Page 68 of Building Courage

“I’m stuffed. But you can get one, and I’ll watch you eat it.”

Denotti and Ava decided on the apple pie.

Tucker ordered for them and requested two extra plates and extra forks and spoons.

“Knotty lives for pie,” Tucker commented. “He looks for it everywhere he goes.”

“My mother doesn’t make pie; she makes pastries,” he complained.

“I can make pie,” Ava said.

Denotti’s brows rose, and he spread his arms wide as though welcoming her home from a long trip. “Darlin’…”

They all laughed, including him.

Even though Ava and Denotti seemed complete opposites, there was an undeniable buzz between them. More than a buzz. The way he looked at her was enough to set her hair on fire.

She wondered what other people saw when Tucker looked at her.

She noticed someone slightly familiar at the bar. When he turned with his beer in hand, she realized it was Tim Garner. He spotted her and raised his beer to her in salute. He didn’t approach the table but stood for several minutes, watching her and the other couple. A familiar prickling started at the base of her neck, and she tried to ignore him but watched him out of the corner of her eye. When he wandered across the bar and went out to the courtyard, she breathed an inward sigh of relief.

She determined to put Tim Garner out of her mind and enjoy the rest of the evening, but the entire interaction had put her on edge.

On the way home, Tucker caught her hand, and she rolled her head against the headrest to look at him. “You had a good time?” he asked.

“Yes, Denotti was just as Natalie described him. And funny, too. Ava seems just enough of a challenge to hold his interest,” she said. “He’s very smart.”

He gave her a quick look. “Yeah, he is, but he downplays it as a kind of defense. He comes from this huge Italian family who are all emotion. His father still speaks Italian at home, even though he’s second-generation American. As soon as he walks into his parent’s house, he’s Francesco.”

“Which does he prefer to be? Francesco or Frank?”

“Frank. But mostly, he’s Denotti or Knotty.”

“Knotty or Naughty?”

Tucker chuckled. “A little of both. When we were FNGs right out of BUD/s, it was definitely Naughty.”

Brynn laughed. “And what is an FNG?”

Tucker grinned. “The F-ing New Guy on the team.”

“You’re not that anymore. You’ve paid your dues.”

“Yeah, we both have. Denotti’s the best medic in the platoon.”

The way Denotti assessed situations and people, she bet he was.

“Command has given us a few days off. How does your schedule look this week?” he asked. “I thought we might move up your dive to earlier in the week.”

Brynn opened her phone and scrolled through her calendar. “I’m free three days this week. Tomorrow, Wednesday, or Friday.” She wondered when Petty Officer Tolliver’s funeral might be.

“Wednesday. I’ll call Grant and see if he’s open to taking us out.”

“What time do you want to go out?” she asked.

“Probably ten.”

“Okay.”

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