“Bet you did,” he said low and rumbly.
I read the low rumble.
“It’s long over, baby,” I whispered.
He took a breath.
And then stated, “Quid pro quo.”
I stiffened.“Hutch, just because I?—”
“Quid pro quo, May,” he said inflexibly.
I shut up.
“The second one’s name was Danielle.”
Ah, shit.
“Couple of years after Molly,” he went on.“I was older.I was wiser.I’d been burned.I was also a few years away from getting out of the Navy.Finding my patch of land.Starting my training business.She was the whole package.Made Molly dim in comparison, and Molly was nothing to sneeze at.Danielle was so fucking funny.I think the first thing I fell in love with about her was how she seemed to always be having a good time.Not wild shit, like what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.She just dug the good out in everything.”
“Okay,” I said.
“But she was also smart.Sophisticated.She had great style.Upwardly mobile.Ambitious.”
I sensed where this was going.
“So she didn’t quite fit in your get-a-patch-of-land-and-live-quiet dream either.”
“Oh, she did,” he contradicted.“Said more and more people were beginning to work remote.Said you were actually more productive in a home office setting.Said she could find a kickass job anywhere, and if she didn’t, she’d open her own marketing company and kick that ass.”
“All right,” I said carefully, because I wasn’t getting the issue.She seemed pretty rad.
“With her, the fall was slower, but steadier.And in the end, along with knowing I was in love, I felt I’d given it the time to really get to know her.Understand her.Click with her.Most of all, I was convinced we were on the same page for life in that now, and in the future.So I got her a ring.”
Oh God.
“She accepted,” he continued.“So fuckin’ happy.Wanted a long engagement because she wanted a big thing for our wedding, and she wanted time to plan.I just had no idea what she intended to plan.”
And here we go, dammit.
“Would I be way out in left field to guess that what she was planning was how to finagle her fiancé into doing what she wanted, and that was something he didn’t want?”
His lips quirked.“No.”
Blech.
“What did this one want?”I asked.
“She wanted me to be an admiral in the Navy, like her dad.”
“Oh, Hutch,” I moaned.
“Yeah.But Danielle had style.She had finesse.Her moves were so fucking subtle, it was like a superpower.She’s planning our wedding.She’s planning our lives.She’s inviting me to her mom and dad’s dinner parties because they were her mom and dad’s dinner parties, so obviously, we’d go.But also, I’d meet all the right people.I just didn’t know that last part.And it didn’t matter who she talked to, she’d introduce me like, ‘This is Hutch Hutchison, he’s aSEAL.’Always the emphasis onSEAL.Like she survived the training.Like she went on the missions.”
It was just a nuance of a change, but now I was playing with his fingers.
And Hutch continued speaking.
