Chapter 4
SOFIA
The distinctive curve and soaring sweep of the bridge to the island welcomed me home. Point Loma rose in the distance, and I had a birds-eye view of Coronado. Golden beaches, sparkling blue water, and breathtaking views of the city spanned my field of vision, and I let out a happy sigh.
In just a few hours’ time, the sun would set and the bay would be lit with the reflection of the city, providing a stunning view of the skyline after dark.
I’d considered leaving LA a little later so I’d only get here by then, but there were a few things I wanted to get done.
Besides, on a cloudless day like today, making the trip in the daytime was pretty spectacular as well.
I loved being away at college, but there was always something special about coming home. Before moving to Los Angeles, this was the only place I’d ever lived.
There would always be a sense of homecoming when I drove across this bridge.
It was so tall to allow for even the largest naval ships to pass beneath it that it scared the heck out of visitors sometimes.
But for me? The height felt like it was allowing me to check on arrival that everything about the island was still perfect.
I couldn’t stop smiling as I turned off the bridge. A rush of excitement ran down my spine. There really is just no place like home.
I was still smiling by the time I pulled into my dad’s driveway. The scene waiting for me was just so him, that I grinned from ear to ear as I parked.
Dad was out in the front yard working on his boat. She was a single-hull catamaran by the name of Olive and had taken up more of his downtime over the years than even I had. I’d never been jealous of her, though.
Whenever Dad wasn’t working, he was usually out here with her. It was just a part of who he was. With her gleaming white polished wood and navy-blue neatly rolled sails, it was easy to see why he loved her so much.
A beer was perched on a flat rock in the yard. It would be warm by now, but Dad would have forgotten all about it within minutes of setting it down.
He wiped sweat from his brow with his forearm, only turning his head away from Olive when he heard my door slamming. When he saw me, he broke out in one of his rare wide smiles.
“Kiddo! You made it.” He opened his sturdy arms, and I walked right into them. Dad wasn’t very big on hugs, but damn, he was good at them. “It’s good to see you, baby girl. How was the drive?”
I flattened myself against his damp chest, not even caring that I was getting his man-sweat all over my shirt. “It was fine, Daddy. No problems to report.”
He gave me an awkward shake before letting me go. “That’s good. You should have let me know you were nearly here. I’d have made some lemonade or something.”
I chuckled, waving my finger in a circle in front of his weather-beaten face. “You? If you tried to make lemonade, you’d conveniently forget the sugar. No one wants sugarless lemonade.”
Dad grunted, slapping a gigantic hand over his stomach.
For an older guy, he kept his figure in tip-top shape.
Then again, he was a SEAL Instructor. He needed to be able to keep up with some of the fittest guys in the world as his job.
Oh, and whip them into shape as some of the fittest guys in the world.
“I only have to drink sugarless everything for the rest of this month. As of next month, my lifelong diet is over.” Strangely, he didn’t sound super excited about it.
I gave him a long onceover, softening when I noticed the way his jaw twitched. “You’re going to be fine, Daddy. You know that, right?”
“Of course, I do.” He scoffed, running a hand through hair that was now more salt than pepper. “Enough about me. How are your grades?”
My eyes wanted to roll, but I didn’t let them. Dad had never cared about my social life. Grades were always the first thing he asked about. “You’ll be happy to know that my 4.0 remains intact.”
“I am happy about that.” He grinned at me. “It’s a relief to know you haven’t become some kind of irresponsible party girl over there.”
“I haven’t.” I didn’t have to become one, so it wasn’t a lie. The truth was, I’d always been a bit of a party girl. Not in the fall-over-drunk, drug-myself-up kind of way, but I was a sociable person.
Some even called me the life of the party. Okay, not some. Just Haley. My lifelong best-friend and local deli owner.
On the other hand, there had been little time for partying back in LA. Going to parties required meeting people and making friends, which I hadn’t done too much of.
On occasion, I still hit the party scene with Melody. It wasn’t as often as I would have liked, though. Unfortunately, even with school being easy for me, I had a deal with my dad.
When he’d agreed to let me go off to UCLA and pay for my tuition and accommodation, I’d promised not to let my grades slip, not to get into any trouble, and that, if I did, I’d move right back home.
If I refused to move back home, I’d have to pay for my own tuition, accommodation, and everything else. Medical degrees didn’t come cheap or fast. I was beyond privileged that he had offered to pay for it in the first place. I wasn’t about to go screwing around on his dime.
Being the daughter of a high-up Navy man, I’d learned some things about responsibility and respect. Dad was strict and protective, but he also just wanted me to be happy.
We shared that goal for one another. I wanted him to be happy, too. Keeping my nose clean and my grades up at college was a small price to pay for everything he had given me.
Dad smiled and reached out to squeeze my arm. “I’m proud of you, sweetheart. I’ve missed you. I understand why you haven’t been home since Christmas, but it’s been too long.”
“Yeah. Definitely.”
His head dropped to the side as he took a step back. “Are you going to be taking any summer courses?”
“No, I wanted to come home so I could be with you for the retirement.”
He sighed, shaking his head. “You didn’t have to do that. I’m fine here by myself.”
“I know, but this is a big deal, Daddy,” I said cautiously. If I made him feel like I was back because I was worried about him, he’d drive me to UCLA and enroll me in that program himself. Big, tough Navy men didn’t like being fussed over. “It’s important for you to have support.”
