“Oh, I don’t know if I could.”
“Sure you can,” Case encouraged. “I can see the gears grinding in that pretty head of yours.”
Bailey’s phone started to play the “The First Noel”. It was her military friends checking to be sure she was still coming. The words ran through the back of her mind, silently singing along to the tune she’d heard three times already that day. She smiled. “Noel. She’s the first Noel.”
“Works for me.” Case thrust the towel and Noel toward her. “Say hello to her, doc. I’ve got to check Chrys.”
Bailey took the precious little life into her cupped hands. She ran her thumb over the back that seemed to be in constant motion. “Welcome to the world, Noel.” She showed the mother her newest arrival and allowed her to lick, just as Tanner had instructed earlier. Then, she placed the smallest of the litter in the middle, hoping her brothers would keep her warm.
The song started once again. Bailey had to answer it to reassure her friends. Before Nita could speak, Bailey stated, “Yes, I’m coming. I’m still in Virginia, and you’ll never guess what I just did?”
“Not even going to try,” her personal hero replied.
“I’ve been helping deliver babies, well, they’re actually puppies, not humans like I know you can deliver, but I got to hold them and let the mother meet her babies for the first time, and I named one.” Bailey let her excitement take over. This experience had been such a good thing and she had no reason to hold back. After the IED almost took her life, she’d vowed to live life to the fullest possible. Assisting in a birth hadn’t been on her bucket list, but it should have been.
“Slow down, Bailey.” Nita laughed, and Bailey could hear the other women in the background asking questions. “Bottom line, you’ll be here…when?”
“Oh, give me about an hour, depending on the roads and traffic.” Bailey checked her watch.
She should go. Now.
Bailey started to rise and Tanner popped up, offering her a hand. “Thanks.” Getting off the floor was awkward, but when they touched, it felt like his power surged through her and she could do anything. As gracefully as possible, she stood. “I’m sorry, but I need to leave.”
“Are you spending Christmas with your family?” Tanner glanced to the phone in her other hand.
She was. Her military friends were as much her family as any she had through birth, perhaps even more so. They’d been at her side when she awoke at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, texted while they were away, and called often. Her parents had been too busy ruling Wall Street to find time for their only child. “Yes, I’m spending Christmas with my friends in D.C.” Feeling bad for thinking ill of her parents, she added, “I had to work all day today, and I’m back on duty the twenty-sixth. I really didn’t have time to fly to New York to see my parents.”
Both men nodded before Case asked, “Are you working the whole week?”
“Yes. Christmas is a very tough time for many vets, and I expect to see several of my patients and a few new ones.” She’d be extremely busy, both day and night, practically living at the hospital. She’d taken shifts for three other psychologists so they could be with family.
Case smiled and announced, “I’m having a New Year’s Eve party. Would you like to come?”
Tanner looked at him and raised an eyebrow in accusation. “You are?”
Case shrugged. “Sure. I’m not issuing engraved invitations, but you’re my best friend. Of course you’re coming.” To Bailey he added, “It’s just a bunch of people our age, getting together at my place. Very casual. I’d love for you to come.” The side of his mouth kicked up. “I’m sure Tanner will introduce you to his date, so that will be three people you know. You’re going to get along with all our friends.”
Bailey thought about it as she walked over and grabbed her coat. She should get out more, socialize, meet new people who weren’t there for therapy. Even though she was training for the Paralympics, she could have one drink, maybe two. Besides, it would be New Years. Maybe, for the first time in years, she would have someone to kiss at midnight.
I should do this, another step in my new normal. Bailey nodded. “Thank you, I’d like that. Now, I really need to go. My friends are expecting me.”
Tanner grabbed his coat. “Let me walk you out.” He glanced at Case who was holding a puppy, stethoscope in hand. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. I want to make sure Bailey gets safely to the end of the sidewalk.”
Case stepped forward. “I’m almost finished, and I’ll be leaving in a minute.” He gave Bailey that lady-killer smile of his. “I’m sure she can wait another minute for me to escort her to her car.”
