The judge dismissed my case with prejudice, and he sealed both my record and the court case. He promised me he was going to look into the sheriff and DA, but he died in a car accident less than six months later. Coincidence? I’d never know.
As a kid with no money, a scholarship that had been yanked the moment I was arrested, and only a high school diploma, I joined the military. After my first four years in the Navy, I told my brother where I really was. I knew Foster was beating himself up for what had happened to me, and I wanted him to know the truth. Turned out, my arrest had helped my brother get his own life on the right track.
I’d helped him buy the mechanic shop in Brook Creek, and he was the one I sent money to every month. He never told my mom or my sisters where it had come from, not that my mom would care too much. As long as she had money for her next bottle of vodka, she didn’t ask questions.
Of course, that was why she had cirrhosis now. That, and emphysema from smoking a pack of cigarettes a day.
That was why I had decided it was time to go home.
Even though my mother was a drunk, she was still my mother. And, even though it hadn’t been the full twenty years of my theoretical sentence, I was leaving Virginia. My family needed me.
Another one of my teammates walked over to where Flash and I stood. “You have quite the going-away party, Mad Dog,” Evan “Ice” Malone told me, his voice laced with sarcasm.
When I’d enlisted in the Navy, there had been rumors about my arrest, even with the records sealed. I had to prove myself to my superiors and to my teammates that I was trustworthy, that I would and could follow orders, and that they could trust me with a weapon. It took time, but it was worth it. I had made my way up the ranks to Chief Petty Officer, and I had the best damn career and military family. It was going to be tough to leave them.
“I didn’t want a big party,” I told Evan.
It made going back to Iowa even harder. Plus, I had an early flight, and I decided a hangover didn’t need to make the trip home with me. I needed my wits to be at full capacity when I got back home.
I was just grateful I wouldn’t have to see Addison again. I’d heard how she had gone to college like we’d planned. Part of me was proud of her for getting out, but the other part of me was angry that she’d moved on like I hadn’t even existed. I never asked my brother about her, and he never offered up any more information. I supposed I’d run into her sooner or later. Her father still lived in our town, and she was bound to visit him sometime.
“What does Stephanie think about you leaving?” Evan asked me.
I shrugged. “I haven’t told her.”
Flash spit out the beer he’d just taken a sip of. “You haven’t told your girlfriend that you quit the Teams and are moving halfway across the country?”
I took a long drink of my own beer. “Nope. She ghosted me after I told her I was retiring from the SEAL Teams.”
“I knew that bitch was a Frog Hog.”
I scowled at Evan. We’d broken up, but I’d still dated the woman.
“What? You know that’s all she wanted. Status.”
Evan was right, but I didn’t like to admit he was right.
“Yeah,” I reluctantly agreed.
“So, do you care if I call her up?”
“You just called her a bitch,” I pointed out.
Evan shrugged. “She’s still hot.” He grabbed his crotch. “And I have a hog for her.”
I rolled my eyes. I should tell him no, but I really didn’t care. Stephanie had been fun for a while. I didn’t love her, and she didn’t love me.
“Go for it.”
She’d probably eat Evan alive anyway.
“Is your family excited that you’re retired and coming home?”
I took another sip of my beer. “They don’t know.” Except for my brother.
“What?” Evan asked.
“It’s complicated.”
Flash was the only one who knew the whole story, and he wasn’t talking.
“Is this why you never go home to visit?”
“Pretty much.”
“Wow,” Evan said. “Everyone’s going to be so excited to see you.”
Everyone’s going to be something. I didn’t know if excited was the right word.
Three
Addison
Friday afternoon, instead of going home and resting like I’d planned, I was headed to my father’s house. I needed to check up on him, and since I’d taken the afternoon off, I decided to get it over with.
When I reached the front door, it opened before I could let myself in or knock.
“Hey, Henry,” I said to the butler.
“Miss.” Henry nodded and closed the door behind me.
“Do you know where my father is?”
“In the study, miss.”
I sighed with frustration and marched toward the study. When I got there, my father was sitting behind his desk.
“What are you doing?” I demanded.
My father jumped in his seat. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
Once upon a time, my father would have heard me come through the front door. He wasn’t the man he used to be. He’d gotten so much older in such a short amount of time. His dark hair was now all gray, and the wrinkles in his face had deepened. His hazel eyes looked tired all the time now. The stroke hadn’t helped.
“Daddy, you know you’re supposed to be resting. The only reason the doctor let you leave the nursing home was because you’d promised to rest at home.”
“But there is so much work to be done.”
“Isn’t that why you hired Simon? Where is he?”
“He had to go to a meeting since I’m…indisposed.”
My father was a proud man and a workaholic. I knew it killed him to be homebound and to only have limited use of his left side. He had to walk with a cane, and he didn’t want any business partners to see him looking vulnerable. That was where Simon came in. Simon had become the face of my father’s various businesses.
“Maybe you should think about selling some of the properties.”
My father looked at me like I was crazy.
He owned the only bank in town and several buildings on that block, including mine. Managing numerous properties was a juggling act that needed constant attention.
“You know what the doctor said about stress.”
“This conversation is stressful.”
I sighed. He was impossible.
The click-clacks of dress shoes got louder outside the study door, announcing Simon’s arrival.
My father visibly brightened upon seeing his protégé. “Simon, how did it go?”
“Very well, sir.” Simon looked at me. “Good afternoon, Addison.”
His beady eyes leered at me, and his smile made me want to go and shower. His white-blond hair had enough product in it for all of Brook Creek.
“Simon,” I said out of politeness. “I was just telling my father that he needed to rest.”
When he didn’t say anything, I narrowed my gaze at him.
“Ah, yes, sir. You know what the doctor said.”
My father put his hands up in surrender. “Fine. I will go back to my room like an invalid.”
Of course, my father would listen to a man he’d known for six months rather than his daughter he’d known for thirty years.