Be My Valentine, Baby (SEAL Team: Holiday Heroes Book 3) by Laura Marie Altom

Author:Laura Marie Altom [Altom, Laura Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SEAL Team: Holiday Heroes Book 3
Publisher: Fulton Court Press
Published: 2018-02-26T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

“THIS IS IT. But like I said, there’s not much to see.”

Once Tanner pulled his SUV alongside the empty lot that had held her home, Jenny removed her seatbelt and opened the door. “Walk me through it. I want to know everything. Where the front door was and the living room. The kitchen and our bedroom.”

He took her hand, walking her the thirty feet where their sidewalk had once been. “This was our front porch. You always wanted a swing. I promised you one for your last birthday, but I ended up going on a rescue for a trout fishing party. Their plane went down a hundred miles north of here. It was a bitch getting to them, but Colby, Brody and I did it. Our friend, Sergei, too.”

“I’m glad you found the fishermen and they were unharmed, but did you do that often?”

“What? Leave on rescue missions? Of course. That’s my job—or, it was.”

“That’s not what I mean. When Hawk and I talked, he said there were lots of times when he stood me up for our dates. He said you were the kind of man who would always put me first, but sounds like that’s not entirely true?”

He grimaced. While he appreciated Hawk’s glowing review, those words were impossible to live up to. His friend should have known that.

“Tanner?”

“You are always first in my heart, but I’ve dedicated my entire adult life to helping others. If it seemed as if I didn’t spend as much time with you as I would have liked, you have to believe it was never personal.”

“But did you ever think that for me it was? I don’t think I’d marry lightly. I also don’t think I’d casually divorce. There had to be reasons.”

“There were. The time thing was a huge issue—never enough. But there were other factors. You hated Alaska. You missed your parents and sister. My whole life is here, yours is there. We never did reach a compromise.”

“I understand.”

They stood there in awkward silence. Their broken past built a wall between them.

Tanner was relieved when she said, “Show me more of our house.”

He stepped past what would have been their entry hall, and then living room. “The TV was here. We had bookcases on either side. You took weeks making beige book covers. You learned calligraphy to write the titles and authors on the spines. At the time, I thought you were crazy, but in the end, it looked cool. Clean and neat. I never told you, and I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” A smile tickled her lips. “Just last month I saw a project like that in a decorating magazine. I tried getting my sister to do it, but she said I was nuts.”

They shared a laugh. And the air suddenly felt easier to breathe.

“Through here was the kitchen. We always talked about getting new appliances. The ones we had were crap. The electric stove was powder blue. It matched the hall toilet.”

“No way?”

“I kid you not. But we did use both to negotiate a couple grand off the asking price.

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