Tanner insisted, “No, I can walk my friend to her car.”
Friend. So she was definitely in the friend zone.
Bailey smiled inwardly as she watched the interaction of the two alphas, snarling at each other. Friends, huh. Tanner was being very possessive for only being friends. She slid her arms down her winter coat sleeves and zipped it up. She could make it to her car on her own. The snow wasn’t that bad.
Before she made the first step onto the sidewalk, Tanner was at her side. He grabbed her hand and slid it into the crook of his elbow. “You’re going the New Year’s party with me.”
Chapter Three
Bailey reached up to knock and the door flew open.
“We are so glad you could make it.” Nita enveloped her in a big hug that warmed her to her soul. She owed this woman so much, starting with her life.
“How bad were the roads?” Grace asked and threw her arms around Bailey, too.
“Where’s your bag?” Katlin peered around Bailey, then dragged it off her shoulder and took it inside.
Tori came out of the apartment next door followed by Lei Lu. From across the hall, Harper emerged.
They were all together again and as loud as ever. Bailey loved it.
“One question at a time.” She followed Katlin into her friend’s large, five-bedroom apartment. Katlin, Tori, and Harper owned the entire top floor of the apartment building just off DuPont Circle in downtown Washington, D.C.
“White wine okay with you, Bails?” Tori held up a bottle of Pinot Gris. “After that drive, I’m sure you could use a drink.”
That sounds wonderful,” Bailey admitted. “The snow was really blowing as I drove in from Virginia, but the streets were bare once I got inside the beltway.”
Cheese and crackers, several desserts, along with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, even sandwiches, appeared on the huge ottoman that sat inside the U-shaped living room set that opened to a gorgeously decorated fireplace. Katlin’s whole apartment sparkled with twinkling garland and the most eclectic tree Bailey had ever seen. There were priceless family heirlooms, popsicle stick decorations, and ornaments from all over the world, reflecting her hostess’ childhood of growing up in embassies all over the globe. In this apartment, surrounded by her friends, it felt like the holiday Bailey had wished for as a child. They weren’t the traditional American family, by any means, but they were forever bound together by blood, sweat, and tears.
As all seven women settled in, Tori asked, “So what have you been up to, Bails? We haven’t seen you in months.”
“It hasn’t been that long. All of you came to my hooding ceremony when I finished my PhD in May,” Bailey reminded them. “Then we met up to celebrate Harper’s new job at the ATF in August.”
“That was a fun night,” Nita threw in and all the women agreed.
Katlin sipped her wine then asked, “Tell us the truth, how’s the new job?”
“It’s great.” Bailey smiled, “Yeah, it’s really great. I love helping the veterans, but my favorite part is coordinating their needs with Tanner—”
“Ooo. And how is Tanner?” Nita bounced her shoulder off Bailey’s.
“Hot, if you ask me,” Lei Lu offered.
Bailey blushed.
“Oh. My. Gosh.” Grace accused, “Bailey has the hots for
Tanner.”
“Can you blame her?” Nita asked. “That man is the ultimate dark and quiet type. What’s not to like? I’d be willing to examine every one of his defined muscles…purely as a professional, of course. Fact is, as team doc, it might be my duty to check the man out head to toe.”
“I want a better look at those tats.” Tori grabbed a cracker and slices of cheese, topping it off with an apple slice.
“He has tattoos?” Bailey had never seen them. A streak of jealousy ran through her that was so foreign the emotion surprised her. She’d never been envious a day in her life, not even when her ex showed up on Facebook with his arms around another woman. “When did you see them?” She knew her tone was accusatory. “I’m sorry. That’s none of my business.”
Katlin answered, “Tanner brought my new dog down to Miami back in October and we all enjoyed watching him run on the beach every day in nothing but shorts. He’s a good friend…to all of us.”
“But that never stopped us from checking out a great body,” Lei Lu conceded.
Bailey was sorry she’d missed that display of delicious manhood, but now wondered just how many tattoos he had, and where. Then it hit her. Did her friendship and working relationship with Tanner put him out of her reach as well? “So he’s off limits?”
“No way.” Grace explained, “He’s never shown a bit of interest in any of us as anything more than friends.”
“I think we scare him.” Nita laughed.
“I’m pretty sure you’re right.” Lei Lu grabbed a plate and filled it.
“So dating a friend is okay?” Bailey asked hesitantly.
“Absolutely,” Grace stated. “I married my best friend.” She rolled her lips into a straight line. “Then God chose to call him home.” Her husband had been a Navy pilot who had crashed over two years ago.
“Ditto,” was all Katlin said as her gaze dropped to her glass of wine. Her husband’s SEAL team had been ambushed in Afghanistan three years ago. There were no survivors.
None of the other women had ever been married. Bailey couldn’t remember if any had even been in a committed relationship before, except her. Thinking back, she wasn’t sure Tim had been as devoted to their future as she had been. That didn’t matter now. He didn’t matter. She had a bright future ahead.
“Friends with benefits are good,” Tori offered. “But that’s never really worked for me. They get too attached, and with our jobs…” She let the sentence hang. Their lifestyle was so different from the standard military. These women could be called out with a moment’s notice and the mission would take until it was done. Period. That could be days, weeks, or even months. No man was going to wait around for a woman who left without notice and reappeared…whenever. That’s why her friends never kept a man for long.
“But your case is different now,” Katlin noted. “You’re out of the Army and you go home every night. No one owns your every breathing moment.”
“I think you should date Tanner,” Grace stated and nodded. “He’s one of the good guys. A little on the quiet side for me, but you have so much in common. Ask him out.”
Bailey couldn’t hold in the grin. “He actually asked me out for New Year’s Eve.”
The room erupted.
“You were holding out on us?” Tori accused.
“When were you going to tell us?” Nita demanded.
“I was working my way around to it.” Well, she would have told them. At some point.
“I can guarantee you Tanner wouldn’t have said a word to me when I took Damnit in for boarding,” Katlin said.
Bailey glanced around. “Where is the pup? I brought him a Christmas gift.”
As though summonsed, the one-hundred pound puppy loped out of Katlin’s bedroom. Every woman snatched up her glass of wine. He greeted each as though they were best friends who hadn’t seen each other in months. Last he came to Bailey and she held out the back of her hand to him. “Remember me?”
“Bailey is our friend.” Katlin then repeated, “Friend.” He licked Bailey’s hand and his tail wagged.
Katlin snapped her fingers and pointed to the floor beside her. “Sit.” The dog immediately obeyed. She flattened out her hand. “On your face.” The dog looked longingly at the food on display then lay down and placed his face between his huge front paws. Katlin’s hand dropped over the side of the couch and she scratched between his ears.
Bailey recognized the action as a calming technique Tanner taught vets and their dogs. She wondered if Katlin knew. Smiling inwardly, she admitted, probably not. She had always promised herself not to psychoanalyze her friends, especially these women who had been secretly trained beside her in SpecOps. It took a certain psyche to withstand the torments thrown at them week after week as they were pushed to the limits by the same instructors as Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces and Marine Corps Special Operations.
“So, you were telling us about your new job.” Katlin’s words brought Bailey back to the present. She recovered quickly and picked up the conversation. “Although I really like qualifying veterans to receive psychiatric service dogs, because I know they help tremendously, I enjoy working with Tanner, trying to decide what will give the vet the emotional security needed.”
“Like what?” Lei Lu dipped some veggies into the sauce and reloaded a plate. “Give me an example.”
