by Dale Mayer
“I know. I know,” Kat said. She thought for a moment. “I can’t really explain it.”
“Let me think about it,” Honey said. “I’ll get back to you. I’ve got a crazy-busy day ahead of me today. And obviously there’s no need to settle anything this weekend.” After a moment of silence she said, “Right?”
Kat chuckled. “No, no. I’m not talking about this weekend or even this month. I’m thinking I’ll need a couple months to get ready.”
“Right,” Honey said with relief. “I was afraid you were really being crazy and jumping on this. I think, if you set it up properly, it’d be perfect. And would certainly make Badger decide one way or the other.”
“Yeah, but you see? I don’t want to lose him. I don’t want him to decide the wrong way,” Kat said quietly.
“Let me think about it. And, no, don’t expect me to call you back later today or tomorrow even. Give me a chance to roll this around in my head. We’ll talk in a couple days, okay?”
Kat grinned. “Okay. I figured, if I could at least talk to you, you could keep me on the straight and narrow.”
“Knowing you for a decade or more now, I don’t remember ever hearing you mention anything along this line at all. I didn’t think you were into surprise parties even.”
“I know. It’s not me. Yet, at the same time, I feel like this is what it’ll take to get Badger to take the step.”
“Maybe he’s not ready. Did you consider that?”
“I know he isn’t. But I don’t think he ever will be because I think he would feel he’d be a noose around my neck. As long as everything’s good, he’ll keep living as he is. But, if his health declines, no way will he marry me.”
“Right.” Honey gave a heavy sigh. “I think that could probably be said for all of them.”
“Exactly. And I don’t want to take that chance.”
“Give me a couple days. I’ve got to run.” And Honey hung up.
Kat put the phone down on her desk.
Just then Jim walked in and placed a cup of coffee in front of her and her daily appointment sheet. “So, once again, it appears you’ve overbooked yourself.”
“Isn’t that why you took over the booking?” she joked.
“If you would stop answering the phone and sneaking in appointments where there is no room for them …”
She groaned. “Okay, give it to me straight. How bad is it?”
“Bad,” he said cheerfully. “We’ll have to be extremely efficient to get through this.”
“That could be rough.”
“It’ll definitely be rough, but we can do it.” He turned to walk back to the door. “But you have to follow my timing. Got it?”
At that, she nodded. “Got it.” And she took one look at the schedule he’d placed in front of her and groaned again. “Why do I always do this?”
“Because you care too much,” came his answer.
“Dammit.” He was right. She did care too much. It was really hard for her to say no to anyone. That was just the facts of life.
He buzzed her phone a few minutes later. “This is a good start to the day. Your first appointment came in ten minutes early. If you can get him out five minutes ahead of schedule, you’ll have eased up fifteen minutes.”
She bowed her head for a moment and then said, “Send him in.” Just as the door opened, she put on a bright smile and thought to herself, You did this. Buck up and handle it. “Hi,” she said as her patient walked in.
“We still haven’t figured out exactly what it is we want to do. So far, all we’ve done is renovate our houses and adapt to our partners’ needs. Laszlo, we have to complete that home office for Minx. And, Geir, you need a home studio for Morning, right?”
Geir spoke up. “Yes. We discussed it over the weekend. She really can’t work within a small space. And it has to have proper ventilation.”
“Since you’re renting, you need a bigger house,” Erick said.
Geir nodded. “But nothing is even available in this area by Badger’s house anymore.”
Badger said, “We could talk to the neighbors and see if anybody wants to sell.”
“But we’d have to pay a premium that way,” Geir said. “That’ll be an issue.”
“It always is,” Badger said with a nod. “Unless we all relocate.” He glanced around his home. “I’d hate to …”
“You’re the only one who is really attached to their home. But you have a very good reason for it,” Talon said. “None of us want to see you lose that.”
“Sure, but if we all want to be within walking distance, then we have to do something.”
“It might just take some time,” Geir said. “If I could find something right now that would allow Morning a proper space to work in, I’d grab it. … I don’t want her to feel creatively cramped.”
“I know that upcoming showing of hers is very important. Her development is just as important as the rest of ours.”
“There are a couple of lots in this neighborhood, if we’re into building new homes,” Jager said.
“True enough, and Allison doesn’t have any major hobbies that she needs extra space for,” Badger said.
Jager nodded. “Our house is just a house, nothing special about it. But I’ve lived in worse.”
They all knew it wasn’t about the house; it was about who lived in it that mattered.
“Even if I could find what Morning and I wanted, and I had to drive or bike over, it wouldn’t matter to me,” Geir said. “It’s all about getting Morning some space and quick. She’s got her upcoming show to paint for. She’s pretty worried about it too.”
“Anybody here have a real estate agent they know or trust?”
Erick shook his head. “No. Not me.”
Cade shook his head too. Badger turned his gaze on Talon and Laszlo. They both shook their heads. Back over to Geir and then Jager.
“I think Dennis’s wife is in real estate,” Jager said quietly.
Instantly they froze. “Is she?”
