Her Loyal Seal(17)

“I owe you my life,” he said taking the Styrofoam cup.

“I think you have that turned around.” There was a hint of a smile in Beth’s eyes that he was happy to see.

“Wanna tell me how you have been doing? Last I heard you and Lydia were doing some on-line education courses.”

“Lydia’s getting depressed. If we’d stayed in Mexico, Lydia would have finished her Masters by now. She had a job lined up and everything.”

Clint couldn’t help but feel a little bit of tension ease. He definitely supported Lydia taking a job in law enforcement but the Federal Ministerial Police had neon bulls-eyes on their backs. If he had his way, somehow he would figure out a way they didn’t have to go into Witness Protection and she could take a job with the police near him in San Diego.

“Lydia won’t talk about why she chose that line of work. Every time I ask, she just clams up.”

Beth cocked her head and raised an eyebrow.

“Clams up, means she just doesn’t say anything, she shuts her mouth,” Clint explained.

“Ahhh. Sometimes I don’t understand the American idioms. Before Papa got a good job at the accounting firm, we lived in a not so good part of Mexico City. We had neighbors, Angela and Herman. They were a young married couple who were gunned down walking home from the corner market. Angela was our babysitter. She was pregnant. He’d been questioned by the policia about another shooting. He hadn’t said anything, but because they’d seen him talking the gangs killed him.”

Clint could see how that would have convinced Lydia to commit herself to a career in law enforcement.

“Clint, have you checked into a hotel? You need to get some sleep.”

“I’m just going to sleep here tonight.”

“Mama said they gave her medication to sleep through the night. She’s not going to wake up. You need to take care of yourself.” He gave the young woman a half smile.

“Feeling a little more confident these days, are you?”

“With a few people. I still can’t stand to be touched by a man. It breaks Papa’s heart when I flinch away from him.”

“Are you–”

“Yes. I already told you, am going to see the counselor. Both Lydia and I have talked to her.” He looked from Beth down to where Lydia was lying in the bed.

“I’m glad.”

“Don’t be, it’s not helping. Have you ever been to counseling?” Beth’s chin jutted out, but her voice trembled. He wished he could take her into his arms and tell her it would be all right.

“Yes. There was a mission that went bad and it was mandatory.”

“Did it help?”

Clint looked into her big black eyes and saw the doubt and hope.

“I didn’t think so when I was going but now that I look back on it? Yeah. Yeah, I think it did help.” Beth bit her lip.

“I’ve got to go. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Thanks for the coffee.”

She nodded, letting her dark hair cover her face and left.

He settled back in his seat while taking another sip of his coffee. It hadn’t gotten any better since the last time he had been here. At least it wouldn’t affect his ability to get to sleep. It was one of the first things he had learned in the military, how to sleep no matter the circumstances.



****



So tired. It felt like every one of her bones weighed fifty pounds. Even her fingers felt like they were made of lead. Damn, they’d drugged her again. She hated when they did that. It was always for her own good.

You need your rest, Lydia. It’s the best medicine.

If she needed to rest, wouldn’t she just go to sleep? She tried to shake her head to clear the fuzziness and that was when she saw him. Her heart tumbled over in her chest. Didn’t it always when she saw this beautiful man?

Oh yeah, she’d seen him right as the drugs were taking affect. What had she said? She’d told him he needed to leave. That he didn’t really know the real her. Lydia blushed. She’d always been a terrible liar. Clint had called her on it.

She traced the angles of his face with her eyes. He looked as tired as she felt. She reached across the white expanse of sheet, wishing she could hold his hand. Even that much effort wore her out, and she was fighting to keep her eyes open. At least the last thing she would see before she drifted off would be Clint Archer. Maybe she would dream of him.



****



The first thing Lydia noticed when she woke up was she felt better. She could feel the sunlight streaming in through the window and falling onto her face. She waited and then she heard it. Birds singing. She let out a sigh. It was going to be a better day. Then she grinned and turned her head and looked at the man sitting next to her.