She heard the fear in his voice.“Then you make the required adjustments to your life.You might not be deployed, but surely there are other roles you could go into.”
“I need to protect my team.”There was genuine pain in his words.
She squeezed his hand.“Tell me about them.”
They climbed the stairs at the back of the house and entered through the laundry.“Dobby’s my team leader.He recently got engaged.He met Mila on the mission where I got hit by the tsunami.I’ve never seen him happier.”He grinned.“Mila’s great.She called me every day when we got back to Australia and I was in hospital.”He glanced at his feet.“I call her Angel because she was the one who found me in the jungle.I thought I’d died and she’d come to fetch my soul.”
Chelsea ignored the flash of jealousy and focused on the important aspect.“You almost died?”
“The wave swallowed me whole and then flung me all over the place before it spat me out.I think I lost consciousness once, but I remember grabbing onto a branch which might have been what slowed me enough to escape the wave’s pull back to the ocean.”
Her stomach clenched at how close he’d come to dying.She brushed his shoulder to comfort herself he was still here.“You’re all right now.”
“Yeah.I just need to convince command I am.”
She kissed his cheek and then put on the kettle and placed the packet of biscuits on the table even though it was late afternoon.She really had to find Aunt Maggie’s recipe books.“I’d like to meet Mila.I’m glad you had someone to help you.”
“We kept each other company while we were waiting for the team to get back.”He lowered himself gingerly into a chair.“She and Dobby were talking about visiting on the weekend, if you’re all right with it.”
Nerves fluttered in her stomach, but she said, “Sure.That sounds nice.”What would they think of her?
Ethan continued talking.“Radar doesn’t suffer fools, and is happiest when we’re on a mission or training.”
“Radar?”
“His real name is Noah.We use nicknames on missions.”
His team.That’s right.“He likes action?”
Ethan paused.“He gets bored easily.Heath is the joker of the team.He sees the good in everything and everyone.He’s a real protector, particularly of women and children.”Ethan smiled.“Then there’s Rhys, who looks like a preppy rich kid, but he can be ruthless when he needs to be.”
She imagined they could all be ruthless when required.
“Finally there’s Mitch.He missed the tsunami mission because he was injured.”
“What’s he like?”
“He’s the best of us all.Seriously good at everything, it’s crazy.”There was only admiration in his tone, no jealousy.
“You trust them.”It wasn’t a question.
“We’ve got each other’s backs always.”
Chelsea was glad he had them in his life.She poured their drinks and then sat at the table with a sigh.“I’m getting more exercise than I’m used to.”
“So what about you?”Ethan asked.“Tell me about your friends.”
She sipped her tea, wishing he hadn’t asked.“You know Lauren, and I still keep in touch with my friend Libby from primary school.”
“What about your friends in Sydney?”
What could she say?“I’ve been pretty busy with work.”She’d tried to keep in touch with her friends from university, but she’d been the one to organise get-togethers and eventually she decided if they wanted to stay in touch, they would call her.They never did.
Ethan frowned.“What about on weekends?”
“I’ve worked most weekends for the past couple of months, and before that… I read a lot of books.”It sounded sad when she said it out loud.
“Chelsea, surely you see people outside of work.”
