by Natalie Ann
Copyright 2018 Natalie Ann
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without a written consent.
Author’s Note
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The Road Series-See where it all started!!
Lucas and Brooke’s Story- Road to Recovery
Jack and Cori’s Story – Road to Redemption
Mac and Beth’s Story- Road to Reality
Ryan and Kaitlin’s Story- Road to Reason
The All Series
William and Isabel’s Story — All for Love
Ben and Presley’s Story – All or Nothing
Phil and Sophia’s Story – All of Me
Alec and Brynn’s Story – All the Way
Sean and Carly’s Story — All I Want
Drew and Jordyn’s Story— All My Love
Finn and Olivia’s Story—All About You
The Lake Placid Series
Nick Buchanan and Mallory Denning – Second Chance
Max Hamilton and Quinn Baker – Give Me A Chance
Caleb Ryder and Celeste McGuire – Our Chance
Cole McGuire and Rene Buchanan – Take A Chance
Zach Monroe and Amber Deacon- Deserve A Chance
Trevor Miles and Riley Hamilton – Last Chance
The Fierce Five Series
Brody Fierce and Aimee Reed - Brody
Aiden Fierce and Nic Moretti- Aiden
Love Collection
Vin Steele and Piper Fielding – Secret Love
Jared Hawk and Shelby McDonald – True Love
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Table of Contents
Prologue
A Friend
Need to Focus
A Hero
It Was Enough
A Mutual Need
Amount of Work
A Woman and a Mother
Next Time
New Perspective
Down to Earth
More Passion
Make It Special
Annoyed or Thrilled
A Brother
Longing to Return
Trying to Pretend
Lucky One
Place in Your Life
Epilogue
Prologue
Jared slowly forced himself out of the horrific haze surrounding him. There were muddled noises everywhere. Hollow and distant and not clear at all. Like diving into the water and popping back up, his ears clogged with fluid. Only this time the body of water was located in a black cave, not a glimmer of light to be seen.
He tried to shake his head, thinking that would help, but it didn’t. Instead he focused on his surroundings some more and realized there was a faint ringing in his right ear, but nothing more than a cloudy murky feeling in the left. Hollow even.
Then he noticed his body hurt. Hurt in a way he couldn’t remember ever feeling pain before. Like a burning dull knife trying to cut a tomato without turning it to mush. A pain that let him know it was there, but something was trying to block him from feeling. Only there wasn’t enough of whatever it was in his body to block it all out.
He tried to open his eyes and realized one was blurry, the other blackness. Pitch dark.
Panic was setting in and when that happened he wanted to fight. Fight his way through it. Fight his way out.
“Hang on there, soldier,” he heard.
A woman’s voice. Soft and gentle. A caress of sorts.
“What?” he asked, but knew the word was barely a whisper.
“You’re in the hospital and on a high level of morphine. You’re probably feeling pretty fuzzy right now. Nod your head if you understand.” He did. It was slight, but he felt it. “Good. That’s good.”
“How?”
“Don’t talk right now.”
Her voice was so soft, almost distant, and he wondered why she was whispering. He’d prefer she’d shout over the ringing he couldn’t seem to shake off.
He tried to sit up. To move. To do something. But it felt as if he was glued to the bed for some reason. Was he really that weak? What the hell was going on?
Thoughts were swimming through the fog in his brain as he tried to focus his right eye some more. Tried to see what the hell was happening to him.
There was a woman walking around the bed checking something on a computer. A nurse, maybe? He turned his head to follow her and saw other people in beds next to him.
“Hospital?”
“Yes. You’re in a hospital.” She put her hand on his arm, soothing him for the moment and calming his heart rate. “You’re going to be just fine. You were one of the lucky ones, though I’m not sure you feel that way right now. Just get some sleep.”
He watched as she brought a needle close to him, but didn’t remember anything else other than complete blackness.
A Friend
Eighteen Months Later
“Kayla,” Shelby said to her two-year-old daughter. “Are you hungry?”
“Food,” Kayla said, her little legs tugging her mother along. “Hungry.”
Shelby laughed. If it weren’t for Kayla she wondered how she would have gotten through the past few years. But her daughter needed her and Shelby needed Kayla to remind her of her husband and to remember to put one foot in front of the other and do what needed to be done. It wasn’t just her anymore. She had to be the strong one.
“Let’s go get you some food then,” Shelby said, holding Kayla’s hand to pull her away from the sidewalk and into a little cafe while they waited for the oil to be changed in her car. It was the perfect little outing for the two of them on her day off. A splurge of sorts.
“Hey there, sweetie pie,” the hostess said when Shelby opened the door. “A table for two?”
“Yes. That’d be great and a booster seat too.”
“Follow me,” the hostess said.
“Daddy!”
