Page 14 of SEAL's Harmony
After leaving Harmony at the bank, Ry ran through his list of errands. It was the same after every mission. The post office was his first stop. Then he went to the grocery store. He hadn’t been kidding when he said he had nothing to eat at home. After he’d made it onto the teams, he never knew if they’d be away for a few days or a few months. He was okay with that. It’s what he’d signed up for when he chose to be a SEAL. But it meant frequent trips to buy fruit, vegetables, and the fresh dog food he fed Whiskey, or he’d return to find it all rotten in the fridge.
After grabbing what he needed from the store and adding a case of beer and some snacks in case any of his teammates dropped in, he headed home for the first time since he’d left about a month earlier. He wasn’t looking forward to the stuffy, closed-up smell that would welcome him. Even with the a/c on, after spending so much time either in the jungle or the desert, it took at least a day for him to acclimate. Just thinking about it made his hands damp and his pulse race. It was like reverse PTSD.Who had that shit?
It was the reason he rented an apartment. The last thing he needed was to return from a mission to an overgrown yard. His father would skin him alive. He’d learned that the hard way. A pang of loneliness squeezed his heart even as chuckled at the memory.
The look on his dad’s face had been priceless. Ry had gone inside to say he’d finished the yard. His dad had followed him back outside to see his handiwork. Ry had deliberately skipped a section on the side of the large home. When his father saw it, his eyes nearly bugged out of his head, and he turned to Ry to read him the riot act until he saw the huge grin on his son’s face. Then his mom and Charli had joined them, and they all had a good laugh at his dad’s expense.
There were so many great memories of his childhood, and when he told his family he was going to enlist in the Navy, they’d supported him one hundred percent. Yeah, Ry needed to call them. It had been too long since he’d spoken to them or visited.
The B&B in the Catskills had been in their family for two generations. If he visited now, he’d end being “Ry the Repairman,” or his mother would recruit him to be their tour guide. Not that he minded. There were still times he felt guilty about leaving when he heard the tiredness in his dad’s voice on the phone. But his sister, Charli, loved the B&B and started promoting it on social media and now there was a waiting list to stay there. ‘No room at the inn’ was a real thing for the first time in years.
“C’mon boy, we’re home. Finally, right?”
Ry opened the passenger door and Whiskey jumped out and sat near Ry’s feet as he grabbed the groceries from the truck bed. He loved the Big Tomato, as he called it. It was perfect for the two of them, but if he and Harmony became a thing, he might need to think about upgrading his ride.
“Home sweet home. Or something,” Ry said to the dog as he opened the door and let Whiskey run inside. Instantly hit with a blast of stale air, Ry sighed as he headed into the kitchen, while Whiskey searched the apartment for intruders. He could do it faster than any man and it gave him a chance to put away the groceries and fill up Whiskey’s water and food bowls without the dog getting in his way.
Moving through his house, he opened the windows and the sliding glass door in the living room. The fresh air eased the knot in his shoulders and his pulse rate returned to normal. Home didn’t have the same meaning anymore. Not since he and Cat broke up and there was no one waiting for him to walk through the door. Just an empty box. Not that he’d tried to change it over the last few years. It was easier to just have love ‘em and leave ‘em encounters than risk his heart again.
Maybe it was time to take a week off and head home, get his head back on straight. He could invite Harmony. Mom would be ecstatic. She never stopped worrying about him. But they’d just met, and she’d probably freak out at the suggestion. Did their coffee time even count as a first date? Probably not.
It was too quiet—the only sound was Whiskey’s collar hitting the side of his water bowl. He grabbed a beer from the fridge and sat down in front of the TV and flipped through the channels. News, news, and more bad news. But at least it was noise.
Whiskey jumped up on the couch and rested his head on the arm. Ry grinned. The dog was something else. He watched more television than Ry. He pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket and checked for messages. He’d been hoping Harmony would send him a text, but he wasn’t really surprised she hadn’t. She intrigued him, and he wondered what had made her so reserved.
Was it too early to call her? Should he text her first? It was after five, but he didn’t know how late the bank stayed open and he didn’t want to disturb her at work twice in one day.Fuck. He was dithering like a boy with his first crush instead of a thirty-one-year-old with plenty of battle scars—visible and hidden.
Before he could decide whether to call or text, his phone rang. His pulsed raced, hoping it was Harmony, but was quickly replaced by disappointment when saw it was Josh, one of his teammates.
“Hey, bro, what’s up?”
“I was just talking to Quinn. We’re all gonna head over to the Ready Room to grab a few beers and dinner. I drew the short straw, so I got to let you know.” Ry heard the smirk in Josh’s voice.
“Asshat. What the fuck?”
“The way you took off to see Harmony, we didn’t know if you’d be too uh busy.” Josh chuckled.
“I guess I did mention her a few times over the last month.”
“Ya think? You’ve got it bad. I hope she didn’t tell you to fuck off when you showed up today.”
“I got lucky. Chrissy Stillwell bailed me out on that one. They had a girls’ night and explained we were out of the country.”
“Did you hire her to be your personal matchmaker or what? First, she finds you the woman, then she makes sure the woman doesn’t take your head off when you disappear for a month.”
“Right? I guess I’ll owe her a drink or six when I see her again.”
“Probably. Just make sure Ryan knows why you’re getting his woman drunk or you might need a medic.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” Ry figured he’d be safe from the other SEAL, but Chrissy was lethal all by herself. She’d rescued her fiancé when they went undercover to uncover biological weapons smugglers.
“We’re meeting up in about a half-hour. You coming? Or do you have a hot and heavy date?” Josh asked.
“I’ll be there. Beats sitting at home by myself.” Ry wanted to take back the words as soon as they’d left his mouth. The last thing he wanted to do was sound weak.
“Yeah, after spending the last month up each other’s asses, it’s quiet at home,” Josh responded.
His words took Ry by surprise. Maybe it wasn’t just him who didn’t like coming home to an empty place. He was luckier than the others too, because he had Whiskey.
