Chapter 4
CHAPTER 4
“So, Lizzie, what have you been up to for the last few years?” Jeff set a mug of coffee in front of his guest who immediately started to doctor it with the packets of sugar and creamer from the middle of the kitchen table. Some of his earliest memories were of his mother bringing her cup of coffee to the antique oak table that had sat in the curvature of the small bay window his entire life.
The natural wood surface had the scars from being well used by generations of his family for over a century. It had arrived from his grandparents’ house in farm country forty-five minutes to the east when his grandfather passed away from a heart attack. Not long afterward, his mother had been forced to sell the family farm to pay for his grandmother to be put into a senior living home that specialized in Alzheimer’s care.
Jeff remembered coming down for breakfast the morning after she had passed. His mother sat in her usual spot, but steam no longer rose from her coffee. With her index finger she traced several circles embedded in the hardwood. A small giggle escaped between tears. “Mama used to set her coffee down here, pull out her chair, but before she had time to sit and enjoy her first cup of the morning, Daddy would trudge in from morning chores and collapse in the chair at the other end. More times than not, he would knock the table, jiggling it enough to spill a few drops of her coffee over the brim. She never said a word, simply went on to cook breakfast for the whole family. After he was gone, during one of her more lucid periods, Mama told me the one thing she enjoyed most in life was the first hot cup of coffee every morning sitting by herself at this table.”
His own mother looked up then, tears streaking her cheeks, and stared directly into his eyes. “Your father hated this table. He begged me to get it refinished.” Jeff watched her eyes dart across the many rings, scratches, and nicks. “But that would erase all these memories. I couldn’t do it.”
Lizzie’s mug sat amidst stained circles made by his grandmother’s coffee and grandfather’s carelessness. He loved this table almost as much as his mother did.
He took his usual seat, which happened to be opposite her, hiding his grin by sipping his black coffee as she dumped two more packets into hers. His gaze immediately dropped to the table in front of him. For as long as he could remember, this was his spot. He’d come home from school, grab a snack from the fridge, and sit right there staring into the backyard. He did his homework there while his mother cooked supper. When his father got home and it was time to eat, that was still his seat. His eyes wandered to the pencil lead embedded in the wood from a preteen temper tantrum. Not far from there was a red mark left from an overzealous school project and a Sharpie. He’d left his own marks in the world on this table.
Grinning, he watched Lizzie stir what had to be several teaspoons of sugar and creamer into her coffee. It looked closer in color to hot chocolate than java. “Probably the last time we saw each other was at high school graduation.” A small smile crossed her pretty face as her comment brought him back to the present. “Or the party out at Holcomb Farm later that night.” She sipped her brew and grimaced before adding more creamer. While again stirring, she raised her eyes to meet his. “I think you were with Allison Crawford that night.”
Jeff shrugged, unsure of the memory. He dug deep and found it. “Yeah. We were still dating then.” He abruptly remembered that night. He’d brought his sleeping bag and laid it out far from the bonfire, right on the edge of the woods. After celebrating, socializing, and drinking for couple of hours, the two of them had crawled in and made love, not for the first time. He’d finally taken her home just before daybreak. A few weeks later he left for Plebe summer at the Naval Academy. Their long-distance relationship hadn’t lasted a month.
“She’s married to James Kirkland now,” Lizzie offered. “She’s pregnant with their third child. It might be their fourth.”
“Didn’t you date him our senior year?” He dug back into what had become ancient history for him. Four years at the Naval Academy including summer training, followed by a year at BUD/S, SEAL qualification school, had shoved high school memories so far back they seemed like obsolete Roman history. The longer he spent with Lizzie, the more he remembered. “I seem to recall the two of you went to prom together.”
She shook her head side to side. “Nope. That was our junior year. Senior year I went with Doug Kaczynski. He’s now trying to sell life insurance to anyone who will listen and married Nancy Morris about three years ago. She was a few years behind us in school. Do you remember Ken Morris? He was in our grade. Real quiet. Very smart. Nancy is his younger sister.”
