Don't Walk Away: A Second Chance Military Romance Read online

  “Thanks,” I murmured.

  “I didn’t mean to dredge up old shit. But you know me. I like comfortable. I like familiar. And this place has both of those things,” Milo said.

  I fixed my coffee the way I liked it, with plenty of sugar and just enough cream to tint the black, caffeinated water.

  “Well, I’m a chief petty officer now,” I said.

  “We know. Every time you get promoted, your mom comes in here to celebrate,” Milo said, grinning.

  “That shouldn’t shock me one bit.”

  “Does she know you’re in town?”

  I shook my head. “Nope. I’m gonna eat, then head to the hospital to surprise her.”

  “Did you even know you were coming into town before today?” he asked jokingly.

  “Ha. Ha. Ha. Yes. I knew… yesterday.”

  Milo threw his head back and laughed, and I joined him with a small chuckle of my own.

  “The boss man twisted your arm, I see,” he said.

  “Of sorts,” I said.

  “Well, I take it you want your original order. Lemme get back there and get started.”

  “Extra bacon. And butter.”

  “Coming right up for the lost boy who’s returned,” he said.

  The pancakes were delicious. A stack of five, dripping with butter and syrup. The entire top was covered in crumbled, extra-crispy bacon. And the slices of banana had been pan-fried to perfection. I wolfed them down like I hadn’t eaten in years. I swear to fuck, Milo could open his own place if he wanted to. These damn pancakes kept getting better and better every time I had them.

  I finished my plate, downed the entire carafe of coffee, then made my way to pay.

  “Now, you make sure to come back around and see me before you take off without telling anyone. All right?” Milo asked.

  I gave a half-hearted laugh. “Yeah. I will.”

  “Promise?”

  “If I promise, will you ring me up?”

  “Sure will,” he said.

  “Then I promise.”

  I settled my tab, and then Milo gave me one last hug. I knew people were still pissed about that. Pissed that I’d enlisted before graduation and left without a trace after I accepted my diploma. But I didn’t have a choice.

  No one understood that, but I really didn’t have a choice in the matter.

  “I’ll call ya a cab,” Milo said.

  “That’s not necessary. The hospital’s not too far from here, right?” I asked.

  “You’re not walking around in twenty-something degree temperatures. Stay here. I’ll get ya a cab.”

  “I appreciate it.”

  “No problem. Family’s gotta stick together.”

  His sentiment hit me to my core.

  I nodded as he picked up the phone and called me a cab. I walked outside, standing on the sidewalk with my bag in my hand. Ten minutes later, that same cab pulled around. Capetown was pretty small. The taxi drivers were basically independent contractors. The man smiled at me as I got in, then I told him I wanted to head to the hospital.

  And when we pulled into the parking lot, I looked up and sighed.

  “Here I come, Mom,” I murmured.

  Chapter 4

  Ashton

  “Ashton!”

  I whipped my head up from my paperwork at the sound of Lacey’s voice.

  “There you are. Hey. I need to speak with you for a second,” she said.

  I stood. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah. Everything’s okay. Kind of. Look, the auditing system for the hospital has changed, so I’m having to track down all of the people on record who haven’t taken any of their vacation this year.”

  She eyed me from beyond her glasses as they slid down her nose.

  “Lacey, I haven’t taken vacation because I haven’t even worked here a year,” I said.

  “Still, you have two paid weeks of leave for your first year of employment before that turned over into twenty paid days. You need to take your vacation time. The hospital will get in trouble this year if you don’t,” she said.

  “I don’t have a need for a vacation, though. Nowhere to go. No one to go with.”

  “Doesn’t stop the hospital from getting into trouble if you don’t take at least some of it.”

  “I don’t have to take all of it?” I asked.

  “I’m sure I could argue about your first year to the board if you didn’t take all of it. But you need to take at least a week of it,” she said.

  I sighed. “Okay. That’s fine. Then, um… I’ll take the rest of this week until next Tuesday. How does that sound?”

  “Perfect. I’ll take care of the paperwork for you since I already have your file out on my desk. In the meanti—”

  “Director Reed, you’re needed in the ER for an urgent matter. Director Reed, ER for an urgent matter.”

  The radio went off, and I watched Lacey furrow her brow. She beckoned for me to follow her, and I didn’t question it. The two of us jogged down the hallway, winding around the corners and bursting through doors. My mind ran through all the things that could have possibly happened. I hadn’t heard of any car pileups on the interstate. The power hadn’t gone out anywhere. Hell, it wasn’t even snowing yet, despite the pregnant clouds hovering over the hospital.

  Then, we got to the lobby.

  “What’s the urgent matter?” Lacey asked breathlessly.

  But all the nurse at the station did was point.

  We looked over and saw a man sitting in a chair in the corner. And in front of his face was a massive bouquet of flowers. Actually, they looked a lot like the bouquets we sold in the small hospital shop down the hallway. I looked over at Lacey and furrowed my brow. Her jaw dropped open as she slowly walked toward the man. Her eyes bulged, almost in recognition. I didn’t understand what was going on as the man stood from his chair.

  However, when he dropped those flowers, I did.

  “Rhett!” Lacey shrieked.

  I stood there, unwavering as Lacey ran into the arms of her son. The flowers dropped to the chair as he picked up his mother and swung her around, the flowers long forgotten about. My heart stopped in my chest. My eyes worked their way up and down Rhett’s body. He had changed from the tall, lanky boy in high school. He had filled out with muscle, and his dark brown hair was cropped closely to his head. I took a step back. I braced myself against the nurse’s station desk as I watched the two of them rejoice in his homecoming.

  I hadn’t seen that man in nine years.

  Ever since he abandoned me and broke my heart.

  “What are you doing here?” Lacey exclaimed.

  “Bringing you flowers, of course,” Rhett said.

  His voice had changed, too. It was low. Soothing. Softly commanding. It was nowhere near the voice I had remembered from high school. It was nowhere near the voice of the boy I had lost my virginity to as a young, confused, self-conscious sophomore.

  He looked outstanding.

  I shook the thought away from my head as my eyes fell onto Lacey. I watched her eyes fill with tears, and I felt as if I was intruding on something. An intimate moment between mother and son.

  “I’ll head on back upstairs,” I said.

  “Hey there, Ashton,” Rhett said.

  I nodded and put on my best smile before I turned my back and started quickly down the hallway.

  My stride turned into a jog, and my jog turned into a full-blown run. I took off toward the stairs, needing to work off some of my excess, pent-up energy. Anger. Shock. I took the stairs two by two, feeling my lungs heave for the cold air of the stairwell. I skyrocketed all the way up to the fifth floor, where our ICU patients were located. Those were the two floors I rotated between: ICU and Emergency. I got to the platform of the fifth floor and bent forward, heaving for air as my body shivered with the cold of the empty, secluded stairwell.

  I sat up and leaned against the wall. I put my hand over my heart and closed my eyes. I concentrated on steadying my br
eathing. On getting my body to come back down from its high. My mind raced. Memories assaulted my mind at a quick rate. Tears rushed my eyes. Tears I refused to cry for that boy any longer.

  No, not boy.

  Man.

  Rhett had turned into a man.

  I caught my breath and reached for the stairwell door. I swung it open and made my way for the bathroom to splash some water on my face. One palm full of water and then another. I did a third one just to be safe. The heat of the bathroom caused sweat to trickle down my neck. I looked up into the mirror at myself, at the water dripping down my face and the redness in my eyes with tears I refused to cry any longer. I finally caught my breath and felt my heart settle down.

  Then, I reached for some paper towels and began drying myself off.

  Out of all the things I had expected as Lacey and myself raced downstairs, that wasn’t one of them.

