Protecting Summer

by Susan Stoker

  Feeling much more vulnerable than she wanted to, Summer asked quietly, “Are you sure?”

  “Oh yeah. I’m sure,” Caroline said vehemently.

  A smile came over Summer’s face. “I like him too.”

  The other women whooped and laughed. Summer was so happy they’d come up to see her. She felt so much better about Mozart being away. She wasn’t going to be happy to see the women leave, but hopefully they’d stay in touch. For the first time in a long time, Summer thought they just might.

  After another hour of laughing, drinking, and talking, they decided to call it a night. The four women stumbled their way out of the bar, holding on to Fiona, who was the only sober one, as tight as they could so they wouldn’t fall. Giggling and laughing they crawled into the huge SUV and told racy stories all the way back to the motel.

  After pulling into an empty spot in front of their rooms, Fiona helped the others out of the huge car. She walked each woman to her room and admonished each one to lock the door. They made plans to get together the next day for lunch, knowing they wouldn’t be up for breakfast. Summer knew she’d have to get up and work, but at the moment she didn’t care. Fiona came to Summer’s door last.

  Summer stood in the doorway waiting for Fiona to come and say good night. While waiting she looked over and saw Joseph standing at the end of the row of rooms. Summer had no idea where he’d been staying, but assumed Henry had let him stay in one of the motel rooms just like she was. She half raised her hand to wave at the handyman and watched as he smiled at her and lifted his chin in greeting. Joseph continued to stand there watching, as Fiona secured her friends in their rooms for the night.

  “Who’s that?”

  Summer turned at Fiona’s question. “It’s just Joseph. He’s the handyman around here. He’s done a lot of work to make this place look better.”

  “He’s creepy.”

  Summer looked back to where Joseph had been standing, he wasn’t there anymore. She shrugged. “Nah, he’s harmless. He’s just a loner.” Changing the subject she said, “Thank you for coming up here, Fiona. I appreciate it. I know you guys didn’t know me and I could’ve been a bitch.”

  “We knew you weren’t.”

  “How?” Summer’s buzz was wearing off. She wasn’t completely sober, but she earnestly wanted to hear what Fiona had to say.

  “We heard the story of what you did for Sam when he stayed up here the first time.”

  “What? How?”

  “When he was asking Caroline to call you, he told her the story. He wanted us to know who you were, and it worked. You not caring about Sam’s scars was the one sure-fire way to get Caroline to champion you, and Sam knew it. Caroline still feels a lot of guilt for how it happened, even though Sam has told her time and time again that it wasn’t her fault. So for you to stand up for him in front of those other women when you didn’t even know him? Yeah, that guaranteed she’d be up here. You’re one of us now, Summer. We hate it when our men are gone, lying in bed at night worrying about them. We’re scared shitless they won’t come home. But we never, and I mean never, put that worry on them. We will never tell them how we suffer. They suffer enough in their own way. So we get together and get drunk. We talk to each other about our worries. We need each other, and you need us too. We’re a part of a unique club. None of us asked to belong, but here we are. I’m sure you’re wondering if it’s worth the worry and the dread and the not knowing where they are or what they’re doing. I’m telling you it is. It’s one hundred percent worth it. These men will do anything for us. For most of us that have been through hell, they’re our rocks.” Fiona took a breath and leaned toward Summer.

  “If you’re thinking that you can’t handle it, now is the time to break it off. Don’t wait. They might act all badass and tough, but deep down they aren’t. They’re probably more vulnerable than regular men because of what they do. If you need to talk to someone about it, you can always call one of us. We’ll be honest with you. But please, don’t string Sam along. Don’t use him.”

  Summer relaxed, glad that this was finally coming out. She’d been wondering when it would. She thought it would’ve come from Caroline though, not Fiona. “I’m glad Mozart has you to look after him. I’m not going to hurt him. I still don’t know why he’s with me, but I want him.” Her words were simple and heartfelt.