Shelby turned, horrified when Kayla let go of her hand and ran to a table where two men in uniform sat. Navy. Probably just off base at the moment.
“No, no, Kayla,” Shelby said, rushing over. “Not Daddy.” She picked her daughter up to prevent another jailbreak. “I’m so sorry.”
“Is your husband in the Navy?” One of them asked. The older one. Old enough to be her father and the one that was in a fancy uniform similar to what Ethan wore on their wedding day. Their wedding picture was in Kayla’s room. The younger one—the handsome one—was looking at her with curiosity. The one Kayla had run to, surprisingly.
“He was. He passed away. I was pregnant at the time, and Kayla has only seen his picture. I’m afraid she saw your uniform and got confused,” she said to the older man, still not sure why Kayla ran to the younger man. Though he wasn’t in a formal uniform, he shouted soldier, not sailor.
“No worries,” the younger one said. “I have to say it’s the first time I’ve been mistaken for someone’s father, but hey, nothing wrong with that, especially with someone as adorable as your daughter.”
“Thanks,” Shelby said, dipping her head and turning back toward the hostess waiting to seat them across the restaurant. “Come on, sweetie, let’s go get you some mac and cheese.”
“N
ot Daddy?” Kayla asked, her eyes starting to fill.
“No, Kayla. I’m sorry. It’s not Daddy,” she said, hugging her tight and then kissing her cheek. “I wish. It’s just the two of us and it’s our fun day. Food, right?”
“I want mac and cheese,” Kayla said, easily distracted. Oh, to be two again and just forget about the past.
***
“Awkward?”
“Nah,” Jared said to Admiral Kevin Anderson. Jared had a break between classes and the admiral wanted to get off base to have this talk. Jared wasn’t looking forward to it, even if the admiral was a friend.
Because he was a friend, Jared wasn’t looking forward to it.
“How are you doing?” Kevin asked.
“Fine. Why?”
Kevin sighed, like Jared expected. “I know this isn’t what you wanted in your life. You’re into your second semester now. Are you settling in?”
“Not much to really settle into.”
No, he didn’t want to be a college professor. When he got his masters in engineering while in the Navy he fully expected to be in the field. Analyzing or creating weapons. Looking at blueprints while going on a mission. Action mixed with his brains. That was what he wanted and that was why he became a SEAL.
Not to teach.
“You’re not wearing your hearing aid,” Kevin said. “Or your glasses.”
Jared wanted to grind his teeth but didn’t. Instead he shrugged. “And yet I can hear you just fine. See you too.”
Kevin laughed and he heard that sound loud and clear. He also knew Kevin brushed the sarcasm off when maybe he wouldn’t with someone else. Of course, Jared wouldn’t have used that tone if they were on base.
“That’s only because I’m sitting on your right. If I sat on your left you’d barely hear or see me without significantly turning your head.”
“The glasses don’t change my vision enough. It’s still blurry in that eye, so why bother wearing them if I’m this close to someone?”
“It’s not for your left eye but your right eye. You’re seeing fine out of it?”
“Yes,” Jared said, picking up the menu. “Would you like me to read something for you?”
“We both know that isn’t the problem with your vision.”
“Exactly. So no reason I need them on here.”
“What did they say about contacts?” Kevin asked.
Jared didn’t want to talk about this. He didn’t want to remember that the career he strived for was gone because of a blast. Because a bomb exploded in a building that his unit was in. Half died that day. Those that lived weren’t the same as when they walked in.
Many would say he was one of the lucky ones. They were probably right, though he didn’t often feel that way. Not until it was shoved in his face that he could have died. Some days he kind of wished he had. That he didn’t have nightmares and concerns, fears. That he was still the boy that entered the service at eighteen and turned into a strong man. A born leader, many had said.
He had no problem when the lovely young woman was standing in front of him smiling and apologizing because her daughter mistook him for the father she’d never meet. It was times like that when he realized he was fortunate and had to stop feeling sorry for himself.
“They said they’d consider contacts in another six months.” The muscles were getting stronger in his right eye. Just a bit longer, he was hoping.
“That’s good,” Kevin said. They paused when the waitress came over to take their order. He took that moment to look around the restaurant, his eyes landing on the young woman and her daughter. The vision wasn’t as clear, but he knew it was them. “Do you wear them when you’re in class?”
“You know the answer to that since you popped in during a lecture last week,” Jared said, dryly.
“Very true. So you are wearing them.”
He wasn’t so vain that he wouldn’t, not if he knew he needed them, and in the lecture hall, he needed them. The students were too far away for him to know who was who. He couldn’t be a leader and teach them if he was afraid of anything in his life. Or at least showing that fear.
