Mended Hearts (New Beginnings Series) (13 page)

“I seem to remember something about that,” he smirked. “Maybe I wasn’t ready to hear it, though.”

“Maybe. Hopefully, he’ll repeat it when you go back on Wednesday and you
will
be ready to hear it,” she smiled.

“Sounds like you know something about it, huh?” He smiled
back at her.

Gracie laughed. “Well . . . it was a different kind of therapy but . . . therapy is therapy, I guess.”

His smile faded. “Sorry. I forgot.”

“Stop that. We’ve already been through
my
sad story—forward and backward. We get to wallow in
yours
tonight,” she said with an evil grin.

He couldn’t help but laugh.

She pushed away from the table and walked over to pick up his cell phone from the coffee table, then handed it to him. “Call Meg,” she ordered.

“What?”

“She’s scared to death, Luca. Call her and let her know you’re having a rough day, but you’re going to be fine.”

“Well . . . how ‘bout just the
‘I’ll-be-fine’ part? I don’t need to drag her into anything heavy.”

“No, tell her. She already knows anyway
, and it’ll mean more if you just cop to it.”

So he did. He called and told Meg he was having a hard time, but that Gracie was going to help him wallow for a while. He’d be fine tomorrow. Yes, he’d be happy to meet her for breakfast in the morning so she could see for herself. Meg even got a laugh out o
f him, so everyone felt better.

After he hung up, he could almost smell the
hot electrical stench of burning phone wires as he imagined her calling everyone else to ease their minds too. It would be a relief when their husbands got back so they could direct all of their loving care and concern elsewhere and give him room to breathe. Or would it? He suspected he’d miss it more than he thought.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Several hours later, both Sonny and Gracie were stretched out on his sectional sofa in front of the television. He watched her giggling over yet another Spinal Tap drummer spontaneously combusting on stage.

She’d been so good to him tonight. Better than he deserved
after he’d come on to her that way—just trying to scare her away. He cringed every time it popped—unbidden—into his mind. The craziest thing about it, though, was the regret he felt that he didn’t go through with that kiss.

When she’d shown up,
he’d been embarrassed. She’d bustled in with good old Romanian comfort food. When he’d first smelled it, he had to stop himself from looking around for his Gran. Gracie fed him—not that he had much of an appetite, but he ate what he could. She picked up several beer bottles he’d left sitting around the living room, and didn’t scold him about them—hadn’t said a word. She gave him plenty of sympathy, but no pity. And she listened when he wanted to talk, but didn’t push when he didn’t.

She was the one who found
This is Spinal Tap
on one of the movie channels, then gone into his bedroom and dragged all four pillows and the comforter off the bed and into the living room, and tucked them both in to watch. He was enjoying watching
her
watch the movie more than he was enjoying watching it himself.

She looked over at him and noticed him
staring at her. She nudged his foot with hers. “Everything okay?”

“I’m fine,” he
tried to smile at her.

She sat up. “I’m going to get more tea. Want some?” She stood up and moved closer to him.

“You’re not going to like it, but I think I’d like another beer.”

“Okay. We
are
still wallowing. But after tonight . . .”

“I know
—moderation. I promise.”

Gracie headed toward the kitchen, snagging his empty iced tea glass from the table beside him as she went. She was back in no time. She handed him the bottle and set her glass on the table. Before she could lift the comforter to slide back into her spot, he grabbed her hand, pulling her down with him, her back to his front, both arms wrapped around her. She stiffened for a second, but relaxed when he just snuggled in to hold her, continuing to watch the
TV.

A Mighty Wind
came on next, so they just left the remote alone, and kept watching. He shifted to reach for his beer occasionally, or she did to reach for her tea. He soaked in her laughter, but she was aware of the lack of his. She pretended not to notice. About halfway through the movie, she offered to heat up more stew for him. That’s when he knew he hadn’t fooled her by pretending to eat earlier. When he turned her down, she shifted to lie on her back and looked up into his face.

“Should I go now, Luca?” she asked. “I don’t think I’ve helped much.”

He stared down into her eyes. “You’re kidding. Right?”

“No.”
Gracie reached up and ran her thumb over the worry lines between his brows. “You look so sad,” she whispered.

Sonny took her hand and laid it over his
chest. “You’ve been a big help, Gracie. I was lost before you got here tonight.” He kissed her forehead. “I’m not sad, really. I’m worried. And I’m not used to that. In the SEAL teams they teach us to make plans—and when those don’t work, to adapt and improvise. Here I am with a problem, and no plan. I guess I’m feeling pretty powerless.” He snorted. “And now I sound like a whiner. Don’t I? I
hate
that I sound like a whiner.”

“No, you don’t, Luca. But the thing is . . . everyone—except you—
knows
you can do this. You are the strongest person I know. We all get discouraged sometimes . . . some of us more than others,” she said with a self-deprecating smile. “But, you . . . you’ve always been so strong and upbeat. You’re just not used to this feeling of helplessness—which we all feel sometimes. I have no doubt that you’ll come out the other side good as new. You aren’t afraid to work hard. And you’re tough. You made it through BUD/S . . . through Hell Week, didn’t you? Not many people can do that.”

He looked amused. “What do you know about Hell Week, little girl?” he teased in his big bad Navy SEAL voice.

She smiled in relief. That sounded more like the Luca she knew. “I might have googled it,” she admitted.

“Well, I did make it through, but McKenna pushed me through half of it and I
dragged him through the other half. This time it’s just me.”

“I’m not worried.”

