SEAL's Baby (Navy SEAL Secret Baby Romance) (6 page)

  
Before I could continue, Cameron showed up with our breakfasts. He
was a massive man with an affinity for bright shirts and brighter smiles. “Here
we go ladies,” he said as he set down the plates in front of us. “Pancakes and
sausages for you, Maddie, and waffles and eggs for you, Elizabeth.”

  
He brought us our juice, gave us his customary parting wink, and
whirled off in the direction of his other diners, leaving us to return to our
conversation.

“Don’t worry,” Maddie
said. “There’ll be other guys.

  
“Other guys?” I repeated incredulously. “This is Bastrop we’re
talking about Maddie. There are no eligible guys around town and everyone half
decent is already taken.”

  
Maddie sighed. “I can’t argue there. But you never know; sometimes
life can surprise you. Maybe the next guy who walks through that door will be
Ryan Gosling searching for true love.”

I laughed. “Ryan Gosling
is taken.”

“What?” Maddie gasped. “No
he’s not.”

“Trust me,” I replied.
“He’s not looking.”

Maddie sighed in
disappointment. “Well that sucks.”

  
We tucked into our breakfast, enjoying the comfortable ease of our
conversation. My waffles were gorgeous and crispy, but my eggs needed a little
more salt. The customary salt and peppershakers that usually adorned each table
were absent, so I rose to get some.

“I’m going to get some
salt,” I told Maddie. “You want anything?”

  
She didn’t, so I walked up to the counter just as the door to the
diner opened and Tyler Thomas walked in. I smiled at him, but he seemed so
preoccupied with something that he totally missed the gesture. As he came
closer, I realized he seemed a little paler than usual and there were dark
circles under his eyes.
 
He came up to the
counter beside me and signaled to Helen.

“Hi, Helen,” he said
croakily. “Can I get four, ham-stuffed bagels to go?”

“Sure, honey,” she
replied.

“Hi, Tyler,” I said
grabbing his attention.

He turned to me and
nodded. “Oh … hi, Elizabeth. Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”

“Are you ok?” I asked
with concern. “You seem a little out of sorts.”

“Ah, you haven’t heard,”
Tyler said.

“Heard what?” I asked in
confusion.

“Dad passed away
yesterday.”

“What?” I exclaimed,
taken back by the revelation. “I … how …?”

  
“Stroke,” Tyler replied tiredly, as though he were sick of having
to repeat the same thing over and over again. I couldn’t believe that Mr.
Thomas was dead. There was something so … strong about him. He was the kind of
man that you assumed would live to a ripe old age and outlive all his friends. Immediately,
Dylan’s face popped into my head and I wondered how he had taken the news.

“Oh God, Tyler,” I said.
“I am so, so sorry. That must have been a terrible shock.”

“It was,” Tyler nodded.

“When is the funeral?”

  
“In a few days,” Tyler replied. “I hope you can be here.” The
words sounded rehearsed, as though he had already repeated it a few times already
and I knew instinctively that I was probably the fifth or sixth person he had
said that to today.
       

“Of course I’ll be
there,” I said. “Is there anything at all I can do to help?”

“No,” Tyler said. “I’ve
handled everything.”

“I’m sure you have,” I
nodded. “But I want to do something. Maybe I’ll bring over some food later on
today.”

“That’s not necessary,” Tyler
replied. “We’ve already got so much food already.”

“You can never have too
much,” I said. “And your mom’s not going to be in the mood to cook for a while.”

“Mom’s not really in the
mood to eat either,” Tyler pointed out.

“I know this is probably
a stupid question,” I said first. “But how is she holding up?”

  
“Badly,” Tyler said. “But it just happened and it was unexpected.
I think she just needs time. Dylan’s coming back for the funeral; hopefully
that will make a difference to her.”

  
I was glad that Tyler mentioned Dylan before I did. I nodded,
trying to pretend as though that information meant the same to me as everything
else. “How long will he be here for?” I asked casually.

“Your guess is as good as
mine,” Tyler replied, and I wondered if their relationship had improved since high
school or if it was still a little strained.

“Are you sure there isn’t
anything I can do, Tyler?” I tried again.

“Well,” Tyler started. “I
think it would be nice if you were to play the piano at dad’s funeral. I think mom
would really appreciate that.”

I was taken back by the request
and equally terrified by it. “I … I haven’t played in a long time, Tyler, I
don’t know if it’ll be any good.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Tyler
said. “I just want some music.”

He looked so sad, so
defeated that I couldn’t bear to disappoint him. “Of course I’ll play at the
funeral,” I said.

  
“Thanks, Elizabeth,” Tyler said before he collected his bag of
bagels and left the diner with a cursory wave. I went back to my booth and sunk
into the seat, still shell shocked by the news. Maddie looked at me with
curiosity.

“Where’s the salt?” she
asked.

“Oh,” I said. “I forgot.”

Maddie wrinkled her
eyebrows at me. “What’s wrong?”

“I just ran into Tyler at
the counter.”

“Tyler Thomas?” Maddie
asked.

I nodded. “Mr. Thomas
died yesterday.”

Maddie set down her fork
and knife. “No.”

“It was a stroke.”

“Oh my God,” Maddie
breathed. “That’s … horrible. How’s Tyler doing?”

“He doesn’t look so
good,” I replied honestly. “I think its hit him pretty hard.”

“I can imagine,” Maddie
said.

