The Daddy Salute

by Maureen Child

  “Faulty wiring can cause a fire.” He smiled again. No response. So shoot him for being a nice guy.

  “Heck, you even washed my car yesterday.”

  “It was no trouble. I was washing mine, and yours looked as though it could use a bath.” Actually, in his opinion her dented, ancient, VW Bug looked as if it needed burying, but now didn’t seem the time to say so.

  “That’s not the point.”

  “What is the point, Kathy?” he asked, straightening up from the counter and looking down into brown eyes that had haunted more than a few of his dreams lately. “We’re the only two renters in this building younger than sixty. Why can’t we be sociable?”

  She ignored the latter question and answered the former with a question of her own. “The point is, I don’t get it,” she snapped. “I’ve made it fairly obvious that I’m not interested, but you keep trying. Why?”

  He’d asked himself that question often in the past four weeks, and he’d yet to come up with an answer. So instead of admitting that, he asked a question of his own.

  “Is there any reason we can’t be friends?”

  She smiled and shook her head. “Boy, you’re stubborn.”

  “Marines don’t surrender without a fight.”

  “There’s always a first time.”

  “You haven’t know many marines, have you?” he asked.

  “You’re my first.”

  Now, he liked the sound of that.

  Before he could say so, though, she stepped past him, and their arms brushed. Another lightninglike flash of heat shot through him, just as it had earlier today. She felt it, too. He saw it in her eyes, heard it in her soft intake of breath.

  He reached out and laid one hand on her forearm. The heat sizzled between them until she took his hand and lifted it off.

  Looking into her eyes, he whispered, “There’s something between us, Kathy. You feel it, too.”

  “The only thing between us is that hallway.”

  “Pretending it isn’t there won’t make it go away.”

  “Wanna bet?” she quipped, then walked to the open front door and stood beside it, clearly waiting for him to leave.

  Ah, well, he thought. He headed for the doorway. As he stepped into the hall separating their apartments, he turned and laid one hand flat on the door before she could shut him out.

  “I’m curious about something,” he said, letting his gaze slide over her features.

  “What’s that?” She stood half-behind the door, using it as a shield.

  “Is it all men you don’t trust?” he asked, and waited a beat before adding, “Or is it just me?”

  One dark-brown eyebrow lifted slightly as she said, “It’s all men, Sergeant Haley…”

  Well, good, he thought.

  Then she added, “And especially you.”

  Swell.

  “I’m a very trustworthy guy,” he argued.

  “And I should take your word for that, I suppose.”

  “You could call my mother,” he offered with a grin.

  Her lips twitched, but she shook her head. “Thanks. I’ll pass. Now, good night.”

  Kathy closed the door and instinctively turned the lock. The snick it made as it clicked into place seemed overly loud to her in the sudden stillness. Then, going up on her toes, she put one eye to the peephole.

  Brian backed up and stared right at her, as if he knew she was watching him. Winking, he said just loudly enough to be heard, “If you change your mind, my mom’s number is 555-7230.”

  Two

  The phone rang as soon as Brian entered his apartment. His mind still focusing on Kathy Tate, he crossed the room and absently noticed that the vertical blinds on the front windows were opened. Sunlight speared between the slats, laying prisonlike bars of pale-golden light across the floor. He shook that thought off, snatched up the receiver and said, “Hello?”

  “Hi, Bri,” a throaty, female voice purred into his ear.

  “Dana.” He tried not to wince. Even his mother hadn’t called him “Bri” since he was eight years old. But, he reminded himself firmly, he hadn’t objected to the nickname when he first started dating Dana Cavanaugh.

  “I was wondering,” she went on, snapping Brian’s attention back where she wanted it, “if you’d like to come have dinner at my place tonight.”

  He glanced over his shoulder at the closed door that led to the hallway, and beyond that to Kathy’s apartment. “Dinner?” he asked in an obvious-to-anyone-but-Dana stall. Idly he drew his fingertips through the layer of dust covering the small tabletop. Man, if he couldn’t bring himself to clean, he ought to hire someone to do it.

