Chapter 26
SOFIA
“It’s busy out there,” I said as I walked into Haley’s kitchen at the deli. Jerking my head back to indicate the dining area, I unfurled the light summer scarf I had around my neck.
Haley sprinkled microgreens into a salad bowl and beamed as she presented it to me. “I know. Mom took out an ad in some hotel guest books. Tourists are loving it.”
“That’s great.” I hopped onto a metal stool and plopped my purse and scarf down on the counter, hooking one knee over the other. “See? You’re a raving success.”
“I wouldn’t say raving,” she said as she placed the salad on the serving rack. “But things are definitely looking up.”
“I would have waited until later to come by if I’d known you were so busy. While I’m here, can I help with anything?”
Her blonde ponytail bounced as she nodded. Reaching for the pass, she frowned down at the orders until plucking one of the papers up and handing it over. “You can handle my Asian chicken baguette, right?”
“Of course.” I tucked my hair behind my ears and went to wash my hands, calling to her over my shoulder. “Can we talk while we work?”
“Please.” She checked another one of her orders and went to work after handing me a pair of gloves. “The only thing I hate about the deli is not having anyone to talk to most of the day. Tell me about Lincoln. Are you still hanging out with him?”
“Yep, but things have taken an unexpected turn.” Baguettes lay in a basket in the center of the counter.
I lifted one out and searched for a serrated knife, carefully slicing it in the way I knew Haley preferred.
“I’m not sure exactly what happened, but it sounds like Lincoln somehow ended up on a mission despite being on suspension. ”
Haley looked away from the pasta dish she was putting together, a deep line forming between her eyebrows as her gaze met mine. “What? How?”
I shrugged and popped the bread into the oven, moving to grab and grease up a pan to cook the chicken. “That’s the part I’m not exactly sure about. Dad got called in a couple of days ago, flew into a rage, and then let it slip that guys who were on suspension had gone way off script.”
Her light eyebrows swept up on her forehead, her hands stopping their movement as she stared at me. “Are they okay?”
“Lincoln is.” My heart burned for the pain in his, though. “I think his best friend was hurt. Quite badly. He hasn’t said it in so many words, but I have a feeling about it. Dad said one of the guys was in critical condition, and it’s not Linc.”
Cheeks growing pale as her brown eyes darted from one of mine to the other, she waved me on. “So? Is he… you know?”
“Alive?” I sighed. “I think so, but only because I think Dad would have mentioned it if he wasn’t.”
The skin around her eyes tightened. “What the hell were they doing on a mission if they’re suspended?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, then chewed on the inside of my cheek. “But I think my dad is one of the people who has to decide their fate.”
“Seriously?” Her chin dropped and worry darkened her gaze. It still hadn’t wavered from mine. “Girl, that’s wrong on so many levels.”
“Why?” I paused, holding one marinated chicken breast above the pan. Droplets of oil and spice rolled off it, hitting the hot oil with a sizzle.
For a minute, it was the only sound in the kitchen. Haley searched my eyes, then frowned. “Why? You’re sleeping with a guy while your dad is in charge of deciding whether he gets fired or not. Doesn’t it seem unethical to you?”
“I’m not the one making any of the decisions.” I finally lowered the meat into the pan, fussing at it with the pair of plastic tongs in my hand as I tried to formulate my explanation. “All of this is only unfolding now. Neither of us knew it when we first hooked up.”
“Sure, but now?” Her lips formed a flat line as she banged a metal bowl down on the counter. “Now you know who he is, who your father is to him. What if he’s only using you as possible leverage against your dad?”
“He’s not,” I insisted, bending over to check on the baguette and drizzling an olive oil mixture over it before placing it back in the oven.
“I know it might seem like it’s a possibility, but he’s really not doing that.
We hardly ever even talk about my dad. The one time we did, it didn’t end well. ”
“It doesn’t mean he’s not using the mere fact that he’s slept with you as possible leverage against your dad to influence the decision,” Haley argued, keeping a close eye on my reactions. “I’m just playing devil’s advocate here. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“He’s not using me,” I said softly after thinking about it for a second. “I honestly think that it’s still a problem for him that I am who I am. I think he would have preferred it if I wasn’t my father’s daughter. I really don’t think any of this is a ploy against my dad.”