  Seeing Rhett for the first time in nine years certainly wasn’t one of them.

  Chapter 5

  Rhett

  I caught Ashton’s eyes for just a second, and I was reminded wholly and completely of her beauty. Those dazzling green eyes, like the tops of forest trees in the wilderness we enjoyed so much as kids. Long black hair that was even blacker than the dead of night. Even her lips hadn’t changed. Those plump, shining little pillows I’d pressed my lips against my junior and senior years of high school. But there was much about her that was different. And as she strode down the hallway, I caught sight of the woman she had grown into.

  The way she filled out her clothes.

  Her hips swayed effortlessly and her hair, sitting itself in a low ponytail, brushed against her strong shoulders. Her waist dipped and her thighs flared, lending a shape to her form that overshadowed the slightly plump young girl she had been in high school. Not that it mattered to me. I always enjoyed a little more substance to my women.

  But Ashton looked to have stored it in all the right places.

  “I cannot believe you’re here. What in the world are you doing here?” my mother asked.

  I watched Ashton practically sprint around the corner before I turned my eyes down to Mom.

  “Well, I’ve got a month off that was suggested I take, so here I am,” I said.

  “An entire month?”

  My mother squealed and threw her arms around me again as my chuckles filled the waiting room of the ER.

  “Yes, Mom. Four weeks of leave,” I said.

  “Well, this calls for a celebration. How about lunch at your favorite pizza place?” she asked.

  “I’ll never turn down Mike’s. But lunch isn’t for another couple of hours.”

  “Which is why you’re going to come up to my office and hang out with me until it’s time. Unless, of course, you want to go get settled in your hotel room or something.”

  She was fishing, and it made me grin. I looked down into the eyes of my hopeful mother, putting her on edge for just a second longer than needed.

  “Actually, I thought maybe I’d stay with you. Unless you’ve got—”

  “Of course you can stay with me! You know there’s always a room for you at home,” my mom said.

  She hugged me one last time for good measure, and it almost shocked me. My mother had always been tough, rougher around the edges more than most. She hadn’t been one to show lots of affection, especially in public.

  And then, it kicked in.

  “What is this haircut? It looks terrible on you. Let the sides grow out a bit, then I’ll take you to your original barber and let him have at it,” she said.

  I chuckled as I set my mother back down onto her feet.

  “Whatever you want,” I said.

  “Do you have enough clothes in that duffle bag for a month? Because I love you, but you’re a grown man. You can do your own laundry. The only thing I’m doing is sending you with money to buy clothes,” she said.

  “Well, would you believe it if I said I had my own money to do that with, as well?”

  My mother swatted my arm. “You won’t take that type of sarcastic tone with me. You might be grown—and home—but I’m still your mother.”

  She looked up at me with a stern look before both of our faces slowly morphed into giant smiles.

  “I missed you, too, Mom,” I said.

  “You really should come home more,” she said breathlessly.

  I followed my mother up to her office, and we sat and talked. Mostly about trivial things. I wanted to let enough time pass before I brought up the question I was yearning to ask. The one thing that had been on my mind since I’d seen her at my mother’s side.

  “I didn’t know Ashton was working as a nurse,” I said.

  “Mhm. It’s what she went to school for out in New York,” my mother said.

  “Really? I mean, it’s obvious. I just didn’t know.”

  “Well, you haven’t asked much about this place since you’ve been gone. Doesn’t shock me that you’re not up-to-date on some of the changes,” she said.

  “Mom.”

  “What? It’s the truth. You can sometimes, but you don’t ask about how people are. So, I don’t offer it up. I’m too busy trying to figure out how you are and when I can come see you next.”

  “I heard the underhanded jab.”

  “Good. Because it was there,” she said, grinning.

  “How long has she been working here?” I asked.

  My mother looked up from her paperwork and gave me a coy smile.

  “Don’t do that,” I said.