“The funeral’s in a few
days but I might stop by tonight and drop off some food,” I said. “Wanna come
with me?”

“I don’t know. I was
never as close with the Thomas family as you were …”

“Please Maddie?” I
begged. “I think … there’s a possibility that Dylan might be there.”

  
Maddie raised her eyebrows. “Dylan,” she said his name and I felt
the old memories come rushing back. I hadn’t realized what a good job I’d done
suppressing them until now.

“This is the first time
you’ll be seeing him after … how long?”

“Eleven years,” I said.
“Since graduation.”

“He’s been back a few
times since he enlisted though right?” Maddie asked.

  
“Yes but we never met up,” I said. “By the time he received his
first leave, we had already broken up so … I think we both just wanted to avoid
each other. And I don’t think he’s been back for a couple of years.”

  
“Wow. Dylan Thomas is back in town,” Maggie said shaking her head.
“Are you going to be ok seeing him?”

“You know what? I
honestly don’t know,” I admitted. “It has been eleven years though.”

“True, but …”

“But what?” I asked.

  
Maddie was quiet for a moment, her eyes were far away and I knew
she was thinking about the past. “Do you remember that day we played hooky and
went fishing?”

  
I couldn’t help but smile. “I remember,” I nodded. “Dylan was
convinced that he was a born fisherman who had never had the opportunity to
hone his talent.”

“And he swore that the
only meat we’d be eating that day was the meat we caught,” Maddie continued.

  
I nodded. “We sat there for three hours while Dylan and Tony
mucked about with fishing rods that they’d stolen from their dads. And in the
end, they didn’t manage to catch a single fish.”

“No but you did,” Maddie
reminded me.

“I got lucky,” I said.

  
“And Dylan was so proud,” Maddie went on. “He hiked you onto his
shoulders and yelled that you were the queen of the lake and we they would have
to rename it in your honor.”

  
I shook my head at the memory. “I thought we’d always be like
that,” I said. “You, me, Tony and Dylan. I thought we’d be inseparable, but
then Dylan left right after graduation, Tony went to college in England and—”

“It was just you and me,”
Maddie said sadly.

“It was just you and me,”
I nodded.

  
“Tony and I were different though, our relationship was different,”
Maddie said. “I knew back then that we wouldn’t last past high school. But with
you and Dylan … it was different. You guys were so in love,” Maddie said
softly. “I mean, it was the kind of love you see in movies and read about in
books. I thought it would last forever.”

  
I looked down at my full plate of food and realized that I had completely
lost my appetite. “I did too,” I said. “But obviously we were both wrong. He
chose adventure and I chose … this town.”

“At least you have your
memories,” Maddie said comfortingly. “You can look back and remember all those
wonderful moments.”

  
I nodded in response and thought back to all those wonderful
memories that Dylan and I had shared. I could remember all those precious
moments, but there was a bitter tinge to them now, an edge of sadness that
tainted all those bright colors. We had both made our choices, but in the end,
what I remembered most was that Dylan hadn’t chosen me.
 

Chapter Seven

Dylan

  
The airport was packed with business travelers and tourists; there
was an ordered chaos about travelling that had always struck me as amazing. I
was late getting to the airport, and by the time I finally made it to the gate,
they had already called my name twice.

  
It was nice to be sitting on a plane in civilian clothing, but my
mind was so frenzied that I couldn’t enjoy it at all. I had the aisle seat next
to an attractive woman who looked to be in her mid-thirties. She was wearing a skin-tight
dress, high heels, and a string of pearls around her neck. Given that she
wasn’t sitting in first class, I assumed that they were imitation. I took a
seat beside her and smiled. She returned the smile and she sat up a little
straighter.

“I’m Dylan,” I said
extending my hand out to her.

She took it willingly and
her smile broadened as she looked me up and down. “Hilary,” she replied. “Nice
to meet you.”

  
I hated chatty passengers on planes. I usually liked to sit
quietly by myself and enjoy the trip in silence, but today was different. I
needed to be distracted, I needed to get my mind off all the grief that
threatened to weigh me down. I wanted some mindless conversation with a stranger
who had no idea who I was or why I was going back home for the first time in
years.

  
There was something else that was pricking its way into the
foreground of my mind. Instantly I saw her face in my mind’s eye. I could only
picture the seventeen-year-old girl that I had said goodbye to the day I had
left for San Diego. She had looked at me with her too-blue eyes, her red hair
thrown across one shoulder, leaving the other side of her neck bare.

  
I wondered if she had changed a lot since I had left. I wondered
if she still liked popping her bubble gum and going to midnight movies and
refrigerating cookie dough so that she could eat it later. I wondered if she
still liked to tell spur of the moment stories, if she had plucked up the
courage to get the tattoo she had always wanted, and if she had taken up
painting like she had always promised she would.

  
I had spent the last ten years of my life trying not to think
about Lizzie Miller, and now that I had started again, it was hard to keep my
curiosity in check. I shook off the image of Lizzie in my head and focused my
attention on the woman sitting in front of me. I realized that I had already
forgotten her name and I frantically tried to recall it to memory. I was pretty
sure it started with an H, but that was all I had to go on. I decided to avoid
her name altogether.

“My sister just had a
baby,” she said. “So I’m heading home for a visit.”

“Congrats,” I replied.
“Boy or girl?”

“Boy,” she said. “He’s
almost six-months now.”

“You’re a little late.”