My friend eventually shrugged. “Okay, as long as you’ve taken the possibility into consideration. I just wanted to make sure you had.”
“I hadn’t thought about it before, but I have now, and I don’t think it’s an issue.” I supposed many people would have thought I was an idiot to trust him under the circumstances, but I did. “Lincoln’s a good guy. He wouldn’t be fucking me to get back at my father.”
“A good guy?” She arched a well-manicured brow at me. “He sounds like a little bit of a troublemaker if you ask me.”
“I think he just follows his own head,” I said. “I’ve thought about it a lot, and I don’t think he likes causing trouble. I just think he’s good at what he does, and he knows it, so he knows what calls should have been made.”
“Then why isn’t he the one making said calls?” she asked, crumbling Danish cheese into the dough that had been resting in the mixing bowl. “You’re not usually one to go for the guys who don’t respect the hierarchy and the service.”
“No, I don’t, but I don’t think he disrespects those things.
” I flipped the chicken and coated it in more marinade.
“As for why he’s not making the calls, that was the subject matter of the one argument we’ve had.
Dad thinks he lacks ambition. He says it’s not that, but he also didn’t explain why he’s not trying to climb the ranks. ”
Haley punched the dough down, blowing a strand of hair off her face while frowning at me. “Let me get this straight. This guy wants to do what he wants, defies orders, but can’t bother to try to become the person in charge?”
“Don’t say it like that,” I groaned. “It sounds terrible when you say it like that.”
“I say it as I see it.” She shrugged. “He just sounds like he’s bad news.”
“He’s not,” I argued firmly. “There’s something more to him. Things aren’t just black and white with him. I don’t know how I know, but I can tell.”
“Are you sure it’s not just wishful thinking?” she asked after pausing for a moment. “You’re having fun with him so you’re trying to make up excuses for him?”
“It’s not that.” I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut, deciding to finally admit what I’d suspected for a few days now. “I’m falling for him, Haley. I’ve looked into his eyes when he lets his guard down and I’m telling you he’s not bad news. I think he’s a lot like me actually.”
Brown eyes wide as she came to stand next to me, she turned off the heat on the pan and focused on me. “Do you realize what you just said?”
“Yep.” I winced but then gave her a soft smile. “I’m falling for him. I know I said it, and I meant it, too. There’s so much more to him than what meets the eye. I’ve skimmed the surface and I may have dipped a little below it even. There’s something real between us. I just know it.”
“Okay, but does he?” she asked.
I lifted my shoulders, shaking my head as I bent to retrieve the baguette. The worry in her eyes was really starting to get to me.
“I think he feels it, too. Sometimes when he looks at me, it’s like everything just goes still. There’s this metaphysical connection between us that I can’t explain, but I can feel it in every fiber of my being.”
She blew out a low whistle between her teeth. “You really are falling for him. I’ve never heard you like this.”
“Neither have I.” Probably because I’d never felt anything like this before. “But when I look into his eyes, it’s like I can see snippets of forever. It’s weird.”
“You’re weird,” she countered but smiled at me. “I’m not sure I understand what you mean, but I can hear you mean it.”
“I really do.”
On the counter beside the stove was a spread of sandwich and salad toppings. When Haley and I had been experimenting with the Asian Chicken Baguette before she put it on her menu, she had taught me a cute mnemonic to remember the ingredients.
Reciting it quietly as I assembled the sandwich, my mind stayed mostly on Lincoln. “We’re spending the fourth of July together. I can’t wait for it. My favorite holiday with one of my new favorite people. It’s going to be epic.”
“I thought this wasn’t the beginning of some epic love story,” Haley teased, but there was still a film of worry covering her eyes.
“It’s not. Or I don’t know. Maybe it is.” I caught her gaze after plating up the sandwich. “What’s bothering you?”
Her chest expanded as she dragged in a deep breath. Then she shook her head. “You’ll be careful, won’t you?”
“Of what?”
The corners of her lips pressed in, her gaze soft but dark on mine. “I know I don’t know Lincoln, but you and I both know what those military guys care about. Women usually aren’t high on that list.”
I opened my mouth to argue that Lincoln wasn’t like that, but I couldn’t go through with it. The truth was that I didn’t know where on his list of priorities relationships ranked—if they even ranked at all.