It had taken longer than Tank had expected, especially with them having to visit each bakery again, but eventually they’d arrived at her office with what he considered to be a million papers.
She’d talked about pre-contracts and whatnot, things he certainly never had heard of, but still helped to carry or take care of.
She was beaming, the smile not once faltering, although Tank was sure the hardest parts weren’t the food. If he remembered right, there was something about decorating the entire venue, and that had him worried—until he suddenly bumped into Evy.
The papers he was carrying scattered to the ground and he bent to retrieve them. “What the hell, woman?” he muttered.
“Language,” Evy scolded him and he looked up, wanting to say something when he spotted a lot of legs on his eye level. Glancing up further, he found Tessa standing in front of a group of people.
“We’ve been waiting for you.” She smiled softly. “The doorman let us in.”
Tank stood, all papers back in his hands, and looked at the group. There were maybe fifteen men and women of all ages, ethnicities, and life paths.
“I can tell,” Evy stated quietly and Tank walked around the almost mute girl toward his best friend’s fiancé.
“Is that your mob to kill her?” he asked casually, being glad when Tessa shot him an angry glare. He could deal with that, teasing her and any other woman, not being emotional or the serious one.
Tessa cleared her throat and turned her eyes to her best friend while he walked over to Evy’s office and found it locked. He shouldn’t have been surprised, but was anyway.
“Keys?” he asked.
“In my pocket,” Evy replied, her voice still incredulous.
“Want me to get it myself or will you come over here, hand it over, put your papers away and talk to those people?” he asked and it finally propelled Evy into movement.
She did as he’d suggested and then turned to her best friend while Tank strolled over to the window to stare outside—while keeping his attention on the things happening behind him.
“Evangeline Jackson, here are people who are either event planners or were ready to help out with whatever for various reasons. Some will insist on payment, but others are—”
“I’m not old enough to sit at home and do nothing, and your pretty friend here asked over her radio show if someone would be willing to help out as a volunteer for the event. Here I am.”
Tank turned at the voice. It sounded raspy and used, old, and the woman who’d stepped forward matched that. She was smaller than Tessa and Evy, twice as big as either of the girls, and wore a beaming smile. Her face was wrinkly, her lips covered in bright pink lipstick, and her hair was as white as Evy’s blouse.
Tank liked the woman instantly.
Evy thought for a moment. “Can you draw and write pretty?”
The woman arched a brow. “Yes to writing. And… draw? As in humans and things like that?”
Evy shook her head. “As in twirls and straight lines.”
“Darling, I twirl whatever you need me to twirl,” the woman announced and Evy laughed.
“Okay. I need you for the seating cards and everything. Although, you clearly can read if you can write.”
“Sure can, ma’am.”
“Let’s print the cards. It’s faster,” Tessa interrupted.
“Much more expensive and less personal. I want it written.” Evy tapped her chin. “So, tomorrow at ten here again? I’ll be having a contract here then and you can start with putting down how people answered the invitations. Jot your name down here.”
She vanished in her office and came back with a clipboard, handing it to the woman while someone else stepped up, saying they could help.
Tank watched as Tessa broke away from the group, joining his side.
“Making that appeal during your show is a mighty fine gesture,” he muttered, nudging her with his hip.
Tessa shrugged. “After talking to the head of the base at six this morning, I panicked. Like seriously and completely because I worried what it would mean for Evy, all the late nights, the worries, the pressure, the impossibility of the situation. Plus… I want to help, I want her to succeed, and it’s the least I could do. Seventeen people aren’t nearly enough to make this work, but it’s a start. I don’t know if we can manage, and I have a feeling the last week will be hell, but I don’t want her to go back home. I want to keep her around.” She paused for a moment while they both watched Ev before Tank glanced at Tessa again.
She’d changed so much from the first time he’d seen her; her face was more serious now, less girly, more womanly, and yet he saw all the laughter lines around her eyes. Although she looked worried, her brows furrowed, there was also a quiet confidence about her she hadn’t possessed before those first three weeks with Jazz.
“I worried about something—namely us—being wrong, being off when she came here because, well, she avoided me. Then I told myself it was because starting new in a different country is hell. I remember how it was once I was out of the hospital. You know, after Johnny’s birth.”
He nodded. “I remember. I felt—”
She touched his arm briefly. “I know. But it wasn’t your job to look after me, Tank. And you did great in the time after Jazz returned. Anyway.”
He wasn’t the least bit surprised she wanted to change the topic so fast. Neither of them liked to remember Jazz’s dark phase after his return.
“But now I realize she felt guilty for being here purely because her boss assumed she’d talk to her famous contacts.” She put air-quotes around the word famous, even if it was true. She was a small celebrity in their community, and her name constantly went from mouth to mouth, spreading like a wildfire.
Tagged for Life, a radio show about soldiers, romance, and heartache was a major success.
Tessa couldn’t care less though, and he wouldn’t lie, it impressed him.
“She shouldn’t have felt like that. I wish she would’ve just talked to me right away. Back home even. We’d have had a little more time…”
He arched a brow. “Would you have been more ready to help her?”
Tessa shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. After the initial shock, maybe I’d have realized it didn’t matter because she’s my best friend and I’d do anything for her.”
“I’m still sorry about last night,” he admitted. After he’d gone to bed he’d spent the hours before he had to get up tossing and turning, realizing exactly what it would mean for Tessa and Jazz if this failed.
Jazz could lose all the respect he’d taken years to earn, and with the internet connecting the entire world, no one would ever forget how the station Tessa worked at had embarrassed the Army.
“I’m not. I was mad, and yes, a lot is at stake, but I’d rather know I tried everything for my best friend than working at the station forever. She needs to be here, Tank. Back home she’d never get away from Ian. Like… never. And imagine her having to go back… He might even kick her out for having failed a clear assignment.”
Tank crossed his arms in front of his chest to not punch something. “One that was nearly impossible to begin with.”
Tessa laughed, this time bumping him with her hip. “It no longer is. We’ll do our damnedest to make it work, so stop worrying.” She sobered then. “Thank you for telling me.”
“Say that to your fiancé,” Tank replied and Tessa promised him she would.
* * *
Her feet were hurting and she wished she had a bigger office instead of the tiny space she now stood in. She didn’t think all of the people who’d shown were a good match for the project, but some seemed promising.
Evy stood behind her desk, staring at the list of names, not really seeing it. She had no idea how late it was, but she was ready to drop. She also needed to call Hilary and see how Leila had been doing.
It was the first day she’d been without her daughter for more than twelve hours, and she missed the girl dearly, lifting her mood a little. Maybe she wasn’t such a bad mother after all.
“It’s half past ten,” a voice from the door announced and Evy looked up, surprised to find Tank still there.
“You’re not home yet?” she asked and he came strolling in, leaning against her desk, making her recall his earlier promise about him taking her on her desk.
God, she wanted it, but…
“You’re dead on your feet, Ev, I’m giving you a rain check on the office desk sex,” he teased and she blushed.
“I didn’t say anything,” she replied, pushing some papers from one side of the table to the other.
“Your lips parted and your eyes darkened. I know exactly what you’re thinking about, but you are trembling. And I assume it’s from exhaustion. Come on, I’ll take you home because your car is still at the base, remember?”
No, she didn’t remember, and wasn’t really surprised. Her head was one big mess of numbers and names, possibilities and impossibilities.
He took her hand and she went willingly because she couldn’t imagine anything better than sitting down in his truck. She leaned into him when he locked her door, wrapping one arm around her, then she replicated the gesture, letting him pull her to the elevator. The wait for the doors seemed endless, even though the insurance company beneath her floor probably stopped working hours ago.
“Thank you,” she muttered, her head still resting on his shoulder.
“Well, I promised I’d be there and I am. Plus, someone has to stop you when you won’t do it yourself, and your best friend has a family waiting at home, so I’m doing stand-in when she can’t do it.”
She hummed in appreciation, too tired to say any words, and too comfortable to formulate any coherent thoughts at all.
Once they reached his car, she shivered while he unlocked the doors, and he grabbed a jacket from his backseat, wrapping it around her. She cuddled into it, kicking off her shoes before drawing up her feet to the seat.
“You’ll fall asleep on me,” Tank chuckled, his voice quiet as he got behind the wheel.
“It’s a long drive,” she replied, ending her words in a yawn.
He laughed softly. “Hardly thirty minutes. But go ahead. I got you,” he promised. She nodded, knowing that. Maybe she should reply, but when he turned on the heating and a soft rock song, she couldn’t muster the strength.
Next thing she knew he nudged her and she looked around, confused.
“You were out like a light,” he whispered, standing in the passenger side door. Behind him Hilary stood like a dark shadow.
“This is like bad deja-vu,” her friend announced.
“Not really,” Tank replied. “Evy and I aren’t a couple pretending we can stop seeing each other whenever.”
“Jazz brought her back asleep when Johnny had bad nights. By then they were pretending he wasn’t going to relapse into darkness,” Hilary pointed out.
“He still did,” Ev finally said, feeling as if she needed to say something while Tank grabbed her shoes. “I feel drunk.” And it was true. She felt as if the ground was going to give in and the world was tilting. Also, she could barely keep her eyes open.
Tank didn’t hesitate long, picking her up before she’d done more than take two steps. He carried her inside and she didn’t mind at all.
“Leila?” Evy asked.
“Asleep since three hours ago,” Hilary replied gently. She could hear her friend following them up the stairs and she grinned to herself.
“Don’t look so smug. She’s not the first warden I have to fight off to get to the maiden,” Tank whispered.
“I heard that. At least you didn’t say dragon,” Hilary fussed.
“Yeah, you’re too close and would still get me if you spit fire,” he chuckled and then winced. Evy assumed Hilary had punched him in the back.
“You are going to thank me one day when you realize I haven’t let you mess up with her,” Hilary stated and Evy finally forced her eyes open.
“Mess up with me?” she asked, wondering what the hell this was about.
“Ignore her, fair maiden, the dragon has inhaled too much smoke.” Tank put her down on her own feet, dropping her heels onto the carpet. “You’ll be fine from here on, right?”
She dropped onto the bed, reaching for the pajamas that lay underneath her pillow. She was sure she could still pull the shirt over at least.
“I’ll be fine,” she promised, nodding. There was something she should probably ask him, but she couldn’t remember when she undid the first button of her blouse.
“Good night.”
He left and Hilary stepped closer, kissing her forehead. “Sleep tight. I’ll come and check on you in ten minutes, okay?”
Evy nodded, or maybe she just wanted to. Opening her blouse took all her attention, and once she had gotten rid of that and the bra, she pulled over her sleeping shirt, stood to kick off her skirt and then was asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
* * *
“I’ll pick her up tomorrow at eight. I know she has a shit ton to do, but I have a feeling she needs the rest,” Tank said the moment Hilary came down the stairs. The brunette looked at him with a mix of anger and pride.
“If she’s anything like her best friend, she probably hasn’t slept properly since hearing she was going to the US.”
Tank considered that for a moment and then nodded. It was a rather high probability, especially with the way she’d worried about telling Tessa.
“All the better to get let her get some sleep then. So, how much is the station paying you for watching Johnny?”
Hilary squinted at him. “Why?”
He shrugged. “Because in order for Ev to make this and not worry about her daughter, or feel irrationally guilty, I need you to please watch Leila, too, and I want to pay you for that. You’re working for her, technically, and…” He wasn’t the best with words. All he wanted was for Hilary to tell him how much so he could bring the first payment over tomorrow morning.
“What’s it to you if I watch her or not? If I get paid for it or not?”
She nodded her head at the sofa and he realized she wasn’t going to let him get away that easily.
“It’s my fault things are currently the way they are. There’s a high chance Evy would be able to stay here even if this event doesn’t work out. I know she wouldn’t have wanted to use Tessa’s connections, but I was thinking about it last night and realized if Tessa had called her boss out publicly, or threatened to do so, Ian would’ve left her here either way.”
Hilary grinned. “I was thinking the same.”
He wasn’t surprised, but figured telling her that sometimes she was a lot more like him than she liked wouldn’t earn him any favors.
“So I overreacted and feel as if I owe her.”
Hilary leaned back on the sofa, no longer looking at him. “I’m calling bullshit,” she stated.
“And why’s that?”
He saw a smug smile spreading on her lips. “Because I just saw the way you handled her, the way you looked at her. You just want to make sure she’s as happy as possible, and knowing I’m watching her daughter will ease her mind considerably.”
“Her happiness is not my concern,” he replied evenly, even though his heart cracked because it was true.
There’d been moments that day when he’d been almost sure Evy would be ready to give him a chance, but then her face had shut down again as if she’d suddenly remembered whom she’d been talking to.
“You want it to be your concern. What the hell happened to not being pussy-whipped? And to not get emotional because of a pussy? And—”
“I remember what I said about Tessa, okay?” he snapped, standing. He needed to get out.
“What happened to not falling in love, Tank?”
The sincerity in her voice stopped him in the hallway, and he turned back to her. “I guess Jazz was right. You don’t plan that shit. However, good girls don’t go for guys like me,” he reminded her, knowing he’d pretty much confirmed her guess.
It was true, too. What girl in her right mind would ever go for someone like him?
“Guys like you?” Hilary echoed. “Guys who are nice and there when you need them?”
He shook his head. “The man-whores who sleep around. The guys who fuck a different girl every night. Dudes who could not make a good thing work even if they tried.”
Hilary stood. “I don’t think that’s your type. However, I can tell you women don’t go for people too afraid to take a risk and go for what they want. You know, the losers, the chicken shits, the wussies, the cowards, the—”
He raised his hand to stop her. “I got it, okay? But you’re wrong. There’s nothing I could go for because she is…”
Hilary suddenly stepped close to him, pushing him to the door.
“What the hell?”
She shrugged. “I don’t need cowards in my house. You know what you feel for her, and you know what you want, you just cannot admit it even to yourself, can you? Stay away from her if you don’t plan on being in it fully.”
He twisted although she was still pushing at him. “It’s she who’s the problem!” he insisted, but Hilary finally had him in front of the door.
“You don’t know that because you haven’t told her you want more. Maybe she surprises you. Maybe you’ll surprise yourself.”
She closed the door.
“You know nothing, house dragon. It’s not a fucking love story!” he called, but there was no reaction, although he belatedly worried he could’ve woken someone else inside the house.
He waited for a few minutes, his heart racing in his chest while he entertained the idea of telling her, of asking Ev for a serious chance.
Just as fast as he’d allowed himself that thought he dismissed it again.
Romance novels never happened in real life, and no one knew that better than he.