by Natalie Ann
“Brock is an only child,” Jade said. “He’s not used to all this commotion.”
“It’s not commotion,” Brock said. “This is nothing like the men and women in the bunkhouse. You guys are all mild.”
“See?” Wyatt said. “We’re mild. Good to know you can handle us. Jade has had some pretty shitty taste in men over the years. Half the time they run out the door screaming.”
“Ass,” she said to her brother.
“Wyatt, behave,” Adriana said.
“You like it when I don’t. You told me that last night.”
When Adriana’s face turned red, she slapped Wyatt’s arm, and the rest of the room started to laugh. “Don’t feel bad,” Noah said. “Drake chases Kara around with a bat.”
“You took that whole conversation out of context,” Kara argued.
“I don’t know about you guys,” Sebastian said. “But one day Noah had a picture on the wall and the next it was broken and lying on the counter. Maybe he used a bat one day too.”
Brock looked over and saw the flush on Paige’s face and suspected there was a secret meaning there too. This family was a piece of work.
“Don’t look at me,” he said when Wyatt was staring him down. There was no way he was contributing to this conversation and suspected it was a setup.
When dinner was done and the birthday cake was brought out, he noticed there were two. One for Wyatt and for Jade.
“I don’t cook both of their favorite meals,” Carolyn said. “It’s too much food, but they each get their favorite cakes. Chocolate for Wyatt and carrot for Jade. Which one do you want?”
“I’d be crazy if I didn’t say carrot,” he said.
There was more laughter around the table. “You can eat whatever you want,” Jade said. “I won’t hold it against you. It’s just more for me.”
“But I like carrot cake more than chocolate, so it works in my favor.”
“Brock is sucking up,” Noah said.
“I don’t think Brock is the type to suck up to anyone,” Drake said.
Once the cake and ice cream were cleaned up, the gifts came out. Jade got clothes and a few other accessories. She seemed happy. He got up and went to his jacket and then returned with an envelope.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“Your gift.”
“You didn’t need to get me anything,” she said.
“Yes, he did,” Noah said. “Every man knows that. No one wants to be in the doghouse that fast in a relationship.”
“I love gifts, but you didn’t need to get me anything,” she repeated, opening the envelope. “Oh dear. How did you know?”
“Does it matter?” he said.
“You asked Ella, didn’t you?” she said. “You get major points for this.”
“What is it?” her mother asked.
“A spa day.”
“Suck up,” Wyatt said.
“Learn from me and you won’t be in the doghouse.”
“He’s a keeper, Jade,” her father said.
“That went so well,” Carolyn said once the last person was out the door. “I wasn’t sure for a second there. Jade started narrowing her eyes at everyone.”
“And no one cares that she did,” Garrett said. His daughter was just as strong minded as his wife could be. More so if he thought of it at times.
“Brock seemed pretty comfortable. That is saying something. And did you see Jade blush when you said Brock was a keeper?”
“I did. I think I might have pushed it a bit saying that.”
“You do get ahead of yourself,” she said. “You need to learn to dial it back. You even asked how Jade was treating him.”
“Me?” he argued. “You were probably grilling her in the kitchen.”
“I just asked how things were going. She hasn’t called me and normally she does.”
“You’re just tweaked because you want all the details. She gets that nosiness from you.”
“Maybe,” she said. “Either way, she said it’s all good, but early. And I think the fact that she isn’t saying much is just as telling.”
“How is that?” he asked.
“She suspected we were setting everyone up and I think I convinced her otherwise, but she isn’t taking a chance. Not only that, she knows that when we like someone we ask them to come around more. Maybe she doesn’t want any interference.”
“Then we need to step back and let her go with this.”
“I guess. If you didn’t say thirty-six was a good age. What was that about?” he asked. “Talk about getting ahead of yourself.”
“It was a bit over the top. I know. I was thinking he’s getting up there in age and would want kids fast. You know Jade is getting the itch by now.”
“Are we bad?” he asked. “I’m struggling. I want her happy and settled down. But I don’t want to think of her doing...you know what with Brock.”
His wife laughed. “It didn’t bother you to hear about Wyatt saying Adriana liked him not behaving, Noah breaking pictures, and something about Drake chasing Kara with a bat. I’m not sure about that one. But with your daughter you’re upset?”
“She’s my baby,” he said.
“She’s our baby and she’s a grown lady who wants a man of her own and a family. We both know that. Let’s just focus on everyone’s happiness right now.”
He pulled her in his arms. “That I can do!”
24
Playing House
Three weeks later Brock was waiting on the closing of his house in a few days and there were two more pregnancy announcements in Jade’s family.
First Alex, with Cade calling everyone and saying she was having twins and he couldn’t be happier. Alex on the other hand wasn’t so thrilled over that or the morning sickness she was plagued with, saying Cade passed more than his sperm to her. Or that was Cade saying that to everyone and maybe that was what was annoying Alex.
