Reminding The SEAL (Navy SEAL Military Romance) (20 page)

Chapter 6

Good Morning, Family

The next morning, Teresa woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. She yawned and rubbed her eyes, groggily, before dragging her feet towards her closet. She looked in the mirror and frowned, a little confused why she still had makeup on from the previous night. Then, as she regained her consciousness, she began to recall the previous night's events. Her eyes widened and she hurried out of her room and down the hallway.

              She slid down the hardwood-floored hallway in her cotton socks, stopping in front of the bathroom door. She saw a light inside and steam was billowing through the bottom crack. Scowling, she knocked thrice.

              “Who's in there?” she asked. “I need to wash my face and shower. Lyle, is that you? Get off the toi—”

              “It's Vince, dear,” Helen said, passing by her.

              Teresa jumped and turned around. She came face-to-face with her mother and her eyes widened. Helen looked suspicious. Teresa gulped, nervously and avoided her mother's gaze. She shifted in place.

              “Oh, okay then,” Teresa said, trying to walk by Helen.

              Helen narrowed her eyes and shook her head. She knew something was not right.

              “You're hiding something,” Helen said. “I don't know what it is, but I know when you're lying to me, Teresa.”

              Teresa gave her mother a blank stare. It was the best poker face she could muster, and since poker was not exactly the game of the house, it was not much of one. Helen's eyes widened and she gasped. She covered her mouth and pointed an accusatory finger at Teresa. Teresa swallowed, anxiously.

              “You ate the rest of my hors d'ouevres, didn't you?” she accused, putting a hand on her hip. “Oh, Teresa! Goddammit, I can't believe—”

              “I didn't eat any hors d'ouevres, Mom. Why don't you go look in your fridge and check?” Teresa said, rolling her eyes.

              Helen frowned. Then, she narrowed her eyes and retreated to the kitchen. Teresa smiled, triumphantly.

              The sound of a door opening and closing sounded throughout the house, and Teresa furrowed her brow. She peeked around the corner and rolled her eyes. Lyle had a handful of groceries underneath each arm, which was a sight that Teresa had never seen in her lifetime. It was clear that he was trying to impress Vince; otherwise, he never would have gone to the grocery store. Teresa recalled more than a few childhood memories of Lyle insisting that only women belonged in grocery stores. She was glad that Vince realized how bad his father's behavior truly was. Teresa acknowledged that her mother could be a bit of a hard pill to swallow as well, but she was not comparable to Lyle. Lyle was a little misogynistic, rude, and borderline verbally abusive. There was no excuse for it, and Teresa was a little annoyed that he was trying to act like he was a different person, entirely.

              “Hey there, Teresa!” Lyle said, patting her on the shoulder. “Did ya sleep good this morning?”

              “I slept well. Thanks for asking,” she murmured, cringing at his touch. “Since when do you go grocery shopping?”

              Lyle fought the urge to scowl.

              “Oh, I always grocery shop,” he lied. “I mean, this isn't a fancy Saturday breakfast or anything. We do this every day—”

              “It's okay, Lyle. He's in the shower,” Teresa said. “Do you want me to take those in and unload them with Mom?”

              “Oh thank God,” Lyle said, handing her the groceries. “You know, sometimes you aren't completely useless.”

              He sauntered off to his bedroom, humming, and closed the door behind him. Teresa scowled and took the groceries into the kitchen. She set them on the kitchen island and rolled her eyes.

              Helen was flipping the bacon on the stove when she noticed Teresa out of the corner of her eye.

              “I checked the hors d'ouevres,” she said. “Sorry for blaming you, dear. Someone sucked the cream cheese from my celery sticks but I know that was Lyle. You'd at least eat the damn celery. For God's sake, sometimes I wonder about your stepfather.”

              “Yeah, the legend himself sent me with these gifts for the two of us,” she said, gesturing the grocery bags. She reached into one of them and pulled a massive can out, inquiring, “Uh, did you want an industrial-sized can of nacho cheese?”

              Helen rolled her eyes and scowled as she flipped the eggs.

              “Goddammit, Lyle!” she shouted. “Nacho cheese? Really? You're supposed to be watching your cholesterol!”

              Teresa made a face and pulled out several cans of canned spaghetti noodles. She then began to laugh and shake her head, picking one up and waving it for her mother to see.

              “Looks like he got some Spaghetti Bombs too,” she said, amused. “Isn't this what they feed kids in food deserts?”

              Helen took a deep, exasperated breath.

              “Listen, Teresa, I have to keep breakfast going or else Lyle is going to throw a fit. Can you get your brother from the shower?” she asked.

              “Stepbrother,” Teresa replied, “and absolutely not. He's a grown-ass man. I'm not going to—”

              Helen gave her a dark look and said, “Teresa, if I don't have this breakfast done by ten in the morning, Lyle is going to complain about it ruining our entire day
for
the entire day. Do you want to listen to him complain all day?”

