Chapter 32
SOFIA
All around us, people laughed and drank. Haley and I sat at a table at our favorite beachside cafe with our feet in the sand and fruity cocktails in our hands.
Steam rose off the seafood platter between us, and the air was rich with the smell of garlic, spices, and fish being grilled on an open fire. The sun was high in the sky and humidity wrapped around me like a blanket.
It had all the makings of a good day, but my phone sat silent beside my plate. Just as silent as it had been for the better part of the week.
The only time there was any activity on it was when I got a message from Haley or an email alert from campus. My dad still wasn’t speaking to me, and apparently, neither was Lincoln.
I’d been trying to call him for days, but he hadn’t answered any of my calls. Even my messages remained unread. In fact, it was like he didn’t have his phone with him at all.
Worry licked at the edges of my mind, but I was probably just being paranoid. It was much more likely that he’d had some kind of showdown with my father and was now avoiding me while he cooled off.
“Have you talked to your dad about it?” Haley asked after swallowing a bite of her fried calamari. “Maybe he knows where Lincoln is or why he’s ghosting you.”
I shook my head, taking another sip of my cocktail. I knew from previous experience that the strawberry-flavored liquid was sweet and infused with the sharp bite of rum, but it was like my taste buds were broken.
“Dad won’t speak to me. He took off after our fight that day, was gone until after sunset, and has been out early every morning since. I’ve tried to ask him what’s going on at the base that requires him to be there all the damn time, but he just grunted and left.”
Her blonde brows pulled together. “It’s been days, though. You guys have never not spoken for that long.”
“I know.” I sighed, eyeing some or other puff on the platter. It looked good, but my stomach rebelled at the idea of eating it. “He’s really angry, and he’s shutting me out totally.”
Haley speared another bite of fish with her fork, then glanced at my plate. “Have you eaten at all? You’re looking thinner. I’m worried about you.”
“I’ve eaten. Just not much.” I tugged my lower lip between my teeth, closing my eyes when I felt tears stinging the backs of them. “I can’t seem to stomach the thought of eating a huge plate of food when neither of them are talking to me.”
“Lincoln has no reason to be upset with you, though,” she pointed out. “You were the one who faced the brunt of your father’s anger when he found out about the two of you. What does he have to be angry about?”
“I wish I knew, but I just don’t. I’ve asked, obviously, but he hasn’t said a word in return.
” My gaze drifted to the happy people around us.
I felt a total disconnect from them. It was like I was eating lunch at the same spot but in a parallel universe where I could only be on the outside looking in.
“I should’ve listened to you when you warned me about him. ”
Haley stopped chewing and swallowed hard, lifting her hands as she shook her head. “Don’t jump to conclusions. Firstly, because it’s not like you. Secondly, because this doesn’t sound to me like the usual shit the military guys pull.”
“Why not?” I pulled my head back, the corners of my mouth turning down. “Disappearing into thin air is exactly what they do, isn’t it? When they’re done with you, they just vanish.”
She shrugged, but uncertainty flickered in her soft brown gaze and the slight wrinkling of her nose. “Sure. From experience and from what we’ve heard, that seems to be their modus operandi, but something about the way all this went down and the timing just doesn’t feel right.”
“Yeah, I agree about the timing thing, but what else could it be?” I’d been racking my brain for days but hadn’t really come up with a plausible explanation.
The last time he’d gone radio silent was when he’d gone on that mission, but it wasn’t like he could be on another one. While I still didn’t know what had happened, I sure as hell doubted Linc had been sent into the midst of battle right now.
I might not know the other superior officers, but I did know my father. If his attitude toward Lincoln was anything like how the others felt about him, that guy was going to be on suspension for a long, long time.
“Maybe you try talking to your father again,” Haley suggested, pulling me back to the here and now. “Try reasoning with him. If you can’t, maybe just ask him to tell you whether Lincoln is okay.”
I nodded but rolled both lips into my mouth as I thought. “I’ve tried asking him that before, but you’re right. I should try again. On the other hand, if Linc has decided he’s done with me, I don’t want to be the creepy, clingy ex-fling that doesn’t know how to take a hint.”
She made a sound of disgust at the back of throat, then pointed toward me with the cocktail in her hand. “If he doesn’t have the balls to tell you it’s over like a real man would, he can’t label you as anything. Let alone a creepy clinger.”
“That’s how we see it, but it might not be how he sees it.”
Bringing her drink to her lips, she took a long sip and swallowed it slowly. When she brought her eyes to mine again and sat back in her chair, the uncertainty from before had given way to something much harder.
