A pretty blonde in a wisp of a summer dress stepped out of the house and offered him a tentative smile.
“Ah, shit,” Brian muttered. “I didn’t think about Rachel and Riley being here. We’ll head out.”
Jack had recently been in a similar position to Brian’s—in love with a woman he couldn’t have. But Jack had worked things out. He’d gotten the girl and the future he had once only dreamed of. Brian would be damned if he’d fuck that up.
“Riley’s with his grandmother,” Rachel interjected. “In California.”
Brian extended his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rachel. Brian Simmons.”
“Hi, Brian.” She smiled. “We’re getting ready to grill up some steaks. Jack bought enough for an army, as usual. I hope you’re planning on staying for dinner.”
He looked at Jack with a rueful smile. “I appreciate the offer, but I just stopped by for a moment.”
“Bullshit,” Jack said. “Your timing is perfect. I told everyone I was going to be at Rachel’s in Monterey so they’d leave us alone. No one knows we’re here.”
“Jack—”
Jack ignored him and walked toward the Bronco. “I’ve got guest rooms. I’ll move my car out of the drive and you can park in the garage.”
Opening Layla’s door, he introduced himself and gestured at the house. She looked to Brian and he shrugged.
Their eyes held for a moment, a surge of emotion passing between them.
So little time left. He hated to share even a moment of it, but he needed a fellow deputy’s input and help, and Layla needed a place to decompress.
He held out his hand to her when she reached him. She linked her fingers with his and he led her into the house.
“How can I help?” Layla asked, watching as Rachel pulled the vegetables for a salad out of the fridge.
“Are you up for peeling a cucumber and chopping it up with some tomatoes?”
“Absolutely.”
After rinsing and prepping, Layla joined Rachel at the granitetop kitchen island. She smiled at the friendly blonde, whose short golden curls perfectly framed a lovely face and kind blue eyes.
“You have a lovely home,” Layla said, envying the other woman’s happy family.
“It’s not mine. Jack and I are still pretty new to each other. At least, in the romantic sense.”
“I never would have guessed.” Jack clearly doted on Rachel. In some ways, he reminded Layla of Brian. Both men were tough, no-nonsense guys ... who just happened to have a soft underbelly they exposed only to the women they loved. When Jack looked at Rachel, the tender heat was obvious.
“We’ve known each other for years. He was my late husband’s best friend and he’s my son’s godfather.”
“You and I have a lot in common,” Layla noted.
Rachel continued to shred a head of lettuce with her hands. “Jack gave me a brief rundown of why you’re here. I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now, yet you’re so pulled together and brave. You’re amazing. Jack says you’re from a military family?”
“Jack seems to know a lot about me.”
“I said the same thing.” Rachel laughed. “Apparently Brian talks about you a lot. It must be a relief to have him with you now.”
“Huge.” Layla began to dice the tomatoes. “It’s ironic. We broke up, in large part, because of his job. And now I couldn’t be more grateful that he does what he does and that he’s helping me get through this.”
“Jack ’s job got in the way for us, too. He felt like it was too dangerous for Riley and me, and that I’d eventually regret how often he’s away.”
“I never minded the separation so much,” Layla said, thinking about it. “Maybe because I grew up living with it. My problem was—still is—his need to sign up for the most dangerous jobs, situations, whatever. I mean he couldn’t just be a deputy U.S. marshal, right? He couldn’t just be a sailor in the Navy. He had to go Special Forces all the way.”
“It’s scary when they’re gone, I know.”
“It’s scarier when they don’t come back.”
Rachel paused, her gaze trained downward at the counter.
Exhaling in a rush, Layla stopped chopping. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“It’s okay.” Rachel left the counter and grabbed a beer out of the fridge. She held one up for Layla, but Layla shook her head. “I had to think long and hard about that very possibility before I pursued Jack. I had to be sure I was truly committed, because I was risking putting Riley through losing a stepfather as well as his own dad.”
Layla set the knife down. “What made up your mind for you?”
“Jack. He deserves to be loved. He deserves to have someone to come home to. With all that he does for everyone else, he deserves something of his own.” Rachel took a long pull on her beer, then set it down and got back to work. “Jack was raised in foster care. It took me a while to understand it, but the men he works with are his family, the only one he’s ever had. I realized I have to look at his job the same way I would an unpleasant mother-in-law—it comes with the territory. I have to take him the way he is.”
Gripping the counter, Layla forced herself to breathe in an even tempo while her heart lurched in her chest.
Dear God.
Families were supposed to be comprised of people who cared for you, people who would do anything for you . . . even die for you. She’d been blessed with that, but like Jack, Brian hadn’t been. His mother was engrossed in the men in her life, losers who used her and eventually left her when the novelty wore off. Brian had no idea who his father was and no siblings he knew of.
So he’d chosen fields and jobs that would give him the support system of a family. Careers that provided him with people he trusted with his life. And hers.
She’d demanded he give that up for her. Coming from a young woman he feared might leave him at any moment, it must have seemed like an impossible request. He’d already lost Jacob.
Layla understood now why he hadn’t been able to let the job go. It wasn’t the job itself; it was the ties the job gave him. And she hadn’t off
ered him a dependable alternative to that loss.
“Are you okay?” Rachel asked softly.
“Sorry. I’m just wiped out.” Layla lifted her head. “I was already stressed about the trial. Then these last couple of days . . .”
“It’ll be over soon, won’t it?”
“It will never be over. Once I testify, I’ll go back into WITSEC and wait for the possibility that they might need me again.”
“Will Brian be with you?”
Layla shook her head. “He won’t even know where I am or what my last name is. Today and tomorrow is all we’ve got.”
“Then why the fuck are you in the kitchen with me?” Rachel asked without heat. “I’ve got dinner covered. Go spend some time with your man.”
“I think he’s talking with your man, actually.” Layla felt herself smiling despite herself. She liked Rachel. She wished this sort of life was possible—spending time with people who were important to Brian, grilling a meal on a lovely day, commiserating with fellow significant others who knew what it was like to wait and worry and hope for the best. The worst part was that she’d once had the life she was now coveting and she had thrown it away.
“Then take a shower and a nap instead. It’ll be a few hours yet before the food’s ready.”
“I’ll feel like a mooch if I don’t help.”
“You can help me clean up later, how’s that? I enjoy the prep part. It’s the mess I don’t much care for.” Rachel rounded the island. “Let me show you to your room. The house has two masters, so you have your own bathroom.”
“Thank you, Rachel.” Layla met the blonde’s blue-eyed gaze and tried to convey the depth of her gratitude. It meant so much to her that she and Brian had this brief respite with trusted friends in a home filled with love. It felt real and true, although she knew it was as much a moment out of time as the past two nights spent in rundown motels.
Rachel grabbed her hand and squeezed. “Anytime.”
“You weren’t fully briefed before you got there?” Jack asked.