A wry smile curved his mouth. “It is. Took me a while to be comfortable admitting that, but here we are.” He cut a slice of cheese, then nudged the plate toward her. “So, you get what you need from the military?”
“I do.” She helped herself to creamy cheddar flecked with chives, so good she had to close her eyes and let out a moan. When she opened them again, Kieran’s gaze was riveted on her mouth.
She dabbed her lips with her napkin. “As horrible as it was working in a combat zone, the experience bonded us. No matter what happens, the people I served with will always be my family.”
“And will that still be true if you leave the military?”
“I guess. But I’d feel like I’m letting them down.” She ripped off another hunk of bread. “Brothers and sisters in arms, and all that.”
Kieran’s almost-too-big-to-be-real hand gave her wrist a gentle squeeze. “You know, there were a lot of veterans in my therapy group. That camaraderie you speak of doesn’t go away just because they no longer wear a uniform.”
“That’s good to hear.” Pretty much anything he wanted to say in that musical Irish accent was good to hear, and she fought to focus on his actual words.
With perfectly awful timing, her phone buzzed with an incoming message.
She gave him a sheepish grin. “Sorry, this might be work.”
“No problem.” With an easy smile, he rose and cleared away the dishes, closely tailed by Snoot. Kieran cut a sliver of cheese and held it up for Addy’s permission.
Why not? Her buddy had been good as gold throughout their meal and deserved a treat.
While Kieran washed up and Snoot snapped up the cheese, Addy checked her phone. Ugh.
Not from work, but from her cousin Caitlynn. If not for her mom’s ill health, she’d have silenced the family group chat long ago.
Listen, Miss Snootypants, your mama needs you. Quit being selfish. Grow up and pay her back for everything she’s done for you.
Addy’s face flushed.Everything she’s done for me? That’s a laugh.
From the first time she’d expressed an interest in college, her mother’s sparse support shriveled into pursed-mouth disproval and snide comments about putting on airs. When Addy announced her acceptance into the Army’s Health Professions Scholarship Program, you’d think she’d shit on the grave of every ancestor in Smithsville’s Blessed Acres Cemetery.
The Connor clan simply could not conceive of a life worth living beyond shouting distance of each other’s backyards. Never mind the good Addy did with her surgical skills. Never mind the money she dutifully sent home to support her mother, though she suspected much of it ended up in her siblings’ wallets.
“Joining the Army?” Mama had spat out as Addy packed for Officer Basic Military Training. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. You’re just running away from your responsibilities. I don’t see why you can’t find a nice man and settle down right here. Guess blood means nothing to you.”
Blood—hah! Addy had seen more blood than her sheltered family could imagine. She’d saved countless lives, but that didn’t matter to any of them because their tiny town was the center of the freakin’ universe.
With a disgusted tsk, she pocketed her phone.
Kieran returned with steaming mugs of tea that smelled like spice and apples. “Bad news?”
“Family stuff. It can wait.”
“Good.” He sat on the bench and scooted a little closer. “So, you’ve listed the pros of staying in the military. What about the cons?”
Addy winced and squirmed in her seat. “Listen, I…”
Kieran raised his palms. “It’s none of my business, Doc, but you know what they say about ripping off the Band-aid.” He nudged her arm. “Whatever you share tonight doesn’t leave this room.”
Funny how a lighthouse keeper made a better therapist than the highly qualified psychologist assigned to her case.
She extended her pinkie. “You swear?”
“On everything that’s good and holy.” He hooked his little finger through hers, lifted her hand to his mouth, and brushed his soft lips across her knuckles.
Flushed with pleasure from head to toe, she cleared her throat to wipe the wobble from her voice, reminding herself she’d come to Trappers Cove to figure out her life, not to bed an extremely hot Irishman.
“The downside is war. After two tours in a combat zone, they probably won’t deploy me again, but you never know. And that experience was—” Her skin pebbled into goosebumps. “Horrible. Terrifying. The hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
