Chapter 22
T hat night the local jail received six anonymous prisoner donations, dumped on the doorstep with a note that read, “Please take care of our boys. We can no longer care for them as they need to be cared for. The big one likes to be punched regularly. Sincerely, a loving mom.”
The atmosphere was festive on the drive back to the ranch. It was over, and things couldn’t have gone better. And then they arrived back at the house and saw Cal standing on the steps, arms crossed over his chest. The party atmosphere faded and died and they trooped silently from the trucks.
He regarded them with a glare a moment before speaking. “Ethan, Frog, Shimmer, Jones.” They had only met once at Maggie and Cam’s wedding. He hadn’t seemed to be paying attention to their names, but apparently he had taken note.
“Did anyone else just pee their pants a little?” Jones whispered, causing the others to snort a muffled laugh.
“There’s Maggie’s pie and cake and cookies left, if y’all would like to go in and have some.” His eyes narrowed on Cam. “I’ll deal with you later. You stay,” he added to Bailey.
Bailey remained where she was, at the base of the stairs. Everyone else filed silently into the house.
“I take it things went well,” he said.
“Yes. Rodriguez is…”
He pressed his hands to his ears and shook his head. “I don’t want to hear it.”
She ran lightly up the steps, stopping on the step above him to give her a better height advantage, and peeled his hands from his ears. “Incarcerated,” she said loudly enough to be heard.
He blinked at her. “Oh.”
“You thought I went there to kill him in cold blood?” she guessed.
“Yes.”
“I can’t say I didn’t think about it. But that wasn’t the purpose of the mission.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, are you?”
“I’m groggy,” he said.
“Oh, right. Sorry about that.”
“I’m mad at you,” he informed her.
“You should be,” she agreed.
“You drugged me, you defied my wishes, and even wearing camo and grease paint you’re incredibly hot.” He picked her up.
She secured her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist. “That makes you mad?”
“No, it makes me mad I’m trying to yell at you but the hotness factor keeps getting in the way.”
“How do you think I made it through boot camp?” she asked. “What can I do to help you be un-mad at me?”
“I’m going to have to ponder on it a bit. In the meantime, I guess you’ll have to kiss me,” he said and kissed her.
Inside everyone stood at the window, eating sweets and blatantly watching Bailey and Cal. “I hope that’s not how he’s going to deal with the rest of us,” Jones said.
“Nah, he’d be hard pressed to pick you up, Jones,” Ethan said, smacking him in the gut.
“It’s all muscle,” Jones replied.
“Muscle jiggles now?” Shimmer interjected.
“Those are power vibrations,” Jones said. “I can’t help it my mom’s a good cook.”
“You could if you moved out of her basement,” Cam added.
“Jokes on you, LT, my mom kicked me out of her basement,” Jones said.
“You can live in our basement, Jonesie,” Maggie offered.
“Thanks, Maggie,” he said, giving her a one-armed hug around the neck.
“Who’s going to tell him they don’t have a basement?” Ethan stage whispered, and everyone snickered.
When the pie was finished, they frittered to bed to catch a few hours of sleep before they flew back home. Cam and Maggie curled up on the couch.
“I love it here,” she declared.
“I’m glad,” he said, pulling her into his lap and tucking her close. “Think you could live here fulltime?”
She paused. “I don’t know. As much as I enjoy it, it wouldn’t be an easy transition. And we’d have to leave Amelia and Ethan and Blue and Jane and The Colonel and all our other friends.”
“But we’d be here with Cal and, I’m assuming, Bailey. And then we’d still get to see the Colonel,” he pointed out.
She shifted to see him better. “Are you ready to leave your job?”
“No, but I have three years until my trust matures and then I’m going to have to decide if I’m going to sell out to Cal or keep my part of the ranch. And I’m honestly not sure what to do.”
“A lot can happen in three years.”
“I’ll say,” he said, giving her a squeeze. Three years ago he didn’t even know her, a fact that was unbelievable to him now. What was life like before Maggie? He had no idea. All he could remember was a big gray blob. He’d grown up on a ranch, gone to a prestigious university, been a decorated Navy SEAL, become a spy, and yet it felt like his life hadn’t started until he began sharing it with her.
“We haven’t stayed up all night in forever,” she said.
“I don’t think we’re going to make it now,” he said.
“It’s only two hours until sunrise,” she said.
“Baby, you’re going to be asleep before this conversation ends,” he said.
“No way, I can make it,” she said, yawning.
“That’s right, there’s no way you can make it,” he said, and she laughed. The sound of her laughter made him smile and he held her a little tighter.
“Did I tell you I love you today?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Did I tell you you’re in big trouble for taking point on the mission?”
“Yes.”
“Pretty sure not.”
“I knew you had me covered,” he said.
“You’re such a handsome liar. It’s confusing to my senses.” Now it was his turn to laugh while she smiled. “What do you think they’re doing out there?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say making out,” he said.
“Again?”
“Don’t you remember how we were in the beginning? When we couldn’t get enough of each other, when we couldn’t keep our hands to ourselves.”
“We’re like that now,” she reminded him.
“Ain’t life grand?” he asked, but she didn’t answer. In the time it took him to speak the words, she fell asleep.
