Page 26 of The Woman Left Behind

The room immediately felt suffocating and small, with Levi taking up all the space. He wore a battered brown leather jacket that was spattered with rain across his shoulders, faded jeans, and scarred boots, the first time she’d ever seen him in anything other than fatigue pants and T-shirts. Come to think of it, this was the first time she’d seen any of the guys—other than Donnelly—in civvies, but she hadn’t really noticed with them. With Levi, she was sharply and unfortunately aware of everything.

Because it would look odd if she didn’t speak to him, she said, “Hi. Thought you couldn’t make it.” Then she tilted up her water bottle and took a couple of swallows, unable to think of anything else to say.

“Turns out I could.” His dark eyes were as expressionless as always. “Hi, ladies and munchkins.” There was a chorus of welcomes.

“Plenty of food and beer in the kitchen,” Donnelly said, his easy manner bridging what might have been an uncomfortable silence from her.

Levi shed his jacket, hung it on the hall tree beside the door, and followed Donnelly to the kitchen. As he passed by her Jina felt the weight of his gaze, but she didn’t look up. What was he doing here? He’d made it plain he didn’t want to associate with her in any social sense at all.

She couldn’t think of any scenario that would have prompted him to show up, because the one thing she didn’t expect from him was that he would change his mind. Not only that, even if he did,shehadn’t changed hers. Even if she couldn’t quite nail down exactly what he thought of her—not good enough? slutty? stupid?—she knew how she felt, and “angry” didn’t begin to cover it. Even worse, she knew she’d have to suck it up and swallow that anger, because that was the only way she could continue on the team.

The seven- and eight-year-old boys finished their tacos and, being young boys, immediately started looking for something to do. They dashed into the kitchen, and in short order found the balcony, which was accessed through sliding doors in the kitchen, and cold damp air swept through the condo. Knowing exactly what had happened, Terisa called, “Marcus!”

“I’m on it,” Boom said.

“I didn’t know Boom’s name was Marcus,” Jina commented.

“I think I’m the only one who calls him that now.”

The three smallest kids somehow knew something was afoot, and in a flash they were gone, leaving behind juice boxes and a few chicken nuggets. The two-year-old was amazingly fast, darting past Ailani’s outstretched hand. “Eric!” Ailani called. “Catch him.”

“On it!” Snake called.

Terisa and Ailani remained in their seats, taking their time with their meals. Ailani sent Jina a smile. “There are eight big men in there,” she said, “and just five kids. They can handle it. We don’t get the chance to hand the kids off all that often, so I’m staying right here.”

The noise from the kitchen was just short of an uproar, with kids shrieking for some reason, and orders being barked in a distinctly military manner. Jina scooped up some guacamole and munched while she relished the relative quiet of her small living room. She had missed being with other women. With the guys she usually felt as if she had to act tough—okay, so she didn’t actually do it, but she felt as if she should. But the training was so physically demanding that she had to make a big effort to do something simple like painting her toenails, and wearing makeup had gone by the wayside. All she wanted was fast and easy, and at the end of the day she was happy to just be relatively clean.

For tonight, she liked leaving her hair loose instead of pulling it back in either a braid or a ponytail, liked sitting and talking with people who didn’t stink of sweat and dirt. Thinking that made her realize how much she missed her mom and sisters, all her family, and that turned her thoughts to the upcoming holidays. Thanksgiving was just a week away, and her mom had sounded annoyed during their last phone call when Jina couldn’t give her a definite answer about going home.

“How are holidays handled?” she asked. “I just now realized none of the guys have said anything. Do they usually get to spend holidays at home?”

“Sometimes yes, sometimes no,” Ailani replied. She settled back on the sofa, her face relaxing as the piercing shrieks from her youngest turned into giggles. “There’s no way to plan because we can’t predict what might happen that calls them away. It is what it is. During the summer vacation, I take the kids to Hawaii to see my folks, and that’s a nice break from the heat and humidity here.”

Jina laughed. “Hawaii? Yes, that’s definitely what I’d call a nice break.”

“Where’s your home?” Terisa asked. “You’re definitely southern.”

There was no mistaking that, not with her accent. “South Georgia.”

“Are you going home for Thanksgiving? This will likely be your last chance for a while, because you’ll finish training soon and then heaven only knows where you’ll be.”

Evidently Boom had told Terisa that jump training was her last phase, and then she’d join the team full-time, which was more than any of them had toldher.

“She can’t go home until she finishes jump training,” said Levi from the kitchen, proving that he was keeping track of conversation in both rooms.

“You won’t be doing training on Thanksgiving,” Terisa retorted, raising her voice to make sure he heard her. “Marcus won’t, anyway.”

There was a rumble of laughter from the kitchen. “Guess you got your orders,” Voodoo said.

“No argument from me. I like Thanksgiving.” Boom stuck his head around the corner and winked at his wife.

“I like this,” Ailani announced out of the blue. “Us in the living room, and the men in the kitchen. Usually it’s the other way around. I could get used to this.” She settled back against the cushion with a blissful smile on her face. “After dealing with clients, some days the last thing I want to do is see another kitchen.”

“We need to schedule some regular breaks for you two,” Jina said. “It’s a win-win. Everyone comes here, y’all can rest, and I get to be with women. I miss my family.” She tried to keep her tone neutral, but all of a sudden she did miss them so much she ached. Getting away from them was good, that was why she’d moved to the D.C. area to begin with, but she hadn’t seen any of them in months and months and that was way too long. If she could go home at Thanksgiving, she was going, even if it was for just that one day.

When she got up to cut the cake, the kids all came running. “I want the tongue!” Boom’s son—his name was Matthew—shouted, and Levi said drily, “Son, don’t we all.”

Everyone except Jina laughed, but Levi joking around was almost more than she could take. She was tolerating him being here, but that didn’t mean she was comfortable with it. After flaying her with words, here he was eating her food and destroying the peace of being in her own space. She didn’t want him here, didn’t want to be able to picture him standing in her kitchen.

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