Page 76 of Somewhere You Belong

I reach for my jeans that are still damp. “I’ll let you get dressed. Meet me in the kitchen.”

As I leave the closet under the stairs, reminding my dick that now’s not the time to get excited, rays of sunshine cut through the remaining clouds, bathing the inside of the house in an iridescent light. Thewindows are still intact, but I see shingles from the roof scattered on the ground outside. Good thing Penn hasn’t replaced it yet, although I’m curious if there are any leaks after all that rain.

I head toward the kitchen, searching for coffee and start a fresh pot just as Willow comes around the corner.

Her hair is wild, but down around her face the way I love it, her skin glows in the sunlight, and she actually looks the most unsure that I’ve seen her since she walked into my bar that first night.

Our eyes meet and then she turns her head toward the window, gasping as she stares at the ocean.

“Wow…”

The coffee pot beeps, so I pour two cups for us. “How do you take your coffee?”

“Just a little bit of cream, please.”

I fix her cup and then carry them both over to the front door. “Come on. Let’s go outside.”

Willow opens the door for us, and then I hand her the cup of coffee I made for her as we lean against the railing on the front porch, watching the ocean glimmer in the distance.

“It’s so quiet,” she murmurs.

“I know.” I cast my eyes to the right. “After the rain, the waves calm down, almost like they’ve exhausted all their energy in battle.”

“I can’t imagine growing up here.” She takes a sip of her coffee, looking out to her left.

“I’ll tell you this—when I was on deployment, the thing I missed the most about home was the ocean. Every time I was away, I felt like a part of me was missing, a peace that was grounded in me only when I was here.”

Willow turns to face me. “How long were you in the service?”

“Twelve years.”

“And your dad?”

Her question catches me off guard. But she was there the night of the veterans’ dinner, so she knows about my family history now. “Ten years.”

“So you beat your old man, huh?” She bumps her shoulder into mine, but my body instantly grows tense.

“Yeah. He wasn’t happy about it either.”

I don’t need to get into the shitty relationship I had with my father right now. That’s not exactly how I like to start my mornings.

“Did Penn or Parker serve?”

I huff out a laugh before bringing my coffee cup to my lips. “Ha. No, not after they saw what I went through.”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you have any siblings?” I cut her off, avoiding her question for the time being. The last thing I want to do is sully our morning with the topic of my father.

She shakes her head. “No. I don’t.”

“You sound sad about that.” Leaning against the railing, I face her head-on now. She mimics my stance, holding her mug in front of her, staring down at the liquid steaming from her cup.

“I can’t be sad about something that I never had.” She shrugs.

“Yes, you can,” I counter.

Her eyes lift to mine and she straightens her spine. “Well, I don’t want to be. I have the life that I was handed, and I’ve chosen to make the best out of it.”

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