True Devotion (17 page)

“Absolutely. Do I get a name?”

“Like I told Boomer, I’m taking the fifth.”

“You have to tell me all about it later.”

Joe smiled, thinking about Christi, Kelly, and Liz. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll hear.” He didn’t want to spoil Kelly’s fun by being the one to break the news. “Thanks, Christi.”

He called Marsha about the flowers next, then set out to find a way to get reservations for two at the Prince of Wales Grill. As Christi had warned, they were completely booked. He was talking to his counterpart on Team Three as he unlocked the door to his home and held open the door for Misha—this was his fourth call and he was getting closer. “I know the pianist who is playing there tonight is Heather Wailes. Do you know someone who knows her?”

“Pretty name. How old?”

“Midtwenties.”

“Try Victor, Millan, or Paulson. One of them has probably met her.”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

He tried Victor first. The SEAL was a great guitar player and the type of guy who had friends all across the community. “Sure, I know Heather. She plays great jazz.”

“I need to get reservations for two tonight at the Grill—they’re booked. Think she might be willing to help?”

Victor laughed. “Lieutenant, let me ask. I’ll put you on hold and give her a call.”

Joe walked back to his bedroom and pulled open his closet door as he looked through options. Black-tie? He knew Kelly would look lovely; she always did. He pulled out his best suit.

The phone clicked and Victor came back on. “Lieutenant, you’ve got reservations for two at 1900 hours. A quiet table overlooking the water. The reservations are in your name.”

“Victor, I owe you.”

“No thanks necessary. That call just got me a date with Heather. She liked being asked for the favor.”

Joe smiled. “I still owe you.”

“I’ll collect someday. Have a great evening.”

He glanced at his watch. Still plenty of time for one more errand before he came back to shower and change.

* * *

Kelly pinned the phone against her shoulder as she sorted through her closet for the third time. “Liz, I don’t have anything he hasn’t already seen. You know I can’t wear the blue silk. It would be incredibly rude to wear something Charles gave me on a date with Joe. Oh, I should have never said yes. I know he’s going to make a big deal of tonight. Joe doesn’t know how to do something halfway.”

“You’ve still got two hours. Get over here. We can solve this problem.”

“Not if I’m going to do something with my hair,” Kelly practically wailed, looking at the aftereffects of the salt water. “I’m going to call Joe and tell him not tonight.”

“Don’t you dare! Take a shower; throw all your shoes into a bag; then come over. I’ll find the perfect dress for you. Come on—you’ll have a great time.”

“Liz, I can’t do this.”

“Okay, new plan. I’m on my way to you with several of my favorite dresses. Take that shower and don’t you dare call Joe.”

Kelly closed her eyes and forced away the growing panic. “I already hate dating.”

“By the time tonight is over, you’ll change your mind. I promise.”

* * *

Which bear? Joe looked over the selection for the third time, wrestling with which one was best. Kelly had marked every special occasion in her life since eighth grade with a bear of one sort or another, and he was not about to break that tradition tonight. It was kind of childish. She was the first to laugh about that and admit it, but it had taken on a life of its own over the years and he rather liked the continuity of it.

He had no idea which one she would like. Big? Small? White? Brown? Maybe he should take her for a walk tonight through the shops and let her choose the one she wanted.

No, for this occasion, he needed to choose it.

Joe picked up a medium-size white bear with beautiful brown eyes. It was soft in his hands. If he added a ribbon that matched the flowers—yes, this would be perfect.

He left the shop with the bear in a box. Marsha would be able to help with wrapping paper and a bow. He slipped into his Jeep, prepared to pull out into traffic, and the pager clipped to his belt went off. Pulling it from his belt, he glanced at the numbers.

Lord, please, no. Not tonight.

It was the duty officer at the base.

* * *

“What about this one?”

Liz held up the dress for her consideration. Kelly thought about it, then shook her head. She could never pull off that color. “The teal is still my favorite.”

“Are you sure? You don’t want something more bold?”

Kelly retrieved the teal dress from the bed and held it up to look again in the mirror. “I love the length and the flowing skirt.”

Liz set aside the other dresses. “You’ll need something striking in jewelry.”

“Maybe my pearls?”

“Something gold and heavy would be better. If we pull your hair back like this—” Liz stepped behind her to show her—“with long earrings?”

The image in the mirror was more elegant than what Kelly normally saw. “You think so?”

“Definitely.”

For the first time in the last hour she felt like she would be equal to whatever Joe had planned. She looked at Liz in the mirror. “I’m so glad you came over.”

“Are you kidding? I’m the one who’s thrilled. You and Joe—I can’t believe he finally asked you out or that you actually said yes.”

“It’s time to go on with life.”

Liz hugged her. Kelly felt the stress of what she was doing bleed away in her friend’s silent assurance. “Remember what it was like the first time Nick asked me out?”

The question brought laughter instead of tears to her friend’s eyes. Liz stepped back. “Do I remember! I don’t think there was a clothing store we didn’t visit to find you the right dress.”

“At least we found a dress here. I remember when Tom asked you out the first time—you had us traipsing around San Diego for days before you found the perfect outfit,” Kelly teased, stepping into the bathroom to get her hair dryer. “How are we doing on time?”

“Fine. But if Joe were a few minutes late it would be better.”

“That’s what I was afraid of. How are you at makeup? Covering this shiner is going to be difficult if not impossible.”

“I can do it,” Liz said. “What about shoes?”

* * *

Joe prayed this wasn’t a recall for tonight. His call to the base had been transferred and put on hold for his boss. That fact was a little unusual; normally orders passed through the duty officer. While he was waiting, he scanned the radio news stations looking for something unusual going on that might have triggered the page. It wasn’t uncommon to hear about a hijacking or a third-world coup on the news before a decision was made to assign a SEAL team to the problem.

He didn’t need this kind of start with Kelly. She had always handled pages interrupting his schedule, but throwing off their first date . . . It left a bad taste.

“Bear.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Are your men in town?”

Joe briefly closed his eyes. “Yes, sir. We’ve got a training op scheduled for early tomorrow morning. Everyone was to stay close this weekend.”

“Good. I’m deploying platoons Echo and Foxtrot. Put your men back on short notice; you may be recalled next.”

His men were going to regret the fact they hadn’t been tapped to deploy. As a rule SEALs preferred to be where the action was, but for Joe the news brought relief. He didn’t want to be on a plane tonight. “Yes, sir.”

Joe headed back to base, dialing Boomer as he did so. Going to short notice status was an administrative headache. It was easier to be asked to jump on a plane than to go on short notice—at least then someone else did the paperwork. He glanced at his watch and winced. Even if he hurried this was going to be tight.

“Boomer, we just got bumped up to short notice status. Echo and Foxtrot are moving now. Can you start clearing the medical and personnel paperwork? And we’ve got training rotations out to Fort Bragg that will be messed up.”

“What are assistant officers good for if not paperwork? I’m on my way in.”

Joe cleared through security at the Naval Amphibious Base. With the duty officer taking care of tracking down his men and passing on the short notice order, Joe went to find his counterpart on platoon Echo. Kevin was in the middle of packing and glanced up when Joe tapped on his door. “Bear, I hoped you would get here before I had to cut out.” Kevin reached for the red binder on his desk and handed it over. “Updated as of yesterday noon.”

“Code word clearance, or can you tell me where you’re heading?”

“Okinawa as a stopping off point. They’ll tell us after we get there. I’m thinking South Korea.”

“Tough job.”

“At least it’s not Alaska.” He nodded to the red binder. “You won’t find many surprises in the list of current hot spots. Available resources are still showing the aftereffects of that deployment to Panama—support staff is just now getting back into their normal rotations. I’ve updated the latest numbers.”

“Thanks.”

Kevin smiled. “Don’t thank me until you see the hole I’m leaving you to backfill in equipment. Okinawa got stripped for that exercise in the Philippines, and I’ve got to backfill from here.” The phone rang, and Kevin reached for it, shaking his head. “Moving out on a Sunday is a nightmare. It’s all newbies on duty.”

Joe grinned and left him to it. Okinawa and real action. His men were going to be jealous. Joe turned pages in the notebook as he walked back to his office, reading through the briefing summaries. Boomer had arrived and was on the phone. Joe took a seat as Boomer hung up.

“That was the duty officer; all the men have answered the page.”

“Good.”

“Not the evening you had planned.”

Joe relaxed. “Thirty minutes, Boomer. You’ve got the paperwork. All I’ve got to do is read and sign. I’m not about to miss a date just because we’re now in the hot seat.”

Boomer laughed and slid over a folder. “Start with those.”

The office became quiet as they both went through the paperwork.

Joe signed his name a final time and moved the personnel jacket to his out-box. “That’s it?”

Boomer nodded. “We won’t know equipment status until Echo and Foxtrot get their deployment list finished. That’s tomorrow’s problem.”

“Kevin warned me it would be a mess.” Joe glanced at his watch. The flower shop was about to close. Wonderful.

“Kelly will understand.”

Joe glanced over at his friend, hearing the amusement.

“Christi figured it out in about five minutes. At least we can swap vehicles here, save you a little time.”

Secrets never lasted in this place. “Thanks, Boomer. It is rather important that I not totally blow this evening.” That was an understatement.

“Short of something else happening in the world—”

“Please, I don’t need to borrow trouble.”

A final check with the duty officer, and they both walked out to the parking lot and traded vehicles. “Thanks again, Boomer.”

“Anytime.”

Joe transferred the box with the bear to Boomer’s sedan, then glanced again at his watch. After he passed through base security, he picked up his cell phone. “Marsha, I’m going to be a few minutes late. Would you
please
stay open for me?”

“Joe—”

“Please.”

“You’re going to have to tell me who this mystery person is.”

“I can’t. But you won’t regret it. I promise.” He turned on the charm and he heard her laugh.

“I’ll stay open. But it’s only because I adore you.”

“Thank you. Five minutes.”

He made it in four. Marsha not only found ribbon for the bear to match the roses but also found wrapping paper for the box and a matching bow. “She’s going to love this Joe, whoever she is.”

Marsha suspected. Did everyone know Kelly and her collection of bears? “I hope so.”

“Just remember: Besides romance, I do apologies, birthdays, and every holiday on the calendar.”

“How profitable is the apology business?”

“Better than the romance,” Marsha replied with a twinkle in her eyes, handing him the flowers.

On impulse, he leaned across the counter and kissed her cheek. “Thanks.”

A fast shower, shave, change—there was no getting around the fact he would be a few minutes late picking up Kelly. But if he called her, there was a slim chance she would try to cancel. He wasn’t going to take that risk. Better to apologize than to call.

Lord, do You accept prayers for clear traffic and green lights?

Fifteen

* * *

J
oe hurried to get his tie straight. This was turning out to be the most rushed date in his lifetime, but he was going to make it.
Lord, I’m nervous.

He laughed softly at the realization. It was easier to step out of an airplane at ten thousand feet in the dead of night than to do this. He slipped the package Marsha had wrapped into a sack, careful not to crush the bow, and checked again that he had his keys and wallet. He gathered up the bouquet of roses.

“Misha—” his dog lay sprawled on the rug by the patio—“don’t get into any mischief while I’m gone. I’ll be back in a few hours.” She whined softly, knowing she was getting left behind. “Sorry, girl, this is a private date.”

He bound down the steps to Boomer’s car.

He pulled into Kelly’s drive only minutes late and took a deep breath before getting out of the car. Knowing Kelly, she had probably been ready early, passing her time reading a book while she waited for him to arrive. He rang the doorbell.

She had been reading; the book was held in one hand when she opened the door. Joe’s smile widened when he got a good look at her.

He spun his finger, encouraging her to turn around. She set down the book and did so, and the dress flared around her. “Wow.”