Page 32 of Healing Home

That was her biggest regret. Not telling Lincoln how much she cared about him. The man was a true hero, never asking anyone for anything, but constantly putting his life on the line for people he didn’t know and who didn’t care about him. She should have told him she loved him.

Or would that have made everything just awkward? They’d had such a nice couple of days. Would those words have ruined what they’d shared? Because she had no idea what he felt. Maybe he was glad to have been deployed. Now he didn’t have to extricate himself and do the awkward goodbye at the end of the contract.

Hell, she didn’t know.

When Mary called her that next morning, asking her if as he was okay, tears started in her eyes again. Mary was an amazing woman and now that BB had felt the pain of Lincoln leaving, she had so much more respect for her.

“Yes. I’m fine. Just packing up my stuff. How’s Justin taking the team’s deployment?”

“I’m about to sedate his ass,” Mary said, danger on her voice. “He’s being a total bear.”

“I’m sorry I asked.”

“Not your fault, sweetie. He’ll calm down eventually. Are you ok? I know I asked once, but I thought you might need a comforting ear.”

BB breathed through her pain. “I guess I didn’t realize how hard it is to watch them walk away. I mean, what Link and I had can’t compare to your marriage, but I felt like we had a real connection. It’s hard to cut that short.”

Mary sighed on the other end. “I thought you had a beautiful connection, and I hope you’ll think about coming down again.”

“I will,” she promised. “Take care of your family, Mary. I’ll drop Lincoln’s key by your house before I leave.”

“Don’t worry about it. Keep it. You know, just in case.”

BB didn’t think she would need it, but after she’d cleaned everything she could and she was walking out the door, after everything was locked she dropped the key into her purse.

Just in case.

* * *

The hostage situationin Afghanistan dragged on for days, then a week.

BB returned to her life and got back into her work rhythm, but she made time to watch the news every day, something she never used to do. There was too much political negativity on the airwaves anymore. She preferred her goofy Sonya world.

But it was like an addiction. She watched the assaults that were made on the Taliban kidnappers and the failed attempts at peace talks. And she kept a tally of the Americans killed. None of them appeared to be Navy SEALs, but she wasn’t even sure if they would announce that if they were.

If anything happened to Link she would hope that Mary would let her know. Assuming she was told.

Carolina called her a couple of weeks after she’d returned home. BB didn’t really want to talk to her, but she’d already avoided one of her calls. She answered.

“Hey, Carolina.”

“Finally!” Her sister said. “Where the heck have you been?”

BB grimaced, hating being scolded. “I’ve been here, working. Why?”

“Because I wanted to check on you. When I called you after you got back from Coronado, you said you were fine, but you’ve basically disappeared. No one has talked to you or seen you since you’ve been back. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said, feeling guilty. “I’m just… I got a little connected to the guy, is all. He’s in Afghanistan right now.”

“No way,” Carolina breathed. “He was a SEAL, right? Is he on that hostage thing?”

“Yes,” BB said, voice low. “At least I think so. He had to leave suddenly.”

“I’m so sorry, honey. I had no idea. Now I feel like a schmuck, sending you down there.”

“No, don’t feel bad. I really did enjoy my time and he did as well.”

There was rustling on the other end of the line and tapping keys. “Well, I want you to know that the woman that hired our company left you a glowing review.”