SEAL Of My Heart (17 page)

Ollie ran ahead of him back into the two-story office building that had formerly been military housing. Interior bathrooms had been decommissioned to serve as storage closets. Timmons had stuffed his storage closet full as well.

“Think we’re going to need more boxes, fellas,” Timmons barked.

“I’ll go,” Frank volunteered.

Timmons handed him a twenty from his wallet. “Think we’ll need another roll of bubble wrap too, son.”

Tyler examined the walls. T.J. had just removed the picture frames from the walls, and the stack on Timmons’s desk was nearly two feet high, with two more large moving boxes stacked with unwrapped frames standing up like poster board in an art store. “Geez, Timmons. Had no idea you had all this shit. You’d need to rent a hall to put all this crap up. A Timmons family museum.”

“That’ll fuckin’ never happen.” Timmons looked over the project with fondness, unlike everyone else. “I’ll sort through them and pick one or two to display. But the rest? They’ll just sit there until my wife carts them off to Goodwill or the Salvation Army. If I could, I’d be buried with all this.” He chuckled to himself. “Now wouldn’t that make a movie? A man with this huge burial plot big enough for all his man stuff no one else gave a flying fuck about.”

“Maybe your daughter will want some of these things,” Tyler answered.

“Love her to death, but Cassie’s interest in the military stops and starts with you guys running down the beach. Besides, her apartment is nearly this small,” he said, stretching his arms out to the sides.

“And does she like dolls too?” Tyler asked.

“Hell, no. And she thinks her mom’s nuts, God bless her.”

Tyler let the
new guys escort Timmons home with his stash. They’d have to come back tomorrow to finish the details and sweep clean the office. He returned to his sparse apartment and thought about what he should to do to make it cozier. He’d need a couch. A recliner for watching TV. He wondered if Kate ever watched TV. Then he wondered what her favorite programs were. He might need to get cable to entertain her. But not yet. Not until he was back from deployment.

The bed was good though. King size. He hadn’t scrimped on that one, although it cost nearly a month’s pay to get it and the box spring which sat directly on the ground. The “panther eyes” black fuzzy blanket had seemed just the thing at the time, but now he wanted some new sheets and perhaps a comforter. Girls liked comforters, he thought. Something in a print, not too feminine. Maybe something in a fresh green.

His bathroom towels were a dingy grey and had strings of cotton hanging down that would need to be trimmed. Hell, he needed new, fluffy towels. If she ever visited him, no way would he allow her lovely flesh to be wiped down by these grimy, scratchy rags. Something again in a light green color would be nice—or ivory. That wouldn’t look too feminine. He also didn’t want to catch hell for decorating from Luke or one of his other best buds. No, solid neutral colors were the order of the day.

He knew he had lots of adjusting to do, but he’d take it little by little. One thing at a time. Since he’d never fallen in love before, everything was new, and when new things came along it was best to take them one at a time, let each thing settle in.

He didn’t feel like going out tonight, so sat on the bed, propped the pillows, grabbed a pad of paper, and settled down to write Kate a letter he could post tomorrow morning. Maybe she’d get it by Friday night. If not, he’d read it to her on Saturday. He wanted to communicate with her in the intimate way his mind worked when he put words on paper. Somehow, the act of writing softened him, helped him pour out his soul.

Kate,

I’m lying here on my bed thinking about you. Long before you come visit me here, I plan on making some changes so this place doesn’t look so depressing. It’s a typical bachelor pad. My mom would love helping me get some color into this place, and maybe lend me some of her paintings. Funny how I never thought of these things before now.

I’m aching to see you again. You make me feel wonderful, like a high school kid again. I’m noticing couples everywhere and I miss you. I feel your hand in mine, the softness of all those places on your body I love to kiss. I can’t help it, I’m a guy and a certain body part misses you too. Hope that doesn’t offend you. But it’s the truth.

We helped our liaison officer close down his office and move home to retirement today. Was kind of sad, really. The man has been here the entire time I’ve been on the Teams, sort of the guy who kept us out of trouble and helped if we needed any special favors. And we checked in with him, not as much as we do our LPO, that’s our Leading Petty Officer, who goes with us on missions, but he was the guy at home who ran interference for us.

But it is sad that he’s going home to what I feel is an early grave. He has a daughter who doesn’t live with him, but his wife is a complete nut job. We get the impression he won’t have it easy being around that woman so much every day. Hope he can find more time to be with his daughter. Maybe that will happen.

Sorry, didn’t want to write about a downer. But it did make me think about what would be next for me if I ever got off the Teams. None of us like to think about that, and the word is if we start thinking about it, we’re already halfway out. I’m not ready yet to give up this community. There are things I’d miss. Most guys don’t usually stay in very long. Only a handful. But today I don’t have to think about it. All I want to do is dream about what we’ll be doing when I see you Friday night.

I can hardly wait.

Don’t bother writing me back. I want you to tell me in person. LOL. Until then, I’m going to think real hard about what that will feel like and sound like.

Tyler

He quickly scribbled the address Kate had given him on the outside of a small white envelope, found a stamp, ran downstairs and mailed it after making sure the mail hadn’t been picked up yet.

‡

T
here were only
three other cars in the visitor parking lot, so Kate pulled in next to one of them instead of going behind the building and parking in the dusty gravel employee lot.

The afternoon had warmed up so much she was grateful her newly-washed hair was still damp, but inside the twelve-foot carved oak doors of the tasting room the air was nearly ice cold. She’d worn a sleeveless silk top over her black skinny jeans, out of respect for the black and white dress code of the winery staff, but now wished she’d worn a sweater. Luckily she didn’t intend to work. She was just going to drop by the office and check her employee box for her check and perhaps a notice of some kind.