  “C’mon Bri,” Dana implored and his eyelid twitched in response to the whine in her voice. “It’s been weeks since I’ve seen you.”

  “Yeah, well.” A splinter of guilt poked at him. “I’ve been busy. Work’s piling up on base…” That sounded lame even to him. But what should he do? Admit to her that ever since meeting his new neighbor, he’d lost interest in the other women he knew? Hardly. The fact was almost too humiliating to admit to himself.

  “Are you too busy to eat dinner now?” she asked.

  He shifted slightly to take a look at his kitchen—a small, dark room where no pot bubbled on the stove. Across the hall, Kathy Tate was busy ignoring him, and soon he’d be contemplating which frozen entrée to zap in the microwave. So why was he even hesitating? A dinner invitation should sound to him like a gift from the gods.

  After all, it wasn’t as if he was making any headway with Kathy. And why shouldn’t he have a nice dinner with a gorgeous woman rather than sit here alone regretting the fact that his legendary charm hadn’t succeeded in breaching Kathy’s defenses? Besides, he hadn’t gone anywhere but to the base in the past four weeks.

  “Bri,” Dana asked, “are you still there?”

  “Yeah,” he said, “I’m here.” Then before he could change his mind, he added, “And soon to be there.”

  “Really?”

  “Why not?” He forced a smile. “What are we having?”

  She laughed, and the throaty sound that used to kick his hormones into high gear now seemed forced and just a bit theatrical.

  “Let me surprise you,” she said.

  All kinds of invitations were included in that one sentence, and it really irritated the hell out of him that he wasn’t filled with expectation. Was this some sort of weird cosmic justice? Was the perpetual ladies’ man destined to lose his heart to the one female who didn’t want it?

  But even as he entertained that notion, he discarded it. Hearts were not involved here. And if, a few weeks later, he would look back on this moment and wonder how he could have been so stupid…well, he was blissfully in the dark now.

  “I’ll be there in half an hour,” he said, and hung up. A quick shower and he’d be on his way. And hopefully an evening with the delectable Dana would push Kathy Tate out of his mind.

  Fifteen minutes later, Kathy heard his door slam and braced herself for the sound of a brisk knock at her own door. Brian Haley apparently didn’t want to take “No, thanks” for an answer.

  But his footsteps went off down the hall.

  “Well,” she said aloud, and was glad there was no one to hear her, “that should teach you a little humility.” Without even thinking about it, Kathy walked across her apartment to look out the front windows.

  Turning back the edge of the curtains with her fingertips, she looked down onto the residential street below. A group of kids riding their bikes in the late summer sun raced along the quiet street and disappeared, leaving echoed hoots of laughter in their wake. An ocean breeze rattled the leaves of the old poplar trees lining the sidewalks, and somewhere in the distance a lawn mower growled and dogs barked.

  She stiffened when Brian hurried down the front steps and along the curving walkway. Following him with her gaze, Kathy didn’t miss his crisply ironed blue sport shirt and the tan khaki slacks. Looked like date clothes to her. “I’
m glad to see rejection doesn’t keep him down for long.” She shook her head and went up on her toes to see him better. He moved quickly, like a man on a mission. “Anxious, isn’t he?” she muttered through gritted teeth.

  So much for her theories about her own irresistibility. Not only wasn’t he pining from her lack of interest, he’d gone directly from flirting shamelessly with her to a date with someone else.

  Unlocking the door of his black Jeep, he slid inside, fired the engine and was gone a moment or two later.

  Only then did Kathy notice her grip tightened on the curtains, pressing dozens of wrinkles into the sheer fabric. She smoothed them out as best she could, then turned around to face her empty apartment.

  This was a vindication, of sorts. She’d known all along that Brian Haley was what her mother would have called a womanizer. So she’d done the right thing in standing firm against his flirting and turning down his less-than-subtle invitations to get to know him better.

  “I win,” she mumbled, and tried not to wonder why victory tasted so much like defeat.

