SEAL the Deal (25 page)

“It is disgusting. You aren’t going to
give it to her, are you?”

“Not a chance. It might throw Bess into
premature labor or something. I feel a migraine coming on just looking at it. I’ll
probably store it until the kid is a teenager. When she’s sixteen she’ll think
it’s cool.” She set the painting down on the ground with a sigh. “At least that
crib I ordered is a showstopper. It arrived at Jack’s place this afternoon.
It’ll really be the centerpiece of the room.”

“So Bess is asleep, I take it?”

“Out like a light.” Maeve sat on the couch
and held out a plate of chips. “So, you want to talk about it?”

Lacey sat, accepting a handful. “I think
it was easier just being his friend.”

“That’s not how I remember it.”

 “You’re right. It was never easy
with him was it?” Lacey sighed. “Every time I’m around him, I feel like I’m
losing sight of what’s important.”

“So? What’s important?”

“My career, right now,” she replied as
though trying to convince herself. “But after just ten minutes with him, I feel
tempted to throw away my career and follow him wherever the Navy sends him next.
Or beg him to take me along, in my case.”

“I don’t think that would be a hard sell.”

Lacey shook her head, reaching for another
chip. “He’s made it clear that his career comes first and settling down is not
in the picture for him right now.”

“Sounds like the same thing you keep
telling him.”

Lacey looked at her blankly.

“So
maybe
he’s as conflicted as you
are, Lacey.”

Exasperated, Lacey threw her head back on
the couch’s down pillows.

Maeve shook her head and laughed. “Oh,
Lacey. Stop over-thinking and just enjoy today. You don’t know how lucky you
are to have it.”

It was too cold for a tour of the Naval
Academy, Lacey was reminded again by a gust of cold air as Mick held the door
open for her. But, catching a sideward glance of him, she decided spending the
afternoon with Mick made it worthwhile. Even the slight brush of her bare hand
against his uniform as she passed warmed her to her toes.

“So his dead body is really in there?” Stepping
out of John Paul Jones’s tomb, Maeve curled her lip.

“It’s no different than in a graveyard,”
Lacey noted, linking her hand in Mick’s offered arm as they walked around the
side of the Chapel.

“Well, it’s something I could have lived
without seeing. What’s with the dolphins on the casket?”

“Symbolic of the sea. He was a great Navy
hero, Maeve,” Mick explained with clearly diminishing patience. He gave a salute
as a Captain walked past them.

Maeve perked up visibly, giving the passing
man an appraisal as she started up the long staircase to the Chapel doors. Letting
out a heated breath, she leaned into Lacey’s ear. “What is it about those
uniforms? Do they starch them in pheromones?”

Lacey laughed, finally realizing the real
reason Maeve had begged for a tour of the Academy. Lacey should have known it
had nothing to do with interest in architecture or history. She glanced over at
Bess, trailing behind them. “You okay, Bess? You’re so quiet.”

Mick stopped at the Chapel doors and shot
Lacey a questioning look.

“Her blood pressure was up a bit at her
last check-up,” Lacey explained.

“We can stop here and do the rest of the
tour on another day,” Mick offered.

Bess wrapped her coat tightly around her
as a breeze whistled through the barren limbs of the tall oaks on the Yard. “I’m
just tired. Is there someplace I can get some juice?”

“Of course. We can head to the Officers’
Club.”

Bess glanced down the daunting staircase
she had just climbed. “Well, let’s see the Chapel first, since we’re already
here.”

Mick swung the door open just as a young
man in uniform was leaving the building.

“Sir.” The man offered a quick salute.

“Cadet Griffin,” Mick greeted him.

“Glad to see you, Sir. I enjoyed your
class on mixed martial arts last week. I plan to enter Ranger School when I
graduate, so was happy for the training by someone in the SEALs.”

“Excellent. I know several Rangers. Stop
by my office next week, and I’ll get you some contacts.”

“I’d appreciate that, Sir.”

“Forgive me, ladies.” Mick’s tone was formal.
“This is Cadet Tyler Griffin. He is a visiting cadet from West Point for the
semester.”

The young man flashed a smile and shook
their hands.

“Griffin, this is Lacey Owens, Bess Foster,
and Maeve Fischer. Are you headed by the Officers’ Club or steerage?”

“Yes, Sir.”

Mick reached into his pocket and handed
the Cadet some bills. “Would you mind bringing back Bess a bottle of orange juice?
She’s a little peaked.”

“My pleasure, Sir,” he responded amicably,
glancing down at Bess’s belly. “Ma’am, congratulations. My sister is pregnant
now, too.”

Bess just smiled weakly in response.

“So how far along are you, Ma’am?”

“Closing in on six months.”

“Wonderful. I’ll be back with some orange
juice before the Commander is finished with your tour of the Chapel.”

“Thank you, Griffin,” Mick said,
dismissing him with a salute.

Entering the quiet warmth of the Chapel,
Bess let out a soft sigh that only Lacey seemed to hear.

“Mick, why don’t you give Maeve the tour? Bess
and I can sit down here and catch our breath,” Lacey suggested.

“You’re sure?”

Lacey nodded.

“Just give us the heads-up if you want to
go home, Bess,” Maeve said, eyeing her friend.

“No, I’m fine. Go.” Bess said quietly,
sitting in a nearby pew. She glanced at Lacey. “You should go too, Lacey. I’m
capable of sitting here without a chaperone.”

“Which is more than we can say for Maeve
in this place,” Lacey noted, tossing her chin in Maeve’s direction as they
witnessed her head turning appraisingly every time a sailor walked by.

Both women shook their heads.

Lacey’s eyes rested on Bess. “You okay?”

“Just tired, like I said.”

“No, I mean, you seem a little down suddenly.”

Bess let out an awkward laugh. Then she
quickly looked away, her eyes welling up.

“What is it, Bess?”

“I don’t know. He was probably my age, you
know? That cadet. Or close to it.” She paused, reflecting. “And well, he’s
really cute, isn’t he? So here I am, wishing a guy like that would ask me for
my number—and instead he asks how far along I am. How could I not be
depressed by that?”

“You won’t be pregnant forever.”

“But I’ll be a mom forever. An unmarried
mom. Let’s face it. I’m not like other people my age. They’re all out meeting
people and going to parties and dating. And here I am, hiding out from an
abusive ex, scrubbing floors for a living, and worrying about stretch marks.”

Lacey shifted fully toward her. “Look, I
know it might seem like everyone your age is having a blast. But believe me,
they aren’t. When I was your age, I was too busy job-hopping to be at parties
or do much dating. That’s how
I
spent my twenties.”

Bess wiped her nose unapologetically on
her coat sleeve. “You’re right. I just keep feeling like everyone my age is
having a decade-long party that I’m not invited to.”

“I used to feel the same way.” Lacey glanced
over her shoulder to make sure the cadet had not yet returned. “You
are
right, though. That guy is smoking hot. Too young for me, so Maeve is obviously
not rubbing off on me.”

Bess laughed quietly, glancing at Maeve’s
dumbfounded expression in the distance. “Look at her, Lacey. She’s bored out of
her mind right now.”

Lacey nodded sympathetically. “Mick’s
droning on about some naval history thing or another. He’ll chew her ear off
for hours if we let him. He’s such a history buff.”

Bess gave her arm a playful slap. “But you
think he’s adorable, everything about him. I can tell.”

 “Yeah, I do. It’s cute how excited
he gets. His eyes sort of flash and he rubs his hands together when he is on a
topic he really loves.” She waited, watching him closely. “See? Like that.”

“You know him well.”

Lacey watched him move to the next stained
glass, Maeve grudgingly in tow.

“Why don’t you join them, Lacey? I’m
really fine here.”

“No. I’ve been in here before for a
funeral.”

“Yikes. Better not let that slip out in
conversation.”

Lacey grimaced. “Don’t I know it?”

Bess sat thoughtfully. “Do you ever think you
should just fess up about it? I mean, I’ll admit, when I first heard what you
did, I thought it was a little—um—what’s the word?”

“Predatory?”

Bess winced. “Not the word I would have
chosen.”

“But it’s the right word, isn’t it?”

Bess ignored the question. “But now that I
see all that you do for people at such a difficult time in their lives. All the
patience you give them. It’s more like you’re just offering a specialized type
of real estate service. It really might not bother Mick at all. It would be
horrible if he found out by accident.”

Lacey stared into the distance, surrounded
by the guilt-inducing religious images in the Chapel’s intricate stained glass
windows. It would be easier to have this conversation sitting at the bar in
O’Tooles. Slumping in the pew, she knew she couldn’t risk the best marketing
strategy she had for a man who would only be leaving her, especially now that
it was finally paying off.

It was as though Bess had read her mind. “Or
maybe you could just take a break from it, Lacey. You know? Until Mick leaves
for his next job. Because right now crashing funerals is just making you feel
miserable at a time which should really be perfect for you.”

 “Take a break,” Lacey repeated
thoughtfully. “Until he leaves me.”

“Or however long you want. If business
slows down again, you can always go back to it.”

“You know, I never really thought of that
option. I always just think about whether I should give it up completely. And
if I took a break, I could have more time to do some more volunteer work with
Edith. It really has been helpful getting my name out there in the right
circles.”

Bess smiled. “And you could enjoy your
time with Mick without this nagging guilt about the way you met.”

Lacey’s eyes met Maeve’s in the distance. They
all but screamed,
Rescue me.
“I think we better save Maeve. Her head
looks like it’s going to explode.” She turned to Bess. “You know, you were
right about one thing. You’re not like other people your age. You’re a hell of
a lot wiser.”

***

Mick walked briskly across the campus to
his office. He hadn’t meant to let the day get away from him like that. But they
had obviously been so interested in naval history, he might have gotten a
little carried away.

He was definitely feeding off their
enthusiasm.

It was a shame they had to end the tour on
account of Bess’s exhaustion. He shook his head, hoping Lacey and Maeve would
talk her into cutting back on housecleaning jobs.

For that matter, he wished he could get
Lacey to cut back on work, too. It seemed like every weekend she had back-to-back
showings and open houses. He kept quiet about it, knowing how important her
career was to her. But he couldn’t help imagining how nice it would be to spend
a lazy Saturday morning with her in bed, or enjoying an afternoon watching
mindless television together in front of the fireplace.

It was the holiday season, for God’s sake.
They should be decorating the house or picking out a tree. Or shopping
together.

Shopping together? Did he really just
think that? He hated shopping, holidays or not.

He bristled. What was happening to him? There
must have been something about seeing Lacey walking up the aisle of the Chapel
to him at the end of the tour. The way the light beamed through the stained
glass illuminating her dark hair, and making her eyes sparkle. She seemed to
glow with a radiance more befitting a…

…bride. He stopped in his tracks, shaking
the image of Lacey in white.

Yes, he should definitely avoid walking
into that Chapel with her anymore.

He swung open his office door to see Jack hammering
away at his keyboard. Jack let out a weary grunt in greeting, a far cry from him
snapping to attention as he had once greeted Mick several months ago. “I didn’t
expect to see you in today, Jack.”

“I’m behind in paperwork,” Jack responded
brusquely.

“Just got done giving the girls a tour.”

Jack grumbled something inaudible.

“Had to stop early because Bess got a bit
worn out.”