“Sorry, I don’t remember her. Where’s Ken these days?” Not that he really cared, but the conversation was passing the time and kept Jeff’s mind off JT’s situation and his inability to do anything about it until he received the call from his commanding officer.
“He graduated from medical school at the University of Kansas a few years ago. He got one of those grants where they paid for all his schooling and in return he has to work in a rural area for a few years.” She rolled her eyes. “Not that he would ever leave this part of Kansas so that wasn’t a hardship for him. Although I have no idea where he’s practicing.”
Jeff realized she hadn’t answered his initial question, so he rephrased. “Where did you end up going to school?”
“University of Kansas,” she announced proudly. “Several kids from our class started at the same time I did, but only a couple of us ever graduated.” She sipped again before she continued, “I was really lucky finding a job here. My predecessor had only lasted two years before she quit and went back to school for a degree in accounting.”
“That’s a job I could never do,” Jeff admitted. He’d always been an adrenaline junkie. Unbeknownst to his mother, he and several other high school boys used to drag race just outside of town. They’d never bet pink slips like in the movies. Ten bucks was about the limit. “I couldn’t stand to be stuck behind a desk all day, say nothing about staring at numbers for eight hours.” No way in hell. He needed action.
He could stay completely still if he was hunting, though. His grandfather on his father’s side taught him to hunt everything from deer and elk to turkey and pheasant. His father hated hunting and the farm he’d grown up on. He preferred what the locals referred to as city clothes over jeans, barn boots, and Carhartt jackets. It was no surprise to anyone when his father moved on to Kansas City, a new life that included a new wife and a new family, one Jeff had never been asked to visit. His father had now been gone longer than he’d ever been around. Fortunately for Jeff, Pawpaw Arwood loved his only grandson and enjoyed teaching him to hunt and fish. He, too, was now gone, leaving Jeff only memories thanks to the selfishness of his father.
Once his grandfather had realized his time on this earth was limited, he’d promised that Jeff would inherit his gun collection. His father, a spoiled only child, had sold everything from the livestock to the line on his grandfather’s favorite fishing pole, at auction. When Jeff asked about the guns, his father simply said, “If the son of a bitch had wanted you to have them, he should have put it in the will.” His father had turned away, his salesman’s smile directed at the manager of the large corporate farm down the road. That was his final interaction with his father.
“So,” Lizzie drew out the word once again bringing him back to reality. “Are you dating anyone?”
Jeff had never been a one-night stand kind of guy. During SEAL training he really hadn’t had the opportunity to date anyone. The local bars were filled with base bunnies who were looking for one of two things: another notch on their bedpost for fucking another SEAL or a dependent ID card. At twenty-six, an officer in the U.S. Navy, he knew better than to get sucked into that scene. “I’ve been too busy with training. And I’ve just moved from the West Coast to the East Coast. I’m now stationed near Virginia Beach.”
He hadn’t been there even long enough to scope out the area. He’d taken an available room at the Bachelor Officer Quarters. Although it wasn’t much bigger than the room he’d lived in during training, he had every intention of finding a place to live off base now that he was permanently attached to Team 4. The BOQ would never be a place he’d think of as home.
Jeff turned the tables. “How about you? Who are you dating these days?”
Lizzie huffed. “Although I’ve been back a couple of years, the dating scene hasn’t changed since we left high school. Many of the kids we went to school with got married within the first year after graduation. A lot of those marriages didn’t last.” She giggled. “It seems like many of them just traded wives. The few men who aren’t married…well, there’s a reason no woman has taken them on permanently.”
She shrugged before she continued, “I’ve had a lot of first dates over the last couple of years. I’ve even had a few second dates.” She stared at her coffee before she admitted, “Most men, when they realize I have a college degree and a solid job with the state, are intimidated. I make more money than they do. I own a home. Well, me and the bank. I’m not interested in going to bars and drinking until I can’t think straight. My job frowns upon things like that, not that I would do it anyway. That’s just not my scene. I’d rather stay home and curl up in front of the fireplace with a good book on a Saturday night.”
