Latched (Coronado Series Book 1) (21 page)

“It’s funny that you said that because I told him the other day that I felt he was with me. I thought it was just the residual effect of being in a coma but I think I must have felt his focused attention.” Joy came out with a tray of coffee and plates and napkins, they were nothing if not civilized here at Island Flowers. James opened the bakery box and they all peered in and smiled. Everyone picked their favorites and they settled in for a good chat.
 

Tom walked in with a folder of papers and printouts. “I guess, I got here just in time.”
 

Joy got up and kissed her husband, “Go sit, I will get you a cup.”
 

James shook hands with Mr. James, “Nice to see you again Sir. I’m sorry it has to be under these circumstances.”

Tom nodded his head, “Well at least our Birdie is ok and we got rid of that damn car. I have several options for a new delivery car. I just need some info about how much you transport and then we can narrow it down.”

They sat around the table, looked at the printouts and discussed the options. Birdie heard the phone and got up to answer it. “Good afternoon, Island Flowers.”

“Hi Birdie, how are you feeling baby?”

“Hi Mark, I’m feeling pretty good. We’re sitting at the table drinking coffee and eating treats that James brought in. We are looking at cars that Dad did research on. What are you doing?”

“I’m doing paperwork. Later we have PT, time on the gun range and then the obstacle course. I’m calling to check on you and tell you I love you.”

“Thank you for checking on me, I love you too. Text me when you’re on your way home. We’re going to eat around six. If you are later than that I will keep a plate warm for you.”

“Sounds good, I will see you tonight.”

She hung up the phone and straightened the front desk a little and then came back and sat down. James studied her for a moment, “Should I start planning the wedding now?”

“Thank you, but no. I’m going to wait until our one month anniversary.”

********

Frisco walked into the office and saw Mark working on paperwork. “How is Birdie doing today?”
 

“I just checked on her, she is at her shop with her parents and James eating treats from the bakery. Thank you for taking care of her car for me, I appreciate it man.”

“I would do anything for Birdie, you know she’s important to me. Are you going to ask her to marry you?”

He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, “Yes I am. This is it for me. I’m in love with her and she is going to be my wife.” He leaned forward, “I haven’t told her all of this yet because she will freak out. I’m going to get her used to the idea first. I know I have my work cut out for me, but this can’t be harder than BUD/s.”

“Well I’m glad you think that. Listen, I came in here because I need a couple of days off. I want to go get my sister and bring her down. I talked to my Mom and she hates the boyfriend that Melanie has and wants her to come down and stay with me for a while.”

“No problem, it’s a good time to do it. We’re going to be moved up on the rotation in the next couple of weeks. If she needs a job, Birdie wants to hire someone for the shop. I don’t know if it would be a good fit, but they could at least talk.”

“That would be a good idea. I need to get my sister turned in another direction and this could be a start. I’ll do the paperwork for the leave and give it to you.”

“Just text Birdie with the info, so she doesn’t hire someone before she meets your sister. I’m tired of my office, let’s go out and do the obstacle course and then hit the range.” Frisco saluted him and they headed out.

TUESDAY EVENING

Later that evening Mark and Birdie were standing on the front lawn staring at each other in a standoff. “I told you I am not getting in the car, I don’t want to.”
 

Mark stared back and was unmoved, “Baby, it will be harder if you let it go. I’m not asking you to drive, I’m suggesting a ten minute drive and that’s it.”

“No, I don’t want to.”
 

“Please do this for me. Your parents are going home in a couple of days and I may get called for wheels up. I want you to be able to get in the car if you need to. Don’t let me be worried about you if I’m half way across the world.”

“Jeez, lay on the guilt. All right, ten minutes and that’s it.” She walked to his truck and he helped her in. Birdie looked him in the eye, “I am doing this for you.”

He buckled her in and gave her a kiss, “I know, thank you.” He walked around the front of the truck and got in. He looked over and she was resting her head back and her eyes were closed. “Maybe this time, you can open your eyes for a little while.”
 

She looked over at him and gave him the stink eye, “How about I do what I want.”
 

He started the car and took her hand in his lap. She could feel her heart start to beat as they pulled out. She tried yoga breathing and that helped a little. She knew she had to do this, but it was really hard and scary. Mark looked over at her and could tell she was trying to control her fear. She held his hand tightly with her eyes closed and her face scrunched up. He decided to try to distract her, so he started talking.

She knew what he was trying to do and didn’t think it would work. But hearing his deep voice started to help her relax. He was telling her the story of coming down here for the first time and how excited he was that he was going to be able to enter the program. The car stopped, she opened her eyes and they were parked by the base. “I knew you could do it, I’m very proud of you. Do you want to get out and take a little walk to the beach? I can point to the area where we did a lot of our initial training.”
 

They got out and he took her hand as they made the short walk to the sand. She held tight to his hand, she was still feeling shaky from the car trip. They walked out and sat down close to the shore and he started telling her the story of hell week. She leaned against him as her heart rate returned to normal.
 

“Did you always know that this is what you wanted to do?”

“I knew I wanted to join the military in high school. But my Mom made me promise that I would go to college first, so I did. I talked to the Marines, the Air Force and the Navy while I was in college. Once I talked to the Navy recruiter and he suggested that I look into the SEAL program that was it for me. I knew if I passed the tests and they gave me a chance that this is what I wanted to do.”
 

“What appealed to you about being in the military?”

