“No. I would never count you as a mistake or anything even close to that.”
Not ready to dive into that comment any deeper, I decided to change the subject. “Any big plans for your retirement?”
I knew asking that was crossing into personal chatter, but it was the first thing I could think of, and I’d always been fascinated by what people in the military did after their retirement. For many of us, transitioning to civilian life was hard, and finding things to keep your mind busy was key to easing that crossover.
“Fishing. I like to fish but never had the time, especially since I’d really like to travel to different places to fish. Like California, Alaska, or even Canada. I’d always told myself I’d travel a lot and see the world when I retired.”
That sounded amazing. I didn’t need to fish, but the thought of traveling the world not in war-torn countries was very appealing. I just hadn’t wanted to solo travel.
“Ambitious,” I told him, sipping my coffee. “How’s that working out for you?”
“Let’s just say I’m still on a learning curve,” he replied with a sad grin. “My weakness is that I don’t have a lot of patience for traveling, and I’ve found that as I get older, I hate being around other people I don’t know.”
I choked out a laugh. That did not surprise me about him one bit.
“What about you, Tammy? What are your biggest weaknesses?”
Did I go for the honest route or the easy answer?
“Hmmm… Tall men who have dark secrets and a hard time with honesty.”
“Do I fall into that category?”
“The former, yes. Jury’s still out on the latter,” I teased.
He gave a small smile, but then I watched as his face softened but also became serious.
“I will never lie to you, Tammy. There are things I can’t talk about, like my missions overseas or private security cases I worked on, but I’d let you know that. With that said, I will never lie to you.”
His gaze stayed on me as I took in what he said. I knew what his words meant, and I understood more than most about sensitivity to military information and even the work he did after he left the Army.
“What’s your secret for dealing with humanity?”
“Low expectations,” I said, sipping my coffee.
He choked out a short laugh.
We sat there in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the view my patio provided, the birds chirping, and the delicious coffee and muffins he’d brought.
“I’d like to set up another camera or two near the bar.”
Odd transition, but safer territory, so it was okay.
“Didn’t Jack already add some?” I asked.
I knew he’d mentioned doing it, but maybe the guys had changed their minds.
“I don’t mean official ones,” he said cryptically, causing me to turn my head to face him and give him my full attention. “I want to put one or two others like the one you hid behind the bar. I don’t plan to tell anyone else about it. You and I will be the only ones who know.”
“Why?” I had an idea why, but I wanted him to spell it out.
“I’m not saying it is, but just in case it’s an employee behind this, I don’t want them to know. The more people who know about the cameras, the more likely it is to become shared information, which defeats the purpose.”
“Then why tell me?”
“Because I want you to help me set them up and connect them to your app so we can keep an eye on them.”
“I mean, why would you tell me if you suspect someone at the bar? I could be a suspect too.”