“Knowing this area, I can see that’s a real problem for you. Have you thought about moving to somewhere more populated?” Jeff suggested.
“Not until lately.” She sipped her coffee. “I had always planned on coming back here. There’s such a need in this area. But I always figured my family would be here. It didn’t bother me when my brother took a job in Iowa and moved his wife and boys there. I was still in college at the time. I was still okay when my sister got married and they moved to California. No one was more shocked when my parents retired, sold their house, and moved to Florida.” She held his gaze. “There’s no one keeping me in Kansas anymore.” She rolled her lips between her teeth as though fighting emotion. “It’s kind of lonely. That’s why I’m going to Florida for Christmas. I plan on checking things out while I’m down there.”
Jeff hoped his smile was encouraging. “People everywhere need social services. It might not be doing the same thing you’re doing here because the demographic is different.”
“Sometimes I hate doing this job. JT is a perfect example.” Lizzie downed the last of her coffee and stood. She made a production of looking at her watch. “I really need to get back to the office. JT’s paperwork may have come through. It’s the last thing I must deal with before I can leave for Florida. You’ll call me when you hear something from your commander guy?”
“Sure.” After I get JT from the Cantrells’ home.
She wrestled into her puffy coat and pulled her knit cap over her pretty auburn curls. Jeff wondered if they were as soft as they looked. She wound the matching scarf around her neck before sliding her fingers into lined driving gloves.
“Thanks for the coffee.” She turned and headed to the front door.
“I’ll walk you out,” he offered.
Lizzie shook her head. “It’s getting ugly out there and you’re in your uniform.” She gave him a hopeful smile and held out her hand. “It was great seeing you. Thanks again for the coffee.”
Automatically, he took her gloved hand and shook it. “Be careful driving. Like you said, it’s getting ugly out there.”
She giggled. “I’ve been driving in this crap for years. You’re the one who needs to be careful driving. I’m pretty sure Annapolis and San Diego don’t get weather like we do here in Kansas.”
He chuckled. “You’re right about that.” He stood in the doorway and watched to be sure she got into her car, and it started. He waved one last time before he closed the door, but stepped over to the side panel to watch her back out of the driveway that was quickly accumulating snow.
Glancing down at his uniform, he decided the next order of business was to get out of it and into something much more comfortable.
Jeff had just zipped the dress uniform into its hanging bag when the house telephone rang. Since there was no phone in his childhood bedroom, he jogged down the hall to his mother’s room.
“Arwood residence. This is Jeff.”
“Lieutenant Arwood, this is Commander Carson.”
“Yes, sir.” Jeff hoped it was good news for JT.
“I wanted to let you know that I’ve spoken with Alex Wolf, a.k.a. Alejandro Lobo, the intended recipient of the second letter. Before he could make a commitment as to the future of Tyler Malone’s son, he needed to speak with his new wife. Once I have his decision, I’ll personally call you.”
“Sir, I’m a little confused as to the man’s name.”
The commander chuckled. “Not surprising. He legally changed his name to Alex Wolf when he left military service. He’s no longer married to Rachelle, the woman mentioned in the letter. He has a new wife.” There was a long pause before he continued. “He has married Tyler Malone’s widow, Katlin Callahan. I’m sure you can now understand the complication.”
Oh, fuck.
“Sir, Lizzie,” he quickly corrected himself, “Elizabeth Hopewell, the social worker, is going to have to investigate them should they decide to take JT. Do you believe them to be good people?”
This time the commander laughed. “Look up Alex Wolf at Guardian Security. Judge for yourself. Lieutenant, I’ll call you as soon as I hear from him. CO Team 4 out.” The call went dead.
After returning the hand piece to the phone, he grabbed his laptop and jogged to the kitchen to retrieve the portable phone. At his usual place at the kitchen table, he typed in Alex Wolf Guardian Security in the search bar.
“Holy fuck,” he mumbled ten minutes later.