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I was confused. “Wasn’t that a good thing?” I asked.

“It could have been. But not in my case.”

“Why not?”

He sat down on the arm of the chair and put his arm around me. “Believe it or not, back in my younger days, I was kind of competitive.”

This time I was the one who snorted. “Really? Are you trying to tell me you aren’t anymore?”

“Hush up. This is my story. No smart-ass comments allowed.”

“Anyway, back in California, I was making my best time ever on the SEAL Team’s obstacle course. I had a real shot at beating my classmate, Steve Lotts, and I was giving it all I could. The thing that normally got me was the Slide for Life obstacle. It came near the end of the O-Course, but this time I literally breezed through it. I got up to the platform and slid down the rope, smooth as silk. It burned a little, but it didn’t matter, I knew I was going to beat Lotts’ time.” Graham looked down at me, and I snuggled close. He gave a weary sigh.

“Then what happened?”

“Since everybody in my class knew I was gunning for Steve, most of them were watching. I got to the next obstacle, which was the Rope Swing. My hands were fatigued, so my grip wasn’t the best, but I made it. When I was running for the Incline Wall, I realized that the guys in my class were laughing. But I tuned them out. I needed to focus. The second to the last obstacle was a bitch and a half. It’s called the Spider Wall. You have to grip small sections of wood that are spread far apart and get to the end. I lunged for the last wooden grip and swung my leg around. That’s when I felt it.” He paused.

“Felt what?” I prompted.

“The California beach breeze, flowing across my junk.”

“What? What are you talking about?” I knew my eyes were wide as saucers. I couldn’t help it.

Graham slid his hand over his face, then shook his head. He continued. “I found out later from one of my classmates that while I was on the ‘Slide for Life,’ my fatigues had torn open at the crotch. It was only a little tear, but as I’d continued through the course, the tear got bigger and bigger. Thank God the Navy insisted you wear underwear, otherwise I would have been dangling in the breeze.”

I laughed so hard I started to choke. “That didn’t really happen, did it?” I wheezed out my question.

“Oh yeah, it did. But even though I realized my pants were split open, there was no way I was going to let it stop me from finishing the course. I had to end with the Vaults obstacle and then do fifty pushups. By the time I was done, it wasn’t just my classmates who were watching. I had two more classes who were checking me out and four senior chiefs. It was miserable.”

“What’s a senior chief?”

“You know what a drill sergeant is, don’t you?”

“Yep.”

“That’s what a senior chief is, only ten times worse,” Graham said.

“Worse? I’ve seen the drill sergeants in movies, they’re awful.”

“Joy, these senior chiefs are training us to be Navy SEALs. Our BUD/S training, which stands for Basic Underwater Demolition / SEAL, is six months long. I’ve heard of classes where only ten percent of the men who start end up finishing.”

“That’s just wrong.”

“No. That’s good. We have to put our lives in the hands of one another. We want only the best of the best working with us.”

“How often did you⁠—”

“Nope, we’re not going there. I told you all of this so I could let you realize why you shouldn’t be embarrassed about a little snot between friends. I wanted you to know the embarrassing reason that for the last four months of my Navy SEAL training, I was known as Crack Operator. Now, do you realize that there is nothing you can do that will be more embarrassing?”

I grinned. “I see your point.”

“However, I am going to go change my shirt.” His eyes crinkled as he smiled.

“I need to use the bathroom,” I said quickly before I begged to watch.

He put one arm around my neck, then kissed my temple. “Meet you on the deck?”

I nodded. “You really need furniture in here.”