Her Loyal Seal (11 page)

“Papa’s involvement started in middle school so it was just a part of life. There were a couple of odd things I thought about when I was taking the Criminology classes, but I was trying to double major and graduate early, so I laughed it off. I figured it was just my over-active imagination. I was
so
stupid.”

“Not stupid, just a normal kid. We always believe the best out of our parents.”

“I can’t believe I wore blinders like I did. I feel like I was a partner to his crimes.”

“You can’t feel that way, Lydia. If you’d really suspected something and turned a blind eye, then you would have a reason to feel guilty.” He glanced at her and saw she was considering his words.

“Hey, look at the sign. It looks like we finally found the perfect greasy spoon.” Clint took the exit and grinned. He parked next to a big rig truck in no time. He loved the name of the place, Tal-A-See-It-Burgers.

Lydia turned quite a few heads as they made their way in. The yellow sun dress set off her warm brown skin, and the fall of black curls down her back made her look like a beauty queen. Clint put his arm around her as they were guided to a booth near the window.

The waitress put the menus and napkin wrapped silverware in front of them. Lydia immediately unwrapped hers and looked at the spoon. She gave him an arch look.

“Okay, okay, I don’t even know where the saying comes from. But when Mom and Dad would pack up my sister, brother and I on a road trip they would always look for some diner. The trick was to find one where there were a lot of truckers, because they would know where to find the good food. Dad used to call them ‘greasy spoons’. Even more of a score is if they had a cool name. So this should be great!”

“I’m sold because the utensils are clean.” They looked up as the waitress came over and brought them glasses of water.

“I’ll be right back to take your orders.”

Clint grinned when he saw breakfast was served all day. They left the hotel in Georgia at noon. Lydia slept in, and Clint enjoyed the morning just holding her. They ate some muffins and bananas stashed in the RV, but he was ready for a heaping plate of food. He’d love to see Lydia really eat a full meal as well.

When the waitress came back he ordered the steak and eggs.

“Do grits come with that?”

“You bet they do, handsome.”

“I’d love a side of buttermilk pancakes as well.” The waitress grinned as she wrote down his order, then she turned to Lydia.

“Now don’t disappoint me and say you just want fruit and coffee.”

Lydia laughed. “Oh no, I believe in eating. I want your pecan waffles and some bacon. But please don’t hold it against me if I don’t finish.”

“You’ll get points for trying. Coffee and orange juice?”

“I’d love some milk too,” Lydia said as she handed the woman her menu.

“Coming right up.”

The food came hot and fresh and fast. Clint lost the fight over the maple syrup.

“Mine.” Lydia said as she poured it over her waffles. “You’ve got a mountain of food, you can just wait to drown your pancakes.” He laughed. He did it a lot around her.

“What’s that?”

“Grits.” He plopped on an extra tab of butter and stirred. Then scooped up a forkful and found himself a mouthful of heaven. He almost choked and grabbed his glass of water.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” he assured her.

“It’s the mush isn’t it? It tastes like wallpaper paste and it choked you.” Her brown eyes sparkled with mirth.

“Actually missy, I was thinking to myself I just found a mouthful of heaven, and then I remembered the other night when my mouth was filled with something much better.”

“Clint Archer you just be quiet.” She looked over her shoulder to make sure nobody was listening in on their conversation, and he laughed out loud. Teasing Lydia Hidalgo was pure joy.

“How was your conversation last night with your parents?”

“Mama actually sounded kind of relieved. I think having us all together has been stressful for her.”

Clint cut into his steak. It was cooked perfectly. “How was it stressful?”

“She was trying to be all things to all of us.” She hesitated and looked at him. “Can I be really honest?”

“I wish you would.”

“I’m mad at her too. I try not to show it, but she’s my mother, she can feel it.” Clint put down his knife and fork and grabbed her hand.

“Tell me about it.”

“She had to have known some of what was going on. I’m so mad at her, and I’m so disappointed in both of them.” She squeezed his hand hard and he let her.

“It’s understandable.”

“Do you know what almost happened to Beth? Do you? How dare they?” She covered her mouth and looked around the restaurant. Nobody was looking at them.