Jager shrugged. “I can ask.” He pulled out his phone and quickly brought up his contact info for Allison’s brother, who worked for the police department in Santa Fe. “I’m sending a text now.” His fingers clicked on his phone. When he hit Send, he looked up and said, “I believe Allison said something about it.”
“If so, Dennis’s wife could be a big help to us right now.”
“She might, but she could also be very busy,” Jager said with a grin. “Three kids, remember?”
The men nodded thoughtfully.
When Jager’s phone went off a few minutes later, still sitting in Jager’s hands, he looked down and said, “Yes, she is a Realtor. Dennis is asking if I want her to call us.”
“Yes,” Geir said. “Let’s bring her onboard so we can get her opinion.”
“The market’s a little crazy right now,” Erick said.
“It’s actually fairly stable,” Cade stated. “It’s starting to climb, but it’s still a good time to buy. Once it goes really crazy, you can end up paying so much more just because the market will tolerate that higher pricing.”
“I’ll have her call me,” Jager said. “Then I’ll pass Geir’s name on to her. If that’s okay, Geir?”
“That’s the best way to do it. I’m thinking about what Morning and I need, but what’s really important is a studio for her.”
“She can always take over the living room,” Badger joked. “You know any one of us would do it, if it was important to our partners.”
Geir nodded. “And I wouldn’t mind. But Morning would. She had a huge house in California with a huge added-on studio.”
“I don’t know that you can find anything that size in this subdivision,” Erick said.
“We don’t need that total size,” Geir said. “She’s not planning on running a B and B anymore.”
“Has the sale of that gone through yet?”
Geir nodded. “Not quite. A few more days before it closes. After they pay off the mort
gage, and she splits the net money with her father, she’ll have a really nice nest egg.”
“You probably could buy a mansion here in Santa Fe for that bit of money,” Badger said.
Geir shrugged. “She could. I can’t say I’ve got a ton saved. I certainly haven’t spent anything for the last couple years, but my savings doesn’t equate to California real estate chunks.”
“Right,” Cade said. “She’s lucky she managed to hang on to it as long as she did because the market certainly hasn’t done them a disservice. I understand her father needed his asset base back, but, by waiting that much longer to get Morning a little more established, the real estate values have gone up more, and they both made a nice chunk of profit.”
They all nodded.
“And what about our future business? Anybody come up with any ideas on what we want to do, or what you individually want to do?” Badger asked.
Just plain silence followed.
“See? That’s where the problem is,” Badger stated. “Kat says we still need to heal. But she says that bored men become a distraction and may get into the wrong things,” he joked. “And I, for one, can’t necessarily say I’m happy with nothing to do. We’ve had such a heavy focus in our lives, always a regimented lifestyle while in the service. Then, while healing, it was physiotherapy and medications and sleep and exercise and eating right. Then dealing with Mouse. Now we have the women.” He shook his head. “And it’s like, after all the hunting we did, everything has come to a stop. I don’t know how to get started again.”
“Honey would say we’re looking in the wrong direction,” Erick offered.
All the men turned to look at Erick.
He shrugged. “I can see what she means. We’ve already done everything we planned to do. We have to turn around and find something very new.”
“But it’s all we know,” Cade said. “What the hell are we supposed to do now?”
“Allison first suggested we look at a training center to retrain men to do security work, like Levi’s company does,” Badger reminded them. “Kat was just talking this morning about helping men like us get back into the real world.”
“But isn’t that like counseling?” Talon asked. His voice held just enough horror in it for the others to start laughing.
Jager chuckled. “Well, I, for one, don’t feel like I could counsel anyone. If it’s more about training men to deal with getting back into the real world, maybe. But I think we’re better off with a company where we can hire people with various skills or at least train them in those skills and give them viable jobs.”
“And that brings us back around again to what company?” Badger asked.
“Exactly. And who the hell knows, right?” Erick said.
Chapter 3
Two days later Kat looked up from her lunch and stared out the window. She still hadn’t heard from Honey. Kat knew it had been a lot to ask. Even now she was waffling on the idea herself. She didn’t know why it appealed so much, but she figured she needed to trust her gut and to get a jump on it. She was incredibly good at figuring this planning stuff out. Maybe it was just fun keeping this a surprise from Badger. Maybe it was just that she wanted so much more. But she really wanted to see if she could pull off this surprise wedding.
Just then her personal phone rang. She pulled her cell toward her and smiled when she saw Honey’s name. She answered it and left it on the desk, putting it on Speakerphone. “I was just thinking about you.”
“All good things I hope.” Honey laughed. “I have to admit that, since we talked a couple days ago, I haven’t been able to think of much else.”
“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?” Kat asked.
“I’ll tell you what it is. It’s a bad thing. Because, if you’re doing that with Badger, maybe I want to do it with Erick.”
Kat gasped, sat back, tossed down her pen and then started to laugh. “Can you imagine?”
“It’s not that funny,” Honey said crossly. “And I blame you for putting that idea in my mind.”
“I know. But, once it’s in there, it’s almost impossible to take it out, isn’t it?”
“And I brought up long-term with Erick a couple days ago—actually the same night I spoke to you—and he gave me the gentlest smile that said he wouldn’t want to rock the boat. That everything was going along just fine as it was.”
“Did you bring up marriage with him?” Kat asked, horrified.
Honey sighed. “No. Not at all. I was just looking at where he was going mentally with our future. Now I don’t know if he thought I was talking about marriage, or maybe he thought I was talking about him and his future job. He seems to think he needs to do something more productive, or he is not the man of the house.”
Kat chuckled. “Right. And how awkward is that? We women all have jobs or something lined up. But the guys don’t have jobs.”
“I know, but they’re bringing in money on their own.”
“Oh, I hear you, but I think it’s their need to do something much more.”
“And that won’t be easy to find. They have to make that decision for themselves. So, anyway, I think what Erick was trying to say is, that he’d get there eventually.”
“So you deliberately kept your discussion away from the relationship stuff?”
“Yes and no. But he wasn’t coming up to snuff either way.”
Kat chuckled. “No, I think the guys all have this idea that they’re broken. They haven’t seen just how much they’ve healed. So what do you think about the idea?”
“I don’t know. I want to proceed, yet I’m scared as hell Erick will turn me down. That won’t be a relationship fix for sure. And then I made another mistake—or maybe not a mistake. I don’t know.” Honey spoke so fast that she was running over her words.
Kat shook her head. “Honey, what are you talking about?”
“I might have mentioned it to Minx.”
“Well, that’s a surprise.”
“Right? And the thing is, she started to laugh and said it would be perfect.”
“Badger and me? Me marrying Badger would be perfect?” Kat asked, clarifying what was perfect.
“And me and Erick.” In a rush Honey added, “And maybe her and Laszlo?”
Kat stared out the window in horrified shock. “What if we all did it?”
“That’s the thing. I don’t think it’ll work unless all of us do it.”
“I don’t think we’ll get all of us to do it in two months’ time,” Kat said.
“No, that would be asking a lot.”
“But we don’t know that for sure until we talk to them.”
Silence followed.
“I need to get back to work,” Kat said, “and let this settle for a bit.”
“How about we talk at this same time in two more days?” Honey said. “My next patient is here. Got to go.”
Kat glanced at her schedule. She still had a good five minutes. And she would need it because this was just way too crazy to be believed. But, at the same time, her heart was jumping with joy.
For the rest of the afternoon she caught herself chuckling at odd moments. By the time she got home, she had a silly grin plastered on her face. She walked in, headed straight for Badger, who was sitting by the pool, his laptop open, papers all around him. She gave him a great big hug and dropped a kiss on his cheek.
“Wow, that’s a nice greeting.” He took one look at her face and narrowed his gaze. “We’re back to that whole question of What’s going on with you?”
She shrugged. “I had a good day.” But in spite of trying to moderate her voice, it was too perky.
Badger’s arched eyebrow and studious glare told her so.
She walked inside, putting away her purse and keys. Afterward she returned to the entryway, took off her coat and hung it up in the coat closet. Then she headed back to the kitchen. Instead of coffee, she walked toward the fridge and pulled out a beer. She peered around the corner to see Badger already working on a beer.
She joined him outside, sitting down beside him. “What’s for dinner?”
He looked up and frowned. “I haven’t gotten that far. I’m not a very good stay-at-home partner, am I?”
“I don’t think we’ve brought up any rules on that, have we?” she asked in a half-joking manner. But she heard some tension in his voice. “I was thinking burgers.” She nodded, liking the idea even more. “We have ground meat in the fridge. I could mix up some nice big patties with feta cheese and herbs in them.”
“We just had burgers yesterday,” he said cautiously.
“So? Does that mean we can’t have burgers two days in a row?”
“Feta burgers would be awesome.” His voice gained some enthusiasm. “I thought women didn’t like to eat the same thing two days in a row.”
She stared at him. “You do say the darnedest things.”
He shrugged. “I’m okay to eat burgers every day of the week.” He lifted his beer. “It’s man’s food.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ll make a salad to go with them.”
“Yeah, that’s woman’s food,” he said with a big grin.
“Can you barbecue the burgers?” At his nod, she hopped to her feet. “I’m really hungry. I’ll prep the patties.” She dashed inside, pulled out the meat and herbs she wanted and the feta cheese from the fridge, and tossed it all into a bowl, combining it with her hands.
She deliberately didn’t treat Badger as if he was disabled. She had her own problems, and he had his. She saw him get up, walk to the grill and light it. She smiled. He was a hell of a guy.
Why did she want to push the marriage issue? Fear that his health would worsen and he’d never marry her? We all aren’t getting any younger. Fear that he’d leave her? He still could. It wasn’t as if divorce wasn’t an option down the road. Or maybe she was afraid he’d prefer to be more friends than committed partners. Not an easy thought. Still, if she knew they were together forever, why was she forcing the issue?
Because it wasn’t enough. Still, she’d much rather surprise him completely. Either he’d make it or he’d break it, and she’d have the best day of her life, or it would be the worst.