Alice nearly flips her shit when I tell her that I have a date with Mia Hayes.

I smile to myself, my truck idling in her driveway. She told me to wait for her in the truck while she finished getting ready because her father is asleep. It was a little strange but I didn’t feel like asking any personal questions right off the bat. I haven’t been on a date in a long time, and I’m maybe a little fucking rusty.

Alice though, she nearly freaked. Couldn’t believe I was actually going out with someone. She acted like the heavens opened up and an angel took a crap on her kitchen floor. She immediately agreed to watch Noah, said she’d watch him for as long as I need with that stupid wink she does.

I doubt it’ll come to that, but I quickly change my mind as soon as I see Mia come walking down her front walkway toward me.

The girl is fucking gorgeous. Tight dark jeans and a top unbuttoned just enough to show off her perfect fucking breasts. She knows exactly what she has and she’s teasing me with it, which only makes me that much more excited. I get out of my truck and walk around the passenger side, opening the door for her.

“What a gentleman,” she says, laughing.

“What can I say? I’m a very complicated person.”

She laughs again as I get back into the driver’s seat. I pull out and head over toward The Bunker.

“So, can I ask something maybe a little personal?” I say, glancing at her.

“My father has Alzheimer’s,” she says right away. “I assume you’re wondering why I had you wait in the car.”

I grin a little sheepish. “Yeah. Sorry if that’s rude.”

“No, it’s totally fine. He doesn’t do great with new people sometimes, so I figure it would be easier that way.”

I nod, watching the road. “I understand that. You live with your mom?”

“No,” she says. “Just me and my dad. Mom died a few years ago.”

“Damn. Sorry to hear it. Your mom was a nice person.”

“Yeah, she was.”

“So you take care of him?” I ask, a little surprised.

“With the help of some nurses. I have one there now.”

“You’re a good daughter,” I say, genuinely impressed.

“Maybe,” she says, and I can tell she doesn’t want to keep talking about it.

I change the subject to The Bunker’s long and storied history, but in the back of my mind I can’t help but keep thinking about how impressive this girl keeps turning out to be. She takes care of her sick father and is apparently too modest to really talk about it. I know she’s a smart girl, and I bet she could have gone to college.

But here she is, working at a nature preserve and taking care of her sick father. If that’s not a good fucking person, I don’t know what is.

We get to The Bunker and park out front. It’s not too crowded, which is surprising. It’s an old school diner with retro fifties styling, probably because it was built in the fifties and never upgraded. The place looks a little rundown, a little beat up, but that’s part of its charm.

There’s an old broken crane game and a cigarette machine in the waiting room. We head inside and the hostess seats us pretty much right away in a booth in the middle of the place. To our left is the counter and further down, toward the back of the building, is a bar. Some of the old regulars are sitting back there, probably a few deep already.

“So, what’s good here?” I ask Mia.

She smiles at me. “Everything.”

“I know,” I say. “I get the same damn thing every time.”

“What’s that?”

“Cheeseburger, medium, extra fries well done, and a milkshake.”

She laughs, shaking her head. “Are you serious? That sounds like what a little kid would order.”

“What are you going to get then, Miss Sophisticated?”

“I think I’ll get a Caesar salad.”

I groan. “Come on. This is on me. Go nuts.”

She laughs. “I’m just kidding, like I’m a dainty girl getting a salad. No, I’m having the double grilled cheese and tomato soup.”

“That’s better,” I say, grinning huge.

The waitress comes over a minute later and we put in our order, plus I ask for a couple beers. She comes back with the drinks right away and we toast. I know Mia is technically underage, but I don’t really give a shit and neither does The Bunker.

“So, Lucas,” she says after we’re done toasting. “I told you something personal earlier, about my dad. Now it’s your turn.”

I lean back, smirking at her. “Okay then. You ready for this?”

She nods, leaning toward me. “Give it to me.”

“I have a son. He’s eleven months old.”