Sonny smiled tenderly down at her. “Well, then. If you’re not worried, I’m not worried.”

His smile faded away as he saw something in her eyes. She reached up, cupping his cheek in her hand and touched her lips gently to his. He was paralyzed with shock for a split second,
and then began to kiss her back. The kiss deepened and he pulled her closer, chest to chest. After a while—he couldn’t have said how long—Gracie pulled back. She blushed a little and he knew she was embarrassed. He cast about for something to say to lighten the mood.

“I know what this is,” he said, repeating her earlier words to her.

“What?” she asked in confusion.

“Just trying to
scare me off so I’ll leave. But it’s not gonna work,” he grinned and dropped a playful kiss on the tip of her nose.

“Oh!” she
laughed. She looked back at the TV and noticed the movie credits were rolling. “It’s after midnight.”

“Yeah. I kept you out too late.” Sonny sat up as she slid off the couch.

“I can sleep in. Work’s not ‘til noon,” she looked at him smugly. “But you have to get up early to have breakfast with Meg. Good luck with that. You’ve had a little alcohol today, so I hope it works out for you.”

“Maybe that’ll teach me a lesson,” he laughed. “You
could
show me some more support and come by and drive me to breakfast. You
are
my new best friend.”

“
I’ll pass.” When she saw him grinning at her—a completely different person than he was earlier—she said, “I think my work here is done.”

She found her shoes, informed him she’d pick up her stew pot the next time she came by—after he’d had time to finish off the stew—and kissed him on the cheek on her way out the door.

By the time he locked up, turned out the lights, and dragged his bedding back to the bedroom he was surprised at how much stronger he felt. Maybe he was just feeling emotions he’d never let himself feel before, like she said. All he could do was show up every Monday-Wednesday-Friday morning and work as hard as he could. Take it as it came. After those amazing kisses though, he wondered if he could get Gracie to come with him . . . dole out those kisses like medication. They had made him feel better than he had in a long time. It wasn’t long before he had drifted into a peaceful sleep.

CHAPTER 9

Sonny was sitting on the front steps of his apartment building on Friday morning. The sun was just thinking about coming up and the air was chilly. Gracie’s electric blue Mustang pulled up in front of him and stopped. He pushed himself to his feet as she leaned over to crank the passenger window down.

“Hey, sailor! Need a ride?”

Sonny smiled. “Do you want to park in the lot? I can drive.”

“We can take my car. It’s already warmed up.” Gracie grinned when his eyes lit up. She knew he’d been dying to get inside her Cobra II.

“If you insist.” He opened the door and slid in . . . then totally ignored her as his eyes bounced around the interior of the car, taking everything
in. “This is sweet,” he breathed.

Gracie
shook her head, checked for traffic and pulled out. Not that there was any traffic this early. She knew
she
loved her car—mostly because her dad and brother had put so much work into it and then gifted it to her—and because it was cute. She had not one ounce of gear head in her, though. Obviously Sonny did.

Sonny finally gave her his
full attention. “There’s a coffee shop a few blocks down. Do you want to stop?”

“Already did.” She gestured to a cardboard cup carrier propped between the seats.

“Wow. Angel . . . where have you been all my life?” He pulled the cup nearest to him out of the carrier and took a sip. “First you come and rescue me from myself the other day. Then you agree to be my moral support and go meet the team with me at the crack of dawn—after working late last night. How was last night, by the way?”

“Actually, it was weird. Hardly any crowd at all. By the end of the
third set, most everyone had left. Savannah cancelled the last set and sent us home. So, see? I was home and in bed before midnight. It wasn’t too hard to get up this morning.”

“I still feel like a deadbeat
for not coming over to pick you up, though.”

“That’s stupid. You’d be on the road the better part of an hour—roundtrip—coming to get me. You live only ten minutes away from base. It makes better sense for me to come meet you at your place.” She glanced over to see him watching her.

“Alright, alright! Let’s not bicker about it anymore.” He winked at her. “When the guys get a load of you, they’re going to think I’ve been trolling the campus at UCSD.” He looked her over. She looked impossibly young—and carefree as a coed—in her jeans and navy blue fleece sweatshirt, her hair held away from her face with a narrow dark blue elastic band.

Gracie looked down
at her clothes and bit her lip. “I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to dress up or not. I went with comfort instead. I’ve never met anyone coming back from deployment before.”

“You look great
—beautiful,” he said, still watching her intently.

She blushed. “Well. Warm at least.”
She cleared her throat. “So . . . are you excited to see the guys?”

Sonny smiled. “I wish I didn’t make you so nervous.” Gracie looked at him uncertainly and he decided to let her off the hook. “I
am
excited to see the guys. I’ll feel a lot better when they’re on solid ground . . . American soil. You know?”

Gracie nodded.
Before long they pulled up to the front security gate on base and stopped. Sonny leaned across the seat to make eye contact with the sailor manning the post. He obviously knew Sonny, and they chatted for a few moments as Gracie pulled her drivers license out and handed it over to the guard. He checked it and looked her over, but it was clear that, with Sonny there with her, he wouldn’t be making her jump through as many hoops as usual. He and Sonny continued talking for a little longer, expressing their satisfaction that his team was coming back. He told them he’d already let several of the wives through. Finally, he opened the gate and waved them through too.

Sonny directed Gracie through the base to the area the guys would be dropped off by bus after their transport plane landed. It was a large blacktopped area with a few benches around the edges. She parked by several cars already
sitting in an adjacent lot. Gracie slid out of the car and was already standing by the open passenger door by the time he had his crutches situated to pull himself up out of his seat.