Chapter Six
Malena
“I told them not to worry about Mom’s birthday, that I would plan it all myself,” Leif splutters on the other end of the phone. “It’s not my fault you’re the only person who plans parties in this small ass town.”
I smile, thinking about the phone call with his sister that turned into an inquisition. The second I called Leif to give him information on beach venues for his mother’s birthday party, I recognized his voice straight away. After chastising him for not telling me it was him the first time he called, and then giving him the information, we ended up talking long into the night. About everything—including my father, what it was like to grow up in a small town, and my hopes for the future. We chatted about almost as much as I talked to Eva about.
“You told them about me. That was your first mistake,” I finally counter, joking but not letting him know that. “The rules remember?”
“I wasn’t breaking any,” he says, breathing heavily. “I accidentally mentioned you when she asked about the venue.”
“And? There has to be more to it than that. She wanted to know my life’s history, Leif. She asked me if my period was regular,” I reply. I’m pretty sure she was joking, but I answered honestly because she caught me off guard. “Come on now. What did you really tell her?”
The breathing on the other end of the line intensifies, an animal caught in a perfectly laid trap. “They know what’s inside my mind. Eva knows me as well as I know myself. I didn’t have to tell her anything else. I merely said your name and she attacked.”
I laugh. “Come on, Leif. I’m not giving up. Tell me,” I order, checking my watch. I’m on a break at the General Store, sitting in the dimly lit backroom, echoing my voice. The other workers take breaks with each other. I’m the odd man out and have to eat my packed lunch in a dungeon hole without another person in sight. I like the peace. I like it even more now that I have Leif to talk to. “Why did she want to know how many exes I had? Questions aimed in the dating department.”
He groans. “I might have mentioned that we were…friends. Eva took it from there and it’s snowballed into her planning our wedding and naming the nonexistent children. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. Eva is relentless in her pursuit to match me up with someone. And to have kids of her own. It rubs off on everyone around her.”
This got a lot more serious in the span of thirty seconds. He’s basically admitting to having feelings for me. To his family. Sisters. People who mean something to him. He’s also simultaneously telling me this isn’t going past the dating phase.
“You can breathe easy, Leif. I don’t care about talking to Eva. She was nice enough. I honestly thought you’d be upset because we were breaking some dumb rule. Sure, she was asking more questions than I have to answer on my yearly physical form, but it’s because she cares about you.” A novel idea to me, a woman without siblings. My cousin lives a few towns over. I don’t see her near enough, but she’s always been the closest thing I’ll ever have to a sister. She’s busy with her life and I’m busy with mine, but I know she’ll make time for me if I need her.
“No. You don’t know Eva. She doesn’t care about me, she wants to own me.”
Tilting my head back, I let a giggle slip. Shaking my head, I reply, “You’re being such a dude. It was a little weird. I’m over it already. You scared me when you called today. By the sound of your voice, I would have guessed someone died.” I swallow hard and try to mask my unease by taking a bite of my sandwich. “Which would be an occurrence in your daily life, wouldn’t it?” I ask when my mouth is empty. It’s a hard thing to wrap my brain around. The whole SEAL career and all that it entails. He’s given me details here and there when I ask pointed questions about Hell Week and the breakdown of where all the different Teams are around the country. He promptly shuts down the conversation when I ask specific questions about missions and things I’ve seen on the news. Top secret Leif gives nothing away.
“Not daily,” he fires back. “More than it should. It happens more than I want it to. Though things are slower than they were at the start of the war. It’s dying down. No pun in intended,” he replies, clearing his throat.
I take another bite and chew slowly, digesting this information. “Is dying down a good thing?” I edge. “Safer for you? Safer for our world?”
The scratch of his five o’clock shadow rubs against the phone. “Yeah. Yeah,” he says. “It would make me sort of twisted if I admitted I enjoy war, right?”
“Yes,” I say.
“I definitely don’t enjoy it then.”
I slurp the rest of my drink. “But you do enjoy it.”
“I never said that.”
“You do,” I reply.
“I’m happy here. In Bronze Bay. Not deployed.”
“Hmm,” I grumble into the phone. “Yeah?”
“With you.”
My face flushes and my stomach flips the contents like a roller coaster. The tone of his voice pierces my thick skin—silently filling me with something I never dreamed possible. Hope. I ball up my napkin until it can’t get any smaller. Leif stays silent, waiting for a response. “I have to get back to work,” I whisper.
“Can you come over tonight?” Leif asks. “We could watch the sunset, drink beers. Or wine, if you think that’s a more acceptable date.”
I laugh, and my stomach sinks. “I can’t. The night nurse isn’t around and I can’t ask the daytime one, she’s been there all day while I’m here.”
After a beat or two, Leif asks me how much I pay the nurses, and I tell him. He asks me a few other questions about my finances. I have no reason to lie to him or feel ashamed. His sister knows when I’m having my monthly, surely my income and bills aren’t that taboo to talk about. Leif has told me he’s really good with numbers and he wants to help me. For whatever reason, maybe because help isn’t something that’s offered to me very often, I accept willingly.
“Last question,” he asks, voice hesitant. “I had Celia look into a few facilities in our area. Don’t get upset. I just asked her very casually. She’s a nurse and knows a lot of people.”
