by Susan Stoker
* * *
Ghost lay on the ground, keeping his binoculars trained on the building in front of them. They were in Egypt, trying to figure out how many hostages were being held in the government building in Cairo, and where. The flight out had been busy, the Deltas and a team of SEALs had spent the hours coming up with best- and worst-case scenarios for getting the Americans and other hostages out alive.
Even though they didn’t have a lot of time to chit-chat, Fletch wanted to talk to Ghost. He’d been acting weird for a few months, and it was obvious the man was head over heels for a woman. His own life might be screwed up, but he’d do anything for his team leader and friend.
“What’s up with you, Ghost?”
Ghost sighed, but remained silent.
“Does it have anything to do with that new tattoo on your leg?” Fletch pushed.
“I told you before, I’m not talking about it,” Ghost ground out between clenched teeth.
Fletch smiled sadly, reading between the lines to what his friend wasn’t saying. He recalled the conversation they’d had about the one-night stand Ghost had many months ago. Typically, Ghost didn’t have a problem sharing details about his love life, but for some reason, had been reluctant to talk much about this woman.
Fletch ignored his friend’s snarled words and kept pushing, knowing he needed to talk about whatever it was that was bothering him. Especially if it involved a woman. He’d never seen Ghost be close-lipped about someone he’d slept with before. That alone told him Ghost had feelings for her.
“I might not be the smartest man on the block, but if I had a sweet, feisty woman who left me with the memories you obviously have until the next time I could get home, I’d do anything in my power to do something about it.”
Ghost nodded, but didn’t answer.
Before Fletch could delve any deeper into Ghost’s non-relationship with his mystery girl, the shit hit the fan. A bomb detonated in the building they were watching and there was no more time for talk. They had a job to do.
* * *
Hours later, when they were all on their way home, and Ghost’s mystery woman was miraculously lying injured, but alive, on a pallet at the back of the bird they were flying in, Fletch felt the need to reach out. He’d seen the love and care Ghost had for Rayne, the woman who’d surprisingly been in the middle of the Egyptian coup they’d just foiled. Fate seemed to have had a hand in bringing them together again.
They settled in and shot the shit about Rayne, how she had a tattoo that looked remarkably similar to the one Ghost had inked on his leg a few months ago. Not liking to see his friend so uncertain, Fletch tried to bring things into perspective for him.
“I’ve met someone,” he said quietly. “She’s funny and amazing and is more stubborn than anyone I’ve ever met. She’s got secrets, and won’t let me in. But the worst thing is that she seems to already have a man.”
They’d talked a bit about Emily and her boyfriend before, but in the quiet and dark of the plane, his words seemed more stark and sad.
Ghost looked up at him. Fletch was standing with one shoulder against the wall, seemingly relaxed, but every muscle in his body was tense.
“Every time I see them together I want to pound something. She’s got an amazing little girl who’s scared of this guy.”
“Fletch—”
He didn’t let Ghost continue. “I heard what that SEAL said when you went off about wanting to keep your distance from Rayne to keep her safe, and he’s right. We aren’t even dating, but the thought of someone doing anything to hurt Emily or her daughter makes me crazy. If Emily looked at me with a tenth of the love Rayne looks at you with, I’d move her and her daughter into my house so quickly their heads would spin. Don’t give her up, Ghost.”
Fletch wandered back to his seat, leaving his friend to think about his words and to be alone with the woman who’d turned his life around. Seeing how Ghost was with her was eye-opening for Fletch.
Something was up with Emily, and he didn’t like not knowing what. She’d pulled back from him, and he hated it. He’d thought that after their conversation at the PX, she understood she could be in danger because of his job…and maybe she did. Maybe that’s why they hadn’t really talked since. Maybe she was nervous because of what he’d said.
She continued to see her mysterious boyfriend, but Fletch never saw the man go up to her apartment. So she was either seeing him at work, or somehow spending time with him without Fletch realizing it.
But it wasn’t only Emily. Annie was being affected too. When they’d first met, the little girl was always happy and bubbly and would come clomping down the stairs every time she heard him come home. She didn’t do it very often anymore. If he was paranoid—which he was, it came with the job—he’d think Emily was keeping Annie from seeing him. And that hurt.
Didn’t she know that he’d protect them from any harm? That he’d never let anything happen to them?
Probably not. They were still essentially strangers.
Emily was a perfect tenant. She paid her rent on time every month; an envelope with a check for the five hundred dollars showed up in his mailbox on the first each month. She was quiet, didn’t hold crazy parties, and didn’t throw herself at him, which was a welcome break from the last tenant he’d had.
Except…a big part of him wanted her to throw herself at him.
Fletch knew he should be happy, but he wasn’t. He wanted the old Emily back. The old Annie. The females who smiled at him, who seemed happy to see him.
Fletch sighed. He was as much of a mess as Ghost. He needed to talk to Emily again, but first he wanted to make sure Ghost was good. It looked like Rayne, the woman his friend had found after not thinking he’d ever see her again, was back. And he hoped like hell Ghost wouldn’t be stupid enough to let her go a second time.
