Chapter Three
Lennon
I wait until she’s asleep, and I gently roll her over so I can slide out of the bed.
Shit .
I scrub my hands over my face as I throw my legs off the side and tap the screen on my phone sitting on the nightstand.
Two a.m.
Nana was expecting me hours ago. I’ve been staying with Wade, my best friend, since flying into town, and my family didn’t protest too much because they were preoccupied with the housewarming party and helping my brother pull off his surprise engagement, but I promised I’d spend the night with my grandparents on my last night before having to return to Virginia.
Since my last deployment, my busy work schedule hasn’t afforded me much time to spend at home the past few years. I wasn’t even around to help when our dad had a seizure and was forced to sit behind a desk at our family’s charter company due to an epilepsy diagnosis.
I’ve missed a lot of birthdays and holidays. Nana and Gramps aren’t getting any younger, and with the addition of Avie and Leia to the clan, I’ve been thinking a lot about my priorities as of late. I don’t want to miss any more important events.
All of my fellow career Navy men have married and started families of their own. I was too focused on the job and never cared to settle down, but now that I’m thirty-seven years old, soon to be thirty-eight, and my baby brother has a fiancée and a little girl of his own, I find myself longing for home for the first time since I set foot on the Naval Station Great Lakes for basic training twenty years ago.
I pad to the bathroom and close the door. I use the facilities and splash water on my face before exiting the bathroom to grab my phone and Nana’s spare cottage keys. I head to the living room as quietly as I can to retrieve my clothes.
Peeking out of the blinds, I see that the light is still on in Nana’s kitchen window, so I dress quickly and search the drawers of the desk under the window for a pen.
I scratch out a few lines on the back of an envelope I found.
Legs,
Nana was waiting up for me, so I had to run. Didn’t want to disturb you. Thanks for a great night.
Lennon
I leave the note on the island in the kitchen, where she is sure to see it, before slipping out the door.
Thanks for a great night?
I sound like a douchebag, but what else do you say after a night like that with a virtual stranger?
I sprint across the street and around the house to the steps that lead up to the back of my grandparents’ home.
When I walk inside, Nana, dressed in her housecoat and slippers, is sitting in the recliner with a book in her lap.
“Hey,” she greets me as I slip out of my shoes.
“Hey, Nana. Sorry it’s so late,” I whisper as I walk over and bend to kiss her on the cheek.
“It’s okay. You know I’m a night owl. How was the rest of the party?” she asks.
“Good. Leia hung in there as long as she could, and then Sebastian put her in bed and threw us all out,” I explain.
Her hand comes up and pats her chest above her heart. “I’m so happy for him.”
“Yeah, me too. Avie seems great,” I agree.
“She is. All three of those girls have worked their way right into our hearts,” she adds.
“Three?”
“Yes, Avie, Leia, and her friend, Amiya. They’re a package deal. Have been since they landed in Sandcastle Cove.”
“But the friend doesn’t live here, right?”
“No, but she’s here more often than not. I don’t think she’s gone more than two weeks without trekking it up to see the girls,” she says.
“They must be pretty tight.”
“Like you and Wade. Friends since school.”
“Wade and I go a lot longer than two weeks without seeing each other,” I remind her.
“True,” she quips and gives me a stern look, “but I get the impression that Avie and Leia are Amiya’s family. Speaking of which, it would be nice if my grandson did make it home more often.”
“Yeah, I know, Nana. I promise I’ll make more of an effort.”
She smiles, and her eyes brighten. “That’s all I ask.”
The two of us stay up for another hour, chatting while she makes us both a grilled cheese sandwich. She fills me in on all the local gossip, and I regale her with tales from the base.
Then, I catch a few winks in the bedroom Sebastian and I used to share almost every weekend when we were kids.
After breakfast, Wade and Eden pick me up. My duffel bag from his house is loaded in the back seat when I climb inside.
The three of us head over to Sebastian and Avie’s cabana, and Wade and I help Sebastian clean up the remnants of the night before while the girls play on the beach.
“So, what happened to you last night, bro?” Sebastian asks as we pick up empty bottles from various surfaces and toss them into garbage bags.
“What do you mean?”
He smirks at me. “Nana called me, looking for you, around one thirty this morning. Said she had tried your phone several times, but didn’t get an answer.”
I fish my phone from my pocket and make a show of tapping the screen. Of course, I already know Nana called. I was a bit busy at the time and didn’t realize it until I fetched my phone after my and Legs’ activities.
“What do you know? I did miss a couple of calls.” I shrug.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, not all of us are anchored to these damn things,” I say as I toss it onto the coffee table.
“Whatever, freak,” he says, then continues, “So, where were you? You guys left here at midnight. It doesn’t take an hour and a half to get across the island.”
“I was at the cottage,” I say carefully.
“I knew it,” he mumbles.
“It’s not a big deal,” I say.
“It’s all good,” he says.
“It was just a drunken hookup,” I start, and he tosses a hand up.
“Dude, you don’t have to explain. I mean it. Amiya’s cool. You don’t see her and Anson being all weird and possessive. I’m sure she’s not going to sweat it, and neither should you. Besides, if I don’t know details, I can’t be grilled by Avie.”
Anson?
“Grilled?”
“Yeah. Amiya’s her girl. They’re protective of each other.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
Like with Anson, apparently .
“Good to know. And like I said, Amiya’s cool as shit,” he reiterates.
I nod.
“Unless you want her to,” he says casually.
“No, I do not.”
“You sure?”
“Seb …”
He throws his hands in the air. “Okay, okay.”
When we finish filling the garbage bags, I tie them off and hoist them down to the outdoor bins while Sebastian and Wade move the furniture, which was moved to make room for dancing last night, back into place.
The girls rejoin us so I can pass out hugs before Wade and Eden take me to Wilmington to catch my flight.
“Here, don’t forget this.”
Sebastian hands me my phone, and I shove it into my pocket.
“Thanks.”
“I’ll let you know as soon as we set dates so you can make plans,” Avie says.
“Yeah, I can’t do anything without my best man,” Seb states.
“I’ll be here, brother. Promise.”
With one last slap on the back, we say our goodbyes, and I head to the airport.