Page 35 of Nanny for the SEALs

He chuckled. “A bite, or you ate someone on the way. Man, you’ve grown. What happened?”

I should have been embarrassed by his comment about my weight, but I let it slide. He was still in shape, that was for sure. It was dark, but when I gave him a hug, it felt as if I was hugging one of my brothers—everything was tight and in form, as if he’d been endlessly working out at the gym.

“You staying for a while? I thought so. I told the missus.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Missus?”

He nodded, then showed me his finger and his ring glistened under the streetlamp.

“I invited you to the wedding, but you said you couldn’t make it. You never told me why.”

I nodded, knowing he couldn’t see me, because it was dark. I was embarrassed to admit the reason I never showed up to his wedding was purely out of jealousy. Greg was a virgin when we were SEALs, just like me. He confessed it to me, guessing I was pretty much like him. In the span of five years—which to a few, would be a lifetime, but to me felt like only yesterday—he’d managed to have a girlfriend, loose his virginity, have a fiancée, then wife, and most likely, they would have a kid, if they didn’t already.

I was exactly the same as he’d last seen me. Nothing in my life had changed, so how the hell could I show up at his wedding?

“Don’t sweat it, man. You going to grab your things and come up? Jane’s dying to meet you.”

“What?”

“Your things. That’s why you text. I’m no stranger to messages like that. I mean, we haven’t spoken for a while…”

I said nothing as my mind raced to the last time we spoke. He said a while, but what did I know? It felt as if I’d been stuck in some kind of time-wrap. I completely forgotten about the one person I considered to be a friend had got married.

What the fuck was wrong with me?

He patted me on the back again as if to reassure me.

“Look, man. Doesn’t matter. Jane’s expecting you. We can catch up.”

“Is there room? I mean, is your condo big?”

He chuckled. “No, man. San’s not exactly cheap and working with Qualcomm, I’m not going to deny it’s a good income, but when you have a kid… Damn, you love them to bits, but they’re not cheap.”

My mind drifted to Rick, always complaining about the cost of fatherhood. He loved the twins dearly, but he said they came at a heavy price. I had no idea how much a bag of diapers cost, let alone what kind of figure they were talking about.

I grabbed my bag, which held all my worldly possessions, mainly my iMac, a couple of pants, and a few shirts. I didn’t change my pants often; in fact, if anyone saw me on a regular basis, they could easily accuse me of wearing the same thing every day.

Greg continued to talk about his little girl, Lily, who was three years old and quite happy to have a visitor and give up her room. I wouldn’t stay long, maybe one night or two tops.

“Just when you called, I’ve had a couple of guys call me from the past. They’re always in a bad way, looking for somewhere to stay, and I let them stay. You know.”

Again, I nodded as the realization that Greg and I were nothing alike. He had guys call him, and I never did. Only him.

I followed him into the condo block like a lost lamb. He didn’t stop talking, even as he turned the key. I didn’t know if he was doing it out of nerves, or if in the midst of it all, I was the confused one.

Greg was never the shy, virgin, tech-head; that was only me. Sure, the latter was true, for sure he was the tech-head or he wouldn’t be working for Qualcomm. As we entered the building, I saw he was wearing a red polo and jeans which hugged his body comfortably. He had a little beard, well trimmed and maintained, and a haircut to match. There was nothing to say Greg and I were even equals.

“Another thing, I thought you guys were joined at the hip, so when you said you were coming, I knew something must be up. You guys were always by each others side, so something wasn’t right. You know like the incident happened back in the past, with Rick and shit.”

I sighed, thinking about the way I left the penthouse, like a little boy scared to admit his feelings and face his fears. How the fuck did I end up being a SEAL?

“Right, we’re on the second floor,” Greg said as he started to head up the stairs. He didn’t really look at me closely, and the only thing on my mind was taking the elevator, but he was fit, a little too fit for me to keep up with him.

“We should have taken the elevator. Sorry, man.”

He stopped at the top of the stairs, waiting for me to join him. I realized he was looking at his phone.

“Crap, Jane went to sleep. She has work in the morning.”

---