The Soldier's Forever Family

Joanna relaxed and Simon seemed satisfied, already chattering about pizza and go-carts as they turned to move together toward guest parking.

Adam had the uncomfortable feeling that he was walking on eggshells rather than a pebbled path. He told himself he was going to have to be more careful than that in his interactions with the boy, at least until he and Joanna had another chance to talk privately. Which, of course, came with yet another set of potential pitfalls.

Swallowing a sigh, he shook his head at the complex situation he’d become tangled up in. Which only became more complicated when a little hand slid into his and he looked down to find Simon grinning up at him.

Was the boy this open and chummy with everyone? Adam’s less trusting nature made him believe Joanna would have to warn Simon about that. Maybe the boy felt safe with him because he represented the resort, or because Joanna had acknowledged meeting him before. Or maybe Simon felt some vague bond he couldn’t quite explain. Maybe Adam wasn’t the only one who had gazed into a pair of gray eyes and felt a sense of recognition.

He looked up to find Joanna glancing back at them as she led the way to her car. He couldn’t completely read her expression, but he thought she looked worried. He supposed he understood. She didn’t want her son to be hurt. That was one sentiment with which he agreed completely. Adam didn’t want any kid to be hurt, disappointed, injured—but most especially, he realized, this particular kid.

His kid.

* * *

JOANNA HAD EXPECTED Simon to keep the conversation moving during the outing, and he didn’t let her down. Over dinner in a noisy, bustling pizza parlor, he shared with Adam every minute detail he’d learned about sea turtles and other aquatic life on the Carolina coast. He talked so fast he barely seemed to breathe, pausing only occasionally to take big bites of his Hawaiian pizza.

To give him credit, Adam didn’t look bored. He listened intently and asked encouraging questions, though she couldn’t be positive whether it was because he was so genuinely interested or because, like her, he was letting Simon control the conversation.

“Obviously you learned a lot today, Simon,” he said after a while. “You want to be a marine biologist? Sounds like you’re getting a good start.”

Wiping pizza sauce from his chin with a napkin, Simon nodded. “Mom says I’ll learn a lot about marine biology in Seattle. We’ll live in an apartment close to Puget Sound. That’s part of the Pacific Ocean.”

Adam kept his expression pleasant but not particularly revealing. “I’ve heard it’s nice. I’ve never been there myself.”

“I haven’t, either. Mom’s been a couple times, and she showed me lots of pictures. Grampa said it rains all the time, but Mom helped me look it up on the internet, and Seattle just gets thirty-seven and a half inches of rain a year. Atlanta gets an average o

f fifty inches of rain a year, so that’s even more. Mom says people think it rains all the time in Seattle because it’s spread out more and in smaller amounts than the big rainstorms we get in Atlanta.”

Adam looked suitably impressed. “That’s interesting. It’s great that you like learning new things. And that you remember what you learn so well.”

Simon nodded earnestly. “It’s fun to learn. And Aunt Maddie says I just like to talk,” he added with one of the impish grins that always went straight to his mother’s heart.

Adam laughed, a rich, warm sound that also affected her a bit too strongly. “Yeah, I got that impression.”

Simon giggled and took another bite of his pizza.

Adam turned to Joanna while the boy was busy chewing. “How about you, JoJo? Did you want to be a psychologist when you were a kid?”

She answered candidly. “I thought I wanted to be a surgeon, like my father, or a high school administrator, like my mother. When I got to college, I realized I was chasing someone else’s dreams rather than my own, and I focused on what most interested me. By the end of my sophomore year, I’d already set a goal to earn a doctorate in psychology.”

“Which you did.”

“Yes. My first vacation here was my reward to myself for doing so. I saw an online ad for the resort and it looked so nice, I couldn’t resist booking a reservation.”

The mention of that previous trip made Adam’s easy smile fade a bit. “You were young for a PhD. I had no idea you were already a doctor.”

So many things they hadn’t known about each other then, she thought wistfully. So many things they still didn’t know. “I was twenty-seven.”

His eyelids lowered, but not before she saw something that made her frown. “How old were you when we met?”

His mouth twisted into a wry smile. “I was a couple months away from turning twenty-six.”

“Oh.” Why did it rattle her to find out he was more than a year younger? As she recalled, Adam had looked older than twenty-five then. He looked older than thirty-one now. Not in a bad way. In fact, in a damned good way, she thought, her gaze tracing the firm line of his jaw, the intriguing curve to his sexy lips. Lips that had so recently captured hers.

She raised her eyes to meet his again, and his expression now made her cheeks warm. Had she looked at his mouth longer than she’d realized? He smiled, shrugged, then turned back to Simon to share a few more facts about sea turtles the boy hadn’t learned on the expedition earlier, to Simon’s delight.

The server brought their check and set it down automatically in front of Adam. Because she’d come up with this plan, Joanna reached for it, but Adam gave her a look that made her draw her hand back.

“Least I can do,” he muttered, and pulled out his wallet.