The Navigator (Mountains Series Book 5)

by Phoebe Alexander

  Anjuli crossed her arms over her chest. She hadn’t realized Chase would be up so early when she threw one of Garrett’s t-shirts on with no bra underneath. “Hello, there,” she answered, giving him a shy little wave.

  Guess there’s no chance he doesn’t know what we were up to last night, she thought as a smile crept across her face. She didn’t even remotely care. She and Garrett had fucked two more times in the middle of the night, and it was spectacular. She was pretty sure her cheeks were glowing as a result.

  “So, I guess when I asked you to come check on Garrett, you did more than just check.” Chase chuckled as his eyes swept up and down her body. “Coffee?”

  “Yes, please.” She tried to give him an innocent smirk. “Oh, I have your key!” She traipsed into the living room and retrieved Chase’s key from her purse.

  “I appreciate it. And I trust he’s feeling much better now?” His eyes were just as radiant as they’d been when she saw him at the liquor store the night before.

  “I believe so, but he’s still pretty wiped out.” She gave Chase a wink and accepted a steaming mug of coffee from him. “So, were you here when Garrett’s long-lost sister showed up the other night?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I sure was.” He placed his elbows on the kitchen counter and leaned toward her.

  She knew Chase was younger than Garrett, probably in his twenties, but he also had a weathered look about him, the kind she often saw on young men and women returning from deployment. There was a sort of wisdom that shone through the thin veil of youth in their eyes. Chase had that quality too. She wondered if he had served, or if there was some pain in his past that had caused him to age faster than his peers. Or maybe he was simply an old soul. One thing she knew for certain: she was grateful Garrett had such a good guy for a roommate.

  “So, what kind of read did you get on that?” Anjuli asked, studying the way the light over the counter twinkled in Chase’s eyes as he considered her question.

  “I stayed with his sister when he stormed out. Actually, that’s kind of a pun. It was storming when he left. I don’t know where he went, exactly, but he came back soaking wet and ready to listen to her.”

  She flashed back to an image of Garrett standing in the relentless downpour a few nights ago, when she’d driven by him and rolled down her window to call out his name. He’d just met his sister, and apparently it didn’t sit well with him. It all made sense now—why he ignored her call and texts, why he was drinking so much. He got fired from his job, got a new job, met a long-lost sister, and got fired again all within the course of a month. That’s a lot for anyone to handle.

  “But, to answer your question,” Chase continued, snapping her out of her thoughts, “she seemed like a nice lady. Sincere. She’d been through a lot, for sure, and just wanted to find her brother.”

  “How did Garrett leave things with her?” Anjuli realized she was overstepping some boundaries, but she really wanted to know Chase’s thoughts on the matter.

  “He told her he couldn’t help her,” he answered with no hesitation. He shook his head and exhaled, clearly expressing his disagreement with Garrett’s choice. “If there is one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you never turn your back on your family.”

  “What is his brother’s name?” she inquired. Chase’s words struck her right in the gut. She tried to keep her focus on Garrett and not let her mind drift to the memory of her own family turning their backs on her when Mishti was a baby.

  “Jackson Stone,” Chase replied. “Why?”

  Anjuli shrugged. “I just wondered.” A smile spread across her lips as she set the key she’d been fiddling with on the counter. “Thanks for watching out for Garrett and for letting me use your key last night. I need to get home, and I don’t want to wake him up. But please tell him I’ll text him later.”

  “It was my pleasure,” Chase said, unblinking.

  She gathered up her purse and jacket and headed for the elevator.

  She called Scott at home, which wasn’t something she normally did. His wife seemed a little taken aback, but she explained she had a legitimate work question. His voice was filled with concern by the time he made it to the phone. “Juli? Everything okay?”

  She shared what she had learned about Garrett and his brother. “Any idea who I would talk to at the VA to track this guy down?”

  She heard a deep sign come from Scott’s mouth, hissing its way through the phone as he contemplated her request. “Can you meet me at work later today? I have some ideas.”

