Page 25 of Baring All
So lost in my musing, I forgot the server was waiting for a reply. “Sorry. Um –” A thought pops into my head. “Actually, no thanks.”
“And for you, sir?” The man turns to Bear.
“No, thanks.” He turns back to me. “You sure?” I nod. “Just the bill then, please.”
Back on the sidewalk outside the restaurant, I scan the beach across the road. Since it’s a weekday, it’s fairly quiet. My eyes shift to comb the parking lot, and I spot what I’m looking for.
“You in a hurry to head home?” I ask Bear.
“Nope. I’m in no hurry at all.”
“Cool. Come on then.” I grab his hand and tug him in the direction of the lot across the road. For the briefest millisecond, there’s resistance, but then he allows himself to be dragged over the way.
Happy to be out in the sun, a delicious meal in my belly, I decide not to let it ruin my mood. Maybe I caught him by surprise. Pushing my thoughts aside, I make my way over to the trailer at the far end of the parking lot.
“Hey, Lola. How you doing, girl?” the guy in the trailer asks.
“Hi, Jimmy. I’m good. You? The family?” I reply.
“Yeah, all good, thanks. What brings you by today?”
“My friend and I were just having lunch back there.” I point in the direction we’ve just come from. “So I thought I’d treat him to the best ice cream around.”
“Flatterer.” Jimmy laughs down at me.
I swear I feel Bear stiffen beside me. Yet when I turn to him, he appears relaxed. Mentally shrugging, I make introductions.
“Jimmy, this is my friend, Bear. Bear, this is my cousin Jimmy. He makes the most incredible ice cream you’ll ever taste.”
The men greet each other and, introductions over, we get down to the serious business of deciding what flavors we want. Cones in hand, we say goodbye to my cousin and make our way down to the beach.
We stroll in silence for a while, savoring our sweet treats and enjoying the beautiful view.
“It’s been a really long time since I took a walk along the shore.” Bear’s words stop me in my tracks.
“You live in one of the most beautiful cities and you never come to the beach? Seriously?”
“I didn’t say I don’t visit, I said it’s been some time since I walked along the shore. Big difference.”
“Ah, fair enough. My bad.”
“I often go down to the beach close to base when I have something on my mind, or when we’ve had a particularly shitty mission and I need some peace to deal. I’ll sit and watch the waves. But the last time I walked along the beach was with my mom. That was a lot of years ago.”
I just don’t know how to ask without sounding like I’m prying. But I needn’t have worried since he continues to speak.
“After my mom died, I stopped coming. This brings back memories of time spent with her.” Something in the way he says the words tells me it’s not necessarily happy memories.
“Sounds like it makes you sad to think about it. I’m sorry.”
Bear looks at me, his beautiful eyes two smudges of pain in his handsome face. For a long moment he doesn’t speak. “Yeah, it does. Probably shouldn’t anymore, but it still does,” is all he eventually says and nothing more.
Once again, we walk on in silence. Clearly, this is a touchy subject for Bear, and the last thing I want to do is push him to talk about something he’s reluctant to go into. “So, a Navy SEAL – is that something you always wanted to be?”
“No. But I had a choice to make – prison or the Navy. Easy decision really.”
I’m so taken aback by his words, I’m speechless. He takes one look at my face and chuckles. “Surprised ya, did I?”
“Uh, yeah. You could say that. Those are – um – interesting opposites. Care to elaborate?”
