She hadn't heard anything from Brent since he dropped her off at her house three days earlier, but she hadn't really expected to. For all she knew, he might be back by Monday when she started work or he could be gone for the rest of the month. She hoped that once her clearances were in order, she would always know exactly where he was and when he was coming home.
Her clearances took longer than expected and it was Wednesday before Admiral Mantiquez called and told her when and where to report. To her surprise, he instructed her to report to the Pentagon instead of Quantico on Thursday morning.
She started her day with a brief meeting with the admiral. Frustration seeped through her when she realized she would spend her first month in training. The admiral couldn't even tell her where her new unit was at the moment, except that they weren't stateside.
By the time she arrived home after her first day of work, her head was spinning with rules, regulations, and acronyms she wondered if she would ever understand. She walked into the kitchen just as the phone rang. She plucked it up, grinning when she heard her oldest brother's voice on the other end.
“Matt! What are you doing home this time of day?” Amy asked, knowing that her brother's baseball schedule usually kept him out of the house every evening.
“Actually, I'm at the stadium, but I have a while before the game will start,” Matt explained. “Tell me what's going on in your life. News is you haven't heard from your lieutenant.”
“Does Dad call and give you hourly updates on my life or what?”
“Well, yeah.” Matt laughed. “You'll have to let me know when he gets back so I can meet him.”
“You just want to check him out,” Amy accused, but there was humor in her voice.
“Same thing,” Matt said carelessly. “Do you have any idea where he is?”
“No clue.” She poured herself a glass of milk, considering for a moment before she decided to confide in her brother. “I don't know how you and CJ handled it, not knowing when you would see each other again. It's only been a week, and I'm going crazy.”
“Yeah, but when CJ was in Witness Protection we knew we weren't going to see each other for months or longer. It wasn't like we were waiting around for a phone call,” Matt said. “For you, there's no way of telling if he'll be gone for a day, a week, a month . . .”
“Or forever,” Amy finished for him with a sigh. “I keep asking myself if I can live like this. I've only known him for a few weeks, and this has already happened twice.”
“It'll be different now that you're working with his unit,” Matt reminded her. “By the way, how does he feel about working with you?”
“I don't know. I haven't told him yet.”
Surprise laced Matt's voice. “Why not?”
“I don't know.” Amy dropped into a chair. “At first I was so excited to see him and I just wanted a chance to be normal for a while. I guess I was afraid that talking about his work would remind him of why we met and make him think that I'm only interested in him because he saved my life.”
“Is that why you're attracted?” Matt asked with the bluntness only an older brother could get away with.
Amy rolled her eyes. “I don't remember giving you and CJ the third degree when you brought her home.”
“You were too busy playing basketball and pretending to stay out of trouble.”
“I didn't get into trouble,” Amy said innocently.
“Much.” Matt saw through her and directed the conversation back to his question. “You didn't answer me. If you had met your lieutenant under different circumstances, would you have gone out with him?”
“Probably,” Amy replied. “I'm not sure I would have been as understanding about why he just disappears and can't call or anything for days at a time, but I would have gone out with him if he had asked.”
“Then I think it's time you tell him about your new job. It's better that he hears it from you than from someone else.”
“What if he doesn't want me there?” Amy asked, voicing her fears for the first time.
“From what I've heard about him, I'm sure he will.”
* * *
“We're about done here if you want to go ahead and take off,” Kel told Brent as they stored equipment from their earlier obstacle course training.
“What?” Brent finished storing his rappelling harness before turning to Kel.
“I just thought you might have plans tonight.”
Brent shrugged. “Like you said, we're almost done here.”
Before Kel could respond, Tristan walked up behind them. “Hey, Brent. Are you and Amy going to the dance tomorrow night up in Oakton?”
“I wasn't planning on it,” Brent said, evading the question.
They had returned to Quantico over a week before, and he knew that everyone thought he was spending his free evenings with Amy. Even though he thought of his teammates as brothers, for once he didn't think they would understand his decision. Except for Kel, none of them had ever been in love. They would never understand what it was like to care so much for someone that their happiness was more important than anything, even their own. Even Kel's situation probably wouldn't help him understand Brent's decision. Kel's sense of duty conflicted with the life his wife wanted, and both of them still struggled with the lack of communication they had experienced before they married.
Brent had tried calling Amy twice over the past week to break things off, but each time he had received her voicemail and decided against leaving a message. When he noticed a photograph of her in the society page of
The Washington Post
earlier that week, he decided maybe a phone call wasn't necessary after all. The photograph had been taken at some White House dinner over the weekend, and she had been sandwiched between her father and some political aide. Brent's jaw clenched at the memory of the way the aide's hand had rested so comfortably around Amy's waist.
Tristan closed the storage locker and snapped Brent back to the present. “You two really should come. Maybe Amy can introduce us to some of her friends.”
“We'll see.” With that he turned away and got back to work.
* * *
Amy stepped into the cultural hall at the Oakton Stake Center and instantly wished she hadn't come. Independence Day was only two days away, and the cultural hall was decked out in red, white, and blue, reminding her too much of Brent and his dedication to serving his country. She tried not to think of the dangers of his job or where he might be right now. Instead, she let her eyes adjust to the dimmed lights and glanced around at the many familiar faces.
The girlfriend that had bullied her into coming to the dance was waiting for her just inside the door. She immediately dragged Amy across the room to meet a friend of her boyfriend. The poor guy looked as surprised as Amy was to be party to their friends' obvious matchmaking scheme. Reluctantly he asked her to dance, and Amy promised herself that she would find some excuse to spare both of them from any of their friends' expectations.