  “I don’t want to take any time away from your family.” Really, his wife already seemed irritated that I called their house.

  “Oh, it’s no trouble. She’s taking the kids to some birthday party later today—you know, one of those hell-on-earth type pizza places with the video games and the ball pits and all that. You’d be saving my life, probably.”

  She chuckled. “If you’re sure it won’t cause you any trouble.”

  “No trouble at all,” came the response.

  She hung up and sent a good morning text to Garrett, as well as one to Mishti. Neither replied immediately, so she finished her coffee and jumped in the shower. As the steaming hot water soaked her body, she asked herself again why she was getting involved with Garrett.

  Enough! she finally chastised her brain. He’s hot, and he’s hurting. I may be able to help him, and if not, at least we’ll both be having fun. Why did everything she did have to be completely selfless, anyway? She thought she’d turned over a new leaf to finally take care of herself.

  But her brain tried to shake some sense into her. Falling for this guy would only bring you pain. That’s not taking care of yourself.

  Her answer back?

  Fine, I won’t fall for him. Problem solved.

  Scott seemed ecstatic to see her when she arrived at their office. She wasn’t used to being at the hospital on weekends, though every once in a while, she got called in for an emergency. The group of psychologists took turns being on call, but there were enough of them that she only had to do it every six weeks. She flashed back to years earlier, when Mishti was young, and she would get called in on the weekends or at night. She’d have to scramble around to find childcare. Thank goodness for the kindness of neighbors.

  Speaking of which, Mishti never texted me back...nor did Garrett. She was starting to wonder if her phone even worked these days.

  “So, I did some research of my own,” Scott said. “I have access to some databases you might not be able to use.”

  “Oh, rub it in now, will ya,” Anjuli teased him. “Did you find anything?”

  “I didn’t find anything current on a Jackson Stone from Washington state, but I think I found a couple of the guys he may have served with, and there’s one right here who was discharged a few months ago and got a civvy job at DoD.”

  “Huh, really?” She hadn’t thought anything about this endeavor would be easy. Garrett’s family hired a private investigator, and he hadn’t been successful in locating Jackson in over a year.

  “Since he’s local, he’s worth talking to,” Scott said. “I have some other ideas too. I can access the records where he was treated in Washington, so there are doctors there you could speak with.”

  “Okay, don’t go too overboard yet—”

  He scrunched up his brows as he studied her. “Oh...let me guess...Maintenance Guy doesn’t know you’re trying to help him?”

  She rolled her eyes. How could he see through her so easily? “Well, not exactly. But I hope to convince him. I have a theory—”

  “Oh, boy, this should be good,” Scott fired back, rubbing his hands together with glee the way he always did before she launched into some tasty morsel of gossip.

  “Keep your pants on, geez,” she teased him. She cleared her throat as she decided how she wanted to verbalize the crazy ideas that had been bombarding her all day.

  “So, Garrett, that’s his name, by the way, not ‘maintenance guy,’ has had a rough go of it th
e past few weeks. He’s depressed. I think he may even have PTSD, but I’m not sure. In any case, I think reuniting with his sister and brother could give him some hope and help get him back on the right track.”

  Scott wore a skeptical look on his face. “So you think if he fixes his family, it might fix him?”

  She shrugged, but she could tell Scott had taken issue with her theory. “What?”

  “Projecting much?” He laughed at her. “Look, I know you have your own issues where family is concerned. Just make sure you’re trying to help Garrett for the right reasons, okay?”

  She blew out a long, hot breath as she considered his warning. “I’m trying, okay? I don’t know what it is about him, but I want to get to the bottom of whatever it is.”

  He handed her a business card turned to the side where he’d written the name of Jackson Stone’s buddy at the Department of Defense. “Just be careful, Juli. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  “You and me both,” she agreed, taking the card.

  Fourteen

  He felt the presence looming over his body before he saw it. His eyes popped open before the feeling could be integrated into his dream, another one where he was left with gunshots ringing in his ears and blood...so much blood.

