“Yes,” he shouted, “you can get me out of here!”
“You know I can’t do that,” she said reasonably. “Only a physician can discharge you.”
“I’ve got to do something before I go stir-crazy.” He grimaced with pain as he attempted to sit up.
“Commander, you’re not helping matters.”
He glared at her as though she was personally responsible for this torture. “Just go. Get out of my sight. I don’t want you around anymore, understand?”
She hesitated. “I’m responsible for your care.”
“Get someone else.”
“Commander,” she tried again, but he cut her off.
“Get out!” He pointed at her. “And that’s an order.”
Alison swallowed down the hurt as she walked out of his cubicle. His words, harsh and vindictive, rang in her ears during the rest of her shift. He didn’t want her anywhere near him and he wasn’t afraid to say so. Her stomach twisted in a knot, and she felt like a fool for having made assumptions about mutual feelings that obviously didn’t exist. Not on his part, anyway.
She didn’t blame Frank for wanting to be back on duty, but he’d taken all his resentment and anger out on her. That wasn’t fair, and it added to the hurt Alison felt.
Silently she watched as the corpsman delivered his dinner tray. Dillon glanced at her, then turned away, as if he found the sight of her repugnant.
Thirty minutes later, when she walked past, she noticed that he’d barely touched his meal. She considered reminding him that he’d need his strength, but he wouldn’t want to hear it. And she wasn’t willing to risk another tongue-lashing.
Twice more during the course of her shift, Ali resisted the urge to check on him. Frank had been very explicit about the fact that he didn’t want her company.
When she’d finished, she returned to her quarters and curled up on her bed. After her shift she usually wrote Jazmine and her sister, but not tonight. Instead she reviewed the conversation with Frank.
She told herself it was silly to have her feelings hurt by his rudeness, that he didn’t mean it, but she couldn’t help taking it personally. Earlier she’d always shrugged off his abrasive manner, and she couldn’t understand why today was so different. Probably because she’d let her attraction to him get out of hand.
Ali wouldn’t be surprised if he was released the next morning, which was just as well. In a little more than four months, she reminded herself, she’d be home with her daughter and soon after that she’d be a civilian. This was an unsettling thought because Ali loved the Navy, but her resignation was necessary. Jazmine needed her, and Alison had given the Navy all she had to give, including her husband.
As she’d suspected, Commander Dillon was released the following morning. Alison hated that his last words to her had been spoken in anger, but she tried to forget it. She wished him good health, but he was out of her life now, and it was unlikely they’d see each other again. Perhaps in another time or place they might have made a relationship work. But not here and not now.
Of more interest was the romance developing between her sister and Adam Kennedy, and as soon as she could, Alison logged on to the computer to check her e-mail. She could count on hearing from Jazmine at least once a day.
To her delight, there was an e-mail from Adam, too, but as she read it, her pleasure quickly evaporated. Adam feared that now his shoulder had healed, he was about to be transferred. He’d told Shana, but didn’t have the heart to mention it to Jazmine until he got his papers. Almost in passing, he added how much he’d enjoyed getting to know Shana.
This was dreadful! Jazmine would be devastated if Adam was transferred out of the area, and she wasn’t the only one. Shana was going to be just as disappointed.
With a heavy heart she read her daughter’s chatty e-mail next.
Sent: June 30
From:
[email protected] To:
[email protected] Subject: Update—sort of
Hi Mom,
Aunt Shana said we could plant a garden! She said we could grow vegetables and flowers. I don’t want to plant green beans because then I might have to eat them. Zucchini would be all right, though. Will you give Aunt Shana your recipe for baked zucchini? Tell her to add more cheese than what the recipe calls for, okay? You had a good recipe for green peppers, too, didn’t you? I could even eat those raw, but I like them better stuffed.
I think a garden will be lots of fun, don’t you? Uncle Adam said he’d help. Isn’t that great?
See you soon.
