Page 22 of Building Courage

She took a long drink of the very sweet tea and hummed her appreciation.

“So, what do you think so far?” he asked as he sat on the long cushion of the lounge and sipped his own glass of tea.

“When I first went into the water, and the silence settled over me, I thought I’d like to release the air from my BCD, settle on the bottom, and do some meditation.”

Tucker chuckled. “I’ve heard of underwater meditation but never tried it.” His sun-streaked hair, already dry, curled across his forehead and ears. As he rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, his hair fell over his forehead. She was tempted to brush it back.

How long had it been since she’d felt this kind of interest in a man?

She didn’t really want an answer to that question. It would make her feel somehow… defective.

Afraid of what he might see in her face, she looked away and returned to his question. “Something about the pressure of the water against your body and the quiet…kind of blocks out all the external stuff.”

He nodded. “Yeah, I get that.”

She knew he couldn’t tell her anything about his job, but… “Do you dive in your spare time to decompress from…some of the other things in your life?”

He gave the question some thought. “Sometimes.”

Though she was curious, she understood the need to maintain secrets.

His were government-issued. Hers were personal.

She grasped at something neutral to talk about. “At home in Saranac, we learn to kayak almost before we learn to walk, and we learn to swim practically from birth. As kids, we were out on the lake a lot. I’ve never been afraid of the water, but I do have a healthy respect for it.”

“You’re a long way from home, Brynn.”

“Yeah, twenty-nine hundred miles.”

“What brought you out here?”

“I worked my way across the country using my camera to pay my way. I uploaded stock images and did some commercial work, shot images and created online ads for different businesses in the towns I passed through. I had the idea that I wanted to hit every state. I started my podcast during the journey to sell my work. And it took off.”

“How many states did you manage?”

“Twenty-seven.”

He cocked an eyebrow.

“That doesn’t mean I traveled through the whole state. I researched interesting towns or places and tried taking pictures that would represent the area. I planned ahead. I contacted local businesses that might need photographic work. Every tourist town has a website and needs photos for updates to advertise their spots of interest. I attracted some big clients through my podcast and did website work for them along the way. I had a schedule and a plan before I ever left New York.”

“How long have you been in San Diego?”

“A year.”

“Two years on the road is a hell of a trip, Brynn.”

She looked away from him to the water. She’d run from her parent’s disappointment and blame. And from the ugliness of the court case and the aftermath. But in doing so, she’d learned to be herself again. She’d needed that time to put herself back together. “It was an adventure, but I was honing my skills, too. And I met a lot of interesting people. Regular people.” And a few nosy assholes. “Plus, I started the podcast.” Which had turned out to be her saving grace. “It gave me publicity for my photos. So, I got more and more jobs.”

“And then you hit San Diego, and Natalie latched onto you.”

Something in his tone drew her attention back to his face.

He leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees again. “You need to be cautious, Brynn. She honed her skills by doing interviews for another magazine. She pushed and never took no for an answer. Now, she’s just as driven to make this magazine work and is following the same game plan.”

“Did she do something that affected you professionally?” she asked.

“She walked a fine line. There are a lot of things SEALs can’t and don’t talk about. But when she interviewed me, she also interviewed other people who didn’t have those restrictions.”

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