Page 16 of The Seal's Promise

Her heart squeezed—she hadn’t considered how much Dalton might have lost serving his country. And while he’d had no parents worrying about him, she’d be lying if she said he hadn’t remained in her prayers.

“I’m sorry about your friends. Obviously I’d be proud of him, but I wouldn’t want it at the same time.”

“I get that.” Dalton looked at her, and the heat of the day didn’t compare to the warmth she felt deep in her gut as his blue eyes studied her.

The crack of a bat broke through the strange vibe between them, and she pulled out her ball cap from her bag to watch the game.

“Cute,” Dalton said.

She couldn’t help but gawk at him. “Excuse me?”

“You look really cute with your son’s team hat on. You turn into one of those triple threat types of women.”

Brooke gulped her suddenly dry throat.

“You know—smart, sexy, and cute.” He laughed. “Don’t tell me I’m the first person to tell you that.”

She nodded. “Actually, yes you are. You know single moms don’t really get out much.”

“Good,” he said. “So you don’t mind if I go to Max’s career day then?”

“Dalton, what are you doing?” She pulled her knees up and hugged them.

“What do you mean? Max asked me to go and I figured why not tell the kids about being a doctor? It’s an honorable profession.” There was a smile pulling at his full lips.

“I mean, I get that you’re probably a bit bored, not working and sitting at home with your gran every night. But you can’t just drop into town and expect us to catch up where we left off. I don’t need you stopping by the hospital or hanging out with my sister, and I definitely don’t need you getting close to my son. He doesn’t need any more examples of men who don’t stick around.”

“Is that how it went? He married you, got you pregnant, and left his brother to play father?”

“It’s none of your business, Dalton. I’m not a walk down memory lane.”

He raised his hands in surrender. “I’m not here to upset you, Brooke. And I don’t want a walk down memory lane; most of my memories of Sandy Point are exactly why I left as fast as I did.”

She gritted her teeth and silently bit back the hurt that made her chest tighten and her eyes gloss over. But she couldn’t resist having her say.

“I’m fully aware you didn’t have anyone worth remembering back here in Sandy Point. You don’t need to remind me.” She popped up before he could respond, grabbed her bag, and made her way over to the packed bleacher stands. She’d rather find a spot on the hard metal seats than suffer sitting for another second next to Dalton under her favorite tree.

CHAPTER NINE

Dalton

The Slap

Dalton didn’t knowhow long he stared, watching Brooke’s hips sway as she walked as far away from him as possible. He just kept playing over in his mind what she’d said, and what it implied. She thought she hadn’t mattered to him when he’d left town. Which implied she had cared when he left, and that she had missed him? And for the first time, he realized how much more he’d lost when he stayed gone.

Their friendship had begun by a random coincidence when he’d found her in the library on a Saturday, reading the book he needed to take out. He’d put off an assignment, and had a paper due the following Monday. But after he convinced her to tell him what she thought about the book, they read the ending together, taking turns passing the book back and forth. She’d even edited his paper the next day before it was due and he’d gotten an A+. After that, he’d find her around school with another book in her hand, or under a tree in the park when he was out for a run. She was a grade below him, but he developed a habit of looking for her, like they had their own game of hide-and-seek.

He would ask about her favorite books, and she would pretend to be interested in his sports. But the best part about their friendship was that it had nothing to do with being popular, or captain of the baseball team, or their last names. They just enjoyed each other’s company.

Looking up, he cursed. They’d sat for hours under this tree, her favorite place in the park. But then his parents died, and he’d left in a fog of grief. And she was right, he never gave much thought to anyone else missing him. All his classmates had graduated and were headed off to different schools. He didn’t have a girlfriend, and he didn’t know how to cope with his parents’ deaths, so he left.

“How’s that saying go, you can always go home?” a deep voice asked.

Dalton stood to find his brother Wes, out of uniform for once.

“I think whoever wrote that assumed the person would be welcomed home,” Dalton said.

Wes faced the field with his arms crossed, his eyes on the game. “I think the writer assumed the person would be going home to stay and not just pulling a drive-by.”

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