“Thanks, Cassidy,” he turned and checked his watch, heading to the cafeteria for lunch. He met Cade on the way. “Sorry…running a little behind.”
“No problem…lunch is supposed to be relaxing…I think that’s what Mia is aiming for in the décor,” Cade commented.
“The food is enough to net me in,” Donovan said honestly, making his choices and swiping his badge in the reader. “You ever think about the extended family kind of thing in the resort?”
“It happens in the military, why wouldn’t it happen here?” Cade remarked with a casual shrug, he watched his friend. “You’re talking about the assault last night? News shoots around the resort faster than an avalanche. How’s Frannie?”
“Hell if I know,” he answered flatly. “She acts as if nothing happened. She’s using make-up to cover the bruise on her face and long sleeves to hide the wrist bruises.”
“She’s like the rest of them…independent,” Cade said easily. “That doesn’t mean we don’t look out for her. Have you asked her out yet?” He laughed at the stunned expression on Donovan’s face. “What’d I say? Come on…you know there’s a pool going to see how long you’ll last.”
“Are you serious? She’s the most unconventional, undisciplined woman…”
“You should have seen me working to convince Miss Three-Piece suit to get on the back of the bike,” Cade said with a deep laugh. “Only I’m the unconventional one in the pair,” he nodded. “Maybe unconventional is what you’ve been missing.”
“I like order.” He declared firmly.
“It’s a changing world, my friend. The first step was mixing with the extended family in the resort. Everyone knows your business, no matter how damn careful you are,” he said with a chuckle.
“I’ve noticed that…”
“I blame Mac,” Cade said with a wink as Mac pulled up a chair and sat down. “Hanging out with his sisters made him into one of the sensitive kids on the block.”
“Hey…you know how much less grief you have in your life if it’s all laid out and talked about? A ton, trust me…” He said, biting into the large sandwich he’d made.
“That’s why I wasn’t worried at the Halloween thing when you uncovered the baby news,” Cade said with a nod. “Fortunately, Abby is also a talker…it’s when she’s quiet I worry.”
“Since when did you get in touch with a sensitive side?” Donovan asked with a laugh.
“It goes well with the Harley,” Cade answered. “Hey, it’s like the kid said…less grief…”
“Sophie has a theory that it’s the radiation from the computers that keeps us looking young,” Mac commented to the kid remark. He winked at the guys at the table as Nate approached. “At least I can grow a shadow…”
“Don’t start,” Nate grumbled, ignoring the laughter. “There’s times I’m out with her in one of her suits that I definitely feel like I’m traveling with the principal.”
“Don’t knock the suits,” Cade chuckled. “Chicks dig ‘em…better still, on them they’re damn sexy.”
“Hell…you snared Abby with the Harley,” Mac said with a laugh.
“Here I thought it was with his sensitive side,” Donovan quipped, enjoying the savory mixed vegetables.
“So I asked…you ask her out on a date yet?” Cade directed their gaze.
Three sets of eyes glanced casually to the blonde in line, fumbling to locate her badge and money. Donovan focused on his food, a frown creasing his forehead when he realized he had to work not to look at her.
“You need more work to do,” Donovan answered, scowling even as he casually followed her progress to the far corner of the cafeteria.
“He thinks she’s too unconventional for him,” Cade confided.
“Unconventional…that’s definitely the word for Frannie,” Mac agreed.
“You know what you get with unconventional?” Nate asked with a slight nod. “You get honesty and conversation that covers every possible topic, even when you argue. Don’t knock unconventional.”
“That is very true,” Cade agreed.
“Hey, don’t take away the fun. Frannie’s like our very own Disney Princess…” Mac commented with a laugh.
“It’s a business,” Donovan ignored the laughter.
“And we’re profiting while rebuilding the community. Frannie is a nice perk to all that,” Cade assured him. “We’ve unlocked the secret that you can have fun and profit at the same time. We have rules, don’t get me wrong…”
“You need to visit the game room and relax, Donovan. Shooter games, contrary to the opinions of the right wing, make for less stressed adults. Games in general, for that matter.”
“Says the head of the department,” Donovan returned with a laugh.
“I run out my stress or take the bike on a long ride…Abby paces…”
“Cass beats things to a pulp in the gym,” Mac shuddered.
“I’ll stick to my runs, thanks. I appreciate the invite and might take you up on it,” Donovan nodded and lifted his tray. “Enjoy your lunch and thanks for the company.”
“He’s in denial,” Nate remarked through a forkful of pasta. “And here’s a scary bit of information…” He knew he had their attention. “Frannie asked to borrow one of Sophie’s suits.”
“You can’t be serious,” Mac choked through his surprise.
“Frannie…in a suit? And bare foot…” Cade looked over at the blonde busy with her laptop.
“And trying to run…” Nate concluded with a nod.
“Any clue offered as to the why behind it?” Cade stared toward the corner.
“Something about ‘he doesn’t like girls in dresses’, was all Sophie would say,” Nate told them, his head shaking.
