Jim’s knees were stiff and he had a hell of a bad headache—coffee would help. He hurried down the trail as quickly as he could, but halfway to the mess, he ran into Clark, who was heading for the trailers.
“Hey, LT,” he said.
“Hey, how’s Kenneth?” Jim asked.
“Somuch better,” Clark said. “If he continues to improve, he’s getting released from the hospital tonight. I’m here to pack up our gear. Chief Duncan says he’s doing something calledrolling us for medical reasons—so we can both come back, together, for free, for another camp session after Kenneth’s better—probably some time this summer. Right now, Kenneth’s mom and dad are renting a beach house out on Siesta Key for a coupla weeks, so he can recuperate for the rest of spring break. They’ve, um, invited me to stay, so…”
“Kenneth’s sister Louise gonna be there, too?” Jim asked.
Clark winced. “Busted, but yeah.”
“She’s completely out of your league,” Jim told the kid.
“I’m well aware.”
“Don’t let that stop you,” Jim said. “I’m giving you seven years to marry her in your dress whites with your SEAL Budweiser pinned to your chest. Do it in fewer, and make me proud.”
Clark laughed, but then surprised Jim with a hug. “You’re the only person—besides Ashley—who thinks of me as more than, you know, a random bag of dicks.”
“You’re also a random bag of dicks,” Jim said. “But that’s what makes you special.”
Clark laughed. “Thanks, sir.”
“You, um, driving Ashley back with you, into Sarasota…?” He tried to make his question sound casual. Talk about a bag of dicks…
“No, she’s already up in Tampa,” the kid said. “At the airport. She emailed me, like an hour ago, to check on Kenneth. I was already awake—I kinda never went to sleep—so I called her and she told me things had blown up at work. She has to get back to California, ASAP. She couldn’t get a flight out of Sarasota, so she’s on, I think it’s the 6:45 flight, stopping in… I wanna say, Atlanta?”
“6:45…?” Jim looked at his watch in dismay. It was already oh-six-hundred, and Tampa was nearly two hours north.
“Yeah, but no. She just texted me—her flight’s been delayed, something like six hours. I think she’s already at the airport bar. She mentioned having a glass of wine for breakfast, and I’m not sure she was kidding.”
“I’m sorry I missed her.” Understatement of the century.
“Yeah, I’m kinda surprised you didn’t drive her to the airport. I thought you guys were—”
Jim stopped him. “No.” He forced a smile, because Clark was looking at him hard.
The kid wasn’t fooled. “She’s outa your league, too, but… She liked you. I don’t know what you were waiting for. She hasn’t gotten even remotely near anyone since Brad screwed her over.”
You’re Brad two-point-oh…
“What exactly did Brad do, or not do…?” Jim asked. “She mentioned him, but I didn’t get details.”
“Our father hired him to marry her,” Clark said.
“I’m sorry,what…?”
“Yeah, it’s as bad as it sounds. Brad’s a lawyer, he applied for an associate position at Dad’s firm, Dad interviewed him and thought,Huh.And he made Brad a deal. If Brad could get Ash to the altar, Dad would make him a partner—no pay-in, justboom. And if he could talk her into working there, too, he’d get a corner office. So Bradley went a’courtin’. He almost did it, too. They were engaged for… I don’t even know how many months.”
“Jesus…”
“Ash only found out because Brad told her. Confession time. It was weeks before the wedding, but Brad shows up, knocking on her door, weeping. Like,Baby, I know this sounds bad and it started out as this awful, mercenary thing, and I’m so ashamed, but then I met you and I fell in love… blah blah blah.She was wrecked.” Clark looked at him. “Like, how could she believe him? I mean, was this part of the con? Confess this now, because God forbid she finds out in ten years, right…? Long story short, she dumped him and didn’t look back. But she hasn’t exactly looked forward, either. At least not until she met you.”
Fuck.
Fuck.
Jim had thought that giving Ashley that bullshit story—I was trying to make you angry but went too far—would be easier and less painful than the truth:I want you so badly, but I’m too scared.