Love,
Jazmine
* * *
Alison didn’t know where Shana would find time to start a garden. As it was, her sister worked from dawn to dusk, but the plans for this latest project showed her how hard Shana was trying with Jazmine. Somehow, the two of them had managed to talk Adam into helping. How much he could do was questionable, since he couldn’t risk damaging his shoulder again, but he seemed a willing participant.
The last e-mail came from onboard ship. Not until she opened it did she see that it was from Commander Dillon. Ali stared at his name for a moment before she read his message. Five words said it all. Thank you for your excellent care. Commander Frank Dillon.
“No,” she whispered. “Thank you, Commander.” She had much to be grateful for. Because even if this was as far as it went, Frank had shown her that her heart was still alive.
* * *
Sheer weakness had prompted him to send Alison Karas that e-mail, Frank thought as he returned to his stateroom at the end of his shift. Frank was not a weak man, and he was irritated with himself for more reasons than he wanted to count.
He knew he wasn’t a good patient. He just couldn’t tolerate lying around in bed all day. He wanted to be back on the job, doing what he enjoyed most, contributing his skills where they were needed. If his appendix was going to give out on him, he would’ve preferred it to happen while they were in port.
The worst part of his ordeal wasn’t his ruptured appendix and the subsequent surgery. That he’d come through with only minor difficulties. But he wasn’t sure he would survive Lieutenant Commander Karas. After all these years on his own, without female companionship, committed to the Navy, he was finally attracted to a woman. Strongly attracted. She invaded his dreams and haunted his waking moments. Every day for damn near a week she’d been at his bedside.
He didn’t like it. Just when his mind had started to clear and his system was free of those drugs they’d given him, he saw something he hadn’t noticed earlier. Her wedding ring. It shook him.
That first time they met, Alison Karas hadn’t denied being married and she’d worn a wedding ring—on her left hand. He stared at the computer screen. Married. He’d forgotten about it until this week. Then, when he’d remembered—and realized he was fantasizing about a married woman—he’d lost it. Even worse, she’d moved the ring to her right hand. What did that say about her?
He’d been impatient to get back to his duties before, but after he saw that wedding band, he was downright desperate to escape the infirmary. There’s no fool like an old fool, as they said.
His anger had turned on Alison and he wanted her as far away from him as possible. Later he regretted that outburst. She’d done nothing to deserve his tongue-lashing. But he found it difficult to be civil, and all because he’d realized there was no hope of any kind of relationship, let alone a permanent one.
He could accept that, but he wasn’t a man who enjoyed temptation and this woman definitely fit that description. Still, he felt compelled to apologize for his rudeness. Seeing her again was out of the question, so he’d decided to send an e-mail. He wrote a dozen versions before he settled on the brief and simple message, then hit Send before he could change his mind.
For better or worse, she had it now, and that was the end of it. He made his way to the first deck and lifting his head he scanned the horizon. All that stretched before him was ocean—a huge blue e
xpanse of emptiness. He saw his life like that and it bothered him.
Until now, it never had.
Chapter Thirteen
Adam was charmed by Jazmine’s excitement about their little garden. He’d managed to find someone to turn over a small patch at the back of Shana’s rental house. Then Jazmine and her aunt had planted neat rows of red-leaf lettuce, peas, green peppers and three varieties of tomato. Although they’d been warned by the man at the local nursery, they’d purchased a number of zucchini plants, too. Apparently it did exceptionally well in the Seattle area and supplied an abundant crop. Jazmine claimed her mother had fabulous recipes for zucchini. Baked zucchini and zucchini bread and something else.
“Around September if you see anyone buying zucchini in the grocery, you’ll know that’s a person without a friend,” the nursery owner had joked as he hauled their plants out to the vehicle.
Once they were back at the house and the plants were in the freshly tilled soil, Adam watched Jazmine with amusement. Every five minutes, the girl was out in the garden checking on the plants’ growth, making sure there were no slugs in the vicinity. God help them if they were. Just to be on the safe side, she carried a salt shaker.
