Page 27 of Forever His Girl

Which of course he did.

Palmetto trees whizzed by the window along the barrier-island road. Sailboats, a barge, a shrimp trawler bobbed in the distance until she lost herself in the hypnotic regularity. What if she and Danny had stumbled on each other again through a simple passing on the street, no dangerous ex-husband lurking in her past? Could they meet for coffee and discuss their engagement and lost baby with adult perspective, then slide back into their old friendship? Maybe something more.

But she had met Kent. Married him. And knowing him had marked her— transforming her into a different woman, one as incapable of committing words to paper as she was of committing herself to another person.

Threat or no threat, she’d changed. Not for the better. Even if she scraped deep inside herself for the pieces to try, the risk wouldn’t be hers and Danny’s alone. Echoes of Austin’s screaming fit still reverberated in her head, his anguish because he’d lost sight of her for seven seconds when she stepped around an aisle. She wouldn’t mislead those two grieving boys into expecting her to stay. They’d lost enough.

Two grieving boys in the process of beating each other to death with blow-up baseball bats that had been on special with the kids’ meals at the Base Exchange food court.

Austin thunked Danny on the back of the head.

Daniel ducked. “Hey, short stuff, you’re gonna land us in a ditch. Hold off another minute while I park the truck.”

He wove the truck past an unusual abundance of cars lining the street leading into the complex. He crept past every full visitor spot and finally nosed his Ford into a tight space on the end.

“Someone must be throwing a party,” he noted offhandedly as he reached back to unbuckle Austin.

Mary Elise couldn’t help but think how a week ago he would have likely been joining the party. Still, he didn’t say a word or show even a hint of the frustration he must be feeling.

Don’t be so wonderful, Danny. Please.

She stepped out of the truck just as one of the second-floor condo doors flung open to emit music and laughter.

Spike strode onto the balcony, his arm hooked over his fiancée’s shoulders. “Come on up, Crusty. Most of the squadron’s already here and ready to party.”

Daniel pulled Austin out before shouting, “Thanks, man, but I need to unload the truck and start putting together furniture so we’re not bunking on the floor again. Besides, uh, I’ve got the kids.”

“No problem,” Spike insisted, tucking a bathing-suit-clad Darcy Renshaw closer. “There are plenty more rug rats here.”

A carrot-topped little girl crawled between Spike’s legs seconds before a linebacker-size man plowed past to scoop her up. Mary Elise forced herself not to wince at the sight of a baby that too easily could have been hers and Daniel’s.

Darcy stepped forward to lean over the balcony. “Didn’t you hear us, Crusty? Most of the squadron’s here. Surprise! We’re throwing you a baby shower.”

CHAPTERSEVEN

Three hours later,Mary Elise dangled her feet in the pool and tried to soak away the tension of attending a “baby shower” eleven years after the fact with Daniel. Actually, a truly thoughtful gesture on the part of his squadron friends, and she refused to allow past baggage to taint it.

And man, did these people know how to party.

Chlorine drifted along the salty air while Mary Elise kept guard over Austin splashing nearby in the shallow end with his newly christened pair of inflatable water wings. Tables and loungers filled with adults and kids, the pool packed with squadron guests bearing gifts of toys, clothes, even a surprise extravagant present of two bikes.

Three couples strayed beyond the fence to the marshy coastline, gushing tidewaters surging against the beach with circling gulls and herons overhead. Darcy and Spike’s condo had overheated quickly with the press of people inside until they’d moved the party, complete with Bo’s guitar entertainment, to the pool in hopes of cooling off.

Feet swishing through the lukewarm water, Mary Elise watched Danny step under the pool shower. Cutoff jean shorts rode low on his slim hips until she could count every ridge of his six-pack abs. Spray streamed down his face, between his defined pecs in a trail southward that left her swallowing hard.

She jerked her gaze away before it followed that water straight down. Geez, how totally embarrassing, not to mention insulting. She liked to think of herself as a normal woman with healthy urges, but also a thinking woman and not an out-of-control bundle of hormones.

As she’d once been around this man.

Gentle guitar pluckings floated along the ocean breeze in a sensual serenade. Great. Apparently, bad-boy Bo had decided to turn his talented fingers to a sappy love song as he sprawled in a chair at an umbrella table. No doubt playing in hopes of luring the splashing hot tub mermaid back to his place.

Couples. Couples. Couples everywhere. Ugh.

At least she and Daniel wouldn’t be swimming together half-naked as they’d done so often in his parents’ pool. Darcy had offered to share an extra bathing suit with her, but Mary Elise found lazing by the pool the perfect way to end a draining day.

She accepted that some of her lassitude could be attributed to her lack of medicines since her supply now sat useless in her cabinet back in Rubistan. She would have to check in with a doctor soon about new prescriptions. At least the over-the-counter, iron-fortified vitamins she’d bought would help with the anemia that accompanied endometriosis in full tilt.

Her body chemistry might be out of whack, the building pain only mildly numbed by extra-strength Motrin. But she’d lived with the fallout of her illness for so long, she refused to let it rule her anymore. She would enjoy the moment before her life shifted into another unknown direction.

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