  “Fuck!” he shouted, jolting upright in the bed.

  “Oh, god, so sorry, lindo. I didn’t mean to scare you!” Chase was standing only a few feet away with a mug of a steamy substance that smelled like chicken soup.

  “Why do you keep calling me that?” Garrett questioned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. His gaze swept the room, trying to remember if Anjuli had actually been there when he fell asleep or if that was part of the dream as well.

  “Oh...” Chase’s eyes sparkled as a grin curled on his lips. “It means ‘handsome.’ Sorry, I can stop using it if it bothers you.”

  Garrett’s brows immediately shot together. “Are you coming on to me or something?”

  Chase raised his hands, shaking his head. “No, no, just some innocent flirting. I—well, you’re an attractive guy—”

  “Wait. I thought you just moved out of your girlfriend’s place?” His head was full of the demons he’d been battling all night long. Chase wasn’t making any sense. Maybe he was still asleep...

  “Here, I made this soup for lunch. Did you know it’s like two o’clock already? I’ve got to get ready for work soon.” He smiled as he held the mug out toward Garrett.

  “No, no, not so fast.” Garrett accepted the mug, but then patted the mattress. “Sit. I want to get to the bottom of this.”

  “Oh, me too,” Chase volleyed back, winking. “Oh, god, I’m sorry. I can’t seem to help myself!”

  “Are you bi?” It’s time to cut to the Chase...so to speak.

  “I am,” his roommate replied, puffing out his chest a bit. Apparently he wasn’t the least bit ashamed of it, either.

  “Fuck, why didn’t you just tell me that?” Garrett shook his head, but a smile was twisting his lips. “I assumed since you said you’d broken up with your girlfriend—”

  “Why do you think we broke up?” He rolled his eyes. “She wasn’t down with it.”

  “That sucks.” Garrett took a sip of the soup. “Fuck, this is really good, man.”

  “Thanks. It’s not homemade, so don’t get too excited.” He chuckled. “Does Anjuli know?”

  “Know what?” Garrett squinted at him as he took another sip.

  “That you’re bi?” Chase locked his eyes on Garrett’s.

  “What makes you think I am?”

  “Let’s just say I’m very good at reading people,” Chase answered, “and I had a feeling by the way you looked at me the first time I met you. Like you were stripping me down with your eyes.”

  Garrett chuckled and stroked his fingers through his beard. “I can neither confirm nor deny that accusation.”

  “You didn’t answer my question about Anjuli...” A serious look rearranged his features as Garrett set the mug of soup down on his nightstand.

  “Right...well, let me ask you a question first, okay?”

  Chase seemed surprised at the tables being turned but nodded.

  “Did your girlfriend leave you when she found out you were bi?”

  Chase nodded. “Why?”

  “Did you cheat on her with a guy? Is that how she found out?”

  Chase wrinkled his nose up in disgust. “Fuck no. I wouldn’t do that to her.”

  “So you just told her?” Garrett questioned.

  “I did—because we were getting serious—I mean, we moved in together, right? And we were talking about our pasts because she wanted to know what all I’d done. And I told her the partner I had before her was a guy.”

  “And she was disgusted?” He scratched his beard and awaited his roommate’s response.

  Chase thought for a moment. “Not disgusted so much...as just distrustful. Like she didn’t think I could be faithful to her if I was bi. It’s like she thought I wouldn’t be able to keep it in my pants if some guy came on to me.”

  “Right. Well, I think that’s your answer, then.” Garrett smirked at him.

  “I heard you guys last night, you know,” Chase shared, his eyes narrowing a bit. Garrett shrugged in response. “She’s loud!” He laughed and patted Garrett’s leg. “She seems like a really cool lady. She’s probably a lot more mature about these things than my girlfriend—I mean, ex-girlfriend.”