On the porch, Bailey and Cal were arranged in a remarkably similar position, only they sat on the glider and his long legs rocked them gently back and forth.
“I should go wash my face,” she said without making any sort of move to leave.
“I think we’ve already established my deep interest in the grease paint,” he said.
“It’s a tad disturbing to me how vested you seem in canoodling a commando,” she said.
“I only like the ones with long hair and smoking hot bodies,” he said.
“You’ve described half the commandos I know,” she said. “Do you think we’ll make it until sunrise?”
“I know I will, thanks to my sedative-induced eight hour nap,” he said.
“You sound a little bitter for someone so well rested,” she said, and he gave her a squeeze. She took his hand and studied it, letting her fingers smooth over the callouses. She touched her callouses to his. “We’re bump buddies.”
“We’re hard working buddies,” he said. “I’ve never met a girl who can keep pace with branding for the entire day. The men were floored. I think they were taking bets on how soon you’d conk out.”
“I know. I bet I’d stay in the whole day. Won fifty bucks,” she said. “Always bet on yourself. That’s my motto.”
“You have a lot of mottos. I’m losing track,” he said.
“I’ll diagram them for you,” she said.
They watched the sun come up that way, bantering, talking about nothing. There was no mention of the fact that Bailey was scheduled to leave in a few hours, nor any mention of their relationship—present or future—beyond the mutual admission of feelings for each other.
Inside the SEAL team members began to stir. Bailey slipped away to take a shower while Cal and Maggie made breakfast. Maggie was the only non-military, non-cowboy in the room and therefore the only non-morning person. It was amusing to all of them to watch the usually perky and cheerful woman stumble around dazed and cranky, and they hounded her relentlessly for it.
“Quick, Maggie, what’s four plus seven?” Frog demanded.
“Coffee,” Maggie muttered.
“What’s the square root of nine?” Shimmer asked.
“I’m going to stop you right there. The answer to everything is coffee,” Maggie said.
“Who do you love the most?” Ethan tried.
She paused. “Cam, in a big field of coffee.” She sat and rested her head on the table while Cam rubbed her back and the other men in the group tried to goad her into further conversation.
“There’s something seriously wrong with all of you,” she mumbled, the sound muffled by her arm.
They ate together, sharing the familial sense of accomplishment only a successful mission can bring. Then they said goodbye. The SEAL team members returned to Lackland, ghosting away with no traces as if they’d never been there at all. Cam and Maggie were staying another day. They said goodbye to Bailey and made themselves scarce.
Sully would arrive soon. Cal needed to address the issues between them, but he kept putting it off.
“Your hair is down today,” he noted. “It’s the only time since you’ve been here, except for the dance.” They stood on the porch in each other’s embrace. His fingers sifted gently through her tresses.
“I’m not working today,” she explained.
“Why do you take your coffee black some days and others not?” he asked.
She gave him an enigmatic smile. “I’m going to leave you to puzzle over that one.”
“You understand that I want you here,” he said when he could put off the inevitable conversation no longer.
But Bailey understood nothing. How could he let her go with what was between them? Unless what was between them wasn’t what she thought. It was that possibility that held her back and kept her silent.
“It’s been a rough week, a rough couple of years, a rough decade. I feel like I need to get myself together,” he said.
“I understand. But you need to understand I’m not the kind of woman who waits around.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.
“I’ve been using Jinx’s mom’s blood pressure cuff to keep track of myself while I’m here. Every day my numbers have been perfect. If I can get clearance from a doctor, I can re-up my commission. If and when that happens, I can’t guarantee where I’ll be in a week, a month, a year. Surprisingly, the marines don’t much care about my love life.”
“Did it occur to you the reason your blood pressure is down is because you’re here and if you go back it’s going to go back up?”
“Yes, but now I know all I have to do to fix it is to spend a couple of weeks in the country. So I’ll actually use my vacation time and get away somewhere. Problem solved.”
She was frustrating him with her stubbornness, but he didn’t say so. Spending fifty weeks of the year on a job that brought her to death’s door was no way to live, in his opinion. But as he wasn’t able to offer her an alternative, he had no say in the matter.
“Sully’s going to be here soon,” she said and stood on her toes to kiss him. “Definitely going to miss those lips,” she added when the kiss was over. They’d had so little time to explore what was brewing between them.
“I do love you, Bailey. You know that,” he said.
“I think I do,” she replied, and he frowned. Did she not understand this was something he had to do? His wife of a decade was murdered mere days ago. It wasn’t the right time to start a new relationship. If only she would stay a while longer, give him more time…
Sully’s car turned up the long lane. They turned to face him, arm in arm.
“Y’all look like we’re about to play Red Rover,” Sully announced as he stepped form his truck. “You still going today?”
“Sure enough,” Bailey said, imitating his gentle twang.
“Well all right then. Say your goodbyes.”
“We already did,” Bailey said. She shouldered her duffle and stepped away from Cal. It would do no good to prolong the moment. They had said all they would allow themselves to say. She hopped up into the truck, without assistance this time, and faced forward, not allowing herself to look back as the truck wound its way back down the long lane.