  Three days later Brian looked up from his computer screen as First Sergeant Jack Harris walked into the office. “You’re late,” he said.

  “Shoot me,” Jack told him, and crossed the room to his own desk.

  “Trust me. Today, you shouldn’t tempt me.”

  “Oh, aye, aye, Gunnery Sergeant Haley, sir.”

  Brian shook his head. “Shut up.”

  Jack laughed shortly, flipped on his computer and glanced at his friend. “What’s the matter with you?”

  Brian scrubbed his hands over his face and mumbled. “Nothing.”

  “Good,” Jack said. “I need to see those finished fitness reports today.”

  “Thanks for the concern,” Brian said, “but I’ll be fine.”

  Jack laughed shortly, leaned back in his chair and said, “All right, let’s have it.”

  “Have what?” He bit the words off.

  “Could this be…” Jack said, his expression mirroring his amusement, “dare I think it…lady troubles?”

  “Who said anything about a woman?” he grumbled from behind his hands.

  “You didn’t have to,” Jack told him. “I recognize the signs.”

  “What signs?” He dropped his hands to his desk and glared at the other man.

  “Signs that a man’s been lying awake at night thinking about a woman he can’t have.”

  Brian had been around in the early days of Jack’s marriage to Colonel Candello’s daughter, Donna. And he remembered vividly how on edge Jack had been then. He also recalled not having had a lot of sympathy for the man. Ironic.

  Still, this situation was entirely different. Brian wasn’t married. Hell, he hadn’t even had a date with the woman slowly driving him nuts. Irritation swelled inside him, and he shot his old friend a dirty look. Pushing away from the desk, he folded his arms across his chest, glared at Jack and demanded, “Why do you automatically assume that I’m having a problem with a woman?”

  Jack turned away from his work and grinned. “Maybe because I saw the way you looked at Kathy Tate…and the way she avoided looking at you.”

  “Thanks for nothing.”

  “No problem.” Jack was enjoying this, and it showed. “So tell me. I saw strike one for myself. Was there a strike two in the past few days?”

  “Why in hell did a nice woman like Donna marry you?”

  “She refused to settle for less than the best.”

  “And yet she picked you.”

  “You’re stalling,” Jack said, pointing a finger at him. “Afraid to admit you’ve finally found a woman you can’t charm?”

  “You’re a laugh riot, Jack.” Disgusted, Brian snatched up the first of the fitness reports and made a great show of reading it over.

  “This is no laughing matter,” Jack said soberly and Brian shot him a look in time to see the smile on the man’s face. “There’s a pool, you know.”

  “A pool?”

  “Yep.” Jack rocked easily in his chair, folded his hands atop his chest and studied the water-marked ceiling. “And the pot’s getting bigger every day.”

  “You guys are betting on me striking out with Kathy?” Brian threw a glance at the open doorway and the hall beyond. How many of his “friends” were in on this, anyway? And how, he wondered, sliding a suspicious look at Jack, had they found out about Kathy?

  Jack chuckled gleefully. “There’s not a marine on base who wouldn’t like to see you strike out completely for once.”

  “Surrounded by friends and supporters.”

  “Hey, anybody with the kind of luck you have with females is bound to inspire a little…”

  “Envy?” Brian provided, one eyebrow arching high on his forehead.

  “I was thinking more along the lines of enmity.”

  “And you felt it was your responsibility to tell everybody about my next-door neighbor.”

  “After what I saw the other day,” Jack said on a laugh, “you bet.”

  “What happened to semper fi?” Brian asked, throwing his hands up in the air. “Marines sticking together? Always faithful?”

  “In battle, sure. In this kind of situation, it’s every man for himself.”

  Brian laughed and shook his head. Typical.

  “So, what’s happening anyway?”

  “Nothing,” he said on a snort of derision. “That’s the problem.” Dinner with Dana had been a disaster. As soon as he’d arrived, she’d poured him a drink, told him dinner wouldn’t be ready for another hour and suggested several ways to pass the time until then.

