Stalking Season

by Sandra Robbins

  Time and again they’d landed in the book of James and the command to care for the orphans and widows.

  He could care for her and help her.

  Marrying her was the best way he knew to do it.

  And if he’d been in love with her since they were sixteen, well, he wouldn’t let that get in the way of being the friend she needed, the friend Aaron would expect him to be.

  Focusing on Kristi, he narrowed his gaze and dropped his voice. “It makes sense.”

  She blinked rapidly, a motion he knew well. She was fighting the tears that threatened to spill. He guessed they came pretty regularly nowadays.

  But she didn’t say no. So he plowed forward.

  “Look, I know it’s strange. But Aaron was practically my brother. I’d do anything for him. Which means I’d do anything for you and Cody.” Zach rubbed his head. “If we get married, you’ll be taken care of. You’ll have the navy’s best insurance. You’ll have a place to live in San Diego, close to some of the best pediatric transplant surgeons in the country.”

  “But we haven’t spent any time together since high school.”

  They’d all spent every summer together when they were kids, but Zach had joined the navy right out of high school and hadn’t been back to Montana in years. She probably remembered him as a shy, gangly tenth grader.

  He wasn’t that kid anymore.

  Just as he was formulating his case, she shook her head firmly. “I can’t. I’m not ready to be married to someone else. It’s only been a year.”

  Fifteen months to be exact, but he wouldn’t argue the point. She wasn’t ready to share her life with another man. Maybe she never would be. But that wasn’t what he was offering.

  “I have a three-bedroom town house. There’s more than enough room for you and Cody to each have your own. And...and my team is being deployed.”

  “Deployed? Where?”

  He shook his head. She might as well get used to it. He didn’t talk about where his SEAL team served. Ever.

  But her frown said that wasn’t acceptable. “When?”

  “In about four weeks. For a year.”

  Her eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re suggesting I leave everything and everyone I know and move to San Diego. But you’re not going to be there.”

  He stood, towering over her, but she didn’t step back.

  “I know it’s not ideal, but I don’t have a better suggestion.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he hung his head. “I want to help. And all I’m asking in return is that you trust me.”

  “And how long will I be in San Diego?”

  “As long as you and Cody need it.” He shrugged. “You have a home there for as long as it takes.”

  “What about after?”

  He mouthed the word after and twisted the towel in his hands until the fibers strained. After Cody’s surgery? After she didn’t need him anymore? He had no answers, but still a strong conviction that this was what he was supposed to do.

  “We’ll figure it out.”

  “Momma?”

  Her gaze swung to the kitchen entry, and Zach followed it a second behind. The little boy looked smaller than his five years, practically skin and bones, his face dominated by his dad’s big green eyes.

  “What are you doing out of bed?” Reaching out a hand to him, she said, “Come here, little man.” He ran to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, tucking his face into her side as she sifted her fingers through his sandy-blond hair.

  Before she could make introductions, he squatted in front of them. Eye level with the boy, Zach held out his hand. “You must be Cody. I’m Zach. I’ve heard a lot of great things about you. Your dad talked about you all the time.”

  For an instant Cody’s lips trembled. “You knew my daddy?”

  Zach’s eyes burned. “He was my very best friend and the best man I knew.”

  A sniff from above drew Zach’s attention, and he looked up in time to see Kristi wiping her face.

  “All right.”

  Was that a yes to his proposal—botched though it may have been?

  She seemed to read his question on his face and nodded slowly. “Bud, how would you like to live by the ocean?”

  ONE

  Thirteen months later

  Kristi Tanner had been an idiot.

  There was no other word for it.

  What on earth had possessed her to marry a man she barely knew and to move into an unfamiliar neighborhood? She still didn’t feel safe here, even after more than a year. Though that sense of danger mostly stemmed from the brown sedan that had been parked across the street from her town house on and off for two weeks. It didn’t seem to belong to a single one of her neighbors.

  She gave it another hard look as the vehicle pulled past for the hundredth time.

  She couldn’t be the only one in the neighborhood who noticed the strange drive-bys or felt like someone was watching her unload groceries and pull weeds.

  Maybe that was all part of life in a big city. Maybe she should have expected the weight of a hundred eyes on her. Only it hadn’t started until a few weeks ago. Right after the scene at her office.

  She shook her head. She didn’t have time today to think about the odd shiver down her back or that silly car. Not when she was expected at the base.

  When Zach had shipped out, a year had seemed so long. He’d been gone, and she and Cody had built their life in San Diego. Doctor’s appointments. A new job. Cody’s homeschooling. Birthdays and holidays. They’d made the most of them all, every day grieving their loss a little less.

  But now Zach was coming back—coming home.

  To her home.

  “What time do they get in?”

  Cody sagged in the backseat, but his smile couldn’t be denied. Despite his pale lips and sallow skin, his eyes danced with anticipation. And Kristi couldn’t deny him his joy at the prospect of seeing his longtime pen pal.

  Not even if her insides were a knot of nerves.

  “His flight was supposed to arrive at one.”

  “Hurry.” He kicked at the back of her seat as his voice rose. “We’re going to be late.”

