Page 25 of The Woman Left Behind

Only a minute behind Donnelly was Snake, with Ailani and their three kids, ages seven, five, and two—boy, girl, boy. Ailani held a dripping umbrella, and Snake held the two-year-old with a firm grip around the kid’s legs, which was a good thing because the toddler had thrown himself backward and was hanging head down, shrieking. Jina laughed; all of a sudden, the noise felt like home.

“Ailani, Jina,” Snake said in brief introduction. The decibel level from the upside-down kid went up ten points, and he shifted his grip until he was holding his son by both ankles.

“Don’t drop him,” Ailani warned and gave Jina a polite smile. “It’s nice to meet you. Thanks for inviting us, though I’m not sure you knew what you were getting into.”

“I did,” Jina reassured her. “I’m the middle one of five kids, so to me family means a lot of people and noise.” Ailani struck her as somewhat reserved, maybe a little tired and not exactly pleased to be there, so she didn’t overdo the friendliness. “Let me take everyone’s coats, and the umbrella. Drinks in the kitchen, Crutch and Jelly and Brian are already in there.”

“Who’s Brian?” Snake asked as he passed her.

“My date. He’s assigned to Kodak’s team.”

“He is? I can tell him a thing or three about Kodak.”

Next was Trapper, then Voodoo, who for some reason seemed to be wildly popular with Snake’s two oldest kids. There was no accounting for taste, especially at their ages. Boom and his wife, Terisa, were last, with a gap-toothed eight-year-old boy and a big-eyed three-year-old girl who was so cute as she clutched Boom’s leg and peeped around it that Jina couldn’t help squatting down and trying to entice her to talk—a useless effort, because she merely shook her head and clutched Boom’s leg even tighter.

“Her name is Mia. She’ll warm up in a while, and then you’ll regret trying to get her to talk.” Terisa smiled, but her eyes were even more tired than Ailani’s and she was in scrubs, which meant she’d either met Boom and the kids here or they’d been so pressed for time she hadn’t taken the time to change. “Thanks for inviting us; saved me from ordering another pizza.”

Jina couldn’t help shooting a quick look at Boom, who narrowed his eyes at her in warning. Terisa caught the look. “What?” she demanded suspiciously, sending her own narrow-eyed look at Boom. “Have you been throwing off on my cooking again?”

“No,” he said with absolute honesty and beat a path for the kitchen, ignoring the snorting noise Terisa made at his back.

With two tired wives and a bunch of men who were attacking the beer, Jina deemed that the sooner she got food in everyone, the better. She had the taco beef keeping warm in two slow-cookers, and all the other components had been chopped and diced and were ready to set out. Within fifteen minutes, everyone had tacos except the two youngest kids, and she’d had the foresight to get chicken nuggets for them.

Snake’s toddler had stopped shrieking to run around the condo with a chicken nugget clutched in each hand, yelling, “Chee! Chee!” at his mother.

Ailani gave Jina a harassed look. “Sorry. Do you have any cheese other than the shredded? He’s a cheese hound.”

“I do,” Jina said, and got a bag of cubed cheese from the fridge. The cubed cheese evidently called to all the kids, and before she knew it the bag was empty, but the toddler was quiet and happy.

Once everyone had food and drink, the noise level dropped dramatically. The guys were in the kitchen, either seated at her small table or standing with their food on the counters; Donnelly seemed to be having the time of his life. Jina and the other two women claimed the living room, where the kids were on the floor pillows, which they thought was great fun. Jina got her own taco and drink and settled on the floor kind of in the middle of the kids, so she could keep an eye on them and give their mothers a break. “I’m glad you could all make it,” she said. “I know it was kind of last minute.”

“No way we were going to pass up a chance to finally meetBabe,” Terisa said, her tone neutral.

Yeah, there was some sticky ground to cover. Jina made a face. “Ace saddled me with that name. It isn’t my favorite, so of course no way would they change it.”

Ailani looked around, as if just now noticing there was someone missing. “Where is Ace? Normally he’d charge through a minefield to get to food.”

“He said he couldn’t make it. Maybe he already had a date.” Except he could have used that as an excuse and hadn’t bothered. Instead he’d slapped her down like smashing a fly with a flyswatter. Under the circumstances, she was proud her tone was nonchalant.

“Have you been seeing Brian very long?” Terisa asked.

“Not all that long.” She wasn’t going to lie, but neither was she going to be specific. “We worked in the same department before we got reassigned to this project. Seeing each other while we’re both in training has been a real challenge.”

“What exactly are you doing? Unless that’s classified, of course.”

“Basically I’ll be providing additional surveillance on-site. Covering their butts,” she added. She put her taco down and blew out a breath. “I’m already having nightmares about maybe missing something and one of them gets hurt.”Or worse.But she didn’t say that, because the reality of what could happen was something they lived with every day. Just like a military wife, or a cop’s or fireman’s wife, they knew that any day could be the day their man didn’t come home.

Ailani glanced toward the kitchen. The condo had a fairly open design, so she could see almost all the guys. She watched them for a moment, her expression saying without words that she, too, had nightmares. “They’re a tight-knit group; I imagine all the teams are, have to be. How are you fitting in?”

Jina made a face and rocked her hand back and forth. “They weren’t happy to be saddled with the only woman,” she said quietly, not wanting the guys to hear. “For my part sometimes I feel so choked on testosterone I want to run screaming down the road. Other than a checkout clerk or my mom, I think y’all may be the only women I’ve talked to in months. I’ve been training such long hours I haven’t been able to make any time for my friends, and they’ve stopped asking. It’s a wonder I’m sane.”

Terisa chuckled at that, and her tone warmed a little. “And here I thought they’d be falling all over themselves making things easier for you.”

That was so genuinely funny that Jina hooted. “They fall all over themselveslaughingwhen I face-plant in the mud. And they don’t help me up, either.”

The doorbell rang again. Surprised, Jina started to set her food aside and lever herself up from the floor. Donnelly had just stepped out of the kitchen and he said, “I’ll get it,” winking at her as he went past. That was perfect, not only the wink, but him acting as kinda-host, as if he was accustomed to being here. She admired his sharpness. But who was doing the ringing now? She not only didn’t think the kids had been all that loud, but she knew for certain her downstairs neighbors were out for the night; they were a young couple who went out with their friends every Saturday night. She began getting up, anyway, because whatever had come to her door was likely some problem she’d need to handle.

Donnelly opened the door and Levi stood there, rain glistening on his dark hair, his big frame filling the doorway. Jina had been enjoying herself—not ha-ha great time, but nice enough—but at the sight of him the bottom dropped out of her stomach and cold dread spilled in, crowding out pleasure. “Hey,” Donnelly said, stepping back for Levi to enter, because of course he recognized him.

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