The Soldier's Forever Family

Still crouched over a shallow tide pool, the boy looked up. Maybe it was a trick of shadows or the watery light of dawn, but there was something eerily familiar about this kid with his tumbled dark hair and smoky gray eyes. Perhaps Adam had seen him around the resort before? Clouds shifted overhead and the light brightened enough for him to see more clearly. No. He was sure they’d never met. But still there was something about this child...

“I’m not allowed to talk to strangers.” The boy didn’t look particularly concerned as he shared that rule.

“That’s a good policy, but I work for the resort,” Adam assured him, keeping his distance for now. “My name is Adam.”

The child frowned thoughtfully. “You could still be a bad guy.”

Adam was startled into a chuckle by the little guy’s logic. “Well, yeah, I guess that’s true. But I’m not.”

Apparently satisfied, the boy extended one hand. “Do you know what kind of shell this is?”

Glancing at the cylindrical shell on the outstretched palm, Adam nodded. “It’s a lettered olive. It belonged to a type of snail.”

“It’s cool. I want to find a starfish, too.”

“You find them here occasionally. So, where are your parents? Do they know you’re out by yourself?”

As if in answer, a woman’s anxious voice called out. “Simon? Simon! Where are you?”

The boy winced. “That’s my mom.”

A woman emerged, almost running, from the canopy of tropical trees that marked the edge of the main resort grounds. She wore a tank top and plaid cotton shorts with flip-flops, and her collar-length brown hair was disheveled, as though she’d just climbed out of bed. “Simon! You know better than to wander off like this. You scared me half to death.”

The voice was an echo from Adam’s past. He took a step back, his startled gaze locked on the woman’s anxious face. Her attention was focused on the boy, so she hadn’t spared Adam more than a quick glance. Would she recognize him when she looked more closely, or had she forgotten all about the man she’d known so briefly all those years ago?

Joanna looked so much the same that it was hard to believe it had been six years since he’d last seen her. Her hair was a few inches shorter than the style she’d worn before, but was still a glossy chestnut that complemented her green eyes. Her fair skin was smooth, her cheeks flushed with heightened emotion. Seeing her now affected him as strongly as when he’d met her on this very beach. He’d wanted her from the moment their paths had first crossed. Apparently, that physical reaction hadn’t changed in the ensuing years, though there was little to no chance the outcome would be the same this time.

He was aware that he’d changed a lot more than she had. When they’d met before, he’d been rail thin, brimming with impatient, brash energy. His dark hair had been cropped in a military cut. He was a healthier weight now, more muscle than sinew, tanned and generally relaxed. His last deployment had left physical traces in the carved lines around his eyes and mouth, in the scars hidden beneath his clothes, and in the strands of premature gray that peppered his hair, long enough now to brush his collar and usually mussed by the ocean breeze. He thought he looked more surfer than soldier these days. He wasn’t surprised she hadn’t immediately recognized him.

He couldn’t believe she was really here. He’d figured she’d long since moved on with her life, finding new places to visit on vacations. Six years was a long time.

“I’m sorry I scared you, Mom. I wanted to find shells before the other people come out. You were asleep.”

So she had at least one kid now. No doubt a husband waiting back in their suite. Adam told himself he was happy for her. Then wondered if he’d ever crossed her mind in the years since they’d parted.

Holding her wind-tossed hair out of her face with one hand, Joanna spoke more calmly now that her first surge of panic had subsided. “You should have woken me. Or asked last night and I’d have gotten up early with you. Don’t ever come out again without telling me, understand?”

The boy sighed. “Yes, ma’am.”

Joanna nodded in satisfaction, and then turned to look up at Adam. He realized he was still gaping at her. Belatedly remembering he was now an employee here, he gave her a professional nod. “Good morning.”

He figured he’d leave it up to her to decide whether to acknowledge that they’d met before. Maybe she’d want to pretend that their vacation fling had never happened. Hell, maybe she didn’t even remember him. For all he knew, she’d made much more of an impression on him than he had on her.