  Fiona nodded. “Good. Now, get some sleep. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Good night, Fiona. Thanks again.”

  Summer watched as Fiona went to her room and shut the door behind her. She took one more look around the dark, empty parking lot and saw no one. She shut and locked the door and peeled her clothes off, letting them fall to the ground where she stood and not caring. She hurriedly used the bathroom and brushed her teeth.

  Summer pulled a T-shirt over her head and crawled into bed. She reached for the phone. She couldn’t resist calling Mozart. She wanted to talk to him so badly she hurt. Leaving a message would have to do.

  Hey, it’s me. Caroline, Alabama, and Fiona drove up here today. We went out for dinner and had drinks afterwards. Don’t worry, Fiona was our sober driver. I like them. I like your friends. I’m so glad you have friends that will look out for you. And just so you know, I like you. I can handle what you do. I can handle your job. If you really want to be with me. I’m here. I can’t make it through an hour without remembering everything you’ve done for me. You’ve taken care of me without making me feel stifled or weird about it. I like being yours…Shit. I’ve had too much to drink, so that probably came out wrong, but I just wanted to make sure you knew that I’m not fucking with you. I’m old enough to know what I want, and I’m pretty sure that’s you. So, I like your friends. They’re funny. I’m not sure they like staying here at the motel, but they did it anyway. Fiona thought Joseph was creepy but I tried to tell her he wasn’t, he’s just a loner, like I was. But I’m not anymore. I have you. I think I do at least. Okay, now I’m rambling. I have to get up in about five hours but I didn’t want to wait to say thank you for calling Caroline. I can’t wait to see you again. Bye.

  Summer hung up the phone, knowing she sounded like a complete idiot, but hopefully Mozart would figure out what she’d been trying to say. She rolled over and shut her eyes. She was asleep within minutes.

  Chapter Twelve

  Summer waved as the SUV pulled out of the parking lot. She’d spent the last three days with Caroline, Alabama, and Fiona, and was genuinely sad to see them go. They’d certainly opened her eyes about what it was like to be with a man who was a SEAL. She vaguely knew much of what they’d told her, but having them spell it out was eye opening for her.

  But nothing they’d said made her want to end it with Mozart. If anything, it made her more determined to be the kind of woman he needed. He worked hard, he risked his life for others, and she wanted to be there when he got home. She wanted to make Mozart’s life easier.

  Meeting Fiona and knowing she was one of the people Mozart and his team had helped, really brought everything full circle for her. The SEALS went out there, helped other people, and no one knew about it. It was all kept hush-hush. Summer wasn’t naïve, she knew they were also sent on missions to kill people. Terrorists, dictators, drug dealers…it didn’t matter. She’d put up with Mozart’s protective tendencies because she knew for a fact it was how he was made.

  The women had one conversation where Summer had wondered out loud if it was her circumstances that made Mozart interested in her. Interested in rescuing her. She’d been quickly disabused of that notion.

  Caroline had bluntly told her, “Summer, if that’s all it was, don’t you think he’d be with someone by now? He’s seen hundreds of people like you. Down on their luck, hungry, cold, whatever. He hasn’t claimed them. He hasn’t called us up wanting us to check on them. What he’s done in the past is contact the authorities, or give that person a business card of a shelter or whatever. So don’t think this is that. He saw you. Being able to help you is just a bonus.”


  Summer had believed her.

  They’d all made plans to keep in contact. Alabama, who was definitely the quietest of the bunch had bitched about the fact Summer didn’t have a cell phone. She’d wanted to be able to text her and communicate with her that way. It made Summer feel good, but she stood her ground when they’d started talking about putting her on one of their family plans. It was one thing for Mozart to spend some money buying her some food. It was another to allow his friends to spend money on something so frivolous and unnecessary in her life.

  So they’d agreed to communicate via the land-line phone that Summer had in her room. They’d promised to call when they got back to Riverton to let her know they’d arrived all right.

