Hazardous Holiday. Liz Johnson

Maybe she never would be. But that wasn’t what he was offering.

      “I have a three-bedroom town house. There’s more than enough room for you and Cody to each have your own. And...and my team is being deployed.”

      “Deployed? Where?”

      He shook his head. She might as well get used to it. He didn’t talk about where his SEAL team served. Ever.

      But her frown said that wasn’t acceptable. “When?”

      “In about four weeks. For a year.”

      Her eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re suggesting I leave everything and everyone I know and move to San Diego. But you’re not going to be there.”

      He stood, towering over her, but she didn’t step back.

      “I know it’s not ideal, but I don’t have a better suggestion.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he hung his head. “I want to help. And all I’m asking in return is that you trust me.”

      “And how long will I be in San Diego?”

      “As long as you and Cody need it.” He shrugged. “You have a home there for as long as it takes.”

      “What about after?”

      He mouthed the word after and twisted the towel in his hands until the fibers strained. After Cody’s surgery? After she didn’t need him anymore? He had no answers, but still a strong conviction that this was what he was supposed to do.

      “We’ll figure it out.”

      “Momma?”

      Her gaze swung to the kitchen entry, and Zach followed it a second behind. The little boy looked smaller than his five years, practically skin and bones, his face dominated by his dad’s big green eyes.

      “What are you doing out of bed?” Reaching out a hand to him, she said, “Come here, little man.” He ran to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, tucking his face into her side as she sifted her fingers through his sandy-blond hair.

      Before she could make introductions, he squatted in front of them. Eye level with the boy, Zach held out his hand. “You must be Cody. I’m Zach. I’ve heard a lot of great things about you. Your dad talked about you all the time.”

      For an instant Cody’s lips trembled. “You knew my daddy?”

      Zach’s eyes burned. “He was my very best friend and the best man I knew.”

      A sniff from above drew Zach’s attention, and he looked up in time to see Kristi wiping her face.

      “All right.”

      Was that a yes to his proposal—botched though it may have been?

      She seemed to read his question on his face and nodded slowly. “Bud, how would you like to live by the ocean?”

       ONE

      Thirteen months later

      Kristi Tanner had been an idiot.

      There was no other word for it.

      What on earth had possessed her to marry a man she barely knew and to move into an unfamiliar neighborhood? She still didn’t feel safe here, even after more than a year. Though that sense of danger mostly stemmed from the brown sedan that had been parked across the street from her town house on and off for two weeks. It didn’t seem to belong to a single one of her neighbors.

      She gave it another hard look as the vehicle pulled past for the hundredth time.

      She couldn’t be the only one in the neighborhood who noticed the strange drive-bys or felt like someone was watching her unload groceries and pull weeds.

      Maybe that was all part of life in a big city. Maybe she should have expected the weight of a hundred eyes on her. Only it hadn’t started until a few weeks ago. Right after the scene at her office.

      She shook her head. She didn’t have time today to think about the odd shiver down her back or that silly car. Not when she was expected at the base.

      When Zach had shipped out, a year had seemed so long. He’d been gone, and she and Cody had built their life in San Diego. Doctor’s appointments. A new job. Cody’s homeschooling. Birthdays and holidays. They’d made the most of them all, every day grieving their loss a little less.

      But now Zach was coming back—coming home.

      To her home.

      “What time do they get in?”

      Cody sagged in the backseat, but his smile couldn’t be denied. Despite his pale lips and sallow skin, his eyes danced with anticipation. And Kristi couldn’t deny him his joy at the prospect of seeing his longtime pen pal.

      Not even if her insides were a knot of nerves.

      “His flight was supposed to arrive at one.”

      “Hurry.” He kicked at the back of her seat as his voice rose. “We’re going to be late.”

      The light changed, and she zipped in front of a red sports car, headed toward the Coronado Bridge. “We’re not going to be late. And stop kicking my seat.”

      “Yes, Momma.” The frantic beats at her back ended immediately. “But hurry?” he pleaded.

      She took a corner a little faster than she’d anticipated, and her purse flew across the passenger seat, sending several worn envelopes flying to the floorboard. She’d carried Zach’s letters with her every day since they began arriving. One every month. All written in a bold, blocky hand.

      They weren’t filled with flowery poetry or sweet words. They never hinted at affection or the pain of distance.

      No one would dare to classify them as love letters.

      Still, they offered a peek into the heart of the man she’d married. Funny stories of his team’s time abroad. Concern for Cody. Scriptures he’d been reading.

      She’d pored over them all.

      And never sent a single response.

      It was so much easier to tag a note on to the end of Cody’s emails, letting Zach know they were well and his house was fine, than to put her real thoughts on to paper. Her real doubts.

      At first she’d wondered every day after their courthouse ceremony if she’d made the right decision. But as the weeks ticked by, life had settled into a new normal.

      Until the call a few days ago.

      Ashley Waterstone, the wife of the senior chief of Zach’s SEAL team, had called with news. The team was coming home.

      “Momma?”

      “Yes, Cody?”

      “Where’s Zach going to stay?”

      Her stomach clenched, her grip on the wheel turning her knuckles white. As promised, Zach’s three-bedroom home was big enough for all of them, but it would be strange to have another person in the space she’d come to see as hers and Cody’s.

      “Because I was thinking he could stay in my room.”

      Kristi couldn’t hold back a giggle.

      “I have bunk beds, and he could have the top one.” Cody met her gaze in the rearview mirror and smiled broadly. “Do you think he’d want to?”

      “Well, bud,” she said as tactfully as she could, “he’s been working hard for a long time. He might need lots of good sleep.”

      Cody shook his head vigorously. “I bet he’ll want to. I’ll ask him. My Chevy night-light is really cool.”

      “That it is. You ask him. But if he says no, then you say okay. Okay?”