“Oh, no. Not me. You go on ahead. I won’t take up any more of your time. Nice meeting you.” This wasn’t for him. He had no clue how to talk to a teen, no desire to learn. As for being some kind of role model to these kids, that was a joke. What Maria had tried to do for him, he understood, but there was no way a bunch of gangly, pimply faced boys could help him fight his demons. He was outta here.
Which was why, two hours later—after a game of pickup basketball, a tour of the facilities, and answering a dozen questions from the kids—he was surprised to find himself agreeing to return. It was the despair in Maria’s eyes when he’d tried to leave that had done him in.
It was the light in the kids’ eyes when they found out he was Mr. Bayne’s friend that had made it impossible to say no when they’d asked if he’d come play with them again. Later, as he listened while they’d shared their memories of Tennessee, the strangest thing happened. His. Damn. Heart. Didn’t hurt as much as it had before he’d followed Maria inside. These adolescents—naive in their belief he was a hero just like their friend had been—needed him.
Shit.
They’d held a ceremony for Mr. Bayne after they were told he had died. They had showed Jake the tree they’d planted in Tennessee’s memory. Jake had lost it then. Embarrassed, he’d tried to leave. Again.
Rudy scrambled after him. “Mr. Buchanan, none of us has much. We come here ’cause we got no reason to stay home.”
Jake stilled, not wanting to listen but unable not to. He turned and faced the kid. “And?”
“And . . . these kids,” the boy shifted his gaze to take in the group huddled together, watching them. “Well, coming here keeps them off the street. If they weren’t here, they would be standing on some street corner selling drugs.”
The little conniver was speaking perfect English now. Amused in spite of himself, Jake raised a brow. “Your point is?”
The boy lifted his chin in a gesture of pride, one of the best Jake had ever witnessed. “My point is, sir, I know where I’m going. Most of them don’t. Mr. Bayne was helping them, but he’s gone now. What are you going to do about that?”
Buying time to answer, he said, “Satisfy my curiosity, Rudy. Exactly where are you going?”
“I’m going to be a SEAL, just like Mr. Bayne. You have a problem with that, sir?”
Jake searched for the right thing to say. This kid didn’t have a clue what it took to be a SEAL, but who was he to steal a dream? “Can’t say I have a problem with it. Just not sure what you want from me.”
The boy stared at his shuffling feet. “Thing is, sir, I don’t know how to swim. Mr. Bayne was going to teach me, but now he can’t. Will you?”
Double shit. “What’re you doing Saturday after next, kid?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
It’s like deja vu all over again,” Maria grumbled.
Logan smirked. “I think Yogi Berra beat you to that one, brat.”
“Whatever. Where is he?”
“Who, Yogi Berra?”
She glared at her brother. “Don’t be stupid, Logan.” The question was getting old. Jake had disappeared, again, without a word. Not one word, note, text, or call. Should she be worried? When she’d dropped him off after going to the boys’ club, he hadn’t invited her in, claiming he needed to make some calls. Thinking he just wanted some time alone, she hadn’t pushed him. Logan smirked in a way that said he knew things she didn’t. Gah, she just hated that.
“I already told you, he’s doing something for me.”
“What? I know you wouldn’t send him on an operation without telling me.” She narrowed her eyes. “Would you?”
Leaning against the doorway to her office, his arms crossed over his chest, he gave her a loud, manly sigh. “No, and he wouldn’t take off on one without telling you.”
Well, she knew that, or was pretty sure she did. “So why all the secrecy?”
“Give it a rest, Maria. He’ll be here in time for your date Saturday night. Insisted he had to be back by then.”
That was encouraging, but it still didn’t give her a clue where he’d gone. “Go away. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”
When he laughed and turned to walk away, she threw a pen at his back. She’d settled into a routine of work during the day and helping with baby Evan and Regan at night, trying to give her brother and sister-in-law some alone time.