Hemingway - Zoe Dawson Page 0,78
to her husband, and they danced close. Anyone could see how in love they were. Max had to wonder if he was missing out by keeping all his relationships shallow.
“It’s all that SEAL hype and my leather jacket. Probably the motorcycle.”
“No, they’re right. You’re a stud. So, knock it off.”
“Can’t. We’re honed, lean, mean fighting machines, man. Gotta keep the body strong.”
“Just keep that strong body away from my sisters,” he said as Anna approached Dodger, conversed briefly, then led him out to the dance floor. Max gritted his teeth. Dodger knew the score. Max didn’t want him to be rude to her or cold and hurt her feelings. He tried to loosen up his shoulders.
“You look like you’re trying to remember if you loaded up your trunk with lime and a shovel, instead of enjoying a wedding. Loosen up, big man,” Hemingway said, setting a beer into Max’s hand. “You’d be lost without Dodger.”
Max took a swig. It was just a dance. Dodger did know the score. Teammates didn’t mess with sisters, girlfriends, and wives. He’d have to console himself with the SEAL code.
“How are you holding up?”
“Training is going well. I’ve mostly healed from my cuts and bruises, just in time to get more.”
Max chuckled and clinked bottles with him. “Hoo-yah,” he said. “I was actually referring to Shea being gone. That must be tough.”
Hemingway shrugged. He was really good at concealing his emotions, but Max caught the bleak look before he hid it. “She’s got her job, and I’ve got mine. We both knew that going in.”
“It’s okay to say you miss her. I miss her. She is a pistol.”
Hemingway smiled. “She sure is, and I do miss her.”
“You hear from her?”
“No, not much. She’s going pretty deep undercover. I wouldn’t want to jeopardize her safety.”
“Copy that. She’s courageous and good at her job.”
“I know.”
Max signaled Wendy, and she got up from her chair. “Look at that. Wendy doesn’t have a partner,” Max said with a grin.
“Do I have to worry about lime and a shovel, too?” He rose when she came over and they went out to the dance floor. Max wasn’t concerned about Hemingway. He was in love with someone else. Wendy was safe.
Anna on the other hand…
One Year Later
Hemingway was back in Coronado after his twenty-six weeks of SEAL Qualification Training. His graduation was only an hour and a half away. His sister, brother-in-law, niece and father would be here in a half an hour so they could take him out to breakfast. He’d received a package with no return address, plain brown wrapper, addressed to him at the base. He sat down, fully dressed in his uniform, shaved, spit and polished. He’d been waiting on this day for what seemed like forever.
He, Milo “Professor” Prescott, Adrian “Rock” Lane, Matt “Easy,” Hitchcock, William Brown, and Benjamin Vincent, his boat crew, had all made it through SQT. Professor and Lane were going to Team Seven, Easy to Team Eight on the East Coast where the SEALs were housed at the Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story. Hemingway was going to Team Seven as well—Fast Lane’s team. He was ecstatic that he’d be working with Mad Max, Dodger, Pitbull, and the rest of the guys. He couldn’t have asked for a better draft. They had shown up to rescue him from SERE training—Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape.
He opened the package and the box inside to find a brand-new pair of UDT shorts.
Shea. A ripple of pain knifed him, even as the humor lifted him.
He read the card. I had to wrestle Daisy for your dukes…er…UDT shorts, but in the end, she said you had such a nice ass, she would concede. She’d drawn a smiley face, and he chuckled. Congratulations, Special Operator Sinclair!
She’d sketched a little flower after that with a blue center and pink petals, and his heart turned over in his chest. There wasn’t a day that went by that he didn’t think about her, miss her. There was very little contact and usually on her terms because she was so deep undercover.
He’d been on his share of journeys after finishing First Phase, consisting of a lot of classroom work, moving onto Second Phase: combat diving, which he loved, and Third Phase: Land Warfare Training. He was a natural with a weapon and the instructor recommended him as a sniper. Then they’d had the graduation ceremony with just the candidates and instructors. Even Kyle and Vile congratulated him and after a couple of drinks