“Let it out Lydia.”

“No. I’ve said enough.” She sighed. “Anyway, that’s why I think it’s easier that I’m not around. Now she only has Papa to care for she is more relaxed.”

Clint did everything in his power to keep his countenance relaxed, but he wanted to beat the shit out of both of Lydia’s parents. Yeah he felt bad for Beth, but when he thought about what Lydia had gone through he was ready to kill. Finally he was ready to talk in a calm manner.

“How are your waffles?”

“I’ve never had pecan waffles before. These are fantastic.”

“Didn’t you talk to Beth too?”

“Yeah. She said the ranch was nice. She met Jack’s mother. She’s nice. I think she’s nervous around his step-father and step-brother.”

“How about Jack? Is she nervous around him?”

“No, she sounded like she was beginning to trust him a little. I was surprised.”

He watched as she swirled her bacon in the syrup and took a bite. It was so sexy the way she relished her food. Then she took a sip of milk, and was left with a trace of liquid on her upper lip. As she talked about her sister, all he could do was think about licking her lips, kissing her, sucking her tongue into his mouth.

“Don’t you think so?”

“What?” Clint shifted in his seat and looked down at his cold eggs. Damn, he hoped they didn’t have to walk out of here soon, he needed a few minutes to calm down. The waitress came over to top off the coffee.

“I’d ask if you if you didn’t like your food, but I think I know what the problem was, hun.” She gave Clint a wink and walked off.

“What’s she talking about?” Lydia asked.

“Our waitress figured out I was too busy staring at you to finish eating breakfast.”

Lydia looked down at Clint’s plate that was only halfway eaten and eyed him.

“You ordered too much food.”

“Baby, this is an appetizer. Give me your hand.” Lydia thrust out her arm, palm up and Clint grasped it between both of his. “Even though we’re going to make it to Tampa tonight and we could start staying at the safe house, I made reservations at a hotel overlooking the Bay.”

“You did?”

“I did. I thought you might like to have dinner on the balcony of our room and watch the water.”

She gave him a slow smile. “I would love that.”

Yep, he was definitely walking out of the diner with a hard-on.

****

It shouldn’t matter. It really shouldn’t matter. But it did. Lydia looked down into her suitcase and saw two more clean sleep shirts. More clean boring underwear. Another pair of clean jeans and a clean sweater, and the one really cute thing she had to wear, she was wearing!

She’d been hiding out in the bathroom for damn near an hour. Clint had to know something was up, but every time he knocked, she said she’d be out in ‘just a minute’.

She swiped at her eyes. Dammit. There’s no crying in football. Soccer. Whatever the fuck they called fucking FUTball in this country. Or was it baseball? She slammed her suitcase down onto the closed lid of the toilet.

“Lydia?”

“What?” she yelled. Then she winced. She didn’t want Clint to know he had been cuddling an irrational woman for the last three nights. Damn this recovery! But she
wasn’t
crazy. This
was
a big deal. She wanted to look really pretty. She wanted to wear something nice.

She took a big breath. What was it her friend from Memphis used to say?
Suck it up, Buttercup.
She looked in the mirror. Her hair and teeth were brushed. Her makeup was fresh. It was as good as it was going to get. Oh yeah, she needed to smile. She repaired the little bit of mascara that smeared from her runaway tear and opened the bathroom door, and found herself staring into the green fleece of Clint’s sweatshirt. His arm was leaning against the bathroom doorframe.

She bent back her neck and saw the concerned look on his face.

“You doing better, Baby?”

She worked hard to keep on the smile she had perfected in front of the mirror. “I’m fine. I’m sorry I worried you.”

“Not worried, just a little concerned. Sounded like you were ref’ing a game in there.”

“What?”

He tucked one unruly curl behind her ear. “You were talking about football and soccer and then baseball. I thought you might be trading me in for a professional athlete or something.”

Shit, did she say that out loud?

“Come with me. There’s something I want to do before dinner.” He ran his hand down her bare arm exposed by the yellow cotton sundress. He ushered her out of the room and into the hallway towards the elevator.

