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“I was just gonna hit the bar.” Bryce nodded to the one on the other side of the lobby. “Wanna beer?”
Rand considered it and remembered he really was hungry and they’d at least have happy hour snacks if the full menu wasn’t available yet. “Sure.”
They grabbed a seat near the door, looking out toward the lobby. The hotel wasn’t fancy, but it was nice enough and the food was fine. A young white woman took their drink order and gave Rand a bar menu.
As he was studying the list of food, his phone buzzed. Sucker that he was, he got his hopes up before checking and was disappointed to see a text from Freya thanking him for his help today.
He sent a quick thumbs-up, then set the phone down faceup and returned to the menu. If Kira were to text, would she do it sooner or later? Was she a late-night texter?
“Have you talked to Flyte today?”
He kept his face carefully blank. “No. You?”
“He hasn’t answered any of my texts.”
“He’s not staying here. I think he was planning to return to Little Creek today.”
“Weird how he came back for one day like that.”
Rand raised a brow. “Didn’t you do the same thing?”
“I got dumped on the first day of my vacation. What else was I supposed to do?”
“Go home?”
“Nah. I’m bored with Little Creek.”
The guy had only lived there for a few months before they’d been deployed. But he was young and new to the SEALs and was probably longing for the sun and glamour of San Diego. He’d joked about being disappointed with being assigned to a team based out of Little Creek, but Rand figured there was truth behind the fake laugh.
“You going to try to fix things with your girlfriend?”
“Nah. We’d only been seeing each other for a few weeks before the deployment. She’s not really it for me. I just liked the idea of having a place to go for Christmas.”
Rand snickered. “I bet that made her feel special.”
“I didn’t say that. Well, except I sorta did, I guess. She was all eager and excited and talking like we were really serious. It weirded me out.”
“Well, you were going to spend two weeks with her family. Over Christmas. Of course that would mean you’re serious.”
“I guess. It just sounded more casual when we planned it.”
“She’s an elementary school teacher in Little Creek, right? She planned to spend her entire winter break with her parents. Let me guess, you were video chatting from an aircraft carrier and mentioned that you’d have two weeks off, couldn’t wait to see her, yadda yadda… Next thing you know, you’re planning to spend Christmas with her and her parents in her childhood home. She probably had big dreams about what you were going to give her for Christmas and if it would be a full carat.”
This kid was really clueless. Rand felt sorry for his ex-girlfriend, who’d probably spent the last three months wrapped in a fantasy that had gone poof the moment Bryce landed on her parents’ doorstep.
Rand looked forward to being done with breaking in new SEALs. He was moving up and out and would gladly hand over the reins to Chris, who was long past due for command. Rand had only stuck around as long as he had because he’d been injured twice in the last four years, and each time he was back up to speed, he’d asked himself if he was ready to let the job go.
He’d used his recovery time wisely and had a career plan for his postretirement, but still, something had kept him active with special forces until now. Maybe it was time. He could ride out his last few years before retirement with a Stateside posting. The Navy Yard was right in the heart of DC, but the Pentagon might have more opportunities for a former SEAL.
He could take up artifact collecting. He knew exactly who he’d hire to vet his purchases.
His phone buzzed, and he glanced at the screen. Unknown number.
His heart kicked up a beat and he held the phone to his face to unlock it.
This is LT. New phone. How’d it go?
LT was an abbreviation for lieutenant. The message was from Chris. He frowned. Ridiculous how much he’d wanted it to be Kira.
