AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nice.”
“Your boyfriend isn’t up yet, by the way.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
Fraser raised an eyebrow, and then looked over at Ned, who stood at the coffee machine, cup in hand, mentally coaxing coffee to appear.
“What?” Ned said, looking up.
“You told them?”
“I’m sharing a room with him, Fraser, and Joe. What was I supposed to do?”
“What, are you thirteen-year-old girls at a slumber party? Keep your mouth shut.”
He grinned, waggled his eyebrows.
“Is nothing sacred?”
“You’ve met us, right?” The voice, behind her, belonged to Jonas, who appeared in his jeans, shucking off his jacket from the porch.
“Where were you?”
“Checking on the wine with Dad. He’s getting antsy to rack the Marquette-based pinot noir he has out there.”
Out of the window, she spotted her father, his wide shoulders under a thick flannel shirt, wearing jeans and work boots, headed toward the house from the barn. She still couldn’t get past the fact he’d shown up, himself, in Europe to find her.
“Ned, all the flights are grounded.”
Shae came out of the den, wearing sweatpants, a T-shirt, her blonde hair back. “I can’t get a flight out.”
“Where is she going?” Iris asked, joining Ned in watching the coffee brew.
“Back to Montana. I need to deploy with my team, and I don’t want her by herself in San Diego.”
“You’re deploying?” Fraser said. “I thought you were still on medical leave.”
“I am, but they’re looking for…you know.”
“Ah, right,” Fraser said.
“No SEAL secrets here,” their mother said, then she turned to Shae. “Stay here,” she said, adding pancakes to the pile. She looked over at Shae and smiled, so much warmth in it.
Iris’s stomach twisted. She hadn’t realized how much she missed this chaos, this home.
This safety.
Imani had come to sit next to Creed at the island, and Shae slid onto a stool next to them.
“Maybe,” she said in response to their mother’s invitation. She drew the arms of her sweatshirt down over her hands. She seemed a little fragile this morning, circles under her eyes. Maybe it had something to do with Ned’s deployment.
The front door opened, and into the entryway walked a woman Shae had never seen before. She acted like it was normal to just take off her jacket and her shoes, pull off her wool hat.
Take a weapon out of a holster and set it on the bench.
Iris couldn’t take her eyes off the 9mm.
“Hey, Pip, all okay?” Fraser said.