She stares at me for a second, clearly a little surprised. I’m worried that I’ve fucked shit up already by telling her so soon, but it’s better to get that sort of thing out right away.

“You’re a father,” she says, smiling a little. “Do you have pictures?”

I grin at her. “Of course. What kind of father would I be if I didn’t?” I pull up my phone and opens the photos app. “Go ahead and scroll, it’s all pictures of Noah and flowers for the shop.”

She starts scrolling, making the usual noises about how cute he is, but this time I actually believe her. She gets to one picture of him with his diaper on his head, crying his eyes out, and she laughs loudly. “This is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” she says, hanging me the phone back.

“Thanks. He’s pretty great.”

“So, uh, can I ask about the mother?”

“She’s not in the picture,” I say. “She split after he was born. I left the service to come home and take care of Noah.”

“Really?” she asks, watching me seriously. “That’s a huge step.”

“I know,” I say. “But he’s my son. What else could I do?”

“A lot of things,” she says. “But most of them are pretty shitty.”

I smirk at her and shrug. “Guess that makes me a great guy.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself. It just makes you okay.”

I laugh and she grins back at me. I like that she’s giving me shit. Most people fawn all over me because I’m a fucking veteran that came home to take care of my kid, but that doesn’t seem to impress her so much. I like that a lot about her. I’m sick of people pretending like I’m some hero or some shit when they don’t know what I did overseas at all. I could have been digging shit trenches for hours a day, or I could have been some horrible killer. I wasn’t either of those things, but people don’t know, and it’s refreshing not to have to deal with some frustrating hero worship.

I’m just a regular guy. I don’t see myself as a hero. And the shit over there, it’s hard to deal with sometimes. I don’t feel like a hero and I don’t want to be thanked.

“It must have been difficult,” she says. “Coming home and taking care of a baby.”

“You’re not kidding. But I have my stepmom, Alice.”

“That’s pretty great. A lot of people might bail.”

I nod, really thankful for Alice. “You’re right. She’s pretty amazing.”

Just then, the waitress returns with our food. She places it down in front of us and we toast again before digging in.

The girl actually eats, and I really fucking like that. Sometimes women pick at their food, not wanting to look like they’re humans who actually want to eat and enjoy food, but not Mia. She digs right in, just like I do, and I appreciate that about her. We go silent for a few minutes as we both enjoy our food. After I’m halfway done, I lean back in my seat and sip my beer.

“Alright,” I say to her. “We’ve established how great I am.” She gives me a look but I continue. “Let’s talk some about you.”

“What about me?”

“You stayed home to help your dad.”

She nods. “Yeah, that’s right. Someone had to do it.”

“Does your sister come by often?”

“Not really,” she admits. “Linda helps financially, but she’s all the way out in California. It’s impossible for her to visit too often.”

I nod but don’t say anything. It seems like a pretty fucked up thing to do for an older sister to let her younger sister bear this burden, but it’s not my place to say that or to judge.

“That’s good,” I say. “I know the distance can be hard sometimes.”

“Yeah,” she says softly. “Sucks worse when all your friends leave town for college.”

“All of them?” I ask, leaning toward her. “Not many people escape this town.”

“No, not all of them,” she admits. “But enough of them.”

“Lucky kids. You ever think about leaving?”

“One day maybe,” she says. “I want to travel. Or at least live in a big city, you know? Someplace where everyone doesn’t know my business.”

“Where you can be anonymous,” I say. “I get that. Part of why I joined up.”

“Yeah, you felt anonymous there?”

“I was a cog in the machine, serving my country. But that can get old pretty fast.”

“Maybe,” she says, shrugging. “Right now though, it’d be great. But I don’t think I’ll ever really leave. I love my job too much.”

“The nature preserve,” I say. “So you’re a big hippie, huh?”

She laughs a little. “No, not at all. I didn’t even know I cared about nature and stuff until I got the job, honestly.”