The flower beds—well, they were another story. He’d lost track of all the seedlings Shana had purchased. Most of them he didn’t even recognize. Pink ones and white ones, purple and yellow. They certainly made the yard look colorful. Pretty but…Women and flowers—he never could understand what they found so fascinating. For himself, he thought practical made more sense than pretty, although he hadn’t shared that reaction with Shana.
True, he’d had a jade plant once but it died for lack of attention. Shana, predictably, had clusters of house plants—on windowsills and tables—but he couldn’t begin to guess what types they were. Knowing Jazmine, he wouldn’t have thought she’d be too interested in this kind of thing, either, but apparently he was wrong. The kid loved it as much as Shana did.
“Aunt Shana said she’d be home around eight,” Jazmine informed him on Saturday at five. They’d spent a quiet afternoon together. While he watched a Mariners baseball game on television, Jazmine tended the garden. He’d found it relaxing, but he missed being with Shana. He would’ve stopped at the ice-cream parlor, but he knew that Saturdays, especially in summer, tended to be busy.
Jazmine had patiently watered the rows of newly planted seedlings, being careful not to oversaturate the soil. She’d examined every inch to check for weeds and had ruthlessly yanked up a number of small green plants; Adam suspected they were actually vegetables.
He glanced up from the post-game analysis and saw that Jazmine was standing in front of him. “We should make dinner,” she announced. “A real, proper dinner.”
“We?” he muttered. In case Jazmine hadn’t noticed, he wasn’t the domestic type. Besides he had to protect his shoulder. Every meal in the last few weeks had come out of a microwave or in a pizza box.
“We could do it,” Jazmine insisted, as if putting together a three-course meal was no trouble at all.
“Really? I wouldn’t mind getting takeout. Or maybe Shana could bring home a pizza. Wouldn’t that be easier?”
Frowning, Jazmine shook her head. “She has pizza all the time. Besides, home cooking is better for you.”
Adam wondered when she’d become such an expert. “You’re sure the two of us can do this?”
“Of course.”
Ah, the confidence of the young. Still, Adam had his doubts. “You should know I’m kitchen-challenged.”
Jazmine giggled. “I cook a lot. I’ll do it.”
If Jazmine knew her way around the kitchen, then perhaps this wouldn’t be so complicated. He could supervise from in front of the TV.
“You’ll have to help, though.”
He should’ve known she wouldn’t let him off scot-free. “What do you want me to do?”
“The grocery store won’t sell me wine, so you’ll have to buy that.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Wine?”
Jazmine nodded. “And flowers,” she said in a tone that brooked no argument.
“Yes, ma’am. Any particular kind?” He resisted mentioning that there was a yard full of flowers outside, although they were mostly quite small.
“I want you to buy roses and we’re going to need candles, too. Tall ones.”
“You got it.” He bit his tongue to keep from reminding her that it wouldn’t be dark until ten. “Should I buy red or white wine?” he asked.
Jazmine stared at him blankly.
“Red generally goes with meat and white wine is served with chicken or fish.”
“What goes with everything?”
“Champagne is good.”
She grinned then, her decision made. “Buy champagne and make it a big bottle, okay?”
“Have you decided what you’re cooking?” he asked.
“Of course I have,” she told him scornfully.
“And that would be?”
She sighed, as though she was a master chef dealing with obtuse underlings. “I’ve decided to cook my specialty.”
“Which is?”
“A surprise,” she said without pause, using her hands to shoo him out the door. He watched her march into the kitchen. From the corner of his eye, Adam saw her pull several cookbooks off the shelf.
After he’d finished his errands, Adam decided to visit the ice-cream parlor, after all. It was just too hard to stay away. As he’d expected, Shana was doing a robust business. Catherine worked on the pizza side with a young assistant, while Shana and another part-time student served ice cream. They had at least a dozen customers waiting their turn. Adam took a seat and when Shana saw him, she blushed, fussed with her hair, then went back to helping her customers. Her self-conscious reaction pleased him. Ten minutes later, she had a chance to take a break.
After washing her hands, she joined him. “Hi,” she said, offering him a shy smile.
He hadn’t known there was a shy bone in her body until he’d kissed her. That kiss had been a revelation to him. Their feelings weren’t simple or uncomplicated, although he hadn’t deciphered the full extent of them yet. He did know their kiss had changed them. Changed their relationship.
He’d been attracted to her from the beginning and was sure she’d felt the same way about him. They’d skirted each other for weeks, both denying the attraction, and then all of a sudden, after that day in Victoria, it was there. Undeniable. Unmistakable. He no longer tried to hide his feelings and she didn’t, either.
“Where’s Jazmine?” she asked. “In the park?”
He shook his head. “At home, cooking dinner. Her specialty, she says. I don’t suppose you have any clue what that might be?”
“You left her alone?” Shana’s eyes widened with alarm. “In the kitchen with the stove on? Adam, she’s only nine! Sometimes that’s hard to remember, but she’s still just a kid.”
“She seemed perfectly fine,” he said, suddenly deciding Shana was right. “She’s the one who sent me to the store.” He slid out of the booth. “I’ll get back now.”
Shana sighed, then stretched out one hand and stopped him. “It was good to see you,” she said in a low voice.
He gave her hand a small squeeze. “You, too. Don’t be late for dinner.”
“I won’t,” she promised.
Once again Adam started toward the door, then paused and turned around. “What’s her specialty?”
Shana grinned. “It’s probably canned chili with grated cheese on top.”
He dismissed that. “I think it might be more involved. Whatever it is requires a cookbook.”
Shana’s grin faded. “In that case, you’d better hurry.”
“I’m on my way.”
Shana smiled again, and it reminded him—as if he needed reminding—how attracted he was to her. And just when their relationship was beginning to show real promise, he’d be leaving the Seattle area.
She followed him to the front door. “Any
word on that transfer?” she asked.
If he didn’t know better, he’d think she’d been reading his mind. “Not yet.” It wouldn’t be long, though. Hawaii was a dream assignment. Who wouldn’t want to be stationed there? With its endless miles of white sandy beaches and sunshine, Hawaii had always appealed to him.
Yet Seattle, known for its frequent drizzle and gray skies, was of more interest now than the tropical paradise.
“Did you mention anything about the transfer to Jazmine?” she asked.
He shook his head. He couldn’t make himself do it.
“Coward,” she muttered.
Adam shrugged lightly. “Guilty as charged.”
Shana glanced at her watch. “I’ll be leaving in about an hour and a half.”
“Okay, I’ll let Martha Stewart know.” Feeling the need to touch her, he reached for her hand. Even with the restaurant full of customers, they entwined their fingers, and it was a long moment before either of them moved. He felt the urge to take her in his arms and she must have felt the same impulse because she swayed toward him before shaking her head and dropping her hand.
“I should get back to work and you need to get back to Jazmine,” she said, her voice little more than a whisper.
“Right.”
“Bye.” Shana gave him a small wave. Adam heard the reluctance in her voice, a reluctance he shared.
Jazmine met him at the front door, took his bags and banned him from the kitchen. “I can’t be disturbed,” she said grandly.
Adam turned the television on again and sat with one ankle balanced on his knee, aiming the remote. He couldn’t find anything he wanted to watch. “Need any help in there?” he called out.
“No, thanks.”
Five minutes later he repeated the offer.
This time Jazmine ignored him, but soon afterward, she asked, “Aunt Shana isn’t going to be late, is she?”
“She’d phone,” Adam said, and hoped she would.
At three minutes after eight, Shana walked into the house. “I’m home,” she said unnecessarily.
Adam stood and Jazmine hurried eagerly out of the kitchen. “I hope you’re hungry.”