Joanna’s green eyes widened, and her lips parted on a gasp of disbelief. “Adam?”

So she did remember. He cleared his throat before speaking, keeping his tone as even as possible. “Hello, Joanna. This is a surprise.”

“You could say that.” Her right hand fell on the boy’s shoulder. Her face had paled—though he couldn’t say whether it was from leftover concern for her son, shock at seeing him or a combination. “What are you doing here?”

“He works here,” Simon piped up. “Does that mean it’s okay to talk to him?”

Adam saw her fingers tighten on her son’s shoulder before she replied. “Yes. It’s okay. But you’re still not allowed to come outside without my permission.”

The boy pointed. “There’s a tide pool on the other side of that big rock. Can I go look in it?”

Without taking her gaze from Adam, Joanna nodded. “Stay where I can see you.”

It shouldn’t be this hard to think of something to say to her. Though meaningless small talk would never be Adam’s strong suit, he’d gotten better at it during his three years working at the resort. He made it a personal rule not to get intimately involved with guests, so he avoided that awkwardness. Still, this wasn’t the first time in his life he’d unexpectedly run into a woman he’d slept with, and he was usually able to manage a few polite words. Apparently, none of those other women had affected him in quite the same way Joanna had.

He settled for the mundane. “How have you been, Joanna?”

She moistened her lips, visibly nervous. Was she still on edge because of her son’s early disappearance? He couldn’t imagine why running into Adam again would elicit such a dramatic response. They’d had nothing more than a few days of fun. Laughed, danced, walked, swam, enjoyed each other in bed a few times. A few damned good times. But thinking about that wasn’t making this encounter any less awkward.

“I’m—um.” She pushed her blowing hair out of her face, and he could see that her hand wasn’t quite steady.

Seeing him again wasn’t a happy surprise for her, apparently. Was she worried he would make things uncomfortable with her husband? Okay, he could understand that. How could he let her know that he was willing to pretend their fling never happened?

Giving her his most impersonal smile, he took another step back. “As your son told you, I’m on staff here, so if you or your family need anything at all during your stay, just let us know.”

Her gaze darted from him to the boy and back again. She moistened her lips again. “Thank you.”

She’d changed little in appearance, but something was definitely different about Joanna. The woman who’d drifted on occasion through his memories had been confident, animated, flirty. If there was, indeed, a husband waiting for her, he could understand why she wasn’t flirting now, but he couldn’t figure out why she seemed so stiff and nervous. The only explanation that made sense was that she was concerned he might interfere with her current relationship.

He made a sudden decision. “I’ve got a few vacation days built up.” More than a few, actually. Despite his employer’s encouragement, he hadn’t taken more than a handful of days off in the past three years. “I’m thinking about taking a week off. If I don’t run into you before I leave, it was nice seeing you again, Joanna.”

Though he’d have to scramble to make arrangements, maybe things would be easier for her. It was for a similar reason he’d slipped away after their long-ago weekend together, to save her—okay, to save them both—from awkward partings. At least this time he’d said goodbye.

He started to turn, but paused when Simon ran up to him again, another shell clutched in his hand. The boy gazed up at him eagerly, his steel-gray eyes squinting against the brightness of the rising sun. “Do you know what this one is?”

Man, there was just something about this kid’s eyes...

“That’s a banded tulip,” Adam said automatically. “Got a little chip out of it, but it’s still a nice shell for your collection.”

Simon repeated the name under his breath as if committing it to memory, then asked, “Will you help me look for a starfish?”

“Um—”

“It’s time for breakfast, Simon. We need to go back to the suite and get dressed for the day.”

The boy heaved a huge sigh but didn’t argue. Probably didn’t want to push his luck after sneaking out earlier. “Can we come back after breakfast?”

“Yes, we will.”

Simon held out both hands toward Adam, a shell displayed on each little palm. “Banded tulip. Lettered olive,” he recited slowly, nodding to each in turn. “Right?”

“Very good.”

“I still want to find a starfish. And a Scotch bonnet. My friend Liam found a Scotch bonnet once and I want to find one, too.”