“But that’s good, you have a passion. It’s attractive.”

She raises an eyebrow, blushing a little. “How’s it attractive?”

“Loving something that much, caring about it, having a passion. That’s sexy in a person.”

“Well, thanks, I guess,” she says, glancing down. “You can be a little forward, you know that?”

I laugh, shrugging. “What can I say? When I see something I like, I don’t mess around with it.”

She’s about to say something, but her words are lost as someone steps up to the end of our booth. I assume it’s the waitress, but when I look over, my stomach drops.

Dylan Carter, the younger of the two brothers, is standing there and grinning at Mia like an idiot. He’s of average height, pretty stocky, with little beady eyes and a big forehead. The guy looks like all he does is drink protein shakes, work out, and torture small animals.

“What’re you doin’ here?” he asks Mia.

She blinks at him. “Uh, hey, Dylan. Just having dinner.”

“Oh yeah? With this guy?” He grins at me then looks back at Mia.

“That’s right. Dylan, this is Lucas.”

Dylan turns to me but doesn’t extend his hand. I don’t bother either. I can already sense the tension in this guy, and I’m pretty sure I know what’s coming.

“You’re the Navy guy,” Dylan says. “Home because your bastard kid was gonna get sent off by his whore mother.” His grin gets a little bit bigger.

“Dylan, what the hell?” Mia says, but I keep it cool.

I stare at Dylan for a second before responding. “That’s right. And you’re the dumber of the two Carter brothers.”

“You better watch your mouth, you know what I’m sayin’?” he asks, turning toward me. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“In this diner?” I ask him. “Or like, in this town? Or on Earth in general?”

He screws his eyes up. “You bein’ funny?”

“No, idiot. But you’re being an asshole. So why don’t you walk away and leave us alone.”

His eyes go wide a little bit, clearly not used to people pushing back against his bully tactics. I bet most people let the Carter brothers do whatever they want, but I’m not most fucking people.

He sputters his reply. “You can’t talk to me that way, dick,” he says.

I slide out of the booth and stand. I have a few inches on him and probably twenty pounds of muscle. Despite how much he works out, I’m positive I could break this little ant under my boot if I wanted. I’ve fought and killed harder men.

“Back off, you little worm,” I say softly to him. “We’re having a nice meal. Don’t bother us again.”

“Lucas,” Mia says. “Dylan. Stop. This is so stupid.”

“You think you’re tough?” Dylan asks. “You’re just a big fucking pussy. Come outside with me, you fucking pussy.”

“Walk away,” I say again. “I’m not coming outside. And I’m not fighting you. I’m having dinner with Mia here, and you’re interrupting. So fuck off.”

He stares at me, completely surprised. I can tell he wants to hit me, but some people are starting to look over and a hush suddenly falls over the diner. Despite how stupid he is, he knows that he can’t just straight up attack me like this, not in a room full of people, no matter who his father is. Besides, he probably doesn’t want to get his ass beat in public.

“Watch yourself,” he says to me then looks at Mia. “You too.” He turns and storms off, leaving the diner.

I sit back down, shaking my head. “What the fuck was that about?” I ask her.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” she says, her eyes wide. “You know what those people do, right?”

“Fuck them,” I say. “He was being rude.”

“It doesn’t matter. Lucas, you can’t do stuff like that.”

I laugh a little bit. “I don’t let meathead bullies push me around, no matter who they’re related to.”

Mia is clearly shaken up, so I motion for the check. It comes a lot faster than I would have expected, probably because the manager wants to get rid of me now that I just made a fucking scene. I pay up and we stand, our meals half-finished.

We head outside into the cool night air. “Come on,” I say. “Let’s take a walk.”

She hesitates. “I don’t know.”

“Just around the block. That was weird in there.”

“Yeah,” she says, nodding. “Okay. Come on.”

She sets off and I match her pace. I’m fucking livid that the scumbag would come over and mess with us like that, