A SEAL's Return

by Grace Alexander

  He hit Send and reread his text. It was so generic but at the same time so specific, what was he missing? And he didn’t want Nora to think he was taking the lazy way out and simply texting her, or texting her just because. Now he felt like a schoolkid with a crush.

  JAKE: I promise. I Googled.

  NORA: Here you go.

  The image accompanying her text message was exactly as Charlotte had described. A young woman stood with a stack of books that was nearly as tall as she was. The caption on the picture read “Margaret Hamilton handwrote the code for NASA’s Apollo mission.”

  He had a huge grin on his face. There were so many reasons. That was who Charlotte wanted to be for Halloween? Definitely yes. She made him so proud, and Ally would be proud too.

  Thank goodness he still wore his ghoul’s mask, because his eyes stung for a moment as he thought about how excited she would’ve been to create that costume for her daughter.

  But Jake also smiled because Nora knew the answer. She knew Charlotte, she knew amazing things and was able to share without making him feel like he was failing.

  He closed the image and saw another text message from her.

  NORA: Doubtful you will find *this* costume but I can help pull one together if you like.

  “Graham!” Charlotte trotted down the aisle as Jake glanced up to see Nora round the corner with an armful of supplies.

  “How funny,” Nora said, laughing.

  Graham and Charlotte greeted each other with raucous surprise then put their heads together, breaking apart a second later.

  “Excuse us,” Charlotte said. “We have a potion to make.”

  “A potion, huh?” Jake swept his arm out, granting them permission to pass toward the witches section of the store.

  Graham scowled at Jake’s antics. “It’s very serious. You shouldn’t laugh.”

  “Life-fault-ernating.” Charlotte was as unimpressed with Jake as Graham.

  “Tough crowd,” Jake mumbled to himself, then he beckoned Charlotte closer. “Alternating? Meaning, changing?”

  “Yes,” Graham gravely answered for Charlotte then tilted his head toward Nora. “Are you alternating your life?”

  “I could alternate, little man.” Her amusement was barely hidden by her serious tone.

  “Phew.” Graham let out a heavy sigh of relief.

  “Phew!” Charlotte repeated as she jumped, then they raced to the head of the aisle as Nora called for them to walk.

  “They’re almost as relieved as I was to learn you know who Margaret Hamilton was,” he said.

  Nora stepped to his side, and they watched Charlotte and Graham speed walk to the closest witches’ brooms and find their place among the cauldrons in the store aisle, pretending to pour imaginary bottles as they stirred their potions.

  Graham jumped back from what seemed to be an imaginary pot boiling over, and together they lifted an apparently heavy container and dumped it into the pot.

  “Active imaginations.” Jake glanced down at Nora by his side then flipped the phone in his hand. He pocketed it as Nora covered her laughter with her hand, but she wasn’t watching the kids. “What?”

  “You,” she said. “In the mask.”

  “Me?” He flipped out his hands but egged on her laughter as he tilted his covered face, as though he were unaware of what he looked like. “What?”

  “Even if I didn’t expect to see you here, I could’ve guessed who was behind the ghoul’s mask.”

  “Rwar,” he joked.

  “But I certainly didn’t expect to see you with sequin-and-string fairy godmother wands trailing from your backside.”

  Ha! He’d forgotten! “These bad boys?”

  Jake did a quick strut-and-spin, positive he made the sequin and strings shake as he turned around.

  Her eyes danced. “It’s a good look for you. Softens the fangs and hairiness.”

  “You like the ghoul’s mask.”

  “I like your face better,” she said quietly.

  Something about her tone quickly ran through him, how the humor was gone and how she seemed to be standing closer. He slid the mask off, running his hands into his hair that he was letting grow longer.

  “Much more handsome.”

  Simple and innocent, but it hit him straight in the chest. She made his blood warm and his need for her jump.