Bailey’s gaze flew to where Katlin stroked her dog and decided against mentioning that one. “Watch your six.” She announced. “Many vets are nervous about someone sneaking up behind them, especially when they’re standing out in the open. Tanner taught one dog to walk around to the vet’s back and faced his six if the man stopped in a crowd. Should anyone come too close, the dog barked. Tanner also trained the dog to lean against the man’s calves when he sensed nervousness, as a reminder that the dog had his six covered.”
“That’s amazing,” Grace commented.
“And the Veteran’s Administration pays for this training?” Nita downed a mini sandwich.
Bailey shook her head. “No. They pay for my counseling services and that’s it. I volunteer for the rest.”
Katlin’s gaze was filled with concern. “So where does the money come from for the dogs and the training?”
“Tanner’s sister, you know Eri right?” At the blank faces, Bailey added, “Erica owns a public relations company in Lake Ridge and she finds governmental grants and non-governmental organizations to sponsor the dogs. I certify the veterans and determine their needs, and Tanner trains the dogs. Then the veterans spend a week meeting their dog and being trained themselves.”
The women shared smiles.
“Yeah, we know about being trained to the dog.” Grace looked at the mutt they shared. “We messed you up didn’t we? And you are such a good boy. We had to get special training from Tanner.”
Thwap. Thwap. The overgrown puppy’s head came up and his tail beat against the couch.
“That’s what Tanner was doing in Miami,” Lei Lu explained.
“Catching some much needed rays and downtime didn’t hurt the man one bit,” Katlin added.
Harper, who had been sitting back watching everyone quietly, spoke up, “So working with Tanner is better than preparing for the Paralympics? Last time we were all together, that was your goal.”
Bailey felt Nita’s and Tori’s regret-filled stare. Before her friends could utter a word—she’d heard them all, too many times, and they changed nothing except to make them feel sorry for her—she threw her arms around her oldest friend, and her newest. “I’m so glad you were there that day. I’m alive because of you two.”
“You wouldn’t have been there if I hadn’t convinced you to join with me.” Tori’s voice cracked on her heartfelt words.
“I chose to join the Army, just like you.” Bailey pulled Tori in tighter. “What was I going to do with a degree in International Relations? Join Mummy and Daddy and expand their rule of Wall Street to the entire financial world? No. Thank. You. When the recruiter introduced us to that
Major from Intelligence, I was sold, whether you joined or not.”
Tori drew back and faced her with wide eyes. “Me, too. I knew my parents would freak and that just added to the appeal.”
“Oh, yeah. Mine, too.” Bailey had never heard her ultra-reserved mother shriek so loud. It wasn’t a pretty scene but joining the military had been her decision and hers alone. She’d loved every minute of it.
She would never forget the thrill when their team, the women who sat with her now, had been assigned to infiltrate Afghani villages to gather human intelligence on a specific Islamic State leader. They’d trained for that mission for weeks. She was ready.
Her mind traveled back to that awful day. The seven of them had jumped in HALO (High Altitude Low Opening) in the dead of night. She, Tori, and Nita said goodbye to the others at the drop zone and headed to their destination. After four hours of trudging down a dusty road, covered head to toe in the traditional Muslim abaya and niqab, Bailey allowed her mind to wander to her well-planned Christmas presents she’d purchased for the women who had been by her side, day and night, for nearly a year.
The second her boot caught on the trip wire, her attention had snapped back to the mission.
“Run!” she’d screamed to her friends.
In slow motion she watched the IED explode.
The world went black.
She’d slept through that Christmas in a hospital bed, fighting for her life thanks to the infection that had raged through her body for nearly a month. The stones, nails, and glass shards that had been packed into the improvised explosive device, a truly homemade concoction, had forced dirt into every wound in addition to obliterating her foot and half her calf.
Last year, her friends had been deployed over the holiday, so they’d celebrated together in January. To get out of her daughterly-duty trip to New York, Bailey had feigned illness, but her parents had shown up at her small apartment on Christmas Eve with gifts and taken her out to brunch the next morning before returning to the party rounds back in the Big Apple. At least she hadn’t been alone.
Dog Tags for Christmas Page 24