  Bound and determined to prove to himself—if no one else—that nothing in his life had changed, Brian had given her suggestions his best shot. But in the middle of what should have been a delicious kiss, he found himself imagining that the woman in his arms was shorter, a little plumper, with softly waving brown hair and eyes wide and deep enough to lose himself in.

  In short, even Dana’s charms couldn’t keep his mind from straying to Kathy. Which irritated the hell out of him…and Dana, when he suddenly announced that he’d made a mistake and couldn’t stay. With the slam of her door still ringing in his ears, Brian had driven straight back to the base. It was a sad thing indeed to have to admit that work sounded like a better idea than dinner with Dana.

  Jack laughed and Brian realized he’d never noticed what an evil chuckle his friend had.

  “What’s so damn funny?” he demanded.

  “It’s always entertaining to watch the mighty take a fall.”

  “A fall?”

  “This could be better than I’d hoped,” Jack said, amazement in his eyes. “This could work into love, Gunnery Sergeant. You may have finally met your match.”

  Love?

  “I think marriage has warped what was left of your mind, Jack. I hardly know this woman…” Then, to make his point, he admitted the most humiliating fact of all. “She won’t even go out with me.”

  “This just gets better and better,” Jack chortled.

  “Thanks for your support,” Brian snapped and jumped to his feet. His uniform boots beat a heavy tattoo against the linoleum floor as he paced back and forth. Then he stopped in front of Jack’s desk, shoved his hands into his pockets and said, “I’m not in love, and I sure as hell don’t plan to be.”

  “None of us do,” Jack pointed out.

  “Yeah? Well, some of us,” Brian told him, slapping himself on the chest, “have a little more self-control than others.”

  “Oh, yeah. I can see that.”

  Brian scowled at him. “Is there a reason why we have to share an office?”

  “Probably.”

  “It’s not good enough, whatever it is.”

  “Hell, Brian,” Jack said on another suspiciously evil laugh, “you’ll live through this. We all do.”

  “Quit lumping me in with you and your kind.”

  “My kind?”

  “You know, married marines. Formerly happy men, now dr
agging wife and family from base to base…packing dishes and furniture and worrying about schools and doctors and God knows what else.”

  Jack shifted uneasily in his chair and deliberately looked away from the picture of Donna and their daughter, Angela, that had a prominent spot on his desk. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Sure I do,” Brian snapped. “Heck, there’s some kind of marriage epidemic sweeping the base. More marines have been picked off here lately than at Iwo Jima!”

  Jack stood up slowly, planted both hands on his desk and leaned in. “I wasn’t ‘picked off,’ Brian.”

  “Sure you were…hell, Donna’s a sharpshooter! You never even saw it coming.” He lifted one hand to stop Jack from interrupting. “I like Donna, and Angela’s the prettiest baby I ever saw, but, man…you were taken out by a sniper and didn’t even know it until after the vows were read.”

  “Back off, Brian.”

  “No, you back off.” Nose to nose now, the two men squared off. “You’re not sucking me down into the hole you jumped into. I like my life,” Brian went on, his voice getting louder with every word. “I like packing a duffel and taking off. I like being deployed all over the world. I like living in furnished apartments. I like answering to no one but me.”

  When Brian finished, he took a deep breath and listened to the sudden silence in the small room. Jack’s features were stiff, but after a few seconds ticked away, he seemed to relax a bit. Finally he spoke up. “Who’re you trying to convince here? Me? Or you?”

  “I don’t need convincing,” Brian muttered, turning for his desk and the pile of weapons reports that awaited him. “I just needed reminding. So thanks.”

  “Anytime, gunny,” Jack muttered, sitting down and getting back to work. “Anytime at all.”

  Case closed, Brian thought and felt sanity pour back into his soul. No more moaning around like some lovesick kid. He was a marine, for pity’s sake. In charge of enough weapons to start World War III. And damn it, it was time he started acting like it again.

  He had more names and numbers in his address book than any man he’d ever known. He’d just call a few and get back into the game. He must have been nuts spending the past four weeks daydreaming about a woman who couldn’t see him for dust.