “She has bruises and scars all over her back and shoulders. This is more than a few knocks against the ship railings on her arms. This is serious abuse.”
“You don’t have to put her in a hotel. She’s not your problem.”
“I know,” Brooklynn said. “But she came to you for help, Dave. And we’re going to help her.”
“Let me come with you,” he said, nervous about her being alone with Bethany for some reason.
“She specifically requested that you not come,” she said, lowering her voice. “I think she may have been sexually abused as well.” She cradled his face in her hand. “I’ll be fine, and I have my phone.”
Dave felt helpless, and he sighed. “But I wanted tonight to be…us. We need to talk about my job.”
“And we will.” She smiled at him softly. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Don’t eat all the pizza.” And with that, she was gone.
Cinnamon whined, and Dave knew exactly how the little dog felt. He lay down on the couch and lifted all three dogs on top of him, letting them nestle on his chest and down by his knees. “At least you guys are still here,” he murmured to them as he closed his eyes and prayed for sleep to erase this awful day from his memory.
He woke when the pups started barking. His head hurt, and his jaw felt tight. He normally slept with a mouthguard to prevent the unconscious grinding of his teeth, but he hadn’t put it in before laying down on the couch.
“Go see who’s here,” he mumbled to the dogs, and they jumped off him and sprinted for the front door. A moment later, Brooklynn came through it, and she looked exhausted.
Dave was too, but he got himself off the couch and over to greet her. “What time is it?”
“Only eight-thirty,” she said, bending to pick up Cory. She stroked the westie as she walked toward the couch. “I need a drink.”
“I’ll get it.” Dave hurried into the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Water or soda?”
“Soda.”
He grabbed two cans and took them to her in the living room, where she’d sat on the couch. “Is she okay?”
“She’s in a hotel for the night,” she said. “I checked in under my name.” She popped the top of her soda and drank it, gulp after gulp. It was one of the sexiest things Dave had seen her do, and he grinned at her.
“Wow,” he said.
“Yeah, we’ve been talking to a lot of people. The hospital had to call the cops. They said it’s procedure when someone comes in with that many injuries.”
“I feel so bad.”
“Can you imagine if you’d let her walk away?” Brooklynn shook her head. “She’s scared, and embarrassed, and broke.”
“How can she be broke? She has a job.”
“Her boyfriend takes all her money.”
Dave shook his head. “How does someone get in a situation like that?”
“It’s slow and subtle,” Brooklynn said. “And then you’re in too deep.” She finished her soda and curled into his side, yawning. “Hospital food is gross.”
He laughed and offered to get her some pizza. She said yes, and he heated up a couple of slices before taking them to her. She ate and cuddled into him again. “So tell me what makes a terrible day on the job.”
“The weather,” he said. “I can’t wait for all this rain and fog to stop.”
“So when I send you off to work in the morning, the weather is my biggest concern?”
“Honestly? Usually.” He leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes. “It makes everything harder. Harder to determine what people are doing on their boats. Harder to board. Harder to traffic the commercial fisheries.”
“So that’s what you do. Watch people on their boats and board them.”
“When we’re on patrol, yes, that’s what we do. We work with fisheries too. We make sure the environmental laws are being upheld—like you can’t dump waste in certain parts of the bay. That kind of thing.”
“How many people are on your boat?”
“Eleven.”
“Bethany said she used to be one of them.”
“She did.”
“What happened?”
“She had a problem following my orders,” he said. “And it caused unity problems on-board. I filed her transfer myself, citing a difference of opinions as the reason we couldn’t get along.”
“Hmm.” Brooklynn finished eating and cuddled into him again. “She had nothing but good things to say about you. She said she was stupid when she was on your ship, and she wishes she could come back.”
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” he said. “She caused a problem with everyone on board. She literally couldn’t get along with anyone.”
“Well, she had a boyfriend in Seattle.”
“It’s honestly surprising.”
“I liked her.”
“You like everyone,” he said, smiling and placing a kiss on the top of her head. “It’s something I love about you.”
“Mm,” she said, snuggling deeper into his side. “I think you should give her a second chance.”
“Brooklynn,” he said, a hint of warning in his voice. “That’s not how the military works. I can’t just take her from her post in Seattle, and besides, my ship’s full.”
“You sound just like her.” She gave a small laugh. “I’m just saying, she’s in a tough spot, and if you can help her, you should.”
“Noted,” he said.
“Is that how you talk to your crew?” she asked, pushing off him and looking into his face, plenty of teasing in her expression. “Noted. Make it so. Yes, sir.”
“They call me sir,” he said, grinning. “You should try it sometime.”
“Oh-ho,” she said, chortling. “I don’t think so.”
He laughed too, and the moment between them felt light-hearted and wonderful. She sobered, and so did he, and she said, “Dave, I sure like it when you come home to me.”
Not knowing what to say, he kissed her instead, because he sure liked coming home to her too. He liked that she’d taken charge in a difficult situation, for a woman she didn’t know. He liked nearly everything about Brooklynn, and he kissed her like he did so she’d know.
Because he still couldn’t get himself to say those three little words.
Not yet, he told himself. He didn’t need to yet.
Chapter Eighteen
Brooklynn continued her private therapy appointments and her group therapy meetings. Things between her and Dave seemed to get better and better each day. Bethany filed her complaints and got an immediate transfer to a new cutter in the San Diego area.
Every night, Dave told her a little more about his job. Stories from the past or whatever had happened that day. He never really seemed to be in any danger or do much of anything that felt dangerous to Brooklynn.
April dawned, and with it, the apple trees started to blossom. It was her favorite time of year, and she begged Dave to take her out into the orchards, so they could hold hands and kiss under the flowering tree branches.
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