Wearing glasses or wearing his hearing aid wasn’t about fear. He wore that during class too and no one even noticed half the time. Hearing aids were so small now; unless someone was looking, they wouldn’t notice. Especially with Jared being six foot four. Not many were his height so most were looking up at him anyway, not down or behind.
He just hated wearing them because it reminded him of what he lost. Of his dreams and goals. And maybe that he wasn’t whole again.
Not just his sight or hearing, but mentally. Internally. PTSD. Yeah, he had it. He had nightmares. He had visions. He woke up in a sweat. And he had pain on the left side of his body. Scars that would never be gone. Skin that was torn and put back together. It could have been worse, he knew, but it was bad enough.
“Was this lunch just to parent me?” Jared asked, laughing this time. No use taking his grouchiness out on Kevin. Kevin would only ignore it for so long. His own parents didn’t nag him this much. He may have a high level of respect for Kevin, one where he only addressed him by his first name when the two of them were alone, but he still wasn’t going to sit here and be treated like a child. Not completely.
“Actually, no. The spring semester is coming to an end in a few weeks. You’ll have some time on your hands.”
“Yeah. They scheduled me for two classes over the summer.”
“And you’re wondering what you’re going to do with all that free time?” Kevin asked.
He had been. He was thinking of taking a vacation during the time he didn’t have classes at all. Then he wondered where he’d go. Not back home to see family so they could question him like Kevin.
Or worse yet, coddle him.
Going on a vacation alone didn’t sound all that pleasing either.
“I’ve got a few thoughts,” Jared said. He didn’t have to admit they weren’t things he really wanted to do.
“Oh, well then never mind.”
“Nothing is set in stone,” Jared said quickly.
Kevin laughed. “I figured. I could use you on a few things this summer. Just some projects I’m working on.”
“What projects?” Jared asked.
“Ones that would require you to mostly work in an office.”
Jared grimaced. He took the teaching post because that was a better option than riding a desk. At least until he could convince someone to let him back in the field. He didn’t need to be on the front line, but he wanted something more than sitting in an office away from everyone and everything analyzing data and plans and passing it all along other channels.
He wanted to be the channel things were passed to.
“I don’t know,” Jared said.
“Just part-time. A few projects. I could use your help. I’d say another set of eyes, but that’d be insensitive.”
“Just one eye then,” Jared said, laughing. He could joke about it if he needed to. He knew Kevin’s heart was in the right place.
“One of yours is better than two of most people. Still. Think about it and let me know next week.”
Jared heard a giggle—a child’s giggle—and his heart fluttered. His lips curved and he glanced up to see the little girl waving at him, laughing. Her mother looked to be trying to distract the child.
“Yeah. I’ll let you know.”
Need to Focus
“So we meet again,” Jared said when he walked into the car dealership a few blocks away. Kevin had dropped him off, but he saw the woman and her daughter sitting in the waiting room he’d just entered. They had a few small bags in their hands. He guessed they walked over. It wasn’t really far.
“Hi,” she said, then turned to her daughter. “Not Daddy. Remember I told you he’s a sailor like Daddy used to be. You are a sailor, right? I mean you aren’t in a sailor uniform, but you’re definitely military with your camo pants and Navy shirt.”
“Navy, yes. Sailor, no. No
t for a long time.” He hadn’t been on a boat in years. He was used to the field. War. He was more a soldier than a sailor, or he used to be. The title of SEAL he’d always carry, but would never use again the way he’d want to.
Now that he wasn’t in the busy restaurant, he could hear a soft twang in the young woman’s voice. She was cute. Long straight hair, light brown like her daughter’s. Though her daughter’s hair just touched her shoulders with a blue headband keeping it away from her face.
“I’m Jared,” he said, reaching his hand out. “Maybe if she knew my name that would help distinguish it for her?”
“Shelby,” she said, putting her small hand in his. Soft. He hadn’t felt a soft hand in a long time. Was it supposed to make his heart race like this? Had it ever before? He couldn’t remember. “This is Kayla.”
Jared squatted down. “Hi, Kayla. I’m Jared.”
The little girl looked at him curiously, then smiled and said what he thought might be “Jared.”
“We’re working on words,” Shelby said. “Some are easy, some more complex.”
“Sounded fine to me.”
“I really am sorry about Kayla in the restaurant. That was so embarrassing.”
“Don’t be sorry. I wasn’t embarrassed at all.”
“McDonald,” he heard and turned to the right when she did.
“That’s me.”
He shifted so he could hear the conversation more, but didn’t want to look like he was. Especially when he recognized the woman that’d come out. “Your car is on the recall list for an airbag malfunction. We don’t have one in stock but will have it first thing in the morning. Until then we can’t let you take it out. If you got into an accident, it would come back to us if it doesn’t deploy.”
Shelby looked flustered. “When tomorrow? I need to be to work by ten.”