  Summer pulled Fiona aside to thank her for her honest words the first night they’d been there. Fiona had blown it off, but Summer could tell it meant a lot to her.

  Summer sighed heavily. She had the rooms to clean and another boring week ahead of her. It was amazing how uninteresting her life seemed now that she’d met both Mozart and his friends. Summer was nervous to meet the rest of his team, but the women had reassured her that they’d love her. Summer wasn’t so sure, but it wasn’t like she could do anything about it now. She was too practical. She had to get through this day first. Then the next. Then the next.

  Summer was cleaning one of the rooms and day-dreaming about seeing Mozart again, when she heard a throat being cleared behind her. She jumped, knowing she needed to pay more attention when she was alone in the rooms. It’d be easy for someone to sneak up on her and close the door and assault her. She turned to see Joseph standing in the doorway.

  “Jesus, Joseph, you scared me. What’s up?”

  “You should pay more attention to your surroundings, Summer,” he told her with a weird look in his eyes.

  “I know, I was just thinking that,” Summer laughed nervously. Joseph had never made her nervous before, but he was certainly acting weird enough to make the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She couldn’t help but remember how Fiona had thought Joseph was “creepy” as well. “Can I help you with something?”

  “Yeah, I just wanted to tell you that I’m done with room two. It should be ready for guests again. Henry wanted me to tell you to go ahead and clean it and get it prepared.”

  “Okay, thanks for letting me know. I’ll put it back on my rotation and get to it after I’m done with the other rooms.” Summer watched as Joseph just stood there. “Was there anything else?”

  “Are you seeing anyone?”

  “What?”

  “Are you seeing anyone?” he repeated in a flat tone of voice.

  “Uh, actually I am.” Summer wasn’t going to apologize for it, but she wasn’t sure what else to say. She hoped like hell Joseph wasn’t going to ask her out. He was way too old for her, and she felt nothing toward him but a general kinship because they both worked at the motel.

  “I haven’t seen anyone around. Just those women who left today.”

  “Yeah, well, I am. Okay? He’s in the military and he’s currently on a mission.” As soon as the words left Summer’s mouth she wished she could take them back. Why had she told Joseph Mozart wasn’t around?

  “I see. Well, it can’t be too serious as I’ve only seen him once.”

  When he didn’t say anything else, Summer stammered, “Well, it is.”

  “Hmm. Okay. Well, maybe you’ll introduce me to your ‘military man’ the next time he’s here.”

  “Yeah, sure. No problem, Joseph.”

  “Have a good day, Summer.”

  “You too.” Summer let out a relieved sigh when Joseph left the doorway and headed toward the office, most likely to tell Henry he was done with whatever task he’d been assigned.

  Summer cleaned the rest of the rooms with one eye constantly on the door to the room. She’d even closed the door all the way when she had to clean the bathrooms. She felt vulnerable after her weird conversation with Joseph, and didn’t want anyone surprising her again.

  Summer went to her room as soon as she was done for the day and closed and locked her door. She put on the chain as well as flipping the deadbolt. She shivered a bit, even though she wasn’t really cold. The day had been weird, and it was all because of Joseph. She hadn’t really even talked to the man before. She’d been introduced to him by Henry when he’d been hired, but after that they’d only exchanged waves and the typical “hi’s” and “hellos” in passing.

  For him to suddenly want to have a conversation about who she was dating was odd. She thought back to earlier that weekend. Alabama had seen him watching them and thought he was weird. Was he weird? Summer didn’t know.

  She made herself a salad and nuked a microwave meal for dinner. Knowing she needed to put some weight on she forced herself to eat a candy bar for dessert. Normally she relished the chocolate treat, not having been able to splurge on something as little as a candy bar in so long, but tonight it wasn’t cutting it. She desperately wanted to talk to Mozart. To see him. To have him hold her and tell her it’d be fine. Summer leaned over and picked up the phone.

  Hey, Mozart. It’s me. For some reason it’s not weird anymore for me to call you every day and leave you a message. It makes me feel closer to you. I find myself thinking of stuff I want to tell you during the day and I can’t wait to pick up the phone and tell you. I’m looking forward to when you can actually talk back to me when I tell you about my day. The girls left today. I was sad to see them go. You were right. It’s nice to talk to someone who understands about you being gone. They’re going through the same thing as I am and it’s good to be able to talk to them. They said they’d keep in touch. So thank you for that. I should’ve trusted you to know what you were talking about…and no you can’t throw that back in my face when you get back. Something weird happened today with Joseph. I don’t think I can really explain it over the phone though. It’s probably nothing, but it was just out of the ordinary. He asked me if I was dating anyone. Which is weird because we haven’t really talked before. Don’t get upset, of course I told him I was. He backed off after that. Anyway, other than that, things are the same here. I ate the last candy bar you bought me today. I’ll have to see about getting more of those, you got me addicted to them. I miss you, Mozart. I hope you’re okay. I can’t wait until you get back. Bye.

  Summer put the phone back on its cradle on the little table and snuggled down into the covers on the bed. Her mind raced with all the things she wanted to say to Mozart. He hadn’t even been gone a week yet, but she hoped like hell this mission would be one of the shorter ones. She’d feel better if he was back in California instead of who-knew-where. It wouldn’t change their circumstances, she was here and he was in Riverton, but at least he’d be in the country and she could talk to him.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Summer groaned when the phone rang the next morning. She rolled over and saw it was only six thirty. She didn’t even think about ignoring it though, because the only people that would be calling her were Mozart or his, and now her, friends.

  “Hello?” Summer tried to sound more awake than she was. She had no idea why people did that, pretended to be awake when they weren’t, but it seemed the polite thing to do.

  “Sorry I woke you up, Summer. How are you?”

  “Uh…who is this?” Summer knew it wasn’t Mozart, she’d recognize his voice in an instant. She’d never heard this person before.

  Chuckling, the person on the other end of the line said, “Sorry. I’m Tex. I think Mozart told you about me?”

  “Yeah. What’s wrong? Is Mozart okay?”

  “Shit. Yeah. He’s fine. Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to call and introduce myself. I know he told you to call me if you needed anything, but if you’re anything like most women I know, you won’t do it because you don’t know me. So I’m calling so you can get to know me and you’ll call if you need to.”

  Not knowing exactly why he was calling and not being all the way
awake yet, Summer said, “Okay.”

  Tex chuckled on the other end of the phone. “First, you have to know what it is I do. If it has to do with something electronic, I can get information out of it. Phones, cameras, computers, credit card machines…anything.”

  “Are you a hacker?”

  “Yes.”

  Whispering now, Summer said, “Is that legal?”

  “I don’t go around hacking into the FBI database for fun, Summer, if that’s what you’re asking. But if I need to find someone, or if one of my teams needs something, they’ll find they have it.”

  “I don’t understand how that’s not illegal.” Summer sat up in the bed, a little more awake now, and leaned against the headboard. She really wanted to understand this man. She heard the respect in Mozart’s voice when he told her about Tex. She knew Mozart was an honest-to-God-hero, and he wouldn’t champion someone who wasn’t on the up-and-up.

  “Let me give you an example. I hope you don’t mind, but Mozart told me a bit about your situation. If you called me, as you’re supposed to, if you run out of money for food and are hungry, all it takes is a few clicks and I can have the local grocery store deliver a week’s worth of whatever it is that you want to eat, in about five minutes.”

  “But, that’s stealing!” Summer, honestly shocked, informed him unnecessarily.

  “I didn’t say it wouldn’t be paid for,” Tex scolded.

  Blushing, Summer muttered, “Oh.”

  “Yeah, Oh. I can arrange for food to be delivered to you remotely. I’d charge it to my credit card, or Mozart’s, but it would be paid for. The point I’m trying to make here, sweetheart, is that you aren’t alone out there. I can get whatever you need to do you remotely. I don’t have to cheat or break the law in order to do it.”