Page 36 of Sexy SEALs

“I’m listening and we’re going this way.”

He pointed, in the opposite direction that I was heading in, as I became lost in my thoughts.

“We never lived here as a family. We used to live in Iowa.”

“I know you told me.”

“Of course, I forget what we spoke about and what we haven’t spoken about.”

“Well, you told me you missed your dad. But Kiara, I get the impression that it’s a lot more than you just miss him,” he gently put his hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah, I do. There’s so many things I could say to him I can’t tell anyone else.”

“Like what?”

“Like, I got up at five to go hiking. He would freak, he would want to shake your hand or even give you a hug just because you got his lazy daughter out of bed at this hour, to do some kind of activity.”

He laughed, “I’m not sure if I can classify walking at this pace an activity, but I like him already.”

I smiled at him, even if he couldn’t see as we left the street and the lights of the street light disappeared and the torch that he was holding in his hand, became our only light.

“And your mom?”

I shrugged. “She wouldn’t say a thing. Well, she would most of the time, but I would ignore her. She would say something sarcastic.”

“And what your dad would say would be the complete opposite? I’m confused.”

He carried on walking, but no more did I walk next to him. I noted what he said, and decided that I was being too harsh on mom. That was his point. That was what he was saying to me.

“Yeah, but with him it would be funny.”

I said in my defense as he turned the light towards my feet and stopped walking.

“I just don’t know. Dad and I clicked, he said things and I knew exactly what he was going to say and with mom we never really had a bond like that.”

He said nothing as we walked in silence, I felt uncomfortable about the idea that I’d written mom off from the start, I tried to remember when she did things that would upset me. Or why she never featured as my number one parent, and she was around all the time. That was when it hit me, it was because she was around all the time, and he wasn’t. I used her responses and jokes to complain about her, even if she did nothing wrong, I would worry that I would never see him again. Until, that time came and it was the case.

“I remember when I was told that he was dead, it relieved part of me.”

He choked, “Why?”

“Because I’d spent so many years thinking that he wouldn’t come home, and then the news came and I realized I didn’t have to worry anymore. He wasn’t coming home and I didn’t have to worry about him, and feel nervous about him coming back. There was no more going…”

“And no more coming back, but not like your mom who was always there.”

He slipped his hand into mine.

“I know what happened, I think that so many have felt the same as you, it’s natural. It doesn’t mean that you should feel guilty about it.”

But that didn’t stop me feeling guilty about it.

I’d confessed something openly, and it felt wrong in so many ways.

* * *

We reachedthe top of the mountain and I could see the beauty of it all, as Adonis laid a towel on the ground and while eating the tuna and mayonnaise sandwiches that he had made, he’d even gone to the trouble of asking mom what were my favorite sandwiches. I relished in them, but then I stopped as he put his arm around me, and we both watched the sun rise. Somehow seeing the rays of the sun touch and somehow light up the lake, made it the most beautiful thing that I’d ever seen. Seeing nature in it’s beauty and his blue eyes light up, as I laid down and stretched my arms like a child making snow angels in the snow. Adonis complemented and said not only was the sunrise beautiful, but I’d captured him just as much. He pressed his lips against mine. It was the most romantic setting that I’d ever been a part of, and I promised him that if he stayed with me tonight, I would love to repeat it again, tomorrow.

It was early when we went to sleep, and I woke up after only a few hours. I felt Adonis’s warmth behind me, and I gently rolled over to look at him.

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