“I’m glad,” Taylor said with feeling.
“Me too,” Skylar whispered.
“Are you doing okay?” Taylor asked, reaching out and putting her hand on Skylar’s forearm.
The other woman smiled. “I am. I admit that I sometimes have a nightmare or two, but Bull is almost always there to make me feel safe . . . and to distract me . . . if you know what I mean.”
Taylor smiled. “I’m glad you have that.”
“Me too. But anyway . . . I have a ton of sick leave because I’m amazingly healthy, knock on wood, and my principal doesn’t mind the teachers taking mental health days if we have the leave time and honestly need a break. I just hope the guys get home soon. I miss Bull a lot.”
“Do you think it’ll get easier? That you’ll miss him less as time goes on?” Taylor asked.
“No,” Skylar answered without hesitation. “I’ll always miss and worry about Bull when he’s gone, but I would never ask him to quit. I’ve finally come to understand that what he does is important. It makes me uneasy, but that doesn’t mean I’m not proud of him.”
Taylor didn’t feel the least bit weird about what Eagle was doing. She was glad he and his team were making the world a safer place. She’d seen the ugly side of people from a very early age. And while bullies and ignorant people weren’t in the same category as the “tens” Silverstone was hunting, she couldn’t muster any sympathy for anyone who did things that karma would make them answer for later in life.
Skylar smiled. “This was fun. Thanks again for coming out with me.”
“Thanks for inviting me,” Taylor told her.
“We need to hang out more.”
“I’d like that.”
“Great. Maybe we can go shopping sometime? You can keep me from filling a basket at Target when all I need is floor cleaner or something.”
Taylor laughed. “You too? I don’t know what it is about that place that makes me overspend and buy crap I don’t need. I’m not sure I’ll be much help.”
Skylar grinned. “Fine, then we can roam the mall like we’re fourteen again.”
“Sounds good.” And it did. Taylor couldn’t remember when she’d felt so relaxed with another woman.
They stood up, and Skylar left a twenty-dollar bill on the table.
“I thought our meals were paid for?” Taylor asked.
“They are, but I always try to leave a big tip. The first time Bull brought me here, he left a very generous tip for the waitress, and I decided that was something I wanted to do too. Waiters and waitresses work really hard and have to put up with a lot of crap from customers.”
Taylor nodded and reached for her purse.
“You don’t need to leave any more, I’ve got us covered,” Skylar protested.
Taylor dropped another twenty on the table. “It’s fine. I like doing nice things for people. There’s not enough kindness in the world—I know that firsthand.”
Skylar nodded and linked her arm with Taylor’s. “I knew I liked you when I first met you, and I’m thrilled for you and Eagle.”
As they walked toward the exit, Taylor stayed silent. She wanted to hear more about why Skylar thought Eagle liked her, but that felt a little too middle schoolish. She had no idea if Skylar was right, but she hoped so. For now, she’d play things by ear and maybe, eventually, one of them would get up the nerve to make the first move.
Rosie called out a farewell, and when they were outside, Skylar promised to be in touch. Taylor was on her way home before she knew it, feeling happier than she had in a long time. She still missed Eagle and longed to talk to him, but she didn’t feel quite as alone as she had before. Skylar was amazing, and much stronger than she looked.
Thinking about what Skylar had survived had Taylor shuddering again. She didn’t think she could be anywhere near as strong as Skylar if faced with a life-or-death situation. But luckily, she lived a boring life as a proofreader and didn’t come into contact with that many people. Certainly no one who would want to hurt her. Right?
Feeling that same sense of uneasiness from the diner, Taylor pushed it away. She’d had a good day, and no bad thoughts were going to ruin it. She was going to go home, finish proofing the manuscript she’d started earlier, and pray that Eagle would get back sooner rather than later.
Chapter Eleven
“Fuck,” Eagle swore as he shifted in the airplane seat.
“You all right?” Gramps asked for what seemed like the hundredth time.
“Yeah, just moved wrong,” Eagle said.
“You need me to look at that arm again?” Smoke asked.
No, he didn’t need his friend to look at his fucking arm again.
Eagle was pissed. Mad that he’d managed to get himself shot. The bullet had grazed the fleshy part of his upper arm. He’d bled like a stuck pig, but he’d been lucky. Six inches to the left, and it would’ve gone through his heart.
One of the rebels in Timor-Leste had gotten off a lucky shot. He hadn’t been as lucky, as Eagle’s bullet had been the last thing he’d seen in this world. But now Eagle had to deal with an arm that throbbed and his friends hovering as if he were on his last legs.
“I’m fine,” he told Bull, Smoke, and Gramps. “It’s not my first graze and won’t be my last. It’s sore. It hurts. But I’ll live.”
“If you need more antibiotics or painkillers, just let me know,” Gramps told him. “I can get more when we’re home.”
“Will do,” Eagle told him. He knew he should go to the doctor, but a gunshot wound would mean a police report, and Silverstone did whatever they could to avoid that kind of attention. His arm would hurt for a while, but the butterfly bandages would do their job, as would the shit ton of antibiotics Gramps had shoved down his throat.
The only thing Eagle wanted right now was to see Taylor. It had been eight days since he’d seen or talked to her. He felt antsy inside. He needed to know what she’d been up to. How her week had been. Wanted to know if she’d been to Silverstone at all, or if she’d holed up inside her apartment like she’d been wont to do before he’d met her.
Their mission had gone well. They’d located the rebel leader, and while they hadn’t been able to take him out as quietly as they’d hoped, he’d ended up with a bullet to his brain all the same. They all hoped the remaining rebels would lose interest in their obviously futile battle and fade into the night. It would take a bit of time for that to happen, but Silverstone, and Willis at the FBI, would keep an eye on the situation.
All in all, it had been another successful mission, but instead of feeling satisfied over a job well done, Eagle was impatient as hell to get to Taylor.
Was this how Bull felt about Skylar? He hadn’t talked to his friend about what it was like for him, but he felt as if a conversation between them would be happening sooner rather than later.
Eagle loved Taylor. He had no doubt. But he didn’t know how she felt about him.
A long three hours later, their small private plane finally landed in Indianapolis. Taking out his phone, Eagle turned it on—and sighed in relief at seeing all the texts Taylor had sent him while he’d been gone. He’d told her that he wouldn’t have reception and wouldn’t be able to read or respond to any texts, emails, or phone calls, but she’d communicated with him anyway.