  “Why are you so curious?” my mother asked.

  “I just saw her downstairs. It took me by surprise, seeing her. All I want to know is how she’s doing.”

  “Well, if that’s what you want to know, then I’m not sure how to answer you.”

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “Do you not watch the news at all?” she asked.

  I furrowed my brow. “Why?”

  My mother shook her head. “Nothing. Just… she came back after a rough case at the hospital she was working at, and I gave her a job. She’s been here almost a year.”

  “What happened?”

  “Look, if you want to know, just ask her. She’s upstairs on the ICU floor today.”

  I held up my hands. “I’m good. Sorry.”

  My mother laughed. “You really are something, you know that?”

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Nothing at all. So, you ready to go get that pizza?”

  “It’s only been an hour,” I said.

  “Well, I’m starving. I didn’t have breakfast. If you want, we could stop by the house and drop your things off.”

  “Actually, give me twenty minutes. I’m going to head to the bathroom and drop in on someone.”

  My mother grinned. “Uh-huh. Why don’t you just meet me at the pizza place? I’ll save you a seat. Or two.”

  I shot my mother a look. “Don’t do that.”

  “What? I’m not doing anything. I just know you better than you know yourself. Despite the fact that you’ve been gone for nine years.”

  “Mom.”

  “Rhett.”

  I chuckled as I stood from my seat.

  In all honesty, it didn’t sound like a bad idea to go see Ashton. The suggestion my mother made tumbled around in my mind for a little while, and I figured if there was another hour to kill—and Mom could stand to be without pizza for that long—I could have a chance to speak with her.

  With Ashton.

  I left my mother’s office, leaving my duffle bag behind at her insistence. I made my way for the ICU floor and got off the elevator, my eyes scanning the nurses’ station for Ashton. I stood in the waiting room, watching to see if she’d come around a corner. I walked down some of the hallways I was permitted to go down, and I almost gave up on my search.

  Until I turned around and saw her standing there.

  She looked at me for a split second before she backtracked. She whipped around a corner, and I ran down the hallway, try
ing to catch up with her. I watched a door open and close quickly, and I jogged up to it. The word Janitor was written on the outside of it on a plaque, and I heard soft breathing coming from behind the door.

  So, I stood outside the door, knowing that she’d have to come out at some point.

  Chapter 6

  Ashton

  I stood there, trying to draw in soft breaths through my mouth instead of pant, like my body wanted to. What the hell was he doing up here? Was he trying to track me down or something? I stood in the janitor’s closet, clutching a file to my chest. I had to get this file back. I couldn’t just stay in here until he left. And I knew Rhett better than that. I knew he wouldn’t go the fuck away until I came out. Until he got whatever it was he wanted.

  Just like high school.

  I leaned against the shelving of the janitorial closet and caught my breath. I closed my eyes and opened the file in front of me, going over the contents of it one last time. I did anything I could to buy me some time as my eyes looked at the looming shadow from underneath the door. The shadow didn’t waver. It fell over the entire door, hovering there, like an animal waiting for its prey to give up.

  I closed the folder after looking over the contents and knew what I could use to get out of this encounter with him. Medication for this patient. Technically, the patient didn’t need anything. But if I made it sound urgent enough, maybe he’d go back to talking with Lacey and leave me alone.

  Like I wanted him to.

  I reached for the doorknob and twisted it open. The door popped my way, and I drew in a deep breath. I swung it open fully and stepped into the shadow that loomed over the door, then looked into the hazel eyes I’d fallen in love with back in high school.

  And I found Rhett smiling from ear to ear.

  “Hello there, Ashton,” he said.

  “Hi,” I said.

  “I didn’t get a chance to ask you how you were doing.”

  “That’s fine, because I have a patient that really needs treatment,” I said.

  I held up the file and stepped to the side. But in perfect Rhett fashion, he followed my steps. Blocking me off from the hallway.