Shannon:Well…I was supposed to swing by that house I bought on the North Shore today, but since I’m dicking around with this asshole, I’m not going to make it up there. I’ve put it off a couple times now.
Will:The one where nothing was straight? With that rocky cove?
Shannon:Yep
Will:That’s a great beach. We can do your stuff and then we can walk for a couple of miles and back
Shannon:Ok but seriously– I hate having wet socks. Being cold and wet makes me very unhappy.
Will:Good. I prefer you hot and wet.
Shannon:…
Will:I won’t let you get cold and wet, peanut
*
We were headednorth on Saturday morning, away from the city and all its congestion, and I was humming with anticipation. I loved being with Shannon; I could pack that parachute nineteen different ways and still come to the same conclusion, but I didn’t love the city as much as she did.
There were the usual urban complaints: nonstop noise, pollution, close quarters, thehurry up and gomentality, but all of that was manageable. It didn’t matter where I was, so long as Shannon was with me…and I got to hit the beach with some regularity.
“Talked to Kaisall yesterday,” I said, turning off the highway and onto the coast road. “I’m going to give it a shot.”
Shannon glanced up from the floor plans in her lap. “Okay,” she said slowly. “So…that means you’re moving to Washington, D.C.? Isn’t that where Redtop is based?”
I drummed my fingers on the gearshift for a moment, searching the horizon for the right combination of words. We’d talked about me staying in Boston to sort out my life and deal with my shoulder, but we never discussed anything of permanence. Maybe that was embedded in each declaration of love that we shared, or the simple fact that we never discussednotliving together, but this was where it stopped being temporary.
“No,” I said. “I’m staying here.”
She tucked her papers into a folder and filed it in her bag before responding. “How’s that going to work?”
Veering into a residential area, I glanced at Shannon. Her arms were crossed, her fingers tapping her elbows, and she was staring out her window. “Logistics command isn’t field work,” I said. “It’s about running comms, tracking intel, and monitoring operations from the eye in the sky.” Reaching out, I caught her hand and laced my fingers with hers. “I can do that anywhere. We could share an office. Wouldn’t you enjoy me, parked three feet away from you all day?”
“That’s not a good idea. We can’t be giving orders at the same time. We’d confuse the minions.” She shook her head resolutely. “And this is what you want to do?”
Gray blueness shimmered in the distance, and despite the thick cloud cover, I breathed a sigh of relief. The sea did good things for my soul.
“I think so.” It was the most sincere answer I had, and I accepted that I wouldn’t know for sure until I waded into the work. “A couple years ago, Kaisall only did big game accounts—defamed CEOs with bounties on their heads, mid-scandal politicians, and the occasional foreign diplomat. Not my scene, but it worked for him. These days,” I said, pulling into the stone driveway, “he’s branching out. He’s got some new contracts, and some of them are interesting projects. Human trafficking, small arms dealers, hostage recovery. I’d be into that.”
Shannon’s eyes cut to the side, studying me under her lashes, and she gnawed on her lower lip. “Are you sure about this, commando? You’re not going to miss invading countries? Shooting the dictators? Blowing shit up?”
I brought her palm to my lips, leaving a quick kiss there. “I know what I want, Shannon.”
She stared at me for a long beat, then blinked and nodded toward the house. “Let’s walk first,” she said. “I need to work off those pancakes before I deal with this place.”
We hiked down to the shore, and followed the narrow strip of sandy beach. Shannon was quiet at first, and then started pointing out unique features of the beachfront homes. This area was growing on me. I never expected that I’d enjoy the cold, turbulent Atlantic, or its unforgiving coastline. Now, with Shannon and the sea on either sides of me, I couldn’t imagine it any other way.
When we came to a sharp, rocky bend in the coastline where waves were beating against the shore, we turned around instead of trying to scale it. No wet socks today.
She stopped at the stone path leading back to the house, gazing at the structure.
We took the long way around, traversing the large lot and locating the property lines before arriving at the entry.
“All right. Let’s get inside.”
I followed her, hanging back while she walked the first floor. She wandered through each room repeatedly, her fingers grazing the fixtures while her lips drew tight in concentration.
“What’s our objective?” I asked eventually.