  The light changed, and she zipped in front of a red sports car, headed toward the Coronado Bridge. “We’re not going to be late. And stop kicking my seat.”

  “Yes, Momma.” The frantic beats at her back ended immediately. “But hurry?” he pleaded.

  She took a corner a little faster than she’d anticipated, and her purse flew across the passenger seat, sending several worn envelopes flying to the floorboard. She’d carried Zach’s letters with her every day since they began arriving. One every month. All written in a bold, blocky hand.

  They weren’t filled with flowery poetry or sweet words. They never hinted at affection or the pain of distance.

  No one would dare to classify them as love letters.

  Still, they offered a peek into the heart of the man she’d married. Funny stories of his team’s time abroad. Concern for Cody. Scriptures he’d been reading.

  She’d pored over them all.

  And never sent a single response.

  It was so much easier to tag a note on to the end of Cody’s emails, letting Zach know they were well and his house was fine, than to put her real thoughts on to paper. Her real doubts.

  At first she’d wondered every day after their courthouse ceremony if she’d made the right decision. But as the weeks ticked by, life had settled into a new normal.

  Until the call a few days ago.

  Ashley Waterstone, the wife of the senior chief of Zach’s SEAL team, had called with news. The team was coming home.

  “Momma?”

  “Yes, Cody?”

  “Where’s Zach goin
g to stay?”

  Her stomach clenched, her grip on the wheel turning her knuckles white. As promised, Zach’s three-bedroom home was big enough for all of them, but it would be strange to have another person in the space she’d come to see as hers and Cody’s.

  “Because I was thinking he could stay in my room.”

  Kristi couldn’t hold back a giggle.

  “I have bunk beds, and he could have the top one.” Cody met her gaze in the rearview mirror and smiled broadly. “Do you think he’d want to?”

  “Well, bud,” she said as tactfully as she could, “he’s been working hard for a long time. He might need lots of good sleep.”

  Cody shook his head vigorously. “I bet he’ll want to. I’ll ask him. My Chevy night-light is really cool.”

  “That it is. You ask him. But if he says no, then you say okay. Okay?”

  “Okay.”

  They turned left and then followed the road through the lush greenery beneath a cloudless blue sky. The sun shone off the legendary red spires of the Hotel del Coronado to their right. Another sunny-and-seventy day in Southern California, even in December.

  Of all the familiar things she missed about Montana—her friends, Aaron’s family and the beauty of Big Sky Country—she never missed the winter weather.

  As she pulled up to the gatehouse at the entrance to the base, Cody began chanting his excitement. When she rolled her window down, the guard looked into the backseat at the ruckus.

  “Is someone’s dad coming home today?” the big man asked.

  Kristi swallowed the lump in her throat. The same one that seemed to pop up at the oddest reminders of Aaron. “I’m Kristi T—McCloud. I’m here to pick up Zach.”

  The man’s eyes grew bright as he looked at her driver’s license. “Ziggy? Oh, he’s here. In their offices probably.” He quickly handed back her license and gave her directions to a trailer.

  She repeated them to herself over and over. “Left, right, across from the third pier.”

  The building wasn’t much, marked only with a number and a few big trucks in the parking spaces beside it.

  She pulled into a spot and took a deep breath. She could do this. Things were going to change, but it didn’t have to be for the worse. They’d already survived one adjustment. They could get through another. With a firm nod of her head and a silent prayer heavenward, she opened her door, then helped Cody out of the backseat.

  Just as Cody’s feet hit the ground, a small white SUV flew into the spot two over. A gorgeous brunette tumbled out from behind the wheel. She sprinted for the door to the trailer, and it slammed closed behind her.

  Cody looked confused, his little eyes squinting against the sun.

  “I think we’re in the right place,” Kristi reassured him. “Someone is excited to see her husband. Are you excited to see Zach?”

  “Yes.” He pumped his fist in the air as best he could, and she ushered him toward the building, holding open the door as he ambled in.

  Compared with the bright sun, the fluorescent interior lights were almost black, and she had to blink quickly. As soon as her eyes adjusted, she spotted the same brunette from outside, swinging around the neck of a man in brown camouflage. His arms locked around her waist, his eyes closed as they spun.

  “Miss me?” he asked, and she replied with a kiss.

  Kristi suddenly felt very out of place. Maybe they should go wait in the car. Or drive over the bridge and wait for Zach to show up at the house. This was a time for sweet reunions between real loves, not awkward embraces with faux wives.

  But just as she snagged Cody’s arm, a familiar voice made her insides tremble. It was low and filled with concern.

  “Kristi?”

  Cody wiggled free and ran for Zach, who easily scooped the thin boy into his arms. Zach’s smile was genuine but surprised as he patted Cody’s back and ruffled his hair.

  “Good to see you, little man.”

  Cody threw his skinny arms over the broad shoulders and hugged Zach’s neck like they were best friends. “You came back!”

  “Told you I would.”

  “And you’re in time for Christmas!”

  “You don’t say.” Zach’s smile faltered as he looked in her direction and caught her gaze.

