Second Chance SEAL(12)

I also remembered writing to him. I remembered hearing nothing, even after a few letters. I stopped writing because I felt totally crazy. We barely knew each other. We had that one intense night of passion, but that was all. The phone call the next morning sounded like he wanted something more, but it didn’t matter. He disappeared to Syria, and that was that.

I did nothing wrong. I didn’t feel bad. But every time I heard something about the armed forces, I couldn’t help but remember Gates. At least up until I met Tony and we started dating.

But watching that commercial made me remember that weekend. Probably also since we were going to Lauren and Greg’s housewarming party, and Gates was Greg’s best friend. I hadn’t heard anything about Gates from them, and I didn’t ask. I figured if something happened, they’d tell me. No news was good news, and I’d rather not know anything else.

“Okay,” Tony said, emerging from the bedroom ten minutes later. “Let’s roll.”

I stood and we headed out of our apartment. We found where he parked his black Lexus and climbed in, heading out into New York traffic.

Lauren and Greg bought a house out in Connecticut, in the suburbs. It was actually really close to the city, but the traffic made the drive take forever. Lauren used the train to commute to work every day, and Greg worked at a local VFW. They were renting for a while, but when Lauren got pregnant she decided that they needed to get a house. As soon as that baby popped out, they bought, and the rest was history.

The drive ended up taking ten minutes longer than anticipated, which meant we were twenty minutes late. I was pretty pissed with Tony as we pulled up, but I tried not to let it show.

“Be nice in there,” I said to him as we walked up the front steps. “I know you don’t love these guys.”

“I’m always nice, babe,” he said, although I distinctly remembered him and Greg nearly getting in a drunken fist fight two months ago over some stupid sports argument.

Lauren answered the door, a big smile plastered on her face. “Sweetie!” she said, and we hugged. “Pipes, how long has it been?”

“Two weeks,” I said, laughing.

“God, really? Feels like forever.”

“I know, right.”

“Hi, Tony,” she said.

“Hey, beautiful girl. Lovely house.” Tony kissed her on the cheek.

“Come in, you two,” she said. She ushered us inside.

The place was a lovely little cape cod. Lauren had amazing taste, and so the whole place was this chic nautical theme, all reclaimed wood and boats and brass. She had a nice little spread for the guests, plus lots of beer. Tony disappeared almost immediately, drink in hand, and I let him go. I didn’t need him to hang around me all day.

“Come on,” Lauren said. “Wait until you see the back yard.”

“How’s it feel to own a house?”

“Weird,” she said. “It’s a lot of responsibility. And stress.”

I laughed. “I bet.”

“There’s so much that can go wrong. Houses are like basically silent killers.”

I laughed again as she led me out through the kitchen and back into the yard.

Lots of people were milling about, and I didn’t recognize most of them. Lauren and Greg were both very outgoing people, so they made a ton of friends easily. I worked too hard to make a lot of friends, so I didn’t know most of the people there that afternoon.

The back yard was beautiful, spacious and gorgeous. They had a little deck, and Greg was there near the grill, talking to some tall guy that had his back turned to me.

“Greg,” Lauren said. “Pipes is here.”

“Piper!” Greg turned to me. “Good to see you.”

That was when his tall friend turned toward me, and I felt like time stopped.

Gates smiled at me. I remembered that smile, that handsome as hell smile. It was just as cocky and confident as I remembered, but there was something else to him. There was a new scar along his chin and a heaviness to his eyes, like he was tired or something. In that instant, I suddenly knew that he was the same man that I remembered, but he had seen some things that had changed him. I didn’t know how I knew that, but it was there n his face.

“Hey, Piper,” Gates said.

“Piper, you remember Gates,” Greg said. “You two met at the wedding.”

“I remember,” I said. “Hi, Gates.”

He smirked at me, and I didn’t know what else to say. I wanted to ask him if he got my letters and why he disappeared. I wanted to know how long he’d been home and why he never looked me up. I had a million questions.

But in the end, he was just a one-night stand. He owed me nothing.