She found neither. Then Sheila looked up from her books and seemed surprised to see her.

“Oh, Kate! I thought you wouldn’t be in until tomorrow,” she said over the top of her red rhinestone reading glasses. Kate had never noticed she wore them before.

“Changed my mind. You have my check?”

“I’m sorry, Kate. I didn’t—”

“Hello, Kate.”

Kate whirled around and there was Randy, leaning against the doorframe. His arms were crossed across his chest, his hands in leather gloves. Over his shoulder Kate saw Sheila’s shake her head from side to side, eyes wide and rolling. “Randy! You scared me to death.”

Randy dropped his arms and walked deliberately toward Kate. “Nice to see you, sweetheart. You look ravishing.” His eyes were sparkling, but a little too wild for her. Kate picked up he was nursing some serious pain, and perhaps more than a small amount of anger.

He stopped in front of her and allowed a slight glance up and down her body, just enough to notice she was wearing black and white. One eyebrow rose. The smile that sneaked across his lips was an afterthought. “I thought you’d want the day to recover from your exertions of the weekend.”

Anger flared like a hot poker up her spine. There was only one place he could have gotten the information about her meeting another man: Sheila. Her friend looked down, examining her paperwork, shrugged and sighed without making eye contact.

“I was on the schedule until this morning. So I came in to handle the open enrollment forms and get my paycheck.”

“So you intend to work for me still?”

“Well, ye-es. I didn’t hear otherwise. Forgive me if I’m wrong. I just assumed—”

“I convinced my folks to keep you on until we could get all this sorted out. But that was before I learned you’ve been screwing someone else.”

Sheila straightened her spine and made her rolling office chair squeak, apparently deciding she wanted to be anywhere but in the room between the two ex-lovers.

“That’s not fair, Randy. I’m afraid it’s a little more than that.”

“Really?” he asked. “So you’ve known this guy, what, more than four days, then?”

“I’m not comfortable talking about it right now. Can I just get my check and perhaps we could discuss this when your parents are present? After all, I do work for
them
.”

Randy and Sheila exchanged a look. “You wouldn’t even have a job here if it wasn’t for me, Kate. You sure as hell know that, don’t you?” Randy’s expression was smug. Not bitter.

Kate didn’t want to pick a fight. “Randy, I’m not here to cause a scene—”

“You think this is a scene?”

She looked around the walls, as if hoping to see some opening, a window she could fly out of. The oppressive adobe walls of this fortress, a former storage yard during the Mission period of California, pressed against her and made it difficult to breathe. As much as she wanted to keep the peace, Randy would be in charge of the conversation and whether or not it escalated. She could only hope he’d decide to be reasonable.

She allowed him to walk close enough that she could smell his wine breath. She’d remembered at one time thinking it smelled pleasant and didn’t mind the way his speech slurred when he talked to her in a low rumble. But today his behavior triggered warning bells. She didn’t like that he might be slightly drunk and therefore out of control.

“I gave you everything, Kate. My heart. My family’s support.” She saw him searching her face, felt him twirling her hair between his two fingers. “They accepted you as one of their own. I wanted to build my dynasty with you. My kingdom. You were going to be my queen.”

Hair at the back of her neck bristled. Their lips were close to touching, and she looked him honestly in the eyes, unafraid. Before she stepped back, she said, “Wrong girl.”

She wouldn’t have said it if he hadn’t been so creepy with the pseudo-affectionate messing with her hair, the lack of respect for her space, like he owned her. She wanted to make sure, in front of a witness, the message was delivered:
I’m done.

He did have a deer-in-the-headlights look to him when she distanced herself safely. His eyes blinked. From her peripheral vision she saw his left fist tighten at his side and then release. He’d inhaled, filling his lungs with what he wanted her to think was courage. The transparent act did little to cover up the anger she saw lurking there as his breath hitched slightly.

Kate’s heart was pumping wildly. The standoff felt dangerous, a quiet before the storm sort of thing. Then she remembered her key.

“I need my key back, Randy. I don’t want you to go over to my place without me there to let you in. Understood?”

He squinted for a second before answering. “I’ve not been inside your place since before you left for Portland. I don’t do snooping, Kate. Up until recently, I had no reason not to trust you. Nothing I needed to check up.”

Kate knew it was a lie, but let it slide.

“All the same, I want it back. Please.”

Randy rocked back on his heels and produced a cluster of keys from his front pocket. Removing his leather glove, he detached her red key from the rest of them and handed it to her.

“Before you ask me, this is the only copy I have, Kate.”

She felt a little sheepish she’d planned to do exactly that. But she had. She still was convinced he had entered her place while she was gone, since Randy was the only one who had a key other than her landlords.

“Thank you,” she said softly. And then she remembered her paycheck. “Sheila doesn’t seem to have my check. Is there something I’ve not been told?”

Randy returned a sly smile. He was feigning compliance, agreement. “Unless Dad and Mom made a decision without consulting me, you’re still employed here,” he said. He leaned over to Sheila, and in his most seductive voice said, “Sheila, darling, would you mind giving Kate her check, honey?”

Sheila blushed. Kate felt sick to her stomach. She knew Randy had delivered it in an attempt to make her jealous. The opposite happened.

“Sorry, Kate. When I spoke to you earlier, I didn’t realize you were coming in today. I was working on quarterlies and figured I’d book the salary in next month’s figures, but no worries.”

“But I’m always paid on the fifteenth. This is the fifteenth,” Kate replied.

“Like I said, I’m sorry!” Sheila’s eyes got wide. “It will only take me a couple of minutes, if you both will leave my office and give me some peace and quiet.”