“She’s not leaving me with many options, but I’m not giving up. I’ve dated the alternative.” Caleb grimaced. “The last one was forty, just divorced, and ready to skip dinner to tango between the sheets.”
“Don’t say another word, Dad. That is a textbook case of TMI.” Hunter looked a little green.
Caleb wasn’t a lot more comfortable saying it, but facts were facts. He’d gotten to the age where he appreciated a woman for qualities other than her sex drive. Not that he didn’t want that, too. Being over fifty hadn’t been a death sentence on his libido—at all. But Carlotta was just…more.
The waitress, wearing black slacks and a Santa hat, dropped off the check. He picked it up, waving away Hunter’s money, as thoughts of the beautiful woman assaulted him without mercy.
Her tender heart drew him. Over the past two years, he’d noticed that she went out of her way to please just about everyone. She’d helped Kata decorate her first apartment with Hunter, turning it into a cozy little nest for newlyweds. Complete strangers at the hospital where she worked felt her compassion daily when she shared a smile, a tear, their silence. She’d taken to mothering Hunter with an affection he hadn’t had since Caleb’s own wife had walked out on him nearly fifteen years ago. His macho Navy SEAL son might not admit that he liked it, but when Carlotta cooked his favorite meals, Hunter preened like a cat basking in sunlight. She’d even opened her heart to his younger son, gently teasing or scolding Logan whenever he was home and on leave. And the sweet woman had all but adopted Logan’s little wife, Tara, and his youngest daughter, Kimber, both of whom had grown up mostly without a mother.
Carlotta spared him only stuttering words and averted gazes…and lots of blushing. Yeah, he made her nervous.
“Good. I don’t want to talk to you about my sex life, either. But how am I supposed to convince her that, despite my hard head, I’d be good to her?”
Hunter hesitated, then whipped out his phone, sending a quick text. “Let me think on that, maybe talk to Kata. In the meantime, I’ve texted my gorgeous wife and told her to stall coming back to the table. I was hoping to ask you for a favor.” On cue, Hunter’s phone beeped. He read it. “All right. That buys me five minutes.”
Caleb wasn’t particularly ready to change the subject, but Hunter had suddenly turned antsy. Whatever it was, his son found it damn important. “Shoot.”
“Remember when I came home at the end of May, then rushed back here in August?”
“Vaguely.” Caleb shrugged.
“Kata was ten weeks pregnant and lost the baby.”
The air left Caleb’s lungs, and he leaned forward, gaping at his son. Then he scowled.
Hunter held up his hands. “Before you say it, I know. But Kata wanted to tell me first, in person, and I didn’t get leave. I knew nothing until she called from the hospital. She didn’t want anyone but her mother to know. That’s just Kata. You know she doesn’t want the pity.”
“Oh, shit. I’m sorry, son.” He clapped Hunter’s shoulder gently, wishing that he’d have known or could have helped. Kata had an independent streak that his son had learned to respect—so he had to do the same.
“I won’t lie; it’s been a tough three months. I had mixed reactions to it all, but it’s made me confront some things I’ve been putting off.” Hunter sighed heavily. “I can’t be an active-duty SEAL forever.”
“It’s a tough gig after thirty, I’m sure.”
“Amen. Kata wants to have kids now. I’d planned to wait until I left the Navy. I didn’t want…”
Hunter looked like he was grasping for diplomatic phrasing, and Caleb saved him the trouble. “What your mother and I had?”
“Yeah. She tried to raise three kids while you were gone. She was alone, angry, depressed. I know other women manage, but I don’t want to risk putting Kata through what I fear might make her unhappy. And when Mom walked out because she couldn’t deal anymore, I resented the hell out of her.”
His son had summed up some of the problems, but he and Amanda had suffered through many others. He had been overbearing. Protecting her had been his way of showing affection. Well, that and taking her to bed. Amanda had wanted someone more charming, less rough around the edges. He hadn’t known what to do with her tears and rants that life hadn’t turned out as expected, so he’d shut down.
Caleb rubbed the top of his military-short hair. It was probably more gray than golden these days. Wasn’t that shit supposed to bring wisdom? For the life of him, he didn’t know what to say to his son.
“So I take it you’ve come to some conclusion?” he asked Hunter instead.
His son looked pensive. “Jack and Deke have offered me a job. Good money, health insurance, far less risk of dying in a third-world shithole.”
“But you love what you do.”
“Yep, but everyone knows I’m one injury away from being off the teams for good. This shoulder of mine has been shot up twice.” He rolled it. “It’s stiff. I worry… What if it freezes up on me during a mission? What if me wanting to hang onto this part of my life endangers a teammate? I worry about it, but…” Hunter fingered his phone, probably to avoid eye contact more than anything.
Like father, like son. Communication was essential, but they were both far better at sorting through others’ issues. They tended to bury their own.
“Not enough to quit?”
“Nope. I just work out harder. Then I remember the six months I thought that Kata and I were divorced.” Hunter drew in a shaking breath. “It f**king gutted me, and I couldn’t go through that again. She wants kids. She wants a husband who’s home more than not. She wants normalcy.”
“And you think it’s time you grew up and shouldered your responsibilities?”