Evolving Dreams (New Beginnings Series) (5 page)

“Who’s Elizabeth Bennett?”

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t go with my first instinct last night and suggest I read aloud selections from
Pride and Prejudice
to you and Charley. You’re obviously not a Jane Austen fan,” she laughed. “Somehow I knew you guys would appreciate a Will Ferrell movie, though.”

“Ah. Jane Austen . . . I have to admit I’ve never read her books.”

“Or seen the movies either, I bet. You don’t know what you’re missing there. Some of them are pretty good.”

“I think I had a girlfriend once who insisted we go see one. I can’t remember which one—the movie, not the girlfriend. But alas, we were too late and missed it. Slow waiter at dinner.”

“That’s too bad. I’m sure you were really disappointed,” Meg laughed up at him.

Trace slid his finger under a wisp of auburn hair blowing across her face and slid it behind her ear. The smile faded from her face and her breath caught.

“I guess you’re getting ready for your trip, huh?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’ve got to go in a few minutes. We’ll have a lot of gear to get packed up and on the plane before we take off. You’ll be okay here, right? Mi casa es su casa.”

“Sure. I have plans to do laundry tomorrow morning. It’ll be great. No . . . really I’m going to meet my new friend, Anthony, for lunch. Then he’s taking me to this museum he loves to see a new exhibit. The rest of my weekend will be low-key, I think. I’ll work on some choreography for the showcase too. I’m hoping Sean will be around enough to work with me on that.”

“Sounds like a full weekend. Not as exciting as mine, but that’s just how it goes,” he smiled. “I would love to see that museum exhibit, though,” he teased.

“Come on . . . I have a feeling you’re a lot more cultured that you let on . . .”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence . . .” Trace broke in.

“ . . . but it
is
a costume and textile exhibit so I’m going to assume you wouldn’t be interested in that,” she finished.

They both chuckled. Trace reached his arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick one-armed hug. “I gotta get going.”

The hug had startled her. “Oh, okay. Have a good trip and be safe. See you Sunday.”

He stared into her bright green eyes for a long moment. “I’m
gonna miss you,” he said then stood up and moved quickly toward the house.

Meg turned to watch him walk away from her toward the back door, the tips of his sandy hair blowing in the breeze. She sat there stunned as she realized how much she was going to miss him too. This was starting to feel like a lot more than a crush. What was she doing? After several minutes she heard his Jeep start up and drive away. She stood up and walked into the house to wake Sean for the day.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

“Here’s the rest of the paperwork, Petty Officer McKenna.” The sailor handed the packet off to Trace and turned to answer a ringing phone. Trace left the office and headed back down the hallway.

Sonny was coming up the hall to meet him. “We’re ready to head over to the airfield. Got everything?”

“This is the last of it. Let’s go.”

“You seem down in the dumps. Everything okay? I don’t see your devilish smile. Not looking forward to tormenting the feds?”

“Oh no, that’s always fun,” Trace grinned. “I’m fine.”

Sonny looked over at him as they jumped into the vehicle and shook his head. “I’ve seen that look on a few of the guys’ faces. Even seen it in the mirror a couple of times. Who is she? There’s someone you don’t want to leave. Never thought I’d see that look on
your
face, though.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh my g . . . it’s Meg! It’s Meg isn’t it?”

Trace glared at him. “What?”

“Don’t play dumb. You really like her. Admit it.”

“Of course I like her. What’s not to like? She’s fun.”

“Come on, McKenna. If you can talk to anyone about anything, it’s me.”

Trace blew out a breath. “Okay. I don’t know what’s going on. I like her a lot. Too much for the short amount of time I’ve known her. I just know I’m going to get hurt. I’m falling for someone who is going to be gone in another five weeks or so. But I just can’t stay away from her. I think to myself, ‘Just go out for a steak with the guys. You don’t have to go straight home.’ But the end of the day rolls around and all I can think of is getting home to see her.” He looked at Sonny with desperate eyes. “What should I do?”

