Chapter 9 Tahoe
NINE
Tahoe
“Good job at the range today,” Leif says.
“With all the razzing, too. I still can’t believe you’re taking yourself off the market, dude.
” I’ve tried to explain that I actually like Caroline, but my friends just don’t understand and won’t even try to understand why I would throw away my old ways for a solitary woman.
Maybe if my buddies got to know the women they spend their time with, they might find a match.
Might find something to ease the loneliness of our existence.
I clear my throat as I push open the metal gate of my brand-spanking-new property.
It looks a little like a jungle—in an overgrown state from lack of attention.
The gravel driveway is lined with green trees that desperately need a trim.
This is exactly what I need to keep my head in check.
Lately, all I can think about is Caroline.
Her laugh. Her smile. How perfect she is for me.
It’s a dangerous slope, and this will be a good decompression when I’m trying to find the old me in this new place, with a new outlook.
Tilting my head, I survey the three-story Victorian house in front of me.
“Don’t you ever get bored fucking random hoes?
It’s not even a challenge anymore,” I exclaim, taking mental snapshots of the windows and doors.
Almost all of them will need replacing if I keep it.
“Honestly, Leif. An actual relationship is more of a challenge.” That’s quite an understatement.
He trails behind me as we head toward the house.
I pull the key ring from my pocket. It contains about twenty keys, but the front door key is marked with a red piece of tape.
The rest I’ll have to figure out on my own time.
The owners were basically giving it away and didn’t even negotiate when I offered fifty thousand under the asking price.
Some things didn’t change after the attacks.
The real estate in Florida is still a fraction of the price of what San Diego places go for.
Leif rattles on about the woman he had sex with the night before, and I try to blur out the names. If I’ve learned anything, it’s that Caroline knows everyone, and I don’t want to have to defend my friend against his whore allegations when it goes south. Like it always does.
“This place is a shithole, Tahoe,” he says as we step through the front door. “You’re crazy. What’s wrong with your apartment by the base?” Nothing except it’s not mine and doesn’t need any type of work. It’s boring.
“No one got anywhere being sane. You know that,” I reply.
I’ve seen houses in worse shape, but I’ve seen better.
The grand foyer is beautiful, with two dark wooden staircases on each side of a round marble table in the center of the room.
The ceiling is a brilliant stained glass bent into an oblong shape.
“Fuck, she’s right. I can’t tear it down.
” Shaking my head, I run my hands through my hair. It changes my plans.
“You were going to tear it down?” Leif asks, raising one brow. While he’s aware of my handyman capabilities, he’s been a SEAL on the East Coast all of the years I was on the West Coast. He never saw my house or my work firsthand.
“Weren’t gonna help me with the demo, then?” I ask, smirking in his direction.
“You need a bulldozer, not a SEAL Team,” he replies, brusquely.
Sighing, I take out my cell phone and start jotting down notes. “I was buying it for the property. I only saw the few photos they posted online. It looked like a piece of shit. My realtor said it was a project,” I explain, shrugging. “Caroline is going to be here soon,” I tell Leif.
“And you want me to leave?” he jokes.
My boots are noisy as I walk into the grand room to the left that overlooks the drive. “The last time you saw her, you offended her so gravely I had to make her my girlfriend to make up for it.” I’m half joking, but Leif laughs like I’ve just said the funniest thing in the world.
“Have you really not fucked her?” We’ve gone over it a thousand times. Twice this morning when he was spotting me on the bench, again when I asked him to pass me a bottle of shampoo in the locker room shower, and about seven times during today’s meeting when all the guys were there.
I glare in his direction. He puts up his palms in front of his body.
“Okay, okay. I just don’t understand it.
You spent every day with her for a month, and you didn’t play hotdog ham pocket.
It’s unreasonable.” We will always come back to this, I realize.
I don’t fault him. I can’t when I’ve been him.
“You don’t even claim big swole pucker hole either.
Does she not put out? Give me something. ”
Rolling my eyes, I try to think of what I could say to shut him up. “Stella.”
