Page 3 of Light on Love
He stops, his hand on the door. “If I had to guess, I can give you twenty-four hours before they start to pinpoint you here. If we take any more time than that, it would probably be pointless to try and send you.”
She is stilled by the frankness of the captain’s response, but he stands waiting at the door. Laurel wills her head to nod, apparently the signal he was needing because he opens the door and him and Harrison disappear through it.
Ray steps around and places a hand on her arm. “I know this isn’t what you signed up for. I’m sorry, but I really think Hayes is your best option. I can guarantee he’d keep you safe.”
With the captain gone, Laurel doesn’t try to hide her emotions now. A sob escapes her as she begins to tremble. “Ray, can you please hand me the trashcan.”
He does as she asks and gets it to her just in time as the nausea finally pushes her over the edge, becoming physically ill. Ray rubs her back reassuringly as she heaves into the trashcan.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be alone tonight. I can come help you pack, and we can send you tonight.”
“I haven’t decided if I’m going yet,” Laurel says, still leaned over herself. She wipes at her watery eyes and sits up, taking a shaky breath. “I’m okay now, thank you, Ray. I just need to go home and think, I’ll be fine.”
She can tell from the hard lines of Ray’s face that he doesn’t believe her, but he agrees none the less. “I’ll be back in the morning to see what you decide. Call me in the meantime with anything. Okay?”
Laurel turns and gives him a tight smile. “Okay,” she manages. Satisfied, he leaves as well.
2
She purses her lips as she walks to her olive-green Bronco. Of course she was terrified, she was just told she had a target on her. But Laurel didn’t want to be a fragile girl, the sweet little thing they all viewed her as. It was hard enough to often be the only female in the meetings day to day. Would taking the protection offer solidify everyone’s opinion of her?
She takes a step into the parking lot when a figure comes around a car and stops in her path. Laurel jumps in response before realizing its Harrison. She lays her hand across her chest and takes a deep breath. “You can’t sneak up on me right now,” she huffs at him.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. I was headed to my car and saw you, I just wanted to check in. Are you okay?”
A laugh escapes her. “Well okay is a relative term right now. But yeah, I’m okay.”
“What did you decide to do?”
“Honestly, I haven’t decided.”
“Look, you and I work with the same guys around here. I know you are used to the tough, war fighter mentality. But Hayes, he’s different. He’s like… a killing machine. Anemotionless super solider. I just don’t think he’ll care enough to make you feel safe there.”
Laurel shivers, offput by Harrison’s tone. She’s confused by his urgency as well. It’s like he needs to convince her to stay.
“Ray speaks so highly of him though. I don’t think he would want to send me if this guy won’t take care of me.”
Harrison seems genuinely angry now. “I’m not sure why you trust his word as gospel either. Do what you want. Leave a protected naval base, it’s your funeral.”
He marches off, leaving Laurel stunned for the second time today. She collects her wits enough to reach her Bronco and hurries to exit the lot and put distance between herself and all of this.
Today calls for the long way home, she decides, driving down along the coast. Things were always clearer to her when surrounded by the peacefulness of nature, but watching the lazy roll of the waves along the road did nothing for her this time.How is this happening, she repeats internally for most of the drive.
By the time Laurel nears home, she’s frustrated that she hasn’t made more progress on this decision. Laurel aches to be able to tell someone. And while she appreciated her friendships, what she really needed was to talk it through with her brothers.
As if she had willed them to appear, Laurel parks in front of her townhome to find her brothers, Stephen and Charlie, lounging on her front porch. A surge of relief passes through her at the sight of them, quickly followed by suspicion.
While Laurel was short and slender, her brothers were tall and wiry. Stephen unfolds himself from a club chair, pushing his sunglasses up onto his sandy, mousse laden hair, and walks down the path to meet her. Charlie remains in his chair, giving a lazy salute with a grin on his face that reaches his eyes. Her and Charlie have the same hazel green eyes, their sharp nosesand wide grins mirror each other as well.While it’s easy to see that all three are siblings, Laurel and Charlie could almost pass as twins.
“What are you guys doing here?” she questions as she steps out onto the drive.
“What, can’t we come down from Massachusetts just because?” Stephen offers with a hug. She hugs him back, holding tighter, comforted by his presence.
“But seriously. It’s odd,” she says, muffled by the embrace.
Charlie calls from his seat, “we’re headed to Georgia for an impromptu golf outing with dad for work. He’s flying but we thought we’d make it a road trip. He wanted us to stop and see if you could join.”
Laurel moves to him on the porch, again wishing she could tell them what’s going on. “What mom’s not going?” she scoffs. Their mother has made it clear she prefers cocktails at the club over family time. Their father may be a shrewd businessman, but he always makes time for his children. So much so, it made up for their mother’s distance.