“Don’t panic. That’s the first thing. There’s nothing wrong with just hanging out with her. She’s a great girl from what I’ve seen. At least going into it you know it’s a temporary thing. That’s usually your number one rule with girls—to make sure they know a relationship with you is going to be temporary. This time you don’t have to deal with someone who is going to fight you on it or try to prove you wrong.”

“I know! I should be relieved, right?”

“It may be because she’s staying with you and you see her all the time. She’s planted more firmly in your life than your other girls have been.”

Trace looked relieved. “Yeah. Maybe it’s just a new situation and I’m worrying about it too much.”

Sonny nodded, “Look, you’ve got a couple of days away from her and you know we’re going to be so busy none of us will even have time to think of home. Let’s just have some fun and you can see how you feel when you get back and see her. Okay?”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Meg’s trip to the museum
was a fun distraction. She walked down the front steps on Anthony’s arm with Tobi on his other arm. Tobi had surprised them when she had met them in the front lobby. “I decided I didn’t feel like cleaning and grocery shopping this afternoon anyway so I thought I’d horn in on you two,” she had laughed as she walked up to them.

Meg and Anthony had been thrilled to see her and they spent a good three hours traipsing through the galleries, with most of their time spent with the costume display. They left feeling inspired and Meg had gotten their promises that they would help out on her showcase team. They had already thrown out some good ideas for staging and she ensured them she would be getting a meeting schedule worked up as soon as she and Sean filled out the rest of the team.

“Well, Meg, thanks for meeting me for lunch and hanging out this afternoon,” Anthony gave her a peck on the cheek. “And you,” he said as he kissed Tobi’s cheek. “It was a great surprise finding you here. I gotta go. Will you girls be able to get home okay or do I need to lead you out?”

“I know where I’m going . . . can’t put the groceries off any longer,” Tobi said drily.

“I think I can find my way out. Thank you, Anthony! I had a great time,” Meg squeezed his hand. He trotted down the rest of the front entrance steps and headed to the parking lot with a wave.

Meg looked at Tobi. “Hey, where are you going to do your shopping? I might come along with you—if you don’t mind. I could pick up a few things myself.”

“That would be great. It’ll be more fun if you come along. Not so much like work, but more like a party.”

“Let’s go. Should I just follow you?”

They decided to take Tobi’s car to the store and come back to the museum lot to pick up Meg’s afterward. The shopping probably took a lot longer than it should have. They did more visiting than shopping, but after a while they were done and went to pick up Meg’s car.

They were having such a good time that Meg had talked Tobi into dropping off her stuff and meeting her at the beach house. They each contributed some of their purchases and threw together a quick dinner. Meg had picked up lots of salad stuff and Tobi brought over some chicken, so they fixed up killer grilled chicken salads. Tobi also contributed a bottle of wine.

The girls were sitting out on the deck enjoying their wine and dinner. Tobi sighed and looked around. “This is a great spot . . . and what a cute house. If I lived here I’d never want to go to work.”

“Sure you would. You couldn’t
not
dance for very long,” Meg said. “I’m the same way. But I have to say, I love coming back here every evening.” Just then the wind kicked up. “I hope the sand blowing into our food doesn’t bother you. Do you want to move inside?”

“No, it’s not bothering me. Just a little crunch every now and then,” Tobi grinned. “This view is amazing.” They stared out at the sunset.

Meg had a mental flash of another view she was enjoying a little too much lately—sea-gray eyes that crinkled at the corners as a beautiful smile transformed those eyes to a clear blue. She was surprised at how much she was missing Trace. He’d only been gone a day and a half, but things just felt different with him gone.

“You just got real quiet and real serious. You okay?” Tobi asked.

“Oh, I’m fine.”

“It’s the brother, right?”

“What brother?”