  “Anjuli is not my girlfriend,” Garrett corrected. “She’s just a...” He stared off for a moment at a spot above Chase’s head, trying to figure out the right term. Something that wasn’t degrading but reflected the casualness of their relationship—or lack thereof.

  “Fuck buddy?” Chase supplied.

  Garrett sighed. “Well, she was...until we started talking about serious shit last night.” He still regretted telling her about Mara and Lilly. “Now I don’t know what we are.”

  Chase grinned and leaned in. “I think she cares about you a lot.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of,” Garrett answered, shaking his head. “Exactly what I’m afraid of.”

  Asking for help was not his strong suit. When he was a child, he remembered learning to tie his shoes. He was the only kid in kindergarten who didn’t know how. That was when his mom had first started dating Clark, and he was over at their house quite a bit.

  For the first few months, Clark had been moody at times but sometimes nice. One night he offered to take Garrett fishing while his mother made dinner. There was a lake only a mile or two from their house. All Garrett needed to do so they could leave was put on his shoes and tie them.

  His mom was busy stirring something in a big pot on the stove. “Go ask Clark for help,” she suggested.

  He had frozen. Clark was tall and sometimes gruff. He had that military look and the demeanor to match. Garrett was intimidated, and the idea of going to ask him for anything struck fear in his five-year-old heart. “Go on, honey, don’t be afraid. Clark will help you.”

  It was the first of many times his mother had been wrong about the man she would later end up marrying. Garrett gingerly stepped into the living room, where Clark was sprawled in the recliner drinking a beer and watching the five o’clock news.

  “Can you help me tie my shoes?” Garrett’s voice had come out in a timid little squeak.

  “’The fuck wrong with you, kid? What kind of almost-six-year-old doesn’t know how to tie his goddamn shoes?”

  Garrett had stood there, speechless, his fingers trembling at his side. He hadn’t prepared himself for what he’d do if Clark wouldn’t help him. And his mother had made it clear he was to figure it out on his own. She was busy making dinner.

  “Your mother sure coddles you, don’t she? Bend down there, boy, and get to work on it. I’m not waiting around here all day for you.”

  Clark pushed himself off the recliner and headed toward the front door. He pulled a baseball cap on his head, then turned back to look at Garrett, who was willin
g himself not to cry as he twisted his laces in all sorts of configurations, trying to make a bow tie.

  Finally, Clark’s patience was exhausted. The more Garrett scrambled, the more of a mess of knots he made in the laces. “Maybe by the time I get back, you’ll have figured it out,” Clark bellowed with a laugh. And the next thing Garrett knew, the door slammed behind him. He heard Clark’s truck rumble to a start, then saw the dust billow in his wake as he flew down the gravel driveway.

  Stupid how something that happens when you’re five affects your whole fucking life, Garrett thought as he held his phone in front of him. Anjuli had already texted him to say she was sorry she had to leave before he woke up. When he looked at the screen, he noticed he had only ever sent her that one text. All the other ones displayed had come from her.

  He took a deep breath and typed out: Suppose I did want to find my brother. Where would I start?

  It was a couple hours before he heard back. What are you doing tonight? she’d asked.

  Chase had already left for work, which left Garrett by his lonesome in the apartment with no booze. There wasn’t much food either, now that he thought about it. What I really ought to be doing is looking at some job websites. He glanced around the place, trying to imagine himself home alone all night, voices whispering in his ear.

  Maybe Anjuli has some wine, he considered. If not, we could drop by and see Chase at the store.

  He also realized he was starving. Other than the mug of soup Chase had brought him, he hadn’t eaten since...Thursday? He couldn’t even remember. Fuck.

  I don’t have any plans, he answered her text.

  Thirty minutes later, he was walking toward her apartment. Parking over near her place was dicey, he remembered from the party she’d hosted. Besides, they were still having a warm snap, and the October breeze felt delicious on his face. The trees were turning colors, and that sweet smell leaves got right before they fell hung in the air. He sucked it into his nose and told himself he’d made the right choice.