Rescue Me

the fuck out. For half a second he thought of flipping a U. Then she smiled and her hand lifted in a little wave and it felt like someone shoved a fist to his diaphragm. He had to remind himself to breathe. He hit the button on the door and the window slid down.
    “H ey there, sailor,” Sadie said as a cloud of pale dust rose from the dirt road. She looked through the open window and her gaze met black hair and green eyes set in a face that just seemed to get better-looking every time she saw him.
    “Where ya headed?” he asked.
    “Anywhere.” She waved the dust away. “Interested?”
    “Depends.” He grinned. “What do you have in mind?”
    She smiled, a real smile, for the first time that day. “Poor decisions we’ll probably regret later.”
    He motioned to the empty seat beside him. “Hop in.”
    She didn’t have to be told twice. Several cars filled with mourners had passed her on her walk down the road. They’d been kind and well-intentioned, but she was all talked out. She slid into the seat and pulled the belt around her. “Lord, what a day.” She took off her hat and leaned her head back.
    “Tired?”
    “Mmm.”
    “How’d it go?” He turned the truck around and headed back toward town.
    She turned her head on the rest and looked across the cab at him. This from the guy who said he didn’t want conversation? “The service was nice. Tons of flowers, and a lot of people turned out. Enough food to feed a village. Which in Texas is a big deal.” Sitting in the comfort of his truck, she let herself relax for the first time all day. Perhaps in the past week. “What did you do all day?” Wow, they alarmingly sounded like a couple. Which was a little scary.
    “Looked for an apartment and bought an air mattress and sleeping bag in Amarillo.”
    “I didn’t know you were looking.” He wore his usual uniform of brown T-shirt and beige cargo pants. He was the only guy she knew who could wear such bland colors and make them look anything but dull.
    He pulled onto the highway. “Luraleen came home last night.”
    “I know. She was at the funeral and brought a Frito pie afterward.”
    He glanced at her, then back at the road. “Which is just one of many reasons I moved out.”
    Her brows lifted up her forehead as she studied his profile, his big neck and shoulders in his tight T-shirt. “You found something already? That was fast.”
    “I move fast.”
    “I remember. The second time I met you, you had your hand up my dress.”
    He chuckled and glanced over at her. “You weren’t complaining.”
    “True.”
    He reached around the back of his seat and handed her a cold bottle of Diet Coke and a bag of Chee-tos.
    She looked at the orange bag in her lap. Felt the cold bottle in her hand, and her chest suddenly got heavy. The bottom of her heart pinched a little. In the past, men had given her flowers and jewelry and lingerie, and her heart was getting all achy about Chee-tos and Diet Coke? “Dinner?” It had to be the emotions of the day. “Careful. Next you’ll be asking me to a movie.”
    “I have an ulterior motive.”
    She opened the bottle, took a drink, and blamed the funny little feeling in her stomach on carbonation. “I’m pretty much a sure thing. You don’t need to ply me with Chee-tos and Diet Coke to get lucky.”
    “I never rely on luck.” He glanced over at her and the corner of his mouth lifted up. “I rely on a well-executed plan. It’s called full-circle readiness.”
    “Is that in the SEALs handbook?”
    “Somewhere.” He laughed, a soft, amused sound that tickled her pulse. “Somewhere between ‘on time, on target, never quit,’ and ‘grab your sack and jump.’ ”
    She smiled. “Your rucksack?”
    “That, too.”
    “Do you miss jumping out of airplanes?”
    He looked out the driver’s side window. “Not as much as I used to, but yeah.”
    “Why’d you get out?”
    Several moments passed before he answered, “Mostly because of family obligations.”
    She thought there was probably more to the story but didn’t want to pry. Okay, she wanted to pry but felt she couldn’t. “What do you miss most?”
    “My teammates.” He cleared his throat and returned his attention to the road in front of him. “Being part of something with a noble purpose.” He paused a moment, then added, “Swimming in the ocean. Attack vehicles tricked out with M–2 machine guns and 40mm grenade launchers. Shooting shit up.”
    She chuckled and opened her Chee-tos