“That was the detailer. I’ve got thirty days to make my final decision, and then he’s cutting my orders to Diego Garcia.”
Of all the places to send him, the middle of the damn Indian Ocean was the last place he had expected. It was the perfect motivator to get him to drop his papers and get out of the Navy.
“What did you do to piss him off?”
“Man, I wish I knew.”
Chapter 3
The humidity and high heat of the last few days had finally broken. Risa walked out of her house to bright blue skies, a cool breeze, and the promise of a great day. Her boss was still on his extended trip; she had a full day of patients scheduled, and Bella was making progress with her hip.
Now if only she could raise the pup’s spirits.
“Maybe I could bring her—” Risa stopped dead in her tracks as her gaze landed on the SUV’s back tire.
“Great, a flat.” Did she even have a spare tire, much less a jack?
She turned to go set her purse and travel mug of tea on the front steps and that’s when she noticed the front tire. She dropped everything. “How did I get two flat tires?”
Risa squatted near the driver’s side door. She stuck two fingers in the hole. The tire wasn’t just flat; it had been slashed. Cautiously, she walked around the car looking for further damage as she listened to the noise around her. Nothing sounded wrong. The birds chirped; the dogs were quiet. The only heavy breathing came from her.
Someone had been there. She had four punctured tires to prove it.
But why? As far as she knew, no one hated her. And she’d been really nice to Old Man Gibbons—who lived next door and hated her animals—the last time he’d complained.
Chills ran down her arms. Looking all around, Risa slowly backed up to the steps. She was pretty sure she was alone. Almost positive. It was probably bored teens who’d hiked a half-mile down a gravel road until they found a house in the woods where they could carry out their mischief.
Right. And a mad man in a blue police call box was going to show up and whisk her across time and space.
A few feet from the house, she grabbed her purse and rifled through it for her keys as she dashed up the stairs. Once she was safely inside, she bolted the door and grabbed the cordless house phone. The trees surrounding her property, which she loved so much, created the ultimate dead zone for cell reception. Phone in hand, she went around and checked every window and the kitchen door.
All locked.
The dogs circled her, picking up on her anxiety, as they’d been trained to do. Morpheus lay across the back of the couch, watching. Athena nudged her with her long nose, and Eir stood between Risa and the world.
“Sorry, gang. I’m just being paranoid.”
With neither dog responding in the norm for danger, Risa let out a breath, pulled out the phone book and looked up the number for the sheriff’s station. She couldn’t see calling 911 when there was no clear and present threat.
As she waited for them to answer the phone, she glanced out the window to the side yard and spotted Buggsy and Lolita in their rabbit hutch. “I really should bring them inside, just in case.”
But that meant going back outside.
Her stomach lurched and she decided to wait.
It took several rings before the stationed answered the call. After explaining the situation and receiving a promise that they’d have an officer out to her shortly, she made a second call.
“Hi, Dad, what are you still doing home?” she asked when he picked up.
“I called in sick.”
“What? Are you okay?”
“Yes, but don’t tell my boss.” He chuckled. “I’m playing hooky.”
“But everything’s okay, right?” She tried not to imagine the worst, but bad things happened in clusters.
“Just wanted to take my favorite girl to breakfast.”
So sweet. It was amazing that after forty years of marriage, her parents were still as in love as the day they said “I do.” At times when Risa was growing up, it had felt like she was the third wheel—often forgotten—and when they remembered her, it was almost as if they were shocked they had a child. Still, she knew they loved her. They just loved each other more. Shoving the thought aside, Risa focused on the problem at hand.
“How would you feel about having popovers with your two favorite girls?”
“Is that Risa you’re talking to?” her mum asked in the background. “Why isn’t she at work? Did she get sacked?”
“Tell Mum no, I did not get fired.” Risa glanced out the window, wondering the best way to tell her parents what had happened without alarming them. “The thing is, I’ve got car trouble. Is there any way I could borrow your car for the day?”
Risa waited while her dad relayed the news to her mum and the two of them had a discussion on her utter lack of mechanical ability and how she probably forgot to renew her towing service again. After ten minutes of this, her dad came back on the line.
“We’ll be there in twenty minutes, Pumpkin,” her dad said before hanging up.
While she waited for the police and her parents to show up, Risa whipped up a batch of Patriot Popovers. Her mum would complain, and her dad would scarf down half a dozen. She also put in a quick call to the clinic to let them know she’d be late. Then she called the base kennel to check on Bella.
A small wave of disappointment rolled through her at the news that Bella’s sexy human wasn’t around. She hadn’t seen Jax for a couple of days, but each morning when she checked in, he’d left her a note on how Bella’s night had been.
Really, if it weren’t for that whole pesky active-duty status of his—and her strict no-military rule—he’d be the perfect guy to tempt her back into the dating game. It had been a couple of years since Troy had dropped her like a hot potato, and then the rebound guy. What was his name again? Joel something. Didn’t matter, as it had lasted all of two seconds, and the only thing he’d done was remind her of why she’d hated high school and the games people played.
She popped the muffin pan into the oven and moved to the window, so she could keep an eye on the side yard where her bunnies played happily in their cage. Thank goodness the mischief-makers hadn’t hurt them. When she’d rescued them, she’d promised them a better life, to keep them safe. Maybe it was time to build them a bunny condo? Something sturdy and tall and impenetrable.
Sort of like a particular sailor she knew. She’d bet anything men took one look at Jackson Faraday and thought twice about questioning his authority. There was no sense betting or guessing what women thought, and she had to admit she wasn’t too crazy about the idea of others fantasizing about Jax. Or living out those fantasies.
She shook her head to clear the images running through her brain, checked the popovers, and went to look out the front window. All was quiet. Since she had time, she looked up and called a local tire store and put in an order for four new tires. They even offered, for no fee, to pick up the SUV for her.
Which was just one of the reasons she loved living in her hometown. People helped each other here. Of course, it helped that she’d gone to school from start to finish with the owner.
And she’d saved his dog last month after a wild animal attack.
Athena and Eir ran to the window and barked, deep warning growls that raised the hackles. Risa peeked out, then gave them the command to quiet. “It’s the good guys this time, gang.”
Fifteen minutes later, she was back inside and pulling out the popovers. The police had taken her statement, snapped a few pictures, given the place