“’What brother’ my foot. You know
who I’m talking about—Sean’s brother. Trace, right? You get all sparkly when you talk about him. And you look like a woman who misses her man.”

“He’s not ‘my man.’ What are you talking about? We’ve become really good friends. And I guess it is weird being here with him gone . . . but that’s it.” Meg set down her plate, stood up and walked over to lean against the railing. She fidgeted as if she were embarrassed.

Tobi looked concerned. “Honey, what’s going on? I was just teasing you. Oh, wow . . . you really like this guy!”

“I . . . I guess so. This is bad. I shouldn’t get attached to him, but I can’t help it. What am I going to do?”

“Why
can’t
you get attached to him? Because he’s Sean’s brother?”

“No, it’s not that. Although that could get complicated, couldn’t it? Oh no, I didn’t even think of that!” Meg said, her voice rising in panic.

“Okay . . . sit down and don’t freak out. Let’s not even think about that right now. Pretend I never said that and tell me why you think it’s not a good idea.”

“Well, I’m only here for six weeks—five weeks now—and then I’m leaving. Do I really want to leave a piece of my heart here? And he doesn’t do serious relationships. With his career he doesn’t feel like he can. I guess we’re both gypsies in different ways. Long distance serious relationships never work.”

“Well, you never know if you don’t try. It sounds like you’ve had some conversations about relationships. Does that mean he’s feeling an attachment to you? How does he feel?” Tobi asked.

Meg walked back over to sit down and turned toward Tobi. “Oh, my gosh. Why am I getting so freaked out? He probably doesn’t even feel that way toward me. I’m probably like . . . a friend . . . or a sister. I’m really jumping the gun.” She gave a weak laugh. “How embarrassing. I’m glad I’m talking this out with you first—before I humiliate myself and try to talk to him about it.”

“Just play it cool. Keep things status quo for now. You have nothing to worry about. You never know . . . he may come back tomorrow and it’ll feel completely different.” Tobi patted her hand.

“Maybe it’s Jack Thomas all over again,” Meg laughed.

“Who’s Jack Thomas?” Tobi looked confused.

“Jack Thomas . . . football team running back . . . sat next to me in English composition sophomore year in high school. He was voted ‘cutest boy’ our senior year. Asked me approximately four class-related questions all year and smiled at me every time. Winked at me once in the hallway my junior year.” Meg sighed, “He was dreamy.”

Tobi laughed, “Mine was Ernie Smith . . . captain of the debate team . . . to this day he’s the smartest guy I’ve ever known. Too shy to ask me out. I was too embarrassed to ask him out.”

“Captain of the debate team?”

“I have a thing for nerds. My dream man is probably an accountant. We don’t get to meet many nerds in our line of work,” Tobi chuckled. “Hey, if this thing with Trace works out for you, maybe he can introduce me to some computer geek from the Navy. The Navy recruits smart boys.”

Meg chuckled along with her. “Let’s just see how this plays out before anyone introduces anyone to anyone.”

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Meg was humming as she
slid the roast into the oven. She hadn’t felt so content in a long time. Her cell phone rang and she spun around to grab it off the bar.

“Hello?”

“Hey, sweetie. What’re you up to?” Meg smiled as she heard her mother’s voice.

“Hey, Mom. You’ll never guess—I’m just getting a roast into the oven.”

“Ooh, that sounds good. Wish I were there.”

“Me too.”

“You sound so happy!”

“I am! I went to church today for the first time since I was last home with you. We’re usually traveling on Sundays . . . or we have matinees to perform. And this church was awesome. I really liked it.”

“That’s great. How did you find it? Did you go with friends?”

“No, I drive by it every day on my way to the Institute. It’s a big Christian church and I just decided this was my chance. Everyone was so friendly. It didn’t feel like big churches sometimes feel. You know what I mean? The worship time was great—really good music and I loved the preaching too. I think I’ll go back for as long as I’m here.”