  They had agreed their kiss was born out of stress and worry, curiosity and misplaced tension. Jake only wanted to do what was right for Charlotte. Family came first. But taking care of Charlotte didn’t mean that he could ignore needs and desires. That Jake was alive and that every inch of him was aware of Nora. Not just how her cheeks were still pink after she said he was handsome or the way her hair fell around her face but the sound of her voice and the sweetness of her intentions. Her looks were simply a bonus, and they didn’t explain why her text messages were the best part of his day. Nora’s intelligence and humor, how she cared for her son, for Charlotte, and her students… for him. Those were the things driving him to the edge.

  But they’d already gone down that road, and it was now labeled Restricted. He liked being her friend, and that was what he’d focus on.

  “Let me give you a hand with that.” Jake lifted the tablecloths and packages of matching cups and plates from her arms. “Changing the motif at home?”

  She remained close as she let go of the burden in her arms. “As much easier as plastic plates and cups might be, it’s for a school party.”

  He glanced over his shoulder. Graham and Charlotte were perfectly content to stir their witches’ cauldrons without adult interference. “I have some Googling ahead of me to plan the costume. I’m not sure how much of it I’m going to find here.” Perfectly safe conversation for friends. He could do this because he had to. Screwing up wasn’t an option. Jake chewed the inside of his cheek. “Were you two still shopping or wrapping up?”

  An indecipherable emotion appeared on Nora’s face. Her sweet smile remained, but the openness in her eyes became guarded. She shifted her stance, glancing at the kids and taking a step away, reminding Jake how much he hated the distance between them.

  Wait…

  Did he just miss a cue from Nora, or was he searching for something that wasn’t there? Her voice made his skin prickle with excitement, and she stood close, talking quietly. Then she backed away when he didn’t notice.

  Because he was a guy. Because he was in over his head. Because there were a million reasons he didn’t want to burn this friendship, and because, for Charlotte’s sake—as they’d painfully and honestly realized—he needed Nora as a resource. Caring for Charlotte wasn’t like an uncle babysitting. He couldn’t be a fun time and then disappear. And he didn’t want to.

  Shoot, he was going to mess this up, but the way his chest tightened when she got quiet and smiled… Jake set down the plastic ware and tablecloths. Nora blushed, her eyes nervously darting about the aisle as though she realized he’d just now caught on, that she’d tried to flirt, and he ruined it. Her eyes dropped to the floor where he placed her belongings, and they stayed there as he took an obvious step forward to resume their closeness.

  She didn’t move. His heart picked up its pace, drawing heavy beats that surged in his neck. Jake reached for her hand and grinned when her fingers rigidly froze in his palm. He didn’t want to twine them together or pull her close. Instead he placed his other hand on top, like a sandwich, then simply held her hand in his.

  “Nora.”

  “Yes?” She interlaced their fingers slowly then unlaced them, and Jake let his fingers trace the outline of her hand in his palm.

  “I lied before, and I don’t agree.”

  Her eyes widened as her hand tensed in his.

  He clasped his hands around hers, not playing anymore but simply holding still. “Kissing you would be a good thing. I can’t get the idea out of my head.”

  Her fingers pressed the small indentation at the base of her neck. “Jake, I…”

  “I get yo
ur reservations, and believe me, they make sense. You’re watching out for Charlotte and yourself. As you should. But…”

  She chewed her bottom lip as color deepened on her cheeks.

  He took a deep breath. “Look, nothing I’m about to say will fall within any counselor-sanctioned rule book…” The unreadable expression darkening her eyes made him take pause. Was this selfishness run amok or did he need to forge forward because some risks were worth the chance?

  He wanted her to think clearly and stepped back, breaking their hold. He needed her to be clear-headed too, because when he asked her to break their ground rules, he couldn’t risk a physical connection clouding their chance. “Go to dinner with me. We can find a babysitter, then head to Broadleaf for drinks and then over to Lucy’s restaurant for dinner. Just the two of us.”

  “Jake…”

  “There’s more.” He readied his wild, rushing thoughts into order, throwing caution to the wind. What was the point of hiding their truth? The chemistry and connection that drove him to grin. If losing Ally had taught him anything, it was that life doesn’t slow down but expected him to keep up. “Dinner tonight. Come over, and the kids will play.”

  “A playdate,” she said quietly.

  “No. A dinner date, where I can spend time, alone, with you.”

  He took a step back and watched for a reaction. She wasn’t saying a word. That did not bode well.

  “The drinks at the Broadleaf are great.” She licked her bottom lip but didn’t add anything else as she shifted her weight.

  He nodded. Drinks at the Broadleaf. That could be a great start, safe from wandering eyes that might come with a playdate. He’d been too forward to ask about a dinner date. “Got it. Drinks sometime might work.”

  Jake was mid-pivot to check on the kids and save face when Nora touched his bicep. “Wait, I wasn’t done. But I just had to get my thoughts straight.”

  A jagged slice of hope picked up in his chest, making him wonder whether he hadn’t crashed and burned completely with his offer of dinner.

  “I have one condition,” she said.

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  Her expression changed just enough that he knew she’d was coming for dinner and her condition might be fun. “You have to agree without knowing.”

  He grinned and inched closer. “Can I reserve the right to add a condition under your condition?”

  “No.” She pressed her lips together, hiding her laugh. “My condition comes without contingency, and worse—” Her eyes beamed. “You have to agree to it without knowing what it is.”

  “Oh, that’s tough,” he teased, but considered the near-dare a game changer. Nora was taking his dinner date and forcing in a level of trust. “I agree, unconditionally.”

  She pushed onto her toes, her grin reaching ear to ear. “I’m cooking dinner tonight. No firemen to interrupt my date with a certain Navy SEAL.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  “We’re making dessert,” Nora announced to Charlotte and Graham, who milled nearby. “Go play, and we’ll call you when we’re ready.”

  “When you need help?” Graham asked. “We can help and taste test.”

  “Oh, yes!” Charlotte begged. “Please let us taste test!”

  “Not now,” Jake answered.

  “Puh-leaze,” they chimed together.

  He cocked a finger pointed down the hall. “Now. Go play.”

  Both eyed his seriousness then ran from the kitchen. Nora clucked with her tongue.

  “What?” he asked.

  She gave an approving, amused glance. “I think I just saw the look?”

  “Do you like that?” He grinned then made a face. “I’ve been working on my I-mean-business glower.”

  “Glower, huh? It’s impressive.” Nora pulled the reusable grocery bag from the freezer and set it on the counter before extracting two containers of ice cream and one of hand-cranked peanut butter with a label from the small organic grocery store.

  Jake watched as she moved through Ally’s kitchen as though it were her own, pulling out the blender and finding a spatula with ease.

  “My next look goes something like this.” He scrunched his forehead, grimacing, letting his mouth gape, and squeezed his eyes shut.

  Nora paused. “Hmm. What are you trying to convey?”

  “How I appreciate that Charlotte uses words that will one day appear on her college entrance exams, but please wait until I’ve had my coffee and have my dictionary in hand.”

  “In that case”—she lifted her spatula, tapping it in the air—“you nailed it.”

  They laughed, and he leaned against the edge of the counter. “Do you need any help?”

  She made a face.

  He crossed his arms. “Is that your no-thanks-you’re-never-living-oven-fire-down face?”

  “That is. How’d you ever guess?”

  “If the neighbor hadn’t ratted me out, you wouldn’t even know that face existed.”

  She gestured with the same spatula toward the window. “You can’t be upset with sweet Mrs. Eller.”

  He pretended to glare out the window toward the next-door neighbor. “Ally had told me I could trust the neighbors and look what happened. Lights and sirens.”

  “Oh, you can trust Mrs. Eller.”

  His brow arched. “Uh-huh.”

  “You can! Just trust her to call 9-1-1 if there is even a question that the authorities might need to be involved.” Nora puttered about the kitchen. “As neighbors go, that’s not so bad of a quality to have in the person next door.”

  Jake fake grumbled. “I thought nosy neighbors showed up with cakes and casseroles.”

