Page 12 of Her Honorable Hero

“She’s on location. Nope, I’m probably hitting the beach alone. Anyway, I just asked you a question that you’re trying to dodge. How much time do you take off?”

“I don’t work nearly as much as you do. When we’re not deployed, it’s a regular forty-hour workweek, but you know that. I’m up in Anaheim every weekend to help Mom out with Dad.”

The train lurched and her case slid, she bent and moved it back. Griff wanted to grab her hand back in his, but figured that’d look too needy.

Miranda tilted her head sideways. “How is your dad doing?”

Griff thought about how he’d left things that morning. His dad had been downstairs in the hospital bed. The home healthcare worker would be arriving later in the day. “He’s doing better. He and I got in a couple of games of Scrabble. There’s no way he would have been up for that last week.”

“And your mom?”

“She’s amazing, as always.” Griff thought about his petite mother who was the glue that kept his large family together.

“When does your aunt arrive from Hawaii?”

“I sure must talk a lot to you.” Griff shifted in his seat so he could look directly at Miranda. He was feeling kind of sheepish.

“Actually, you don’t at all. I swear I have to play twenty questions every time I want to get the slightest bit of information from you. Like now.”

“I’d prefer to talk about your vacation. You’re more interesting than I am.”

“Don’t make me kick you.” Instead of following through on her threat, she pushed at him with her shoulder.

Score! More body contact. He’d take that.

“Your aunt?” she prompted.

“Are you sure you were never in the military?”

“Nope, but I do occasionally run projects in conjunction with the Department of Defense, so you learn a few things. Now spill it.”

The train gave another lurch, nothing that really would have caused him to lose his equilibrium, but Griff shifted a little anyway so that their sides were brushing up against one another. Miranda relaxed against him.

One more lurch and he’d have Triple Word Score.

“My auntie is going to arrive on Friday. She’s Mom’s sister. Auntie Lulu would have come sooner, but her youngest just graduated high school. She wanted to be there for the ceremony. Now she intends to stay out here for a month and help Mom out.”

“Oh.” Miranda shifted back more into her own seat, breaking contact. “I guess I won’t be seeing you anymore, then.” She sounded disappointed.

Griff felt a ridiculously huge smile bleed over his face. “When is your assignment going to end? The end of next month?” he asked.

“Most likely. Yeah, six weeks.” She bit her lip. She had great lips.

“Then Miranda, I’m going to be taking the train for six more weeks.”

“You are?”

“Yep. Now that I know how much longer your assignment is, that’s how much longer I intend to keep seeing my parents. Or, you could put me out of my misery and agree to go out to dinner with me.”

She gave a slow smile. His pulse sped up. Then she frowned and answered slowly. “Griff, I’d really like that. I would, but I don’t usually leave the office until eight, or sometimes even nine at night.”

“How safe is the parking lot? How late is it when you get to the station in Anaheim?”

Her eyes sparkled. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?”

This time he answered slowly. “My mom and my sisters give me a hard time about this, too. But I’m the oldest, it’s hard-wired into my DNA.”

“I’m a big girl. I know how to take care of myself. Hell, I’m thirty-one. How old are you?”