Breaking point, p.4
Breaking Point, page 4
She lifted a couple of plates off the stack of bowls she’d brought. “Thought we could use these.”
“Just in time. This steak is done.” He pulled one of the steaks off the grill and laid it on a plate she held. “That one’s medium rare.”
She dipped her chin and balanced the plate as he laid the meat on it. “Your steak, I take it.”
“Yes, ma’am. Yours will be ready in a minute.” He took the empty plate from her. “Will you check on the potatoes in the microwave?”
“Will do.” She carried the other steak into the camper, laid it on the counter and opened the microwave. She gave each potato a gentle squeeze, careful not to burn her fingers. They broke open slightly, letting out steam. They were done. Removing the potatoes one at a time from the microwave, she laid them on his plate and carried it out to the table.
John was just taking her steak off the grill. He carried the plate to the table, moved a potato over to her plate then waved his hand. “I’m starved. Let’s eat.”
Collette opened the bowls. One contained a salad, the other the green beans. She spooned beans onto his plate. “Tell me when.”
“When,” he said after the first spoonful.
She laughed. “I take it you’re not a big fan.”
“Green beans aren’t my favorite.”
“You have a favorite vegetable?” She glanced up; the smile curling her lips made him smile back.
“Not really, unless you consider beer a vegetable.” He winked. “Are hops vegetables?”
“Grain,” she said, shaking her head. “Seriously, you have the eating habits of a teenaged boy.”
“I survive,” he argued, cutting a corner of his steak and popping it into his mouth. “And you sound like my mother.”
Her cheeks flushed pink. “Touché. It’s a habit I’ve honed over the past sixteen years.”
“Hope’s sixteen?” he asked and took another bite of steak.
Collette nodded. “Hard to believe, but yes.” She cut off a third of the steak. “There’s no way I can eat this massive amount.”
“Then save it for tomorrow,” he said.
“But you could have it for your lunch.”
He shook his head. “It’s yours.”
“Okay,” she said. “I’m not going to argue until I’ve tasted it.” She cut off a small bite-sized portion and popped it into her mouth. Her eyes widened, and then she closed them and moaned.
The sound made John’s groin tighten. “Good?”
After she swallowed, she opened her eyes and let out a long sigh. “Better than good. The guys aren’t playing to your ego. I don’t remember ever having a steak so tender and tasty.” She cut off another piece and popped it into her mouth.
“When was the last time you had a steak?” he asked, casually, though he really wanted to know.
She shrugged. “It’s been a while.” She scooped salad onto her plate and poured a small amount of dressing on it. “Are you against salad as well?”
“Actually, I love a good salad.” He reached for the bowl and dumped the contents onto his plate. “And you brought my favorite…ranch dressing.” He poured the dressing over the lettuce and tomatoes and dug in to prove he didn’t have the appetite of a kid. And he wasn’t lying. He liked salad and fresh green beans. He didn’t have the heart to tell her it was canned green beans he didn’t like. Or canned anything, for that matter. His parents had grown a lot of their own vegetables. Nothing was quite as good as fresh-picked produce.
After a couple of bites of his steak, he reached for his drink only to realize he didn’t have one. John pushed to his feet. “I’ve been a terrible host. Would you like something to drink? I have beer and water.”
She laughed. “I’d love a beer.”
“Good. That’s what I’m having, and I hate to drink alone.”
“Like you don’t like eating alone?” She winked. “I’m betting you eat and drink alone a lot, and you don’t mind it at all.”
“I didn’t say that,” he said as he climbed the steps into the camper and reappeared moments later, carrying two bottles of beer.
Collette sat with her lips pressed together. “Why did you ask me to have dinner with you?”
“I told you. I wanted the company.” He set one of the bottles on the table, twisted off the top of the other and handed it to her. “Okay, so I do like eating alone if the choice is eating alone or eating with my team. We get a lot of time together. It’s nice to have some peace and quiet at times, especially after a deployment where we live together twenty-four-seven. But then it’s nice to share a meal with someone else besides a bunch of guys who grunt, fart and belch at the table.”
She laughed out loud and held up her hand. “I promise not to grunt, fart or belch. At least not where you can hear it.”
He grinned. “Thank you. And you’re a whole lot prettier than those guys. That helps.”
Her cheeks turned a soft shade of pink. “You don’t have to say that.”
“No, I don’t. But it’s true.” He frowned. “You have to hear that a lot.”
She nodded. “Only from a bunch of drunk off-duty soldiers at the saloon where I work part time. It’s hard to take them seriously.”
“Sounds like the bar we hang out at.” John frowned. “Salty Dog?”
She nodded. “Now, you know my entire life. I have a teenaged daughter, and I wait tables at the Salty Dog.”
His frown deepened. “I don’t recall seeing you there.”
She looked away. “I only work on Friday and Saturday nights.”
“I’ve been there on Friday and Saturday nights.” His eyes narrowed. “But we’ve been deployed a bit lately.”
“That must be it. I’ve been working there the past six months. It’s the only place I can work part time and make enough in two days to keep up with the rent, food and gas.”
“What do you do the rest of the week?”
“Study like crazy and take tests.” She smiled. “I’m in nursing school. I gave up a fulltime job, a decent apartment and steak to go back to school.”
“That’s brave,” he said. “How’s Hope with the changes?”
Her smile softened. “She’s amazing. We’ve never had a lot but getting my nursing certification will allow me to make more money. I want to be able to help her more when she goes to college in two years. She said she’d even get a job to help out.” Collette grimaced. “Problem with that is that we only have the one vehicle, and I need it to get to school and work. I have another year and a half to complete. Doesn’t sound like much, but to a teenager, it’s a lifetime. She’s given up so much. I imagine it’s not easy saying she lives in trailer park.”
“There’s no shame to living in a trailer park,” John said. “I’m here. I don’t consider it beneath me.”
“We’re lucky. For the most part, the residents are good people. I was careful to make sure of that. My daughter is alone when I’m at school or work. I don’t like it, but we don’t have much choice. She spends some time studying at our church. It’s on the way home from her school. We’re not far from the church or the school. Hope can ride her bicycle to school, stop and study at the library or the church and stay there until I get out of school. Then she rides home so that we get here at the same time.”
John didn’t like the idea of the sixteen-year-old riding her bike alone. Drivers could be careless, and any young woman alone was a target for sexual predators. He didn’t voice that aloud. Collette had enough to worry about. “Where’s Hope’s father, if you don’t mind my asking?”
Collette’s lips pressed together. “I was still in high school when I got pregnant. He had just graduated and headed off to join the Army without telling me. When I notified him that I was pregnant…crickets. He didn’t respond. His friends said he knew but chose to ignore me.”
“Bastard,” John said. “You could’ve sued him for child support.”
“I figured if he didn’t want to acknowledge his daughter, he didn’t deserve any kind of visitation. I’d made the mistake of trusting him with protection. Apparently, the protection he’d provided was faulty. I wasn’t on the pill. My parents thought the only birth control a teenager needed was abstinence.” She snorted. “I should’ve listened to them. They thought so, too.”
“What about your parents? Couldn’t they help you while you go to school?”
She shook her head. “They kicked me out shortly after Hope was born, wanting me to learn my lesson. I finished high school by taking the GED and went right to work. I barely made enough to pay the daycare to watch my baby and buy diapers and formula. And then they died when Hope was three and didn’t leave me anything in their will.” She held up a hand. “Don’t go pitying me. Hope and I have had a good life. We chose to take a step down to get me through nursing school. It’s the only way I’ll be able to help her through college.”
“Can’t she get grants or loans?” John asked.
Collette nodded. “Yes, but I don’t want her to have a lot of debt when she graduates. It’s hard enough starting out in life without adding debt to your plate. I’ve been very careful not to use credit cards to get by. It’s tempting, but it’s also a slippery slope I don’t want to slide down.”
John knew he was pushing, but he couldn’t help it after seeing her bare shelves. “What about food assistance?”
Collette lifted her chin. “We’re not there yet. I pick up extra shifts at the Salty Dog when we’re running low on funds.” She stood. “I’d rather not talk about money.” She tipped her head toward the sky. “I’d rather enjoy the sunset.”
John took the hint. Collette had effectively shut him down. He pushed to his feet and carried their folding chairs to the end of the camper where they had a better view of the sunset through the live oak trees.
For a moment, Collette hesitated. “I should go in and crack my books.”
“Don’t let me keep you if you have a test tomorrow,” he insisted.
She gave a soft smile. “I’m lucky. No test until next Monday. I can afford to sit for a few minutes and breathe. I stayed a little after class to read through the next chapter, so I’m set for tomorrow’s lecture.” She eased into the chair and leaned back, staring out at the setting sun. “Wow. It seems like forever since I’ve watched the sunset like this. Most of the time, I’m driving home with the sun in my eyes, inside studying or just getting to work at the Salty Dog at this time of day.”
The puffy white clouds had morphed into different shades of pink, purple and blue as the orange orb dipped below the horizon and dusk settled over Killeen, Texas.
“You know all about me…” Collette spoke softly. “What about you? What do you do in the Army?”
He hesitated for only a moment. “I’m part of Special Forces.”
She glanced his way, her eyes widening. “Like Delta Force?”
He nodded. “Not like. We are Deltas.” John sipped his beer and stared out as the light faded from the sky.
“The guys I’ve met at the Salty Dog who are Deltas aren’t around much.”
“That’s us,” he said. “We deploy more than we stay home.”
“That doesn’t lend itself to a stable family life.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
“I take it you’re not married.” She chuckled. “Guess that should’ve been my first question.”
“I’m not.” He glanced over at her, trying to read into her expression. The diminishing light made that difficult.
Her smile was easy to see when her teeth flashed white in the dusk. “I guess if I were interested in a relationship, I would’ve found a way to ask that.”
Her words gave him a shock of disappointment. “You’re not interested in a relationship?”
She shook her head. “Not now. I have to remain focused. It’s hard going back to school when you’ve been out as long as I have. I had to quit high school when I was seventeen and finish by GED before Hope was born. That was a little more than sixteen years ago. I’ve forgotten so much about math and science. I had to take online courses to get some prerequisites out of the way before they would accept me into the program. Let me tell you…it was hard. I never was very good at math. I had to study my as—Well, you get the idea.” She grinned. “I have to study hard to get the grades I want. Nothing comes easy. That’s why I’m going to school fulltime and working parttime. I have just enough savings to help out with the rent until I get through this.”
“I’m impressed,” John said. And he was. “Your determination is to be admired.”
“Admire it when I’m successfully finished,” she said. “I’m not going to pat myself on the back until I’ve passed the final certification exam.”
“Have you always wanted to be a nurse?” John asked.
“No. But having a child made me more aware of my choices. The nurses who helped deliver Hope were amazing and so caring. I wanted to be like them. It’s just taken me a lot longer to get there while raising my daughter.” She paused. “And here we are talking about me again. I heard right that you’re not married and you don’t have a wife stashed away somewhere?”
He chuckled. “That’s right. I’m not, and I don’t. Satisfied?”
“Mildly.” Collette sipped her beer. “Why aren’t you?”
“Why aren’t I what?” He knew what she was asking, but he wanted to buy time to craft his answer.
She turned toward him, her eyes glowing in the light shining through his camper window. “Why aren’t you married? You’re good-looking, strong and have a sexy occupation. Why aren’t you married, engaged or dating some hot babe?”
“Did you pay attention to the part about being deployed a lot?” He leaned his head toward her. “And I’m sitting next to a hot babe, now. Does that count?”
“No, because I’m not interested in dating you or anyone else. But you should be dating instead of hanging out with the mother of a teenager.”
“You can’t be older than I am.”
“No?” She huffed. “Sometimes I feel really old.”
“How old are you?” He paused. “Oh, sorry. That’s a question a man should never ask.”
“I don’t mind. I’m thirty-six. Practically ancient to you youngsters.”
“Ha!” he said. “I’m older than you. I’m thirty-seven.”
“No way.” She stared across at him. “I would never have guessed. You’re well-preserved.”
He laughed out loud. “And you could be Hope’s sister, not her mother.”
“Now, who’s stroking whose ego?”
He tipped his beer up and downed the last bit. “Want another?”
“No, thank you,” she said. “I need to keep my wits about me until Hope gets home. I never know if Ryan’s truck will break down, if they’ll run off the road or hit a deer.”
“Has it happened before?”
“No, but it could.” She finished her beer and tipped her head back, staring up at the sky as the stars began to twinkle above. “Have you ever wondered where you’d be if you’d made different choices in life?”
“Sometimes.” John leaned back and stared up at the same stars, seeing an entirely different set of memories. “I don’t regret where I am today.”
“Oh, neither do I. I wouldn’t have had Hope if I’d made different choices when I was sixteen. I wouldn’t change that for anything. But I do wonder where I’d have been if I hadn’t fallen for the wrong guy when I was too young to be smart.”
“And are you smarter now?”
“I like to think I am,” she whispered.
“Is that why you’re against getting involved?”
“I’ve become very practical out of necessity.” She continued to stare up at the sky. “But sometimes, I want to be carefree.”
“Being a single parent is a lot of responsibility. Especially if you don’t have backup.”
“Exactly. Hope is getting to be more and more independent. But she’s not ready to fly on her own. And I’m not pushing her out of the nest anytime soon. She deserves to be a kid through high school.”
“Unlike you,” he said softly.
“Yeah, but that was a product of my poor choices.” Collette leaned forward. “And on that note, I should go to my trailer and get ready for a full day of class tomorrow. Hope should be getting home soon.”
As if on cue, a cellphone rang.
John glanced around for his. It was on the camp table where he’d left it, but it wasn’t lit up.
Collette dug in the pocket of her shorts and pulled out a battered cellphone with a cracked screen and a worn case and answered the call. “Ryan, are you two heading back?”
She paused to listen, her brow furrowing in the limited light. “Are you two okay? Do I need to call an ambulance or the police?” Again, she paused to listen. “Are you somewhere safe? Did they leave?” She nodded. “I’ll be there as soon as I can. Should only take me ten minutes. Go ahead and call your folks. Since I’m closer, I’ll be there sooner. And call me back. I want to be sure you’re still okay.” She ended the call, stood up and spun toward her trailer.
“What happened?” John asked, trotting to keep up with her.
“That bastard Sly ran Ryan off the road. They’re in a ditch not far from here.” She ran up into her trailer, grabbed her purse and came back out, closing and locking the door behind her.
“Let’s take my vehicle.”
“It’s my responsibility. You’ve already done enough for us,” she said, heading for her car.
As she reached for the doorhandle, he covered her hand with his. “I have a truck. If Ryan’s vehicle only needs to be dragged out of the ditch, I can do it with mine. Can you?”
She shook her head. “We’ll take yours.”
John cupped her elbow and led her toward his truck, helped her into the passenger seat and hurried around to the driver’s side. “Where are they?”
She gave him the directions and sat back, staring out at the road ahead as he pulled out of the trailer park. Collette sat stiff and tense. And she had every right to be. The woman loved her daughter and would do anything for her.
John admired her for her strength, determination and desire to be independent. But he was glad she wasn’t so stubborn that she wouldn’t let him help. She needed more help than he bet she’d be willing to accept. As long as he lived beside her, he’d do what he could. He’d just have to be careful not to get too involved. She’d said she wasn’t in the market for a relationship. Well, he wasn’t either. Not as long as he was a Delta Force Operator. But they could be friends—only some of his thoughts revolving around Collette weren’t thoughts a friend should be having. He’d have to rein those in, or he’d find himself in too deep, too quickly. Collette was a woman he could see himself watching more sunsets with for a very long time. He found that both disturbing and oddly comforting.
