Chapter 9 #2
“This was such a good idea,” Emilee said after she’d taken a large sip of her slushy drink. She reached over and patted Kam’s hand. “I’m sorry Mike wasn’t here. I was really looking forward to meeting him.”
Noellyn giggled. “Yeah, excited to ask him to introduce you to some of his fellow SEALs.”
Emilee blushed. “Well, maybe the conversation would’ve gotten around to single men he works with. It was a possibility.”
“You should call him,” Noellyn encouraged. “Just check on him. Those men train really hard and maybe he pulled a muscle.”
“I agree, you should call him.” Emilee grinned. “You might offer to go massage his muscles.”
“Okay, okay.” Kam was already planning to call Mike. “I’ll do it when I get home,” she promised.
An hour later, freshly showered and dressed in her softest pajamas, Kam curled up in the corner of her couch and stared at her cell phone.
This was a big step. Neither had ever called the other.
There was something much more personal about an evening phone call.
But Mike was her…friend. And friends called to check on friends.
He wouldn’t have given her his number unless he expected her to use it at some point in time.
She ran through their last several conversations wondering if she’d said something to scare him away.
Maybe she’d been too rough on him in class, or he was tired of submitting to a woman.
Maybe she should have invited him to stay and have a drink with her after they cleared her house each time last week.
Maybe he thought following her home twice each week made her needy.
Maybe this was just his way of stepping away.
Maybe if she called him, he’d tell her the truth so she could quit second-guessing herself. She hadn’t felt this unsure since early in her marriage. Kam straightened her back. She was no longer that insecure woman.
I’ll never know unless I call .
Kam let out a long slow breath, found his number in her contacts, and dialed before she could change her mind.
“Commander Mike Gallagher.”
Shit . She hadn’t thought of him in all three words in nearly a month. His greeting was so formal. Maybe he didn’t have her programmed into his phone, so her name didn’t pop up on caller ID.
“Kam, are you all right?” Concern laced his voice.
“Yes. I’m fine.” His question had thrown her off. Of course, she was all right. She was worried about him. “I’m calling to see if you’re okay. When you didn’t make it to class, I became concerned.” Then she blurted out, “Did I say something or do something to cause you to stay away?”
“Hell, no. I didn’t make it to class…” She heard him sigh. “I got tied up here at work.”
“You’re still there?” One glance at her watch told her he’d been at work for nearly seventeen hours.
“Yes. And I’ll probably be here for several more hours.” Mike sounded tired.
“Okay, then. I just wanted to check and make sure you were all right.” She sounded lame, but it was the truth.
“I’m fine. Thanks for calling, Kam.”
Well, that was a dismissal if she’d ever heard one. “Take care of yourself, Mike. Bye.”
She lay in bed that night wondering if she’d ever see Commander Mike Gallagher again.
He’d become important to her. But she knew that people she’d let into her small circle could hurt her the most. Before she fell asleep, she decided the situation wasn’t worth another moment of her worry.
As he’d told her that first night, whatever happened, happened.
Kam had a morning routine that had changed little since moving to San Diego. She woke up early and went for a run around the neighborhood. Once home, she watched the morning news as she worked out with weights before stretching in cool-down. That morning was no different.
Half listening, in the midst of bicep curls, the talking head on the television announced that they had confirmation that Iranian General Farbod Ahmadi, second in command of the Shiite Army, had been killed in a bombing the night before along with twenty-seven of his troops.
The Supreme Leader of Iran was threatening retribution on the United States.
Later in the broadcast, it was announced that three Navy SEALs had been killed in a training exercise.
Kam dropped the weights.
She immediately went to her phone and hit redial.
“Commander Mike Gal?—”
Before he could finish his name, Kam asked, “Mike, were they yours? If so, I’m so sorry. Last night I obviously interrupted?—”
“Kam, you had no way of knowing.” He sounded even more tired than last night. “Yes, they were mine.”
“I’m so very sorry.” A lump formed in her throat, but she managed to get out, “I know what it’s like to lose a team member.
” Before she left Boston, a bust had gone from bad to disastrous within seconds.
Three members of the team she was on had been hit.
One was dead on the scene, one had been shot through the shoulder, but the bullet hit an artery, and a third shattered his femur.
“You really care.” Mike’s words were very soft.
“Of course I care. We’re friends.” Kam cringed knowing that she just shoved Mike into the friend zone. That’s not really where she wanted him. She could finally admit it to herself, she wanted him in her bed. Or his bed. Or a hotel bed. The floor might even work but she hated carpet burn.
“Did you really just friend-zone me?” The tiredness in his voice seemed to be replaced by teasing.
“No. Yes.” She wasn’t sure how to answer that question.
“Kam, about a month ago we agreed to see where this takes us. It’s my fault we’ve only been to supper after class. That’s what friends do, and I understand your thinking. I don’t want to be your friend anymore.”
Kam’s heart fell into her stomach and kept on going, ripping through her favorite girl parts before she realized he was still talking.
“Kam, I want to take you out to supper where we have to dress up in nice clothes and we shower first, so we don’t stink from an hour in the gym.
” He took a breath. “Kam, I’m going make reservations for Saturday night at the Hotel Del Coronado.
I’m coming over to your house and pick you up.
After that, I think we deserve a ride up the Pacific Coast Highway, or maybe we’ll just sit on the beach digging our toes into the warm sand and watch the sunset over the ocean. ”
Kam finally choked out, “That sounds wonderful.”
“Yeah, it does to me too.” He let out a long slow breath. “Kam, there has to be more to life.”
“I’m right there with you and will be Saturday night.” Without saying goodbye, Kam hung up the phone.