  “She probably had a cake and casserole ready when she saw your house burning down.”

  Jake grabbed a hand towel and playfully snapped Nora’s wrist. “This is how rumors start.”

  She stole the towel and tossed it on the counter.

  He chuckled. “What are you making, anyway? Chocolate milkshakes?”

  Nora busied herself. “An Ally favorite.”

  Jake picked up the carton of ice cream. Except it wasn’t. “Hold on. What is this?” Coconut milk frozen dessert. Chocolate flavored. He cocked his head, confused. “Coconut milk frozen dessert?” He set the carton down, inspecting the one next to it. Almond milk. Chocolate. “Milk? From almonds?”

  “I’m making milkshakes.”

  “You need ice cream to make milkshakes.”

  She stopped giving another look that he was going to have to master one day and set up the blender. “Don’t knock it until you try it. The kids love it.”

  Maybe the kids needed a taste test. “Almond milk?”

  “And it’s far healthier than regular ice cream.”

  “Regular ice cream? Babe, they don’t even print ice cream on the label. Frozen dessert.”

  “Now wouldn’t be the right time to work babe into the conversation, hot stuff.” Nora removed the lid from each container. “Besides, I prefer the coconut ice cream over regular stuff.”

  “Hmm,” he grumbled, not believing that for a hot second. “You know the fat is what makes a steak taste good. No fat, bad steak. Probably stands true for ice cream.”

  “That’s really gross if you think about it.” Nora stuck out her tongue. “Forget the fact that it’s probably better for you. It tastes better.”

  Consider him unconvinced. “Explain to me what part of the almond was milked.”

  Nora ignored him, popping off the lid of the peanut butter.

  He chuckled. “I’m aware of how cows are milked. Tidings High School did a so-so job of explaining how newborns nurse.” He winked. “Adequately enough that I could one day give the birds and the bees talk. If a certain someone ever let me.”

  She snickered, blushing.

  “I could even walk us back every step, all the way to the goat, if you placed a slice of goat cheese on a plate and asked how it was made.” Jake picked up the almond milk container and shook his head. “But yo
u’ve got me on this. Maybe I missed that day in biology.”

  Nora turned for the silverware drawer and extracted a spoon. In one smooth move, she scooped a mouthful of chocolate almond milk frozen dessert and shoved it in his trap.

  He laughed around the spoon, watching her more than he tasted what she tried to choke him with. Then he tasted it, and his smile doubled. “This is good.”

  “I know.”

  “I mean, really.” Jake turned the spoon over and licked it. He wouldn’t have known the difference between this treat and the real thing, and he reached for the coconut ice cream.

  Nora snapped her hand towel against his spoon. “No double dipping, good-looking.”

  “Ahhh, okay.” Somehow he choked down his immediate response to argue for more ice cream and walked the few steps for another spoonful. Besides, they were all family and friends. Germs were germs. He got it. But they also shared a closeness that was like family, that deep connection that far surpassed any friendship he’d ever experienced. And the kids were like brother and sister even though they weren’t, much as he and Ally had been.

  Jake tossed his used spoon into the sink as Nora dumped the peanut butter into the blender. He dug out a scoop of the coconut ice cream. It was just as smooth and creamy as any other ice cream he’d had before. “This is good too. Maybe a little creamier.”

  “It’s my favorite.”

  He tried to double dip again, and she swatted him away again.

  Jake put his spoon in the sink. “Ally used to make this for them?”

  “She did.” Nora leaned against the counter, eyeing him with what he was sure was her school counselor assessment—kind and understanding while searching for what might lie underneath. “Ally was one of the first in the medical field out here to bring the latest information to schools and doctors. Funny, nutrition isn’t a part of many medical programs. Food and nutrition were important to her.”

  Jake muttered.

  Nora’s head tilted. “She did a lot of good, Jake. Raised a great deal of awareness on many issues.”

  “A lot of good that did her.” He crossed his arms. “No microwave and fake ice cream.” He wanted to be mad, but there was nothing but an empty sadness.