He blew out a breath between his teeth. “Sounds like an excuse to me, but it’s your life. I need to spend a little more time with Olive this afternoon. The boys and I are taking her out in the morning. Why don’t you get unpacked and we’ll have dinner together later?”
“Sure. I wanted to go say hi to Haley anyway.” I walked backward, waving to him as he watched me go. “See you later.”
Haley’s deli wasn’t too far away from our house. It was a small shop near the beach with a few tables inside, a long counter, and a blackboard with the menu scrawled on it. Soft pop music played on the radio, and it smelled like cinnamon and grilling chicken.
My mouth watered almost as soon as I walked in. Some customers lingered after the lunch rush but not many. I found Haley in the kitchen. Her back was to me and her ass swayed along to the music.
I paused for a second, then let out a whistle. “Yeah, girl. Shake what your mama gave you.”
She froze before spinning around with a scowl darkening her pretty features. When she saw it was me, the scowl faded, and a bright smile took its place.
My best friend was my opposite in every way. She had long blonde hair to my short, pitch-black bob, bright blue eyes to my green and gold version of hazel, a figure like a runway model to my softer, curvy one.
If I was the life of the party when I wasn’t studying, she was the one reminding me that we had to be up early in the morning. Despite that, she’d chosen to open a deli with no formal schooling while I had run headfirst into one of the most strenuous degrees that existed.
While I wasn’t in any rush to start my career too soon, she had been working on her business plan pretty much since she’d learned to write. She’d also put that plan into motion as soon as she had been able to.
Haley and I were living proof that opposites not only attracted, but that when friendships between them worked, they worked for life.
“Sofia! When did you get home?” Her skinny arms wrapped around my neck, and she crushed me to her. “It’s so, so good to see you in real life. Screens just don’t do you justice.”
“Same to you.” I returned her hug with as much fierce enthusiasm. “I just got here less than an hour ago.”
“What? How did you convince Instructor Dad to let you come here so soon?” We let each other go, each taking a step back.
I shrugged. “He was busy with Olive. It didn’t take any convincing.”
“Ah.” She flashed me a knowing smile as she hopped up on a countertop in her industrial kitchen. “Good ol’ Olive, huh? How’s she looking?”
“Good. As always.” I grinned, planting my hands on the counter behind me and climbing up myself.
Haley had rented this space just about a year ago.
In the early days of the deli, when I’d been home last summer, we’d spent a lot of time in here just like this.
Except it had been empty then. A shell that had now been filled with appliances, kitchenware, delicious smells, and so much love. “How’s business?”
Her smile slipped a little. “It’s been okay. Tough but okay. I even hired a waitress to help, but things could be going better. Mom says I need to do more promotions.”
“Anything I can help you with?” I frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”
Waving her hand, she slid to the floor and moved back to the grill. “It’s nothing serious. I was just hoping to have built up a bit more of a buffer before I had to hire someone. It didn’t work out that way, and it’s stressing me out.”
“When you say ‘build up more of a buffer,’ how big is the buffer you’ve already built up? Is it, like, ‘you’d go bust after a day’ small, or ‘a pandemic could hit and you’d be okay for a couple of months but not longer’ small?”
The tips of her ears flushed red. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail at the top of her head, allowing me to see the telltale reddening of her ears and the back of her neck.
She sprinkled some spice into a bowl, humming as she avoided answering my question. “Well, you know, we’d be fine if we had to close for a day. Or a month or so.”
“I knew it.” I threw my hands up in the air, wiggling my butt on the counter. “You’re fine, but if your mom says you need more promotions and you’d like some help, just let me know.”
“Mom’s figuring out social media. For now, she’s on it.”
Single parents had raised both of us, but her mother and my father differed as much as the two of us.
My father’s strictness had inspired my slight rebellious streak, whereas her mother’s carefree attitude had led to her planning attributes.
I grinned, imagining her mother explaining to a computer why her positive vibes should make it do what she wanted it to. “Well, if Renee’s on it, that’s good. She’ll come up with super creative ads for sure.”
Haley laughed but sank her teeth into her lower lip once the tinkling sound faded. “Yeah, I’m a little scared about what she’s going to come up with. I’m glad you’re going to be around for the summer. If you’re not going to be too busy, maybe we should work on some ads with Mom sometime.”
“You got it. I have no plans except for the ones relating to Dad’s retirement.”
She snapped her fingers. “I knew I was forgetting something. When is that happening again?”
“The party’s tomorrow night. Want to come with me?” I did a shimmy with my shoulders. “We can meet some cute Navy guys there.”
“I’ve always loved your Dad, so I’ll be there.” She flashed me her adorable dimples when she smiled. “But I like the idea of meeting some cute Navy guys, too. I wonder if you’ll find one willing to dance with Charles’ daughter this time.”
“Charles is retiring,” I retorted. “Surely, that means I’ll have to be able to find at least one whose balls are no longer in his grip.”
It was a genuine problem for me. Finding a date or a dance partner when one’s father was as notorious as mine was a real drag. But I remained hopeful.
I was taking a page out of Renee’s playbook for this one.
Sending positive vibes out into the universe better work because it had been way too long since I’d felt the rock-hard body of a SEAL pressed against mine.
It was about time one of them reminded me why their bodies were the stuff fantasies were made of.