When they stepped onto the elevator, she looked around the six people with her, and told herself to get a grip. Yeah, there might be an outrageously dressed couple, but there was also a tired mother and father who obviously just been to the beach with their two little children. So she wasn’t totally out of place. Still…

Clint guided her out the elevator, through the lobby then outside to the promenade of shops that connected the hotel to three others. Twinkling lights dotted all the little potted palm trees, and people from all walks of life were peering in windows of the different stores.

The first one that caught Lydia’s eyes had crystal geodes. Holding the door open was a rock almost as tall as the two little boys who were crouched down in front of it. They were clearly fascinated with the purple amethyst crystal shattered across the inside, making it sparkle and glow.

“Dad, do all rocks look like this inside?” One of the boys asked the tall man standing next to him.

Lydia and Clint watched him give a relieved look when the clerk came over to explain about agates and geodes to the boys.

“So what did you want to do before dinner?” Lydia was relaxing now in the warm Florida air. It didn’t hurt that Clint was holding her hand and looking at her like she hung the moon.

“I thought we might look around in there.” He nodded at a woman’s boutique coming up on the left. It looked fun and flirty, just the type of place she would normally shop if she was still home in Mexico City. But there she had a part time job at a computer store repairing old motherboards, so she could afford things not covered by her scholarship. Here in the United States she was broke.

“I think I just want to go back up to the room. I’m getting hungry.”

Clint looked around the walkway, and found an empty bench under a tree and pulled her over to it. Before she sat down, he brushed off the fallen leaves. She loved how considerate he was.

“Lydia, I’m more of the blunt type. I’m really not all that good at subterfuge. We have others on the team for that.” He wasn’t looking at her, he was looking at the hem of her dress. This couldn’t be good.

“Just tell me.”

“I called my sister, Jenny. Drake is out of town, and he’s the one I talk to when I need help understanding women. I mean women who matter.”

“Drake?” Lydia asked in an incredulous tone.

“Sure. He really understands women.”

“Drake Avery? The guy who’s even bigger than you who doesn’t know when to shut up? The one who’s constantly bossing Beth around in the jungle?” Clint was finally looking at her and he looked indignant.

“Yes, that Drake. Look, he says stupid shit, I get that. But he has three sisters. He loves them to distraction. He really understands the female mind.”

Lydia choked and gripped Clint’s bicep, she started laughing softly, and then it built until it was a full-fledged belly laugh.

“Hey.”

“You can’t really believe that Clint. Tell me you don’t really believe that. Please tell me you’re smarter than that.”

“He loves them.”

“I’m sure he does.” She dipped her head and let it drop onto his shoulder, feeling better than she had since they left their bed that morning. Then she stiffened and looked up at him.

“Wait just a damn minute. You’ve been reading me right, and we’ve been communicating fine for months. Clint, you’ve been the nerd-king to my dork-queen.”

“Until today. Today you lost your shit, and it wasn’t from being sick. I heard you in the bathroom. I heard how mad and sad you were and it scared the piss out of me.”

“So you wanted to call Drake, instead of talking to me, but had to settle for your sister?” Lydia tried to keep her tone calm and rational. She looked around to make sure no one could hear them, but everyone was oblivious to their conversation.

“Come here, Baby,” he opened his arms, and she gladly snuggled against him. He cupped her head and tucked it beneath his chin.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t do any of this to make you feel bad. I was trying to make you feel
happy
. I knew I needed some advice.”

Just listening to the beat of his heart helped her calm down and listen to his words. Finally he asked. “Is this a clothes thing? A money thing?”

She gulped. Tears once again stinging her eyes. She pressed her face harder against his neck. “So stupid. Someone tried to
kill
me. My father tried to
kill
himself. I don’t even know
where
my sister is. I’m such a spoiled brat. But I wanted to look pretty for you.”
Oh God, here came the tears.

“Did you ever think it’s exactly because of those things that trying to get control of some little aspect of your life matters? Lydia, you haven’t been in charge of shit since they kidnapped you.” She absorbed his words and he was right.