“I’ve never said it, but thank you for being my partner,” Alysse said. Staci had given her something other than winning to focus on. Without her dad or Toby in her life Alysse knew she’d have been moorless, just drifting from competition to competition, even though her mom had warned her she’d burn out.
“We’re da bomb. I’m not leaving the partnership, just the day-to-day stuff,” Staci said. “We’ve got a good thing going.”
“Yes, we do,” she said.
Alysse pulled into the parking lot at the Dana Point Marina and drove toward the center area near the yacht club so she could park the van for unloading. And, as they set up their cupcakes under the tent prepared for them, Alysse realized that she had wanted life to be predictable and safe but it never was. Even while she and Staci had been hiding at Sweet Dreams their pasts were waiting there to spring up again.
She was very glad that she was ready for the change. She had to stop hiding from the truth about Jay. The truth was hard to face but as she stood in the late-afternoon sun she admitted to herself that she still cared for Jay and the last thing she wanted was for him to walk out on her again.
They’d been playing house together, careful not to talk about anything of real importance. He didn’t discuss Company B with her any more than the one time she’d asked about it and he’d answered with a simple yes or no. So she’d stopped asking. She knew that they both needed to face some hard truths about their life together.
Now Alysse was thinking that Staci’s bold move meant that it was past time for her to step up and make some changes. She couldn’t just keep bumping along, because sooner or later she and Jay would have to talk about what they both wanted.
She knew she wanted more than what they had but she was afraid to admit it in case that would drive Jay away. By not admitting it, she wasn’t going to have what she really wanted anyway.
* * *
JAY WAS STILL UNEASY about working out of an office, but Lucien had paired him with Donovan O’Malley on a basic mission where they would be guarding a foreign dignitary. It was right up Jay’s alley, which was good because he found himself thinking about Alysse at the most inopportune times.
“What branch you with?” Donovan asked. He was about Jay’s age and from Seattle.
“Corps. You?” Jay asked as he studied the other man from behind his aviator shades. The man was shorter than Jay and had more muscles. He had a buzz cut and a tribal-armband tattoo down his left arm. He wore jeans and a T-shirt and had done a good job of blending in with the crowd, even though Lucien had told Jay that Donovan didn’t have any special recon training.
“Army. I’m an infantryman, what about you?” he asked.
“Sniper,” Jay said. They had snipers in all the branches but he’d been trained by the best in the world, in Jay’s humble opinion.
“Have you been to Afghanistan?” Donovan asked. “I did two tours myself, but I got a bit tired of all that sand. I’m used to lots of lush greenery and rain.”
“I’ve been twice. I hear you on the sand. It gets in everything.”
“Yeah. That’s why I thought this job would be nice,” Donovan said, scratching the back of his head. “I was tired of dusting dirt off my cot before I went to bed.”
“Me, too,” Jay admitted, although he hadn’t slept any better the last four nights in Alysse’s comfortable sand-free bed. That had nothing to do with the mattress or the sheets and everything to do with Alysse. He’d been afraid to sleep in case he had another nightmare.
“So what do I need to do next?” Donovan asked. “I don’t want to screw this up. And I’ve never done anything like it before.”
“You won’t screw it up. You any good with a camera?” Jay asked, pulling a Nikon from his backpack and holding it out.
“I’m fair enough. What do you need shots of?” Donovan asked, taking the camera from Jay.
“The entire building and all the entrances. Do it close up from the sidewalk and then walk across the street and get some there. I’m going to check out the buildings nearby.”
Donovan nodded and started to walk away. “No problem. I’ll meet you back in thirty.”
“Sounds good,” Jay said, but the other man was already gone. Donovan was very good at taking orders—the kind of man who would be an asset to any team he was on.
Jay liked to get the lay of the land by walking it. He’d done it a thousand times before with a scout at his side.