Page 43 of SEAL's Doorstep Baby

I am a couple feet from the door when I see them again and this time there’s no hiding to be done. Naomi and Janice, hand in hand, are heading to the counter I am just leaving.

“Hello, Jacob.” Naomi greets me warmly, and seeing her is enough to bring a lot of memories to the forefront of my mind—the good and the bad—but I elect to bury them deep rather than letting them sweep me away.

“Naomi, what are you doing back here?”

“I should be asking you that question, but I can make a guess. It’s been a thousand years, Jacob. What are you doing here?”

“Jakey…Jacob. Naomi is my cousin. You know each other?” Janice’s face is frozen in shock at the realization that I share a past with Naomi and her family knows me, too.

“Yes, we do.” I say shortly.

Naomi cocks her head. “Jacob is a friend from way back. And I guess we share another connection now too.”

I feel uncomfortable. “Have you taken it as a challenge and stealing Sherry from me wasn’t enough?”

Janice smiles. Naomi looks between us. I hate that after all these years, I know what that look means. She’s calculating how much Janice and I know each other—how jealous she should be.

“And it’s nice to see you, Naomi. I’m here because I live here now.”

Her eyebrows rise, climbing all the way to her hairline. “You, Jacob. You are settling down? That’s a shock to say the least.”

“Yeah. He has a kid and everything.”

Thank you very much Janice.

The surprise that was limited to her eyebrows is now shown all over her face. “A kid?”

“Long story.” This is neither the time nor place to talk about it or any of the situations leading up to this.

“I want to hear this story, Jake. I need to.” Her tone is pleading, but this might as well be a demand from Naomi. Out of anyone else in my life, she deserves an explanation for why I am now building a family when I couldn’t do it for her.

I realize she thinks I had a kid with another woman after rejecting the same offer of a home and family from her, with me swearing up and down it had nothing to do with her. I would not leave the navy for her, but here I was, doing the same thing with another woman.

“I’ll… uh… go get the drinks,” Janice says, looking between us. Naomi doesn’t even look away from me.

“I’m sorry to hear about Emily, Jake,” she says softly as soon as we’re alone.

I flinch, though of course she would have heard. Small town after all.

“How are you hanging in there? God! I can’t imagine how hard this must be for you.”

“I’m okay.” I say.

Naomi smiles kindly, though she does look like her eyes are filling with tears. I really don’t want to have to comfort my ex-girlfriend about my own grief, but I guess I’m glad she’s sorry about it.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come,” she says softly.

I look down, sniffing. “Yeah, it’s okay.” I say with a shrug. “I get it.”

“I just thought you wouldn’t want….”

“It’s okay.”

Naomi nods. She looks up at me, eyes wide and vulnerable. I hate that the instinct I have is to apologize.

“So a kid?” she asks.

“Emily’s,” I murmur. Her eyes widen in surprise. “Mine now, though.”

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