Donovan left the back entrance at the same time he swore he saw a flash of red satin flying in the breeze. The sky was filled with dark, looming clouds keeping the heat in and no rain falling. He caught a glimpse of the flying red cloak at the same time he chirped the SUV, Frannie peering across the hood at him.
“Good evening,” Frannie said with a slightly breathless smile. “I didn’t want to be late.”
“I appreciate it,” Donovan moved easily behind the wheel, patiently waiting while she positioned her bag and then used the handle. “How tall are you, Frannie?”
“Five ten…is it important?” She mumbled, sighing heavily as she settled back on the seat, hands busily buckling the belt. “You’re a bit taller. Like Cade and Mac…”
“A bit…” At six foot four he didn’t have a single problem getting in and out of the SUV. Plus she always wore flat shoes. He shoved it to the back of his mind, starting the car and joining the people leaving for the night.
“Did you have good interviews?” Frannie slipped her shoes off and straightened her back, pulling her legs beneath her in a cross legged position. She sighed comfortably and let her head rest against the cushion. “This is a very comfortable car.”
“I…” He looked over at her position and shook his head. “I like to think so. And the interviews went well. I think we found two people who will work out well for the housekeeping shifts.”
“I had no idea we had so many empty positions still. I’ve let Father know and he posted a note at the university today. And I posted a note on my website, networking through one’s clients is easy these days,” Frannie said. “Do you like Christmas music?”
“It’s the first week of November,” Donovan said flatly.
“I guess that’s a no,” she said with a sigh. Frannie pulled the small music player from her pocket and slipped the ear piece into place, her humming soft and light.
Donovan looked over after a few silent minutes, a soft smile on the full lips and head swaying to the music. He reached over and tugged on the ear piece.
“I had a question.”
Frannie’s head came up, her fingers moving to the music player, shutting it down. “I’m sorry. For some reason I thought you wanted silence. What’s the question?”
“What do you have against conventional medicine?”
“Not a single thing, in the right hands. I think Anya and her people are brilliant,” Frannie told him honestly. “What makes you think I have anything against them? I don’t recall us speaking about medicine at all this morning.”
“You asked if I had seen a physician…”
“Ahh…the sleeping medications. Which don’t do anything except mask the nightmares. I’d further make a wild guess that you won’t take them. Did they try and get you to speak to someone about them?” Frannie shifted to the side, watching his profile. She could see the pulse in his throat jumping. “Perhaps talking about this while driving isn’t a good idea. Why don’t you come to my study after dinner and we can…”
“I do not want to be your patient, Frannie,” he declared through his teeth.
“I’m not asking you to be a patient, Donovan, but I can be a friend,” she said softly. “Most times that’s all it takes.”
“I talked to Cassidy this morning,” he said after a quiet pause.
“Cassidy has seen some things that would make nightmares,” Frannie said with a long sigh. “Both in and out of the military.”
“I don’t guess that information is ever in a personnel file,” Donovan said thoughtfully.
“There’s no reason for it to be…the mind is such a complex thing,” Frannie said quietly. “It’s the argument of nature or nurture. Is it how you were raised or was something broken to begin with? Death has been with humans since the beginning of time, first for survival and then out of stupidity, greed and conquest. Some people handle it better than others, but I don’t believe anyone accepts it, unless they truly are broken.”
“Broken…” He repeated softly.
“Why did you go into the military, Donovan? Did you…please don’t take offense…did you believe you would be immune to it?”
“Quite frankly, yes,” he answered flatly. “Where I grew up, I figured the military wouldn’t be any worse than the streets where I lived as a kid.”
“I’m sorry,” Frannie put her palm on his arm. “Do you have nightmares of that time, too? Or just about your military time.”
“I…” Donovan stopped. He felt the slender fingers resting on his arm as his mind played back memories of nightmares. “Both…only I never realized it before…”
“You have bad memories of both times, Donovan. Do your parents still live in the area you grew up in?” Frannie asked cautiously, feeling her way slowly.
“No…no, I convinced them to move a couple years ago. Someplace better,” he told her with a small trace of pride.
“Where did you move them?” Frannie guessed at his tone that he had a big hand in helping them relocate.
“Here. I bought a house for them in a nice neighborhood a couple years ago,” Donovan answered after a long minute.
“But they’re some place safe now,” she said easily. “And you can relax and not worry about them. The reason you don’t talk much…it isn’t about the house…it’s about the military, isn’t it?”
“I’ll find where you have that crystal ball hidden one of these days,” Donovan said with a dry laugh. “They didn’t want me wasting my life in the military, even when I explained that it wasn’t a permanent thing. I was good with languages, pick them up really easily. I’m good with accents and they paid for the rest of my college. I made certain I was enlisted so they couldn’t stop me when I wanted out at the end of my time. The house…they didn’t want me using my money for them. They’re…independent,” he said softly, as if a light bulb had just gone off over his head.
“It’s not a bad thing, Donovan,” she said with a light laugh, releasing her buckle and slipping from the car, the sound of the closing door making him realize he was alone. “What do your parents do for a living?” She asked, waiting for him at the door.