              Teresa sighed.

              “Fine, I'll go get him.”

*****

Teresa knocked on the bathroom door six different times, and Vince never answered. She heard that the water was still running, so she assumed that he just could not hear her. Nervously, Teresa looked at a clock hanging in the hallway. It was only ten minutes until ten.

              “Vince!” she called, knocking on the door again. “It's almost time for breakfast!”

              All of a sudden, Lyle emerged from his bedroom and gave Teresa a glare. He snorted.

              “Is my son still in there?” he asked. “He probably just needs a nice, long shower after his trip. We'll postpone breakfast for him if he needs it. Stop bothering him, Teresa.”

              “Lyle, if I took a forty-five minute shower—”

              “Yeah, well, I pay for your water bill,” Lyle spat.

              “You pay for his water bill while he's here!”

              “Yeah, but he's an American war hero. You're just unemployed,” Lyle said. He snorted again and went into the kitchen.

              Teresa scowled and knocked on the door again. Her stomach churned, as she was nervous to speak to Vince for the first time since the previous evening. She was worried that he had not meant for any of it to happen and that he may have had regrets. With each passing moment, she grew more anxious. She wondered if he was showering for so long to avoid her.

              Finally, she could not take her discomfort anymore. She knocked as hard as she possibly could. The sound of the water ceased and she heard wet feet treading across the tiles. Suddenly, the door opened and steam billowed out from the bathroom. There stood Vince, with only a towel draped around his waist, smiling at her. Teresa's heart skipped a beat and she found herself becoming entranced by his smile. When she saw his face, she felt like she was falling for him even faster.

              “Hey there, sis,” he said. He peered into the hallway and murmured, “We need to talk.”

              He beckoned Teresa into the bathroom and shut the door behind him. He locked it and turned to her. Teresa's heart was beating fast. She had no idea what to expect.

              Then, he took her hands in his and kissed her lips. Teresa grinned.

              “What do you want to talk about?” she whispered.

              “Teresa, I love you,” he confessed. “I have to go back to my duties, but I want you to get us an apartment, with my money. For now, we have to hide this all from my dad and your mom, but I have to be with you. Now that I've had you, I don't think I could be without you. I know this all seems rushed, but—”

              “Let's do it,” she said, hurriedly.

              Vince beamed.

              “Really?” he asked. “You are okay with that?”

              Teresa nodded and smiled. She then kissed his lips.

              “We have to hide it for now,” she agreed. “We'll explain anything that needs to be explained later. I can't be without you, Vince. I don't want to be. We have to—”

              “We have to get back out there, yeah,” Vince finished for her. He then kissed her lips one last time and whispered, “One day, things will be more normal.”

Chapter 7

His Second Return

Two years had passed since Vince went back to his career as a Navy SEAL. Teresa had waited for him, patiently, in the apartment that he had paid for in the Bronx.

              The two of them had chosen the city primarily because they could pursue their relationship in public. New York was one of the best places to maintain anonymity. In the city, they could be anyone. Nobody in the Big Apple would assume that they were stepbrother and stepsister. Even if someone were to find out, most New Yokers had heard of worst things. It was the perfect place for them to start their life together.

              Teresa had found a job as a dental hygienist for a local practice in the city. She enjoyed the New York City nightlife, but she missed Vince each and every day. No matter how many amazing restaurants and bars she went to, none of them seemed very enjoyable alone. She had girlfriends, but it was just not the same as it would have been spending her time with Vince. Her heart ached for him.

              It was Teresa's first day off in several weeks, but she was not looking forward to it. She spent it lying on the taupe-colored sofa in the living room, watching daytime talk shows and eating falafel she had ordered from a local Middle Eastern restaurant.

              Suddenly, the doorknob began to turn and Teresa's eyes bulged. She opened her nightstand drawer and seized the small handgun that Vince had purchased for her, prepared to shoot the intruder. Tears ran down her face—until the door opened.

              All of a sudden, Teresa let out an excited scream and got to her feet. She ran to the door and threw herself around the person that had walked inside. It was Vince. Teresa had no idea that he was returning that day. It was the best surprise she could have received.

              “God, I missed you,” she whispered.

              “I missed you too, babe,” he said, kissing her forehead. “I missed you too.”

THE END

Bonded to the SEAL: Breaking the Seal

Chapter 1:

Alone for too Long

Tears fell down Teresa's cheeks as she stared at the picture she had of her and Vince. She was sitting in their New York apartment, waiting impatiently for him to return home, but she knew she had to wait three more entire months. Her heart felt heavy for she did not know how to function without the man that she loved. With a sigh, she set the picture face down on the coffee table and turned her attention towards the television.