Leif swallows hard. He knows about that disaster. You respect heartbreak. No questions asked.
“If that happens again, I don’t know what I’ll do,” I say.
“Go ahead and make fun of me for having feelings,” I say.
“I’m a giant pussy, but that’s my right.
I haven’t fucked her yet because I want to make sure it’s not a mistake.
That she’s not a mistake. The expectations come after you’ve slept with a woman.
I’m trying to do this the right way. Instead of swinging my dick, I’m handing her flowers.
This is my new start.” I turn toward the bay window in the great room to find Caroline pushing her bike up the driveway.
The basket on the handlebars holds a large paper bag.
“That’s why they sent me here,” I add. “Because I needed something different. And as fucked as I thought it was, I think they were right.” Leif’s boots are loud as he marches up next to me, looking at her, eyes narrowed, as if he’s trying to solve a puzzle.
She’s wearing a tank top and a pair of cropped overalls, hair falling over each shoulder in thick braids.
Caroline looks like a fucking Playboy centerfold, country girl edition.
“I see it. I do. I even understand what you’re saying about making sure you don’t blow your shit up again, but how the fuck do you know if it’s a mistake? ”
I shake my head. “I have no fucking clue.” Risk assessment is something SEALs are good with. When you can’t assess something, like a relationship, it is confusing. It’s wild and carefree and stunning. It takes my breath away and jolts my entire being with a foreign rush of adrenaline.
Caroline props the bike up on the kickstand and grabs the bag.
She doesn’t see us, not yet. Caroline is taking deep breaths.
After a few seconds of that, she shields her eyes with one hand and glances up all three stories of the large house—taking stock.
She licks her lips and smiles when she’s happy with her assessment.
Leif swallows hard, and I meet his gaze. “Good luck with that, then,” he says, voice cracking.
To this, I smile. “There’s no luck involved.”
“What then?” he asks, backing away.
“Intuition? Practice? Skill? A little bit of elbow grease?” Those things are required for any relationship, surely. I flex my biceps and wink at him. Leif winks back, keen to my joke.
Caroline walks right into the open front door. “Tahoe?” Her small voice echoes in the large space, causing a riot of emotions I’m not sure I want my buddy to see.
I shrug at my friend and call out, “In here.”
Caroline stops short, startled when she sees Leif. We came together in my truck, so she wasn’t expecting to see anyone else here. “Oh, hi,” she says, not meeting Leif’s eyes. “How are you doing?” I know it’s not a question I’m supposed to answer.
I smile at her manners at any cost. Even when she’s pissed. “How was your day?” I ask, walking up to kiss her on the cheek. She sighs a dreamy little sigh, and her breath tickles the side of my neck.
“It was good. Just getting ready for some military men to take over my airport tomorrow. What about you? How was your day?” She meets my gaze first and then Leif’s. “This place hasn’t changed a bit,” she adds, looking around the foyer. “I love it. I wish you saw it back in its heyday.”
My friend has the good sense to look a little embarrassed, and I know whatever he says next will be either an apology or something completely inappropriate.
“Listen, Caroline. I want to apologize to you for the last time we spoke. My friends and I were out of line, and uh, everything is cleared up now. Obviously,” he warbles out, looking at me and then her again.
“I didn’t mean to offend you in any way. I-I…” Leif trails off.
“My friend assumed wrong,” I helpfully explain, because watching Leif make amends is about as painful as you’d expect from a man who doesn’t care about anyone except himself.
Caroline taps her Converse sneaker on the floor and chews her bottom lip.
“I want to get along with all of you guys,” she replies, voice light.
“I have to be around you now, and we’re in a working relationship regardless of the things you say.
Your forwardness was a shock, I admit, but I forgive you.
” She goes on to tell him a story about the bed and breakfast to take the sting away from his embarrassing moment—erasing the awkwardness in mere seconds.
It’s a trait that only some people have.
It should be considered more of a skill than a trait—a finesse, if you will.