  Embarrassment washed over her for no particular reason, and she wrapped her arms around her middle.

  The corner of Zach’s eyes crinkled as his gaze dropped to the floor, and she felt every inch of his survey. He stepped closer and leaned in, his warmth wrapping around her. “Good to see you.” He pressed his lips to her cheek, and her nerves prickled to life, down her neck and right into her already-seasick stomach.

  The best she could manage in response was a trembling smile.

  “The transplant coordinator says I’m almost at the top of the list.”

  She thanked God for Cody every day. And especially when his random outburst drew all of Zach’s attention and a big grin.

  “How’re you feeling?”

  Cody shrugged, wilting into Zach’s shoulder. “Tired mostly. Momma makes me take a break every day. Even when Mrs. Drummond is staying with me while mom’s at work.”

  Zach laughed, a rich baritone that reverberated off the fake-wood walls, at Cody’s euphemism for naps. “I might be able to match you break for break, man. I haven’t gotten a full night of sleep in a while...”

  “What were you doing?”

  “Cody, no,” she interrupted. “Don’t ask—”

  “I was protecting people who can’t protect themselves.”

  Cody’s eyes filled with sadness, and the pout of his lower lip quivered. “Did their daddies die, too?”

  With a flash of the same sadness in his own eyes, Zach nodded. “Some of them.”

  “Then I’m glad you went to help them.” Just like that, Cody assessed that Zach’s work was worthy, and he moved on to the next topic of interest, pointing at the embracing couple. “Who are they?”

  Zach turned to look behind him. “That’s Willie G.—I mean, Will Gumble and his wife, Jess. And that’s the senior chief.” A tall, lean man stepped out of an office and walked up to them, holding out his hand to shake Kristi’s.

  “Matt Waterstone. You must be Kristi. Zig talks about you all the time.”

  A truck full of gravel emptied into her stomach, and she barely managed to shake his hand before her knees began trembling. What had Zach been saying about her? Did they all know she’d been forced to marry a man she didn’t love for the sake of her son? Her hands shook, and she wrung them in front of her, trying not to be intimidated by the steel in his posture.

  Zach grunted his disagreement but didn’t get out a word before the door flung open and three towheaded kids raced inside. They shouted and cheered as Matt squatted before them, scooping even the oldest—probably seven or eight—into his arms.

  Each child was given a hard kiss on the forehead before Ashley, their mom, arrived. The kids seemed to know the drill, and they parted ways as she reached her husband and held him tightly.

  Kristi took several shuffling steps backward. She didn’t belong here. Not with these real family reunions. Grabbing for Cody’s hand, she snagged Zach’s bare forearm instead, and they both jumped at the contact.

  “I’m sorry.” Her voice barely carried, but the firm shake of his head told her he’d heard her just fine.

  “Are you ready to go home?” he asked.

  She looked away. “Anytime.”

  “Let me get my bag.”

  When she reached for Cody, the boy whimpered and tucked his head into Zach’s neck. Kristi flinched. “I’m sorry. He’s really tired. This is usually one of his rest times.”

  Zach didn’t quite smile, but there was a tenderness in his eyes as he readjusted the weight in his arm. “No pr
oblem. I’ll be right back.”

  True to his word, Zach ducked into an office and returned in less than a minute. The large camouflage bag slung over his shoulder was bigger than her son, but he carried both without any indication of the burden. With a wave to his fully occupied teammates, he ushered her into the bright sunlight and to the car.

  Usually she had to wrestle Cody into his seat when he was on the verge of sleep, but Zach made it look easy. And with his bag stowed in the trunk, he looked from the driver’s door to her hands to her face. “Want me to drive?”

  “Oh.” Her gaze dropped to the faintly jingling keys in her trembling fingers. That’s right. She didn’t have to drive all the time now. She wasn’t alone anymore. Even if she didn’t know quite what that meant. “Sure. That would be nice.”

  When she climbed into the passenger side, she had another reason to be grateful she’d passed over the keys. His letters were still strewn across the floorboard, and she scrambled to collect them and shove them into her oversize purse before he noticed.

  * * *

  Zach couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her, even as he pulled off the base and toward the bridge.

  He’d never had a welcoming party before. His mom and dad had tried to meet him following his first deployment, but after his team had been delayed and then called back to duty, they’d headed back to Texas. This was new. And not unpleasant.

  “You didn’t have to be here today.” His tone came out thicker, gruffer than he’d intended, and her eyes flashed wide.

  “Should we not have come? I didn’t know what you’d want, and we didn’t realize—”

  He held up his hand quickly to cut her off while he cleared his throat. “No. I’m glad you did. I just wasn’t expecting it. You didn’t have to.”

  Kristi’s head dipped, her hair falling over her shoulder and blocking his view of her face. “Ashley called and told me to be here. I thought maybe you’d asked her to get in touch with us.”

  His stomach gave an involuntary jerk, and he pressed a fist to his knee. He should have thought to do that. He’d just never had a family in San Diego before. Not even an unconventional one.

  “I guess we both have some adjusting to do.”