apartment was dark with the drapes pulled, but he didn’t have the energy to walk across the room and open them.
It wouldn’t be like this if he had a wife, who’d be able to look after him while he felt so weak. This wasn’t the first time that thought had occurred to Adam. He’d never intended to be a thirty-two-year-old bachelor.
Adam sank into his favorite chair and winced at the pain that shot down his arm. Leaning his head back against the cushion, he closed his eyes and envisioned what his life would be like if he was married. A wife would be fussing over him now, acting concerned and looking for ways to make him comfortable. Granted, if comfort was all he wanted, he could pay for it. A wife—well, having a wife meant companionship and sharing things. Like a bed…It also involved that frightening word, love.
If he was married now, she’d be asking how he felt and bringing him tea and caring about him. The fantasy filled his mind and he found himself smiling. What he needed was the right woman. His track record in that department left a great deal to be desired.
He’d started out fine. When he graduated from college he’d been engaged, but while he was in Officer Candidate School, Melanie had a sudden change of heart. Actually, she still wanted to get married, just not to him. The tearful scene in which she confessed that she’d fallen in love with someone else wasn’t a memory he wanted to reminisce over, especially now. Suffice it to say, his ego had taken a major beating. In the long run, though, Melanie wasn’t that great a loss. If she had a roving eye this early in their relationship, it didn’t bode well for the lengthy separations a Navy career would demand of their marriage.
The thing was, Adam wanted children. One of his proudest moments was when Peter had asked him to be Jazmine’s godfather. He took his duties seriously and loved that little girl, and he’d felt especially protective of her since his friend’s death. He hadn’t heard from her in a while and wondered how she was doing after the recent move to San Diego. He’d have to get in touch with her soon.
Adam had envied Peter his marriage. He’d never seen two people more in love with each other or better suited. They were about as perfect a match as possible. Adam suspected that fact had been a detriment to him in his own quest for a relationship. He kept looking for a woman as well suited to him as Ali had been to his friend. If such a woman existed, Adam hadn’t found her, and he’d about given up. It wasn’t Ali he wanted, but a woman who was his equal in all the ways Ali had been Peter’s. A woman with brains and courage and heart. At this stage he’d take two out of three. Ali had brought out the best in Peter; she’d made a good man better.
A sense of sadness came over him as he thought about Peter. Adam had a couple of younger brothers, Sam and Doug, and the three of them were close, but Peter and Adam had been even closer. They’d met in OCS, Officer Candidate School, kept in contact afterward and later were stationed together in Italy. During weekend holidays, Peter and Ali had him over for countless dinners. The three of them had sat on their balcony in the Italian countryside drinking wine and talking well into the night. Those were some of the happiest memories of his life.
Then Peter had been killed. Adam had been a witness to the accident that claimed his best friend’s life. He still had nightmares about it and experienced the same rush of horror, anger, frustration he’d felt at the time. He’d gone with the Casualty Assistance Counseling Officer to tell Ali that her husband was dead. In his heart, he’d promised Peter that he’d look out for both Ali and Jazz but the Navy hadn’t made it easy.
Ali was currently stationed at the hospital in San Diego and he was in Everett. He phoned at least once a month to check up on them and Jazmine called him every now and then when she needed to talk. He always enjoyed their conversations. Peter would be proud of both the women in his life, he mused. Jazmine was a great kid and Ali was a wonderful mother.
Adam noticed the blinking light on his answering machine. He knew there were more messages than he had the patience or endurance to deal with just yet. He’d leave it until morning when he had a fresh supply of energy.
He sighed. He wasn’t used to feeling like this—despondent and weary. Coming home to an empty apartment underlined a truth he didn’t want to acknowledge. Lieutenant Commander Adam Kennedy was lonely.
He stared blankly across the room, half toying with the notion of a romantic relationship with Ali. It didn’t take him more than a second to realize it wouldn’t work. He loved Ali—like a sister. Try as he might, he couldn’t seem to view her as a marriage prospect. She was his best friend’s widow, a woman he admired, a woman he thought of as family.
Yet…he wanted what she’d had, what she and Peter had shared, and the deep contentment their marriage had brought them.
By morning, he would’ve forgotten all these yearnings, he told himself. He’d lived alone so long now that he should certainly be accustomed to his own company. When he was at sea, it was a different story, since he was constantly surrounded by others. As a Supply Officer he was normally stationed aboard the Benjamin Franklin. Unfortunately the Franklin was currently headed toward the Persian Gulf. Until his shoulder healed, he’d be twiddling his thumbs behind some desk and hating it.
After a while Adam felt better. His head had stopped spinning and the ache in his shoulder wasn’t quite as intense. It would be easy to close his eyes and sleep but if he slept now, he’d spend the whole night staring at the ceiling.
A wife.
It was something to consider. Maybe he should resume his efforts to meet someone, with marriage in mind. The time was right. His parents wanted more grandchildren and he was certainly willing to do his part. According to Ali, he was an excellent candidate for a husband and father. She’d tried any number of times to fix him up, but nothing had ever come of her match-making efforts.
A wife.
He relaxed and smiled. He was ready. All he needed now was the woman.
Chapter Four
Lieutenant Commander Alison Karas had been assigned as senior medical officer aboard the USS Woodrow Wilson. As much as she wanted to be with Jazmine and as difficult as it had been to leave her daughter with Shana, Ali was determined to fulfill her duty to the Navy. During her twelve-year career, she’d never been stationed aboard a ship. Before Jazmine was born, she’d done everything in her limited power to get such an assignment, but it hadn’t happened.
So far, she’d served in a number of military hospitals. And now, when she least wanted sea duty, that was exactly what she got. Still, she loved the Navy with the same intensity her husband had.
Her quarters were shared with another woman officer. There hadn’t been time to exchange more than a brief greeting before they’d each begun their respective assignments. The crew was preparing to set out to sea. Within a couple of days, the jets would fly in from Naval air stations all over the country. It was standard procedure for the F-14s to link up with the aircraft carrier.
Unlikely though it was, she hoped for an opportunity to watch, since the pilots’ precision and skill were so impressive. Pilots were a special breed, as she well knew. Peter had wanted to fly jets from the time he was in grade school, according to his mother.
She smiled sadly at the thought of her husband. The pain of his loss remained sharp and—as always—Ali hoped he hadn’t suffered. There must have been a moment of sheer terror when he realized he wouldn’t be able to recover. She tried not to think of that.
Trite as it sounded, she’d learned that life does go on. It hadn’t seemed
