“Well, he seems wonderful.” My mom poured wine into four glasses. Dad hadn’t appeared, but she clearly had hope that he would join us.
“Yeah… I, uh, had underestimated him. But it seems like he’s worth the risk.”
“What are you risking?” She lifted her own wine glass to her lips.
“Eh. Just getting involved, I guess.” I shrugged.
“Please get involved,” my mom said. “I need some grandchildren. None of your brothers seem like they’re going to help me out in that way.”
“Nope. Not happening here, either,” I said quickly. “Don’t pin those aspirations all on me just because I have a uterus.” I tried a sip of wine, but the smell of it made my stomach turn.
My mom let out a sigh. “I get it. Your career is important. I’d just hoped now that you’re out of the Navy…”
“Sorry, Mom. You’ll have to lean on my brothers for that. My career didn’t stop with the Navy.”
“Well, as long as you’re happy, sweetheart. That’s all I care about. So get involved for other reasons.”
“Mom!” I laughed.
“What? There’s nothing wrong with having a career and a relationship. They aren’t mutually exclusive.”
“You thought so,” I said then bit my tongue.
She shook her head and took a sip of her wine. “Being a wife didn’t mean I couldn’t have anything else. I picked what I wanted and have never been sorry about my decision.”
I popped another olive in my mouth, so I didn’t tell my mom that I didn’t want to have to pick. I wanted it all.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
KENNEDY
I’d liedwhen I told Quincy there was nothing we could do from here in San Diego to work her dad’s intel. There was something I could do. Something Ihadto do. But I didn’t want to include her, not because she was a woman, but because she wasn’t a SEAL. Hadn’t had Lincoln as a CO. Didn’t look up to the man. Respect him.
I did. Had.
While Quincy visited with her mom, I got on the horn with Ford.
“You’re fucking shitting me,” he’d said after I gave him the rundown.
I ran a hand through my hair, breathing in the salty air coming off the Pacific. I missed the tang, the thick marine layer that coated everything once darkness descended. The air in Montana was sharp and clear. There was no traffic. No crowds. It was quiet and peaceful, as a place. But all of us on the team were far from peaceful with the drug kingpin out there, and Ford’s dismissal still unresolved.
Maybe that was why we’d all enjoyed the emergency response drill the previous week. It was a glimpse of peaceful, of community and belonging that we all wanted, but couldn’t have until this one mission was complete.
“I believe him,” I replied. “He’s an asshole, but he loves his daughter and wants to see her safe. No way would he keep this shit from us, or give us a line, if she might be in danger.”
“Indi poked the hornet’s nest and look what happened,” he growled.
He still hadn’t gotten over learning she’d been up in the wilderness with that asshole. She’d been kidnapped and had saved herself until Ford had gotten there to finish him. No way would he want her to take on that burden, someone else’s death, no matter how much it was warranted.
“Which means if an admiral is snooping around, Williams and Lincoln should feel threatened.”
I could hear his sigh across the miles. “You really think Lincoln is a part of this?”
I shook my head even though he couldn’t see. The idea was something none of us had ever considered. Not once. “I don’t want him to be, but it makes sense. Steering us the way he wanted to keep us from the truth.”
“Puppets.”
“I’ll learn the truth. Tonight.” My voice was deep and final. My task for this job wasn’t to accompany Quincy this time. It was facing Lincoln.