he loved her and couldn’t stand the thought of letting her go again.
When the ticket agent asked him where he wanted to go, Albuquerque fell out of his mouth without a second thought. If there was anyone who would open her door immediately, it was Mama Custer, and he needed cookies straight from the oven, a view that didn’t include a beach and to be in the presence of someone who loved him unconditionally as he sorted through his next steps.
Charlie was running away, pure and simple, and everything inside balked at it. But he couldn’t do the same ineffective things over and over again.
The plane lifted off, and the particular shade of blue that had etched itself onto his heart spread out below him. Miles and miles of water and he couldn’t find a moment’s peace anywhere in the vicinity. He’d left his team behind to pick up the pieces of his dream. The fact that he’d assured them—and himself—that he’d only be gone a few days didn’t help. How did he know how long it was going to take to get his crap together?
He let himself feel like a heel until the plane landed at Sunport, the airport closest to Mama Custer’s house, and took a cab to the one-story pueblo-style house where he’d spent a week acclimating to being back in the states after he’d left the Navy. It was the closest thing to a home he’d had since he’d left his father’s house.
Sheila answered the door on the first knock and shook her head as she folded Charlie into her embrace. “Lord, honey. Haven’t you heard of sunscreen? You’re nearly the same color as my leather couch and have twice as many places where you’re worn.”
Charlie hugged her back, letting the silver-haired woman’s love surround him, a feat considering he topped her by nearly six inches. But that was the whole reason he’d come here—she had enough mothering in her heart to cover all the big, badass SEALs she could get her hands on, despite having two of her own.
“Hey, Mama C. Sorry I didn’t call.”
She shushed him. “Family doesn’t call ahead. Come in and tell me what in the world you’re doing on my part of the globe.”
“I needed cookies.”
Linking elbows, she guided him inside, and sure enough, the smell of sugar and spice and everything nice hit him in one fell swoop as he walked with her to the kitchen.
But the cookies were apparently already spoken for. A familiar dark-haired hell-raiser sat at the pinewood table with a huge platter in front of him. He jumped to his feet with a cocky salute the moment he spied Charlie.
Blake Custer. Of all people he’d expected to see in Albuquerque, a carbon copy of his Duchess Island roommate was not it.
“Look what the cat dragged in.” Blake stuck out his hand.
“Custer.” Charlie shook hands with Jace’s twin brother, who was—last time he’d checked, anyway—still in the teams. “Didn’t know you were on leave. How’re they treating you?”
With a smirk, Blake returned to his cookies, sticking a whole one in his mouth. “Like a rock star, as always.”
Which meant hundred-and-twenty-degree temps, sixty pounds of gear, and HALO drops from a Blackhawk—the VIP treatment for sure.
Blake was a model SEAL: fearless, loyal, and loved his job so much Charlie couldn’t have talked him away from the teams for anything. Nor would he have tried. Jace, on the other hand, had been easy to recruit for Aqueous Adventures because his loyalty lay with Charlie, not the Navy.
Mama C whacked her kid on the back of the head. “Don’t talk with your mouth full, Son. I taught you better than that.”
As both Custer boys’ former platoon commander, Charlie had seen them do stuff that would make their mother faint if talking with a full mouth got the head smack. But he kept his lips zipped because there were a lot of things that happened in Iraq that no one wanted to talk about.
Least of all him.
“I didn’t know you had company,” Charlie said as he took the cookie Blake had extended. “ ’Specially not one this ugly.”
As Blake sputtered around his mouthful of cookies, Mama C turned her side-eye on Charlie. “My boys are both gorgeous, and you know it.”
Charlie laughed, happy he was still able to. “They take after their mother, no doubt.”
She grinned, crinkling up her eyes, and shooed the compliment away. “Charm will get you everywhere, smooth talker. Speaking of talking, sit your rear end down and