Page 50 of A SEAL's Heart
I shake my head.
Joel gives me a disappointed look. “She might not be here when you come back, Ed. You don’t get to walk away from a girl like Avery and expect her to still be single when you come back.”
My hands clinch into fists at the thought of Avery with another man. A deep rumble comes out of my throat. Then I turn away. I have no claim on her. I have no right to be jealous, but it doesn’t stop me seething.
A black SUV turns into the road, and I recognize Hudson behind the wheel.
He parks up outside my house and I walk back, surprised to see him. I thought I could slip out of town and no one would notice.
“You didn’t think I’d let you leave without saying goodbye?”
Hudson holds out a hand, but when I go to shake it, he pulls me into a bear hug.
“I’ll miss your silent presence on the building site.”
“Your creepy as fuck presence more like,” chimes in Marcus. “Gives me fucking nightmares.”
I try to form the words for some clever banter, but all that comes out is a grunt.
The three men lean on my pickup and talk about the work that has to be done for the center. “I’ve got a name,” Joel says. “Jake’s Retreat.”
The guys go silent as we remember our fallen comrade. The man I thought I knew whose last acts on this earth are still a mystery.
I nod my head in Joel’s direction. It’s a fitting tribute for a man who I’m realizing I never really knew.
I glance up at the house he left me, the men standing around, and the closed curtain of Avery’s room. A strange feeling descends on me.
I thought Jake left me the house out of pity. Because he knew my background, he knew I had nothing, and he wanted me to sell it and use the money. But what if I got it wrong?
What if Jake left me the house to give me a place to belong? What if he meant me to stay, and be a part of his family, and be a part of this team of ragtag ex-SEALs trying to do some good in the world?
What if the legacy Jake left me was to give me a home? Not just a house, a proper place to call home.
Maybe I’ve got it all wrong. Maybe Avery’s right. I’m a coward. I’m leaving because it’s all I know. It’s what I’ve learned people do. Leaving is the easy way out. It’s familiar, and I know how to do it. But what if I stayed?
The thought hits me like a ton of bricks. My chest constricts, and fear and excitement courses through my veins.
I’m terrified I’ll let Avery down and leave her like my parents did to me. But by leaving now, that’s exactly what I’m doing. I reinvented myself when I joined the Navy and became a SEAL. I can reinvent myself again. I can become the kind of man who sticks around. I can do it for Avery because I love her, and if I leave this town, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.
The guys are talking about building plans and the perfect temperature to pour concrete. But their voices zone out as a vision comes into my head. A vision where I’m right there with them, building the center, Jake’s Retreat, and coming home every night to Avery.
Sticking around means never giving up on those you love, and I’m not giving up on Avery. She doesn’t want to speak to me now. But I’m not going to leave. I’m going to stay right here, in the house Jake left me, and prove to her I can change. That I can be a man who stays. That I can be a man worthy of her.
A thrill goes through my body. It’s scary as shit. What if I’m not up to it? What if I can’t be the man she needs? What if…
“Are you okay?” Joel looks at me with concern.
I snap out of my thoughts and look at him, really look at him.
He’s got dark lines under his eyes; his hair has more silver in it than it did before his wife died and he quit the career he loved to raise his girls. But there are crinkles at the sides of his eyes, the marks of a man who smiles easily.
Joel’s happy. He stayed, and if he can do it, maybe I can too.
I glance at the wilted plant sitting on top of the trash can, and I know what I need to do.
I dart back into the house and head upstairs. I take them two at a time until I’m in the loft.
“Did you forget something?” Hudson calls after me.