              She was watching a daytime talk show, waiting for the buzzer to ring. Her daily ritual had turned into daytime TV and delivery food. Rarely did she cook and she never had guests over to make too much of a mess. Once a week, she would clean up all of the takeout boxes and her work clothes, only to repeat the process all over again. She had become entirely depressed with no friends or family in the big city. All she wanted was for her navy SEAL to come home.

              The buzzer rang and she sighed, getting to her feet. She trudged to the door and pressed the button before tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for the deliveryman to find the door. Finally, she heard a knock, and she swung open the door to come face-to-face with a blonde teenager with wide, green eyes and a face covered in acne.

              “Twenty-four dollars, please,” he said in a crackling voice.

              “I thought I already paid for that on my card,” she muttered, accepting the food from him. “Alright, fine. Let me get my damn wallet...”

              The awkward teenager waited for her by the door as she wandered back into her apartment and grabbed her wallet from her purse on the coffee table. She walked back to the door and handed him thirty dollars.

              “How much do you want back?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

              “Keep the change,” she muttered before closing the door in his face.

              She locked the door and walked towards the couch in her living room. She plopped back down on it and opened the Styrofoam container before shoving lo mein into her mouth. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she groaned a little. It was the most satisfying thing that she had done all day.

              As she reclined and continued to eat her Chinese food, she frowned. The couple on the daytime talk show she was watching apologized to one another and hugged, which made her begin to cry once more. She had never thought she would be such a mess, but she missed Vince more than she had ever thought she would.

              “Screw this,” she muttered, seizing the remote and balancing her Styrofoam container on her legs.

              After changing the channel to a biopic featuring a boxer, which was something in which she had little to no interest, she continued shoveling food into her mouth. She wiped her salty tears from her face and sighed. The biopic was fairly boring, but it was less harmful than watching happy couples on the television.

              Teresa was quickly growing so tired of being alone that she had searched for new friends on social networking sites, she had driven away all of her girlfriends by annoying them consistently for company, she had tried to contact some of her acquaintances from her job at the dentist's office, and she had even started taking a few yoga classes hoping that she would meet a new friend. Unfortunately, the class turned out to be for people that were incredibly advanced and she ended up quitting after two classes.

              Suddenly, the land line rang. She frowned and swung her legs over the side of the sofa. With a heavy groan, she got to her feet and walked over to the phone. She took it off the hook and held it to her ear, furrowing her brow.

              “Hello?”

              “Teresa, darling! Oh, I missed the sound of your voice!”

              Teresa made a face.

              “Hi, Mom. How are you?” she asked, running her hand through her hair, which was long past due for a bleach, leaving her mahogany roots exposed. She had started sporting the blonde look after moving to New York, but she had not cared enough to maintain it after Vince left.

              “I'm alright,” Helen replied. “Lyle's been a bit of a nuisance lately. His doctor told him he had to quit drinking and start taking care of his cholesterol, so he's made it absolutely miserable around here. How's New York? You find your own place yet?”

             
There it is,
Teresa thought to herself, rolling her eyes. Her mother had been harassing her to move out of her and Vince's apartment for quite some time, mostly because she was not aware that the two of them were in a relationship and that it was acceptable for them to share a home. Teresa was not sure how to break that news to her mother, so she just played along with the concept of her getting her own apartment.

              “Yeah, actually I'm looking at a new place this week,” Teresa lied. “Crossing my fingers that I can put a bid on it to compete with these New Yorkers! Seems like every apartment I want gets swept up from under me.”

              Of course, her words were all lies, but she did not know how to tell her mother that she was pursuing a romantic relationship with her stepbrother. It was not the easiest subject to approach; she was not sure at all how she would tell her mother and stepfather when the time came, but she knew it was not yet the time, so she was not too concerned about it. Teresa quite enjoyed living so far away from them; she finally had some privacy.

              “Seems that way,” Helen replied, seemingly suspicious. “Look, the real reason I'm calling is because Lyle and I are getting older and we thought maybe we'd come see you before the holidays. We're going on a cruise to Punta Cana and Puerto Plata for Thanksgiving so—”

              “You're going to the Dominican Republic for Thanksgiving?” Teresa asked incredulously. “I thought we were going to do a family thing?”

              “Oh, honey, you don't want to spend Thanksgiving with boring old us,” Helen retorted. “Don't you have girlfriends you can spend it—oh it doesn't matter. We're going on a cruise and we won't be around, so you oughta have a good Christmas dinner with your old mom before the holidays come around.”

              Teresa's eyes widened.

              “I, uh, I don't know—”

              “Oh, we won't get in the way! I'll help you with the turkey. Our plane is taking off on the twelfth so we'll talk about meeting at the airport tomorrow. Lyle's getting into the pantry again so I better go,” Helen said hurriedly. “Bye for now!”             

              With that, she hung up, leaving Teresa with her mouth hanging open. The last thing she wanted to do was host an event for her mother and father.

              “At least its company, I suppose,” she murmured to herself.

              She
had
been alone for too long.