It all sounds terrible as I try to explain it. I wind down, and Mom asks me the question that’s been preying on my mind.
“Nathan lives in San Diego, and you and your business are in Dallas. How is that going to work?”
“Right. So I’m going to move.” I wait, then, with my heart in my throat as I ready myself for the disapproval of the woman whose respect I value more than any other female in my life.
Finally she speaks, “Your daddy and I are so proud of the woman that you have become, Charlotte. My first instinct was to protest because he has hurt you so badly. But you are a wise and wonderful woman who is capable of making her own decisions. We support and love you. And should this decision have a negative outcome, we will still support you. No matter what you do in life, we know that you are doing your very most to make the right choices.”
I can’t stop the waterworks after that.
Dad interjects. “Sometimes you’re the bug on the windshield, and sometimes you’re the driver of the big truck. That’s life. You’re the driver now. If this is the direction you want to go, like your mama said, we support you hundred percent. And if you need an expansion loan, your mom has come into some money recently.”
We all laugh a bit until Mom changes the subject.
“When is your next checkup?”
“Tomorrow. I’ll call you right after.”
“Alright, darling girl,” Daddy drawls. No amount of time in the Midwest has totally eradicated his southern upbringing.
* * *
“How did it go?” Nate asks when we meet for dinner. He spent the day with Nick, having received special dispensation to watch practice.
“Better than I thought.” I take a long drink of my beer, which causes him to raise an eyebrow. “How about you?”
“Well, someone is planning the wedding already. You better call my mom if you want to have any say in the matter.”
“I think she probably already knows. I may have talked to her once or twice about it,” I say guiltily.
He smiles. “The shore?”
“Yes, a gazebo. Maybe late autumn or early spring.” I’d planned the whole wedding out when I was eighteen and still believed that Nathan would come back to me after a four-year stint in the Navy. “Your dad proposed to your mom at the shore. It’s perfectly symmetry.”
The side of his mouth curls up and he reaches across the table to capture my hand. Pressing a hot kiss in the middle of my palm, he says, “Let’s do it this autumn, Charlotte. Let’s not wait.”
“Okay.” His enthusiasm is contagious. And I want everything else settled. “I’m moving to San Diego. Lainey and Reese are covering the office here, and I’m going to take care of all the West coast athletes. I’m going to hire someone to handle the East coast.”
He wipes his mouth and carefully places the napkin beside his plate. “I thought I told you I was quitting.”
“I don’t want that. I’m more mobile than you are, and from everything I’ve read and heard, your time as a SEAL is finite. You can’t do this forever, and so while you still can, you should.” I continue to eat even as he stares at me. He can pin his unwavering Special Forces Navy glare at me, but I’m immune most likely because I know he’s done hurting me, both intentionally or unintentionally.
“So you’re up and moving your entire business so you can spend lonely months in San Diego away from your friends and family? No.” He shakes his head resolutely.
“I’m moving the base of my very mobile operation to San Diego to be with my love so that he can properly attend to all of my very demanding needs.” He’s still unconvinced, but I can see a glimmer of relief in his eyes. It’s enough that he’s willing to sacrifice it all for me. “When you’re gone, I’ll come back here, sleep in Nick’s guest room and keep him out of trouble.”
“And when I’m there, I promise to see to your every need,” he says. The husky timbre of his words sends a shiver up my spine.
“Are we done here?”
“We’re done having dinner.” He stands and lifts me to my feet. “But the rest of the night has just started.”
* * *
Sated, I draw aimless patterns on his chest. It heaves with every labored breath as he tries to calm himself. Nate’s body is a machine, one that he works hard to bring me pleasure. There’s something incredibly sexy about watching his big chest rise and fall in a rapid, uneven cadence. I did that.
His composure and iron will are somewhere under the bedcovers that lie in a haphazard pile at the end of the bed, and in these moments, in the afterglow, his power is banked and his aggression is tamed.