“I knew I wanted to serve my country, I think that was always part of me. I have an instinctive need to protect. I didn’t know what it meant until I started talking to recruiters in college. I knew I wanted to try for the Seals when I found out how much they got to be in the water. It’s like having the best most difficult adventure of your life every day, while protecting the country you love.” He wrapped his arm around her and continued, “I’m in a fraternity with the hardest men, doing an impossible job every day. I think the most important thing I learned is that to survive as a small unit you have to learn to go around large obstacles rather than through them. You never give up. You look for another way in, a back door that isn’t being watched and when you find it, you fully exploit it. That attitude follows you inside and outside of the teams as you search for the easiest way to do a hard thing in everything you do. It’s a testosterone filled society of tough guys and bad asses doing a difficult job. I’m telling you all of this because I want you to be able to begin to understand who I am. I hope it helps when you’re trying to figure out what I am doing. It’s my nature to push through obstacles, every day is a hard day when you are a SEAL. So I push through and you have to let me know when you don’t want to be pushed. I want you to be able to get in a car again and I want you to be able to drive. So I’m going to push, just let me know when you can’t take anymore.”

She knew a lot of this on an intellectual level, but hearing him talk about it helped her understand on an emotional level. “Everything in my life that I’ve attempted to accomplish has been easy for me. School wasn’t hard and working at the firm was not difficult either. I have never tested myself for any reason, I went with what I was good at. I am the opposite of you. If I think it’s going to be too hard, I find something that I’m more likely going to succeed at. I think I can probably use more of your influence. I’m a big wimp and I don’t like to push myself. I was barely able to get in the car, you had to talk me into it.”
 

“I lack courage in too many places in my life. I thought trying to talk you into a quick affair was the height of bravery. I didn’t even do that -you did all the work, I just agreed. I think I have major work to do on my wimp factor.”
 

“Baby, you can’t compare yourself to a crazy ass Navy SEAL, most of us are certifiable. You know that we’re not normal. We are just the right men for the job. I think you are my perfect balance, my crazy and your sanity make the perfect combination. That’s why we’re going to go the distance.”

“Why are you so confident, how do you know? You’re a man who hasn’t had a relationship since college and you’re ready to jump into one with me.”
 

“I just am. I know what I feel and this is it for me. You are the one, it’s going to be true today, next week, next month and at the end of our lives. You are the love of my life. I know we don’t know each other very well and there are things we are going to discover that are irritating. But I know that you are my woman and the rest is just the sugar cookie.”

“What is the sugar cookie?”

“When we were in training, several time a week we would have uniform inspection. It was very thorough, the instructors would always find something wrong and it was never good enough. When you failed uniform inspection, you had to run fully clothed into the surf zone and get wet from head to toe. Then you had to roll around in the sand until every part of your body was covered in sand. The effect was called a “sugar cookie.” You stayed in that uniform the rest of the day – cold, wet and sandy. The guys who couldn’t accept that their effort was in vain, never made it through training. The guy who understood that you were never going to have a perfect uniform did. Sometimes no matter how well you prepare or how well you preform you still end up as a sugar cookie, it’s just the way life is sometimes. You have to get over the fact you are a sugar cookie and move forward.”

“So what you’re telling me is that no matter if we have hard times, we just keep moving forward.”

“Something like that. You are my woman and I love you. We are going to have hard times, challenges and you’re going to be mad at me. But we are going to always move forward, no matter what. It’s not a choice, I’ve never had an easy day in my job and I don’t expect it. I like figuring out how to make it through. I don’t expect easy, the last couple of weeks with you has been nothing but easy. It’s like fucking Christmas every day that I spend with you. You are my easy and my reward for the last eleven years of hard days. I never give up and that’s why I am so confident about us. I want my name to be the one that changes yours.”

She leaned into him and that’s when she knew in her bones that this was it. It was never really a choice, this was the man for her. “I guess I’m a relationship girl. Can we just say that we had a short fling? That way I can say that I had one.”

“Sure baby, whatever you want.”
 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

FRIDAY MORNING

Birdie stood on the porch waving to her parents as they drove off. They were heading home after spending the week with her and making sure that she was fully recovered. The van they had picked out for her store was going to be delivered today. She went back in, gathered her stuff and headed to the shop. She promised Mark that she would drive the new van today and wasn’t looking forward to it. She knew he wasn’t going to let her get out of it either.
 

When she got the call from Frisco about his sister, she was happy to offer her a job. The timing was perfect and Melanie was a good fit for the shop. Birdie opened the front door of the store and saw Melanie walk around the corner. They greeted each other and walked in. Today she was going to teach her how to make arrangements. She wanted to have some flexibility in her schedule and having a second person was going to make that possible.
 

After a productive morning, they walked next door and got lunch. Birdie introduced Melanie to the guys. Marcus finished making their sandwiches and brought them around the counter and handed them to Birdie. “How is that man of yours, everything going well?”
 

“Everything is great, we are almost living together and I don’t want to kill him. He is surprisingly easy to live with. I haven’t discovered any deal breakers yet, so I’m going to assume he’s as good as he seems.” She turned to Melanie, “Mark Frazier who is Frisco’s commander, is my boyfriend. I’m not sure if your brother told you or not.”

“When Frisco brought me down, he filled me in on all the gossip from his platoon and Josh’s. I feel like I’m fully updated. Congratulations by the way, Frisco said Mark had found the one.”
 

“Well he has certainly expressed that to me. I think we need to take a little time and really get to know each other. We have barely been together a month, I’m in no rush.”