Claiming Holly (Holiday Cove 1)

“He’ll come around,” Lions interjected, right as I’d closed my eyes.

“Huh?”

“Player. I was the first of my buddies to get married too, and at first, they didn’t get it, but eventually, they came around and now they’re all married with kids. Living the minivan life.”

I smirked. “Well, I doubt Player will ever settle down, but he’ll grin and bear it when I do.”

After a long, thoughtful pause, I rolled over and faced Lions. He was still holding his book but looked up over the top. “How long have you and your wife been married?”

“Twelve years.” He smiled and his hand relaxed, dropping his book down onto his lap. “Twelve years, three kids, and five tours.”

“Wow. What’s the secret?”

Lions chuckled, his laugh low and soft, as he shook his head to himself. When he looked back at me, he was smiling. “There’s no secret, Boomer. Just a ton of hard work.”

At first, I wasn’t sure if his answer helped or not. I was used to hard work, it was the only speed I really knew, but if I were honest with myself, I didn’t really know what kind of work a long-term relationship would take. People often said it was work, but I hadn’t had anything long enough to really see how that played out day in and day out. After a week and a half with Holly, I had no idea where our source of future conflict would come from, which meant I couldn’t even prepare for whatever was ahead.

“I don’t mean to be a wet blanket,” Lions continued. “Just being real with you. My wife, Sara, is a wonderfully patient woman who puts up with my deployments and military obligations like a real champ. She raises the kids when I’m gone and when we talk on the phone, she does her best to stay positive. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have arguments and tension. Sometimes the kids are going nuts, driving her crazy, and she lashes out. Or, when I’m home, I get edgy and frustrated cause I’m not used to having them around after a long tour and I need space and that’s hard on them.” He stared off, past my shoulder, to the wall behind my bunk and looked like he was suddenly deep in thought. After a few seconds, he returned his gaze to me and offered another smile. “You make it work, though. You find the girl who will do all that and fight it out with you, and you keep her and do the best you can, every damn day. That’s the secret.”

I nodded slowly, still absorbing his words. “Thanks, Lions. That helps.”

He gave me a quick nod and went back to his reading, but his words stayed with me. From everything I knew, Holly was the kind of woman worth fighting for, and so far, she’d been willing to fight for me too. So, while I had no idea what my future would hold, I knew that I wanted her to be a part of it.

23

Holly

Even though I’d been home for a couple of weeks, the sounds of the ocean were still echoing through my mind. It was like living inside one of those sound machines used to combat insomnia. With the lingering ocean waves in my mind, it took a slight adjustment period to get back into the groove at work.

Normally, I thrived with a day-to-day routine, but my heart and mind were wrapped up in the two weeks I’d spent with Jack in Holiday Cove, and it was hard to concentrate on expense account ledgers and monthly report spreadsheets. Jack and I hadn’t been able to talk much. Between the time difference and his limited schedule, we relied on email to stay in touch. It wasn’t ideal, but each message was a small piece of him and helped me remain connected.

The added bonus of having emails? I could go back and read them anytime I was missing him. Which is what my afternoon at work had turned into. I was reading through the last email from Jack—for the third time that day—when I heard a loud bang echoing from the office next door. I jumped up and bolted out into the hall and found the door open to the office next door. “Paula?” I called out, entering the office, my eyes darting around for the source of the noise. “Paula? Are you all right?”

A hand gripping a pen popped up from the other side of the large, marble topped desk. “I’m okay!”

I raced over and peeked over the edge. Paula’s chair was toppled over, the wheels still spinning, as she was gathering herself from a splayed position to get back on her feet. “Paula, what happened?” I rounded the desk and helped her up. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“Yeah,” she replied, with a bubbly giggle. Once she was stable in her impossibly high heels, I released her arm to grab her chair and righted it. “I fell asleep with my feet up on the desk and knocked myself over.”