The second pregnancy announcement came from Dani. Sam was the oldest, pushing thirty-six himself pretty soon. Jade figured he’d be ready to start trying. And she wondered if Brock thought that.
Then she had to tell herself to stop it.
They’d been dating about a month and though things were going great...it was only a month.
“I wanted to take you out tonight,” Brock said when he walked in her door on Friday. She was cooking and expecting him. They were making a habit of spending Friday nights together, working out on Saturday morning, and then getting things done apart the rest of the weekend.
“We can go out tomorrow,” she said. “After packing up most of your stuff, I won’t want to cook and something tells me there isn’t much in your apartment to offer anyway.”
“You’ve got a point,” he said. “Do you mind if I shower first?”
“Go on. I figured as much.”
He was keeping a change of clothes here and she’d wash the ones he took off. He even left a change of workout clothes too, the same thing, her washing the other ones. He’d argued about that, saying she didn’t need to do his laundry and he could just bring things back and forth, but she’d said it wasn’t a big deal and one less thing for him to remember.
In her mind they were almost playing house and she wondered if that was part of the problem. That maybe she was moving too fast and putting pressure on him.
Between that and the family dinner a few weeks ago, she was trying to watch her step. Her mother had had her over for dinner again last week and had invited Brock, but she declined to extend the invitation.
It worked in her favor anyway since he was working late that night and wouldn’t have been able to go. She knew exactly what her parents were doing; the same thing they did with her brothers when they were dating their fiancées. Her parents showed their support and had them over more.
And though she appreciated it on one hand, the other hand was more of the same that she felt everyone was jumping higher and faster than the Globetrotters during a performance.
She’d
ruined enough relationships by what many said were her controlling or robotic ways and she wasn’t going to let her interfering family play a part in this one when she was trying so hard to be different.
When she was feeling like she never had before and didn’t want questions as to why that was either. Only her family would recognize it.
She dropped the spaghetti in the water, kept an eye on the pancetta and garlic in a pan on the stove and started to whisk the eggs in another bowl. By the time Brock came downstairs she was grating Parmesan cheese on a plate to sprinkle into the bowl.
“Smells good,” he said, moving in and kissing her neck.
“You smell good,” she said back, knowing this was almost too cozy at the moment. She was loving it, but wasn’t sure what was going on in his mind.
“That’s your soap. I smell like lemons when I shower here.”
“You do when you use my shower. When you are getting ready for work you use the spare and there isn’t lemon in there. I got you that fresh one you like. I’m just not keeping it in my shower.”
“Soap is soap,” he said and grabbed two plates, setting the table for her. See, just like a happy couple. She had to get that out of her head!
“If that was the case you wouldn’t have wrinkled your nose when you said you smelled like lemons.”
“Point taken. Want me to drain that pasta for you?”
“Sure,” she said. “It should be done. Just dump it in this bowl without rinsing after the water is out.”
“Over the raw eggs?” he asked.
“Yes. Trust me. The heat from the pasta cooks them, but I’ve got to mix it fast.”
He did what she said, her using the tongs to coat the pasta thoroughly, then dumping in the cooked pancetta, and finally the grated cheese. She sprinkled some parsley on top and brought it to the table where he’d already grabbed the salad she’d put together.
“I could get used to this,” he said.
“What?” she asked, turning her head to see him filling his plate. He’d even put a little salad in a bowl.
“Home-cooked meals after work. Does that make me sexist saying that?”
“No,” she said. “My mother made sure all her kids could cook. The boys might not do it often or even like it, but she raised four kids to stand on their own.”
“I get the feeling your mother likes to cook and nurture her kids and husband,” he said.
“She does. I guess I get that from her too,” she said just testing the waters.
“And this is where you think you might scare me off?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Does it?”
“Having you cook dinner for me? Shit no. But don’t think I expect it either. I can grill like the next person. I can make most breakfast foods and simple meals. I’ve been taking care of myself for years and don’t expect you to, but I do appreciate that you do things. I want you to know that.”
What more could she ask for than that? “If you can make breakfast, then why haven’t you?” she asked angling her head.
“Because you start doing it before I can. I’ll cook for you tomorrow if you let me.”
“I think I’m going to,” she said. “I want to see what you’re made of.”
And later that night when they were sleeping, she’d felt the bed start to shake.
She turned her head and Brock was tossing around and mumbling in his sleep.
“Brock,” she said. “Brock, wake up.” She was nudging his shoulder and he wasn’t waking.
“No,” he yelled and sat up straight and looked around. She turned the light on to see if he was all right and he blinked his eyes a few times before he focused on her. “Sorry to wake you up.”
“Don’t be. Come here. Lie down. You’re cold and shaking.”
It was the first time he’d had a nightmare. He never talked much about his time in the service though she suspected he had some serious PTSD, yet he’d never showed it before now.