Once Ghost and Rayne were settled, he’d have that talk with Emily and find out what was going on once and for all.
Chapter 8
“Would you guys like to come over for dinner?”
Fletch’s question was obviously off-the-cuff and not something he’d planned to ask, but they’d pulled into the garage at almost the same time. Emily could only stare at him.
The last two months had gone by quickly—too quickly for Emily. She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to come up with the next payment for Fletch’s friend, but had no hope he wouldn’t be around to collect it in the next couple of days. The damn man was like clockwork…always on time. He hadn’t missed collecting even one of the weekly payments.
Fletch had come and gone a couple of times since appearing at her apartment early in the morning weeks earlier. He’d politely asked her to look after his place and she’d agreed just as politely. They’d exchanged greetings every time they’d seen each other, and Annie had even begged to go over to his house one Saturday and watch cartoons after a casual invite by him. Her daughter had gazed up at her with such a pleading look, Emily couldn’t deny her.
But this was different, this wasn’t Fletch asking to spend time with Annie, he was asking for her to come too. Emily stared at him for a moment, digesting his words.
Would she like to come over for dinner? Emily thought about what she currently had in her house. An apple, two pieces of wheat bread, one slice of processed cheese, one slice of bologna, the final batch of carrots, ketchup, mustard, a stick of butter, one hotdog, and a package of beef ramen noodles. The hotdog and noodles were going to be their dinner…for the fourth night in a row. If asked, she’d say she was sharing it with Annie, but they both knew that was a lie.
Annie wasn’t stupid. She knew they didn’t have a lot of money, but after that one time where she’d offered to allow Emily to sell her cherished Army men, she hadn’t said another word about it. Annie was made fun of at school enough already—for being smart, for her clothes that didn’t quite fit and were clearly secondhand—so she didn’t dare tell another kid or a teacher about how little food they had at home.
Ob
viously Emily had taken too long to answer Fletch, because he began speaking again, thinking he needed to convince her. “I was going to put steaks on the grill. I’ve got corn on the cob and the makings for salad. I’ll let you guys put together the salad if that would make you feel better.”
Emily felt a tug on her pants and looked down. Annie was staring up at her with eyes as big as saucers. She knew better than to beg when Fletch was around, but it was obvious what her decision would be.
Just once Emily wished she could be the mom who could go to the store and put things in her cart without thinking about prices. It was her habit to go through the Dumpster behind the PX for the extra newspapers that were thrown out. She would collect the coupons that were always in the Sunday paper, cut them all out and plan their meals down to the penny.
She currently had twenty dollars and thirteen cents in her bank account. The thirteen cents was her “cushion” so she didn’t go below the twenty dollar minimum and get the service charge added to her account. She would be paid soon, but the four hundred dollars would go quickly, especially when half of it went to Fletch’s friend for his gambling debt.
She wanted to be able to buy a pack of cookies or a candy bar as a surprise for Annie. But there was never enough money. Annie’s favorite cereal was Puffy-O’s. The bag claimed they tasted exactly the same as the Cheerios that were sitting right next to them on the shelf, but which cost an extra dollar and a half. Emily couldn’t remember if her daughter had ever even tasted real Cheerios. She’d always had the generic brand.
It was that thought, along with her daughter’s pleading eyes, that made her decision for her.
“Yes, we’d love to come over for dinner.” Emily knew she’d be an idiot to decline. She had no desire to spend time with Fletch, but for her daughter’s health, she’d do it.
“Yay!” Annie exclaimed. “Can I bring my Army men?”
“Of course. Fletch, we’ll just go up and change and then we’ll be over. That okay?”
“Yup. Give me twenty minutes. I’ll take a quick shower and turn on the grill.”
“See you soon, Fletch!” Annie told him with a huge smile on her face.
“See you, sprite.”
Emily started to go up the stairs after her daughter, but was stopped by Fletch’s hand on her arm.
“Hang on a sec, Em.”
She turned to face him and raised her eyebrows questioningly.
“Are you upset with me? Because the last couple of months I’ve definitely sensed some ice-queen vibes from you.”
Emily couldn’t believe Fletch was accusing her of being frosty to him—as if he didn’t know why. She tried to work through what she wanted to say to him, but before she’d thought of a suitable comeback, he spoke again.
“Just because you have a boyfriend doesn’t mean that we can’t be friends. I’ve missed Annie. She’s funny and sweet and I enjoy spending time with her. Maybe you’ve just been busy, or maybe you really are avoiding me, but I hope that you’ll at least consider loosening up a bit around me. I haven’t had my friends over for a barbeque in too long. Now that my best friend has hooked up with a woman, I’d like to invite them all over and introduce you properly.”
Emily was horrified. He thought she was dating his friend? That they’d hooked up? He was delusional. “I don’t think that’d be a good idea.”
Instead of looking upset, Fletch looked determined. Lord, the last thing she needed was him deciding they should be friends and hang out together. She was afraid of the one friend of his she’d met, and hanging with more wasn’t even something she wanted to think about.
“Why?”
“Fletch, look, I appreciate that you let me and Annie move in, but that’s all we are. Your tenants. We’ll come over tonight, because I already told Annie we would, but I’d appreciate it if, after dinner, you don’t try to get us any more embroiled in your life than we already are.”