She had barely made her escape when one of Jared's friends cornered her and wanted to talk about exactly what Jared had done to get arrested. Even though Amy insisted that she wasn't at liberty to talk about it, the friend persisted and Amy finally made the excuse that she needed to go to the restroom.
What she had hoped would be a brief reprieve turned out to be anything but. She opened the door to the restroom to find a few of the women from her singles ward inside. Instantly she was bombarded with questions. What was it like when she was held hostage? Did she really fall out of a helicopter? How did she manage to get home? And then there was her favorite, “Is Charlie dating anyone right now?”
Using a combination of diplomacy and avoidance, Amy finally managed to break free from the inquest in the restroom only to find Tristan walking through the door into the foyer. Her eyes widened when Quinn and Seth followed them inside without Brent. Her first horrifying thought was that something had happened to him on his last mission. When Tristan approached with a smile on his face, other doubts started creeping in.
“Hi, Amy. I didn't think you were going to be here.” Tristan reached out and shook her hand. “Brent acted like you weren't going to come.”
“Really?” Amy asked casually even as her heart broke neatly in two. She knew in that moment that Brent didn't want to see her anymore. She had convinced herself she could live with the doubts, the insecurity, the waiting for the call she hoped would never come. Now she had to live with the fact that she had fallen in love with a man who didn't love her in return.
Oblivious to the battle waging inside her, Seth stepped beside Tristan and asked, “Where is Brent? Is he inside?”
She wasn't sure how to answer without letting them see how deeply hurt she was by what their presence meant. Had she not seen them, she would have just assumed that Brent was still on assignment. Drawing on all of her strength, she kept her voice light when she answered, “Actually, I'm not sure. A girlfriend had asked me to come with her before I had a chance to make other plans.”
Tristan grinned at her. “In that case, save me a dance.”
“Sure.” Amy agreed even though all she wanted to do was go home and cry.
She kept up the pretense for nearly an hour before anyone realized a thing. When Seth noticed Amy trying to dodge the attentions of the elders quorum president, he moved in and rescued her by asking her to dance to the slow song that was just beginning.
“I'm surprised Brent didn't show up here tonight,” Seth commented casually. “If he knew how many guys you've had to fight off, I think he would probably stick to your side like glue.”
Amy didn't say anything, but Seth felt her tense. He looked down at her, and for a long moment he said nothing. Finally, he spoke softly. “Did he even call when we got back?”
She shook her head and sniffed back the tears that she refused to let come. She took a deep breath, hoping her voice was steady when she finally spoke. “Would you mind walking me out to my car? I really don't want to be here, but I doubt I can make it past my friends without some help.”
“No problem.” Seth nodded and took her hand to lead her across the cultural hall and then through the foyer where her protection detail was waiting. The two men followed Amy and Seth out into the parking lot and headed for their car as Seth escorted Amy to hers. “I assume you don't want the rest of the guys to know about our talk?”
Amy shook her head, focusing on digging her car keys out of her purse. When finally she found them and unlocked the door, she turned to look at Seth. “Thanks for walking me out.”
“You're welcome.” Seth took a step back toward the church and then hesitated. He turned back, his voice carrying just a hint of a southern accent. “I can't give you details, but the last mission wasn't an easy one for Brent.”
“But he's okay?”
“Yeah, he's okay.”
Amy nodded, and without a word she got in her car and drove into the darkness.
* * *
Brent walked into the office on Tuesday morning, his mood surly. He had let his mom rope him into dinner the night before, and her endless questions about Amy had been more than he could take. He had finally made excuses to get out of attending the fireworks display at one of the local churches. Instead, he had gone home to sulk. He was tired of everyone assuming that he and Amy were a couple even though he had only known her for barely more than a month. To hear his mother talk, one would think she expected to hear wedding bells any minute.
He saw Quinn first and nodded a greeting rather than taking the effort to speak.
“Hey, Brent.” Quinn stepped into his path rather than letting him just walk by him. “We missed you at the dance Saturday.”
Brent shrugged and started to move past him.
“You know, you really should have come,” Quinn continued. “We did what we could to help Amy fight the guys off, but some of them were pretty persistent.”
Brent looked at Quinn now, considering. His already lousy mood darkened, but he managed to say, “I'm sure she appreciated that.”
Before Quinn could continue the conversation, Brent continued down the hall to his office. He was nearly to his desk when he noticed Seth standing just inside the door.
“Did you need something?” Brent asked briskly.
Without a word, Seth closed the door and then turned back to face Brent. “What's going on, Brent? What happened with Amy?”
“Since when does everyone think they have the right to intrude on my personal life?” Brent shot back irritably. He pushed the button to turn on his computer in the fleeting hope that Seth would just go away. He should have known better.
Seth just stared at him, watching him with those deep, dark eyes. He took his time about answering, but when he spoke, Brent felt the truth of his words spear through him. “I'm your friend, and I'm worried about you. I know you have feelings for this girl, but I can't figure out why you're trying to blow it.”
Brent ran a hand over his face and let out a sigh. “I don't want to talk about this, okay?”
“No, it's not okay,” Seth shot back. He was usually a man of few words, but when the situation called for it, he could spar with the best. “You fall in love with an incredible girl and then you break her heart. What is wrong with you?”
“I can't let her live like this!” Brent's voice rose. “I owe it to her to let her get on with her lifeâa normal life.”
“Maybe she doesn't want a normal life,” Seth suggested mildly.
“What do you expect me to do? Marry her?” Brent asked, and then he rushed on when he saw the answer in Seth's eyes. “Would you really want someone sleeping beside you when a nightmare wakes you up, a nightmare you can't even talk about?”