Did he limp when he overdid his workouts? Yeah, she’d seen it a few times but kept it to herself. He used her tub almost as much as her when he stayed the night and she let him do it alone. He liked it hotter than her and the jets up high. If it eased his pain, she was happy.
He pulled her into his arms. “You’ll warm me up,” he said.
“I will, but why don’t you talk to me?”
She could see he didn’t want to so she started to run her hand up and down the arm he had wrapped around her.
“Turn the light off,” he said. She reached over and did as he said, disappointed he wasn’t going to confide in her. She couldn’t force it or at least didn’t feel like she could at this point. But he surprised her. “We were a team of ten. Everyone got injured that day in some form. Two died. I’m always going to feel the guilt for not seeing the trap.”
“Looking back at everything, do you think there was anything you could have done differently?”
“No. I’ve looked at every angle. I never saw it and I don’t know if anyone else did either. One of the soldiers that died, he’d betrayed us. He set us up. He’d fallen in love and was on his own mission to avenge the death of his woman’s brother. We had no clue. I don’t even think he thought he’d die, but the bomb went off before he could get away. At least that’s my guess.”
“Then you can’t blame yourself,” she said.
“It’s hard not to when you’re the leader. When you’re the commander.”
The last thing Brock wanted to do was talk about this with anyone. He’d said it enough times during the interviews. He’d talked to Travis about it too. Travis had actually been the only one to get him to see that nothing could have been done differently.
“I suppose that is natural when you are the leader to put it all on your shoulders. I’m sure no one blames you.”
He snorted. “You’d be surprised. As bad as my injuries were, some of the men had it worse. Maybe not physically, but mentally. Some aren’t doing as well and they resent that I was lifted out of there as fast as I was.”
“Because of your father?” she said. “They weren’t happy he pulled strings for you and maybe not them?”
“Yeah. If I’d been coherent I would have demanded my whole squad be transported, but it was a solid week before I even woke up. When I did I asked about the team and I made my father get them out of there and to the nearest country for more help if he couldn’t get them to the US.”
“Then you did what you could,” she said.
“Maybe not fast enough for some. I’m not sure. I don’t remember much. Then sometimes I remember too much.”
“What do you remember?” she asked. “Maybe you need to say it to get it off your chest.”
“You don’t want to hear this,” he said.
“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t. I’m pretty tough as my family can attest to. You’re here right now next to me, I know you’re safe. I’m not going to crumble.”
“You’d be one of the first that wouldn’t. Most women couldn’t handle knowing this can happen. My mother, she was great. Scared but tough as nails. You’d get along well with her.”
“I’d like to meet her someday,” she said. And if he thought that might scare him to hear it, he found it didn’t. He hadn’t said a word to his parents that he was dating Jade, but maybe he should. It’d been over a month and his mother might feel better knowing he wasn’t alone.
“Once I close on the house and get settled, you will. They want to come visit and make sure I’m fine.”
“That is a parents’ right,” she said. “You’re lucky. My mother would have moved in with you if you were her son until she knew for certain it was fine.”
He laughed. “I’m sure. My mother keeps saying someone should have been taking care of me, but I pushed her off. I don’t need it.” He shook his head. “Sometimes it’s hard to talk about this; other times it’s like telling a story. I really don’t remember much other than blinding white lights, loud noises, and waking up knowing I couldn’t m
ove. My leg was just mangled. You see the scars.”
“No,” she said. “You see the scars. I just see you.”
“You always know the right things to say when you say you don’t.”
“Maybe it’s only with you,” she said softly. He wanted to address that, but decided now wasn’t the time. As close as they were getting, he was still treading lightly because he was positive that either her parents or Ella’s parents had set them up. She could be the wildcard if she found out and he wasn’t letting his feelings be known too much. Better to protect himself until he knew more.
“Could be. And since I feel so open with you, I can tell you more. I really thought I was going to die, Jade. It was a pain that makes you feel numb. The smell of burning flesh. It was my own. My team. And in that moment, all I could remember thinking was that I didn’t want that to be my last thought before I went.”
“I’m so sorry. I guess I really had no idea. When I hear you say these things, knowing you, knowing how strong you are. It has to be hard to say it, let alone remember it.”
“It’s both. But keeping it in isn’t always the best either. I know that. There are very few people I would say that to. I said it to Travis, but not even my mother. My father, he knows because he can understand.”
“I feel honored you told me,” she said, turning and putting her head on his chest.
“I don’t take a lot for granted in life anymore because of what I’ve been through. I try to appreciate as much as I can knowing things could be much worse.”
“Like when I have dinner ready for you when you get out of work,” she said, some humor in her voice.
“Yeah,” he said. “Even you trying to lighten the mood, but not really changing the subject.”
“I wouldn’t. I’m here for you to talk if you want to,” she said.
“I’ve said enough for now. I just want you to know. I can’t control nightmares from happening, but I can control how they make me operate when I wake up.”
“Which tells me you are so much stronger than maybe you give yourself credit for.”
