Page 46 of Cowboy SEAL Homecoming

His eyebrows drew together, but not in confusion or frustration. It was as if he was giving her questions serious thought. “Yeah. I always planned on coming back. Maybe not this soon, but eventually. This is all…different than I planned, but in some ways, it isn’t.”

“We’re going to build something that matters.” The more she said it, the stronger her foundation from which to take that leap of faith grew.

His mouth curved—not quite a smile, but something soft. “Yes, ma’am, we are.”

They sipped their coffee in the icy, rain-soaked air. But the clouds had mostly cleared, and the promise of a sunny day offered the possibility of warmth and drying out a bit.

“The guys and I were talking about going to town tonight. Dinner at Georgia’s. A few drinks at Pioneer Spirit. Relax a little. Get our minds off the mud for a few hours. Show them what Blue Valley has to offer.”

“I think that’s very overdue. You guys deserve a night of fun. Hick and I will be able to stay on calf watch.”

“You should come with us.”

She blinked, and though she gaped at him, he kept staring straight ahead. “Me?” she squeaked.

“You deserve a little fun too, don’t you think? Hick said he can handle it, and he’ll call us if we’re needed. You should come with us. Think of it as one of those corporate team-building exercises.”

“I’ve never…” Georgia’s was one thing, but Pioneer Spirit? She’d never been in a bar before, especially that bar, which was not exactly known for its upstanding clientele. Mom would have locked her in her room for even thinking about going to Pioneer Spirit.

“I’m not going to be offended if you say no.”

“No. I want to go. I just… A bar.” And three men who intimidated her on a social level. Well, that’s what you need to work on, right?

“Tell me you’ve been to a bar before,” he said, clearly amused.

“Sheltered, remember?”

“You shot that whiskey the other night like you had some practice.”

He’d obviously said that without thinking, because tension crept into him. Likely at the reminder of when she’d given him a shot of whiskey—after his nightmare. She was so tempted to poke him, to press him about it, but after her…whatever it was with Gabe last week, she had no desire to relive that.

So she answered the question without any mention of that night in Burt’s office. “A couple months after I turned twenty-one, there was this church trip Mom wanted to go on, but she didn’t want to leave me. Somehow, someway, Burt convinced her to go. Which was a big deal—she’d never been away from me for more than twenty-four hours. Somehow he convinced her to go though. Three days, two nights. The first night she was gone, Burt took me up to the barn and gave me my first drink. Developed a taste for whiskey, gotta admit.” She grinned at him, but there was an odd look on his face.

“On the west side of the barn? Next to the fence?”

It was her turn to give him a quizzical look. “Why do you know that?”

“I came home for a couple days before I was deployed the first time. This was before our parents got married. I’d just turned twenty-one. Granted, I’d had my night out with my buddies at a bar, but the night before I left for Afghanistan, Dad took me out there and gave me a shot of whiskey. Wished me luck and told me to make sure I got my ass home and mostly in one piece.”

Even though it wasn’t her story, Becca felt a little emotional over it. It made her miss Burt and what Alex and Burt might have had.

“Guess I should have told him to keep his ass alive.”

Becca’s throat tightened, but she couldn’t keep herself from talking, from offering, from trying to soothe. “I know you don’t like it or it hurts or whatever when I say things like this, but I can’t keep my mouth shut. He was so proud of you, and he missed you so much.”

“I know you mean well when you say that, but I don’t really want to hear it right now. I’m…”

“Still grieving. That’s okay. I just… I’ll try to stop myself.”

“What’s it matter to you if I know he was proud of me anyway?” Alex muttered, his grip on his coffee mug so tight his knuckles were white.

“Because I loved him. And he loved you. I’ll go inside. Stay. Enjoy your coffee and the sunrise, and I will…” She mimed zipping her lips together.

He shook his head. “You’re a funny girl, Becca Denton.”

“Not a girl,” she muttered, pushing out of the rocking chair.

“I’ve got almost ten years on you.”

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