“Okay… I see what you’re saying,” she admits finally, and at least I am beginning to hear a note of guilt in her voice. “I will go get your ID. Anything else you want me to do? I will bring Carson in case he gets fresh.”
“This is serious, Mona. All of this is serious.”
“I know. You’re right.”
“You have to quit that job.”
Silence hangs between us. I am reminded of something my dad has said a few times. Everybody makes choices.
When he says it, it always sounds sad. I doesn’t soun
d like some people pick the wrong ice cream flavor. It sounds like what he means is: everybody makes compromises they wish they didn’t have to make.
“So… Carson? Is he still around?” I ask, changing the subject.
“Why, yes he is!” she answers, brightening considerably. “And around… And around… And around…”
“Yeah, okay!” I laugh. “I don’t need details. Just as long as you are okay.”
“I am totally okay. I am more than okay. But I am going to go get your ID. I’ll text you when I’ve got it.”
“Okay, sounds good,” I answer. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay, bye.”
Once the call is disconnected, I start to get a sense of the mess I have found myself in. Why didn’t I just go to Krazy Mart, like I had planned?
But turning around, I see the rumpled bed again and remember there were definitely a couple of positive things that came out of that.
A couple of huge, positive things.
And I still don’t have any clothes.
I should go say hello.
Chapter 14
Libby
Dragging the top sheet off the bed, I wrap it around my body just under my arms and set out to find where that delicious smell is coming from.
I don’t know how I know, but I am sure that is Will behind the counter, standing over the stove with his head bent in concentration. Shirtless and gleaming, I relish the sight of his thickly muscled back. The perfect shapes of his strong body belong in one of my biology textbooks. He looks like a diagram. I can point out each of the muscles from the base of his skull to the bottom of his spine. It’s mesmerizing.
And it’s kind of weird, because I’ve been surrounded by soldiers for my whole life. I never really took the time to look at them. Now I have to wonder if they all look like this.
Maybe just these two.
The guys have always been more or less explicitly off-limits. With my dad being an officer, he never even had to tell me that there was a line there. Was he being protective? Probably.
I suddenly remember that Cass and Will both know who my father is. They both sprang to protect me. Out of loyalty or duty, explicit or implicit, I couldn’t guess.
Kind of awesome, when you think about it.
“You should eat something,” he says without turning around.
My cheeks burn from grinning so hard.
“Should I?” I ask innocently. “Like what?”