to come up with a better approach. But despite her shock, he still knew this was the right decision.
He’d even asked his pastor for advice. They’d spent two hours searching Scripture for direction.
Time and again they’d landed in the book of James and the command to care for the orphans and widows.
He could care for her and help her.
Marrying her was the best way he knew to do it.
And if he’d been in love with her since they were sixteen, well, he wouldn’t let that get in the way of being the friend she needed, the friend Aaron would expect him to be.
Focusing on Kristi, he narrowed his gaze and dropped his voice. “It makes sense.”
She blinked rapidly, a motion he knew well. She was fighting the tears that threatened to spill. He guessed they came pretty regularly nowadays.
But she didn’t say no. So he plowed forward.
“Look, I know it’s strange. But Aaron was practically my brother. I’d do anything for him. Which means I’d do anything for you and Cody.” Zach rubbed his head. “If we get married, you’ll be taken care of. You’ll have the navy’s best insurance. You’ll have a place to live in San Diego, close to some of the best pediatric transplant surgeons in the country.”
“But we haven’t spent any time together since high school.”
They’d all spent every summer together when they were kids, but Zach had joined the navy right out of high school and hadn’t been back to Montana in years. She probably remembered him as a shy, gangly tenth grader.
He wasn’t that kid anymore.
Just as he was formulating his case, she shook her head firmly. “I can’t. I’m not ready to be married to someone else. It’s only been a year.”
Fifteen months to be exact, but he wouldn’t argue the point. She wasn’t ready to share her life with another man. Maybe she never would be. But that wasn’t what he was offering.
“I have a three-bedroom town house. There’s more than enough room for you and Cody to each have your own. And...and my team is being deployed.”
“Deployed? Where?”
He shook his head. She might as well get used to it. He didn’t talk about where his SEAL team served. Ever.
But her frown said that wasn’t acceptable. “When?”
“In about four weeks. For a year.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re suggesting I leave everything and everyone I know and move to San Diego. But you’re not going to be there.”
He stood, towering over her, but she didn’t step back.
“I know it’s not ideal, but I don’t have a better suggestion.” He rubbed the back of his neck as he hung his head. “I want to help. And all I’m asking in return is that you trust me.”
“And how long will I be in San Diego?”
“As long as you and Cody need it.” He shrugged. “You have a home there for as long as it takes.”
“What about after?”
He mouthed the word after and twisted the towel in his hands until the fibers strained. After Cody’s surgery? After she didn’t need him anymore? He had no answers, but still a strong conviction that this was what he was supposed to do.
“We’ll figure it out.”
“Momma?”
Her gaze swung to the kitchen entry, and Zach followed it a second behind. The little boy looked smaller than his five years, practically skin and bones, his face dominated by his dad’s big green eyes.
“What are you doing out of bed?” Reaching out a hand to him, she said, “Come here, little man.” He ran to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, tucking his face into her side as she sifted her fingers through his sandy-blond hair.
Before she could make introductions, he squatted in front of them. Eye level with the boy, Zach held out his hand. “You must be Cody. I’m Zach. I’ve heard a lot of great things about you. Your dad talked about you all the time.”
For an instant Cody’s lips trembled. “You knew my daddy?”
Zach’s eyes burned. “He was my very best friend and the best man I knew.”
A sniff from above drew Zach’s attention, and he looked up in time to see Kristi wiping her face.
“All right.”
Was that a yes to his proposal—botched though it may have been?
She seemed to read his question on his face and nodded slowly. “Bud, how would you like to live by the ocean?”
Thirteen months later
Kristi Tanner had been an idiot.
There was no other word for it.
What on earth had possessed her to marry a man she barely knew and to move into an unfamiliar neighborhood? She still didn’t feel safe here, even after more than a year. Though that sense of danger mostly stemmed from the brown sedan that had been parked across the street from her town house on and off for two weeks. It didn’t seem to belong to a single one of her neighbors.
She gave it another hard look as the vehicle pulled past for the hundredth time.
She couldn’t be the only one in the neighborhood who noticed the strange drive-bys or felt like someone was watching her unload groceries and pull weeds.
Maybe that was all part of life in a big city. Maybe she should have expected the weight of a hundred eyes on her. Only it hadn’t started until a few weeks ago. Right after the scene at her office.
She shook her head. She didn’t have time today to think about the odd shiver down her back or that silly car. Not when she was expected at the base.
When Zach had shipped out, a year had seemed so long. He’d been gone, and she and Cody had built their life in San Diego. Doctor’s appointments. A new job. Cody’s homeschooling. Birthdays and holidays. They’d made the most of them all, every day grieving their loss a little less.
But now Zach was coming back—coming home.
To her home.
“What time do they get in?”
Cody sagged in the backseat, but his smile couldn’t be denied. Despite his pale lips and sallow skin, his eyes danced with anticipation. And Kristi couldn’t deny him his joy at the prospect of seeing his longtime pen pal.
Not