She almost felt bad for the look of confusion and sorrow that flitted across his face before he locked it down. There was no reason Emily should feel sorry for Fletch, not after everything that had happened over the last few months. No way in hell.
“All right. I didn’t know you felt that way, but fine. I’ll see you in a bit.” Fletch spat the words out, spun around and stalked across the yard to his front door.
Emily swayed where she stood. She was so tired. Tired of being hungry, tired of being scared, tired of being worried, and tired of always watching to see if that man was lurking about. All she wanted was to keep Annie safe; she hadn’t thought that was too much to ask, but apparently it was. She sighed and held a hand to her tummy, which was letting her know she’d skipped lunch…and breakfast.
She headed up the stairs to her apartment, wondering how she was going to get through dinner.
* * *
Hours later, Emily realized she shouldn’t have been concerned. Fletch was super-attentive…to Annie. He’d given Emily a glass of wine, and then proceeded to give all of his attention to her daughter. They laughed as Annie tossed the salad, and spilled most of it on the counter in the process. He sliced the corn off the cob so she could eat it without burning her fingers. Fletch even cut her steak up into tiny bites so it was easier to eat.
At one point, he’d brought up the shooting that had happened recently at her elementary school. A man had gone into the school Annie attended and had injured a few people and held an entire gym full of children hostage. Luckily, he hadn’t actually known kids were hiding in the gym, but it had been horrific all the same. It turned out that one of Fletch’s Army friends, a man named Jones, happened to be in the area for a hostage negotiation seminar, and had been able to help take down the bad guy.
Annie had chattered away with Fletch about the experience as if it was the coolest thing that had ever happened to her. She’d been in her own classroom, far away from the gym, and Mrs. O had quickly gotten all the kids out of the building through the window so they’d had no idea what was really going on.
Emily knew what Fletch was trying to do…make the entire experience not seem as horrifying as it was…and she appreciated it. But she couldn’t think about that day and not remember how insanely scared she’d been. There were a couple of hours that had almost broken her, when she didn’t know if Annie was one of the missing students. Thinking she might’ve lost the best thing that had ever happened to her was something she never wanted to go through again—and was what made her go along almost docily with the whole blackmail scheme of Fletch’s friend now. She couldn’t lose her daughter.
Emily listened as Annie spent more time talking about how happy she was that one of the other first-grade teachers and her favorite gym teacher were apparently now dating after the experience. Fletch didn’t interrupt her, and carefully steered away her questions about what had actually happened that day, which Emily appreciated. It was almost beyond her comprehension how Fletch could be so great with Annie, but be a total dick and insensitive as to what his friend was making her do.
Emily let Annie talk as much as she wanted, only interjecting a word or two here and there. Fletch laughed at her stories and seemed to enjoy talking to the little girl. Emily would’ve fallen head over heels in love with the man if she didn’t know what kind of person he really was.
She also might’ve stormed out of his house, but the food had been a godsend. It was not only nutritious, but delicious to boot. Fletch could cook. The seasoning on the steaks was perfect, and the butter dripping off the corn only made it that much sweeter. When he pulled out the brownies he claimed to have made the day before, Emily thought her daughter was going to explode with happiness.
After they’d eaten and Fletch had read two short picture books to Annie, Emily knew it was past time to get out of there…before her heart took any more of a beating.
“Time to go, Annie.”
“Aw, Mom…”
“Don’t ‘aw, Mom’ me. It’s a school night.”
“Will I see you tomorrow?” Anni
e asked her new idol.
Fletch shrugged. “Not sure, sprite. But you know I’m always here if you need me.”
Emily didn’t think Fletch would hurt Annie, but she also didn’t want him to give her daughter carte blanche to come over whenever she wanted. No way was that gonna happen.
“Come on, baby. Bath time, then Nancy Drew.”
“Yay!” Annie ran over to Fletch and hugged him around the waist. Emily refused to be moved by the soft look that crossed the big man’s face as he put one hand on Annie’s small back and the other on her head.
“See you later.”
“Bye, Fletch!”
“Thank you for dinner, Fletch. It was delicious.” Emily might be upset at the entire situation Fletch had put her in, but the food had been wonderful. It really had been a nice break in her bleak existence.
“Do you want to take the leftover corn and salad?” he asked, leaning against the counter in the kitchen.
Emily did, but shook her head anyway. “That’s all right. Thanks though.”
“I said it once, but I’ll say it again—it’s not fair to put Annie on a diet this young. She was obviously hungry; she devoured that entire steak and the corn, and had two helpings of salad. Eat whatever the hell you want, Emily, but please don’t let Annie grow up thinking she has to be skinny to be a worthy person.
Emily felt the tears well up in her eyes, but refused to let Fletch see them. Damn him. She was doing the best she could with trying to buy enough food for Annie and pay the damn two hundred a week. It was shitty of him to rub it in her face.
Her words came out bitter and harsh. “My daughter comes first in all things in my life, Fletch. I’d starve myself before I’d let her go hungry.” The words weren’t a vow, they were reality.