“Nah, she’s been dealing with some kind of weird food poisoning for the past week,” Lucky said. “She ate a taco that just won’t leave her system. It’s been relentless, so she went to bed early.”
“Food poisoning as in, throwing up?” Thomas asked.
Lucky nodded. “Yeah, just when she thinks it’s better, it’s back. She’s exhausted.”
“Oh. Wow. Um, sir, that doesn’t sound like any kind of food poisoning that I know,” Thomas pointed out. “I mean, maybe it’s a stomach bug, but…”
“Ah, shit,” Jim said on a sigh as he realized what Thomas was implying. Throwing up, exhausted… “Yeah, we’ll switch times, so you can talk to Syd without any interference.”
Lucky was clueless. “Thanks, but I’ll email her and we’ll find another time to—”
Even Rio had connected the dots. “By any chance does she puke in the morning and feel a little better in the afternoon?” he asked.
And now Lucky laughed. “Wait, what, youseriouslydon’t think…?”
“Thetaco that won’t leave her system,” Rio repeated, snickering. “I think, sir, that this particular taco might need a name, and help learning to drive when it turns sixteen…”
“Holy shit.” Lucky looked as if he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“I don’t even need to ask my TL,” Jim told the SEAL. “I know for a fact she’d sayyesto the switch.”
“And I’ll make sure I’m near the O-course in the afternoon,” Thomas added. “I’ll keep an extra eye on your team while you talk to Syd and, you know, pick out a name. If it’s a girl, Thomasina’s way underused.”
“Yeah, for a reason.” Rio snorted as they all laughed.
“Congratulations.” Jim held out his hand to Lucky, who pulled back in mock horror.
“Not yet,” he said. “Don’t jinx it.”
“So… this…taco… is a good thing, sir…?” Rio asked.
“Damn straight,” Lucky said, laughing even as he surreptitiously wiped his eyes. “We’ve both wanted this for a long time. Syd just started researching the whole hormone thing, you know, where she gives herself injections and then we have to have sex at the exact right nano-second, and that was going to be hard because I just can’t come home at any time, like I could if I worked in an office, so I was actually thinking I’d have to resign my—”
“No!” Thomas and Rio said at the same time.
“I hear you, but… Guys, I really want a baby. I want to make a family with Syd,” Lucky told them with a shrug. “I love her more than life, and she really wants this, too. You tadpoles are adorable, but let’s face it, changingyourdiapers is just not the same.”
And yeah, everyone laughed, but Jim was struck by the concept that happy-go-lucky Lieutenant Luke O’Donlon wanted ababy, apparently even more than he wanted to remain an active-duty U.S. Navy SEAL.
“Leaving the Teams just isn’t as bad as you think it’ll be, back when you’re in your twenties.” Dunk had come out from the back room, and yeah, he was looking at Thomas and Rio, but he was really talking to Jim.
Except Jim didn’t have a long-held secret desire to travel the world to see art museums, or to have a baby, Jesus save him. He didn’t even have anyone in his life that he loved even a small fraction as much as Lucky loved his wife.
Although, weirdly, the image of Ashley’s expressive eyes beneath the brim of that boonie flashed crazily through his mind.
She was attracted to him, too—he’d been alive long enough to recognize that something-something in a woman’s attitude and body language.
But really, she was little more than another shiny, pretty thing that he could acquire for a while. A woman like Ashley DeWitt would never stand for being second to anyone or anything for very long.
And Jim’s own devotion, for well over a decade, had been to the SEAL Teams. But the Teams didn’t always love you back, especially when your knees started to go. And the truly sad thing was that his constant focus on his knees had put distance between himself and his teammates. In fact, because he’d spent so much time over the past few years away from the units, rehabbing, he doubted he’d get the same resoundingnotohisannouncement he was leaving that Lucky had just received from Team Ten’s younger members.
And wah-wah-wah, he himself was such a freaking baby. Still, try as he might to shake off the bitterness of his envy and frustration, it just seemed to settle and solidify into a brick of sadness, smack in the center of his chest.
In the positive, it gave him something to focus on other than the constant pain in his knees.
“You need me for something, Space?” Dunk asked Jim, who shook his head.
“Nah, it can wait ’til tomorrow,” he told the Senior Chief. He’d wanted to talk about Ashley, but not in front of a crowd. “Oh, except O’Donlon, Rosetti, and I are adjusting the schedule a bit, so he can talk to Syd in the early afternoon.” Jim gave a nod in Lucky’s direction. The man’s nickname was appropriate as always—lucky son of a bitch, getting everything his heart desired. At least he had a good heart—big and warm and nottoofull of himself. Jim managed a smile that was sincere. “Fingers crossed, man. See you guys in the morning.”