“I don’t give a damn how he sees it. You fell for him and he was there when it was happening. It’s not right to spend that much time with someone and then just disappear on them. If trying to find out the truth makes you a clinger, then he’s just going to have to deal with it.”
A fissure opened up in my heart. I really didn’t want to believe that was what was going on, but I was at a loss for what else it could be. Except, of course, for one other possibility. “Okay, but what if it’s got something to do with my dad? What if he threatened him to stay away from me?”
“Do you really think he would do that?” she asked. Hurt flashed in her eyes. “If he knew you were really happy with Lincoln, do you honestly think he would force him to stay away from you?”
Another thing gnawing at my insides was the fact that I knew Dad would do anything to keep Lincoln away from me. Regardless of how much Haley and I both loved him, I didn’t think it’d be above him.
“I don’t want to say yes, but it’s my honest answer. You didn’t see the way he reacted to the news. I’ve never seen him like that. Whatever happened during that last incident that involved Lincoln took my dad from disliking him to believing he’s the damn devil.”
“It’s that bad?” Haley’s voice was soft now. This conversation was obviously hurting her. She’d always had the utmost respect for my dad, and they were so alike that I had no doubt a part of her was taking it personally.
But as much as I adored my father, too, he was in the wrong this time. “It’s that bad. He really believes there is and can be nothing good about Lincoln. He thinks he’s dangerous and that the only person he ever thinks about is himself.”
“Could he be right?”
I shook my head firmly. “No, he’s not right. Whatever is going on right now, I know for a fact that he has a good heart. He cares deeply about his job and the other SEALs. He just has a different approach than the very militaristic, old-school approach favored by those in charge.”
“But doesn’t that make him dangerous?” She held up a hand when I opened my mouth. “Just hear me out. I’m not saying I agree with the old-school approach. I’m just saying that it’s been that way for years and years. There’s a reason it is that way and always will be.”
“Sure, but can it really be said that if someone gets the job done but plays by their own rules that they’re dangerous?”
As we debated, I suddenly realized that I believed wholeheartedly in my argument.
Haley, on the other hand, was obviously on the fence.
I knew she was only being a soundboard for me to reason it all out, though.
Playing devil’s advocate was an integral part of that, and I appreciated the role she was playing.
“I don’t really know what would constitute someone being dangerous to their teammates, but yeah, I’m willing to venture a guess that a person who disregards the rules could be.”
“He doesn’t disregard the rules, though.” I didn’t have to think. “It’s more that he interprets them a little more liberally than the rest of us.”
“Potato, potahto.” She frowned before releasing a soft sigh. “Look, I’m not saying he is dangerous, but let’s accept your father’s argument for a minute. Do you want to be with someone who might put you in danger?”
“Lincoln would never, ever put me in any danger. I know, believe, and trust him with everything I have inside me.” Passion fueled my words, and I felt the resolve that had been slowly trickling away from me during his absence returning with a vengeance.
“I might not know where he is or why he’s being quiet, but I know for a fact that he isn’t a danger to me or to anybody else. ”
My cheeks flushed and my chin lifted higher as the resolve built in my chest. “Maybe he plays fast and loose with the rules sometimes. Maybe he makes them up as he goes along and does what he thinks is best in any given situation, but I know he would never do anything that would result in anybody getting hurt.”
“Are you included in that anybody?” she asked, the corners of her mouth tipping up. “Because if you are and he’s not ghosting you to hurt you, then where the hell is he?”
“That’s what I plan on finding out.”
Haley’s smile widened. “There’s my girl. I almost didn’t recognize you for a minute there.”
“Thanks for making me realize that I couldn’t keep sitting back anymore. I know it’s only been a few days, but I really shouldn’t have been having a pity party because no one would speak to me.”
“That’s what friends are for.” She scooted forward on her chair and propped her elbows on the counter, rubbing her palms together like an evil villain coming up with a plan might. “So what are we going to do? Should we go to Lincoln’s house first? Maybe we can catch him there and demand answers.”
“I’ve tried that. He’s not there. I went to the hotel he used to stay at, too. No dice.” Frustration hardened my voice. “Where else could I try? Any ideas?”
“One,” she said, amusement flashing in her eyes. “Maybe your dad shipped him off overseas.”
It was meant to be a joke, but something clicked into place in my head. “Maybe not overseas, but what if Dad had him shipped off somewhere for real?”
Haley’s amusement vanished in an instant and her eyes widened to the point that I could see the whites all the way around her irises. “Do you really think so?”
“I don’t know, but I have to speak to my dad. He’s been avoiding me, and I think we might just have figured out why.”