“They’re both teachers,” he answered, locking up the SUV and joining her inside the house, closing and snapping the locks into place behind him. “My mother taught Spanish and German, I figure it’s where I got my penchant for languages. I always thought it was fun to be able to switch back and forth.”
“Not a game most kids would like,” Frannie said with a laugh, hanging her cloak on a hook and heading to the back of the house. “I’ll see you at dinner…unless you’d like to come to my study. It’s nice and warm.”
“I think I’ll go change,” Donovan saw her nod and continue to the back. He went to the right, opening the door to the bedroom and going in search of jeans and a warmer shirt. He pulled the heavy chair closer to the window and turned the lights off, his feet up and eyes caught on the lights sparkling off the water when a plane flew over head now and then.
He sat staring for a long time, images and situations from reality and dreams colliding in his mind. He was no different than a couple hundred thousand other people on the planet. It was how he handled it that made him or broke him, he decided, pushing against the arms of the chair and heading to the dining room. It didn’t surprise him that Alister was there, a small smile on his face that Frannie was no where to be seen.
“She has Christmas music going in her study,” Alister shook his head, his smile loving. “We might not see her again until mid January.”
“That is not at all true or fair,” Frannie said firmly, ignoring the laughter from them both as she came around the corner and took her seat, reaching for the salad bowl. “I listen to all types of music.”
“But the speakers are a tad louder during this season,” Alister teased lightly.
“Perhaps,” she admitted, biting into a slice of fresh bread. “The house has always had amazing acoustics for singing,” she said with a cheeky grin.
“I posted your note on several of the boards, my dear, I’m sure you’ll receive interest from students,” Alister went on to talk about his class. Gradually he and Donovan fell into a discussion of hockey and baseball and then onto the good and bad points of capitalism.
Frannie listened and smiled, watching her father and Donovan as the meal drew to a close and she quietly began removing dishes and silver. She returned with the tea cart and left it sitting beside the table, silently leaving them to their animated discussion of politics. She wandered into her study, sinking to the sofa and staring at the books around her.
She decided that thinking was too complex at the moment and moved to her computer, opening her favorite game and signing in, selecting her character and choosing her location. She was moving her character through the daily money making quests when Donovan came into the open doorway.
Chapter Six
“What are you doing?” He stood over her shoulder, watching the scenery and people across the large screen.
“Playing a game,” Frannie smiled and collected her winnings.
“You play online games?” Came the dubious question. He felt the tint of heat on his cheeks when she laughed.
“Donovan…what do you do for relaxation? What meets the confines of convention? Are you conventional because it meets with the approval of others?” Frannie logged her character out and stood up, reached for his palm and tugged him to the desk chair. “Sit.”
“Frannie…”
“I can accept running as relaxing…I try not to, but it’s become a habit of sorts. And I can even accept reading as being relaxing, it puts you in another place, sometimes as another person. This is the same thing. There are people to chat with and puzzles to solve,” she opened the main screen and clicked on create new character. “Now…you build your character. You have choices…you start with gender…a human or not a human…and you have choices of your class…a hunter or magic user…a healer…think of it as building your own mystery novel lead character, if you will.”
“I’ve seen a lot of people playing this…when I was deployed,” Donovan had seen her using the strange mouse, his hand fitting over the curved metal grey plastic, his thumb guiding his choices on the large red track ball. Frannie moved to the chair at his side, watching his
selections.
“It’s fun, Donovan. If you want to interact with people, it’s an option. If you want to just go off and solve puzzles, again, it’s an option. Visually, it’s gorgeous and so diverse…” Frannie found herself watching his face while he was making his selections. “There is no wrong choice, Donovan. If you don’t like it, you dump it and make a new one. I have several…I play whoever I’m in the mood to be at any given time.”
“Mac told me to come to the employee section for lunch one day and he’d show me a couple games…”
“Several of them have characters on this server. It’s a very social, fun thing for couples. It’s how Cassidy and Mac met,” she told him, not surprised at the look on his face. “How is meeting online in a game better or worse than meeting in an office or a bar or accidentally on the street? They played the game and talked for a little over six months before they met in person.”
“I don’t guess it’s something I ever thought about, one way or another,” he admitted quietly, satisfied and hitting create. “What happens now?”
“Now,” Frannie said with a bright smile. “It takes you to the beginning area where you learn how to use your skills or powers without dying. That can get frustrating. It’s pretty easy to follow…read and learn…” She lifted her glasses and the note book she had been writing in, curled her legs beneath her and began reading and taking notes. “Click and shoot…you’ll get the hang of it…” she assured him, glancing up now and then as he listened to the introduction and the unfolding story before he started through the beginning tasks issued to him by various game characters.
Frannie soon lost interest in her book, closing it quietly and watching the concentration on his face. It didn’t surprise her that he had chosen to make a paladin, a character that used hand to hand combat but could also heal people. It somehow fit his personality, even if he was unaware of it.
Donovan looked over to find her watching him, a smile on her lips.
WindSwept Narrows: #7 Francine Kendall Page 5