By the time the water cooled and she climbed out, the bath had the desired effect on her muscles, which felt more relaxed. But her mind still raced, and she wondered if she would find sleep.
19
When Nolan arrived back in town, he drove to Lynn’s apartment but recognized Nancy’s car in the parking lot. While part of him hated that she was talking to Nancy and not him, he also appreciated the fact that his sister was her best friend and was probably the only person at that moment that could begin to make Lynn hurt less.
He waited in the parking lot, and when Nancy came out he rushed over to her. She remained a loyal friend to Lynn and gave him nothing to go on other than Lynn had gotten home safely and was planning to talk to an attorney on Monday morning. Pinning him with a hard stare, she added, “That gives you the weekend to decide what you want to do, brother-dear. Cut her loose or convince Lynn to give you another chance.” Lifting onto her toes, she kissed his cheek, her voice softening. “I love you both, you know.”
He stood and watched her climb into her car and drive away. Jogging up the steps, he knocked on the door but, considering Nancy mentioned that Lynn was exhausted, she might have gone to bed early.
When he showed up at his parents’ house, his mother wanted to jump in and fix things. At first, he rudely shut her down, then, seeing the angst on her face, shared her guilt. As they sat at the kitchen table late that night, she with a glass of wine and he with a beer, he assured her that she was blameless.
“Mom, looking back I realize our plan was fraught with miscalculations and that’s on me. I didn’t take the time to learn anything about weddings because it was just going to be staged. I feel rather foolish about going into a mission so unprepared. It didn’t dawn on me that you had to provide real documents to get the license or that it was the actual ceremony that was legally binding. I know that’s stupid, but we just went with the flow, not realizing what we were getting ourselves into.”
“You know, honey, just because something came about because of a mistake doesn’t make it a mistake.”
His gaze jumped up to her face, and he tilted his head as his brows lowered. “I get the feeling you’re trying to tell me something profound, but you’re just going to have to speak plainly because I’m too friggin’ tired to decipher riddles, Mom.”
She sighed heavily and he sat silently, waiting for her to explain.
“Your father and I have been together for almost thirty years. We were in love, and planning on getting married, but… well, let’s just say that our timeline got moved up a bit.” Her lips curved into a grin, and a small giggle erupted. “I don’t suppose you’ve ever calculated our wedding anniversary date and your birthday, have you?”
His eyes grew large and his mouth dropped open as the obvious fact hit him and he could not believe he’d never noticed it before. “Holy hell, Mom! You were pregnant with me when you guys got married!”
Her eyes danced with mirth, and she cried out, “Guilty!” She leaned forward and patted his arm and said, “I know it’s very hard to think about your parents having sex—”
“Mom!”
She laughed and shook her head. “Well, I don’t know how you would’ve gotten here if we hadn’t.”
“I prefer to think about the stork!” She continued to chuckle and the ache in his chest eased slightly.
“I loved your father, and he loved me. We had originally planned to wait until we thought the timing was right to get married, but fate stepped in and we discovered we were going to have a baby. Was that the way we planned for things to be? No. Our wedding came about when it did because of a mistake in our timing.” Leaning forward again, she placed her hand on his, holding his gaze. “But that doesn’t mean that it was a mistake.”
“I get what you’re saying, but I’m not the one you need to convince, Mom. After I blew up and said some horrible things, I sat at the bar for a couple of hours and realized that I wanted her in my life. But right now, she doesn’t want to see me.”
She finished her wine and stood, bending to kiss his forehead like she did when he was a child and skinned his knee. “It’s true that I’ve always had a soft spot for Lynn and thought the two of you would be perfect together. Don’t worry, you’ll find a way to talk to her, dear. After all, you’re a SEAL. From what I understand, no mission is too difficult to undertake.”
Nolan gave Lynn Saturday to continue ignoring his messages, but now it was Sunday and he was desperate. If Lynn was going to contact an attorney on Monday morning, it was now or never.
He drove to her apartment building and scanned the parking lot, noting her car was not there. He had no idea where she went or how long she would be gone, but he was prepared to wait. Using the same tools that he’d employed when opening Errol’s office, he easily unlocked Lynn’s door. While glad that he was able to get inside, he needed to make sure she had more security. He snorted as he stepped inside. Yeah, I’ll bring that up after I convince her to give us a chance.
As was his habit, he scanned the room. Her space now seemed much more personal than when he had last been here. Her apartment was small but perfectly neat. The first surprised him, the second did not. Somehow, he imagined her in a larger, more modern apartment building, but then realized that starting a new business was probably expensive and she’d cut back in other areas. In the few days he had spent with her, he noticed she kept her toiletries neatly placed in a small area of the hotel bathroom counter. Her clothes were hung in the closet or placed in the drawer. And she always hung up her wet towel in the hotel bathroom as well as pulled the bedspread up each morning.
The sofa and chair were charcoal gray, but she livened the area up with bright pillows of blue and green. Hanging on the wall over the sofa was a large framed photograph of an eagle flying over the Smoky Mountains and he remembered that her father was a nature photographer. As he looked around, there were other photographs displayed, some of nature and several of her family.
One picture caught his eye, and he stepped closer, realizing that it was a photograph of his family, taken on one of the vacations where Lynn had been included. He stood in between his mom and dad, and Lynn and Nancy had their arms around each other, everyone smiling for the camera. It dawned on him that she’d been part of his family for a long time. A few shared vacations, lots of shared meals, and his sister’s best friend. Considering he hadn’t been home for much of the last twelve years, he’d missed seeing Lynn grow into a beautiful adult. Filled once more with a sense of rightness, he wanted to keep her place in his family, but now as his wife. Blowing out his breath, he hoped he could find the words to make that come true.
He sat down in the chair that was angled toward the sofa but also easily visible from the front door. Stretching his long legs in front of him, he leaned his head back, clasped his hands on his stomach, and tried to force his body to relax.
Thankfully, it was not long before he heard her key in the door. She walked through, her arms loaded with grocery bags, and kicked the door shut. He stood to help, and she jumped back with a scream, flinging the bags to the floor.
“Shit! Jesus, Nolan, you scared me to death!”