right. He was tired. Tired and strung-out and stressed. Usually missions didn’t bother him and being a SEAL meant being ready for anything, but for some reason he’d been all tied up in tense knots today and it had taken its toll on his usual stamina. With a sigh, he sank down on the bench beside her, staring over at Gracie from under his lashes while she noisily sucked down her dinner.
“At least we’re back in civilization now,” Serena said, after another sip of her soda and crunching down some chips. “For a while there today, I wondered if I’d ever see it again. If I never come face to face with another rubber tree in this lifetime, I’ll be happy.”
Noah chuckled around a mouthful of chips. “Yeah. The novelty wears off pretty fast.” He downed a swig of his soda, then said, “And after we get you back stateside, you can stay in civilization forever.”
“I wish.” She laughed. “Unfortunately, my work is mainly in places without modern conveniences.”
“Yeah?” He raised a brow at her. “That’ll be harder to do with a baby. Maybe you need to look into changing jobs now.”
“Hmm, maybe.” Serena watched her daughter for a moment while Noah watched her. Sitting here like this, outside, just talking, seemed so natural and normal. “But then again, I want Gracie to grow up in a diverse world. I want her to have a global education from early on. To see the world and understand all the different people and cultures it holds and to care about them all.”
“Wow.” He considered that a moment. “Sounds noble as hell and I respect that. That’s part of the reason why I became a SEAL. To help others, but also to understand places and people different from me. Can’t keep someone safe if you don’t know what’s important to them and why.”
“You’re all about safety, aren’t you?” Serena looked up and caught his gaze.
“Yep.” Heat prickled up from beneath the collar of his black T-shirt. Usually, he was kind of embarrassed to tell people about how much his work meant to him because they might think he was weird, but tonight with Serena it felt okay. He stared down at the soda can in his hand, frowning. “It’s always felt like my calling.”
“That sounds noble as hell too,” she said, smiling as she lifted Gracie away from her nipple and smoothed her shirt back down so she could put the baby over her shoulder to burp. “Guess we’re just two peas in a pod, huh?”
Noah didn’t know about that, but he liked the idea of them having more in common. He was about to tell her so when his phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out to see a message from the clerk. “Room’s ready. Let’s head upstairs.”
8
Serena got Gracie settled on one of the beds, then sat at the small table in one corner of their room. It was nice here, not super fancy, but not exactly a budget motel either. Noah had been busy checking in with his team on his phone while she’d gotten the baby bathed and changed and into a clean onesie from her knapsack, but now there wasn’t much else to do after she’d washed out the dirty diapers from the day before and laid them out to dry.
The longer she sat there, though, staring out the window into the darkness, the more she couldn’t help feeling like maybe they might actually get out of this situation intact and make it back to the US. Thus far, Noah had proved himself a capable protector and that gave Serena hope. The least she could do from here on in was be cooperative and helpful to him in keeping them safe.
Eavesdropping wasn’t usually her MO, but given the confined quarters of their room, she couldn’t help but overhear snippets of his conversation. Specifically, the words “retrieval” “location” and “capital.”
Right. Okay. So their final destination was Frederickston.
Her brain kicked into overdrive trying to anticipate every obstacle she might face when it came to caring for Gracie during the rest of their journey. The baby wasn’t much trouble, but when she was hungry or needed a diaper change, she got fussy, so keeping those times to a minimum while they were on the trail would be priority one. The last thing they needed was to have Gracie’s wails draw the enemy right to them. They’d been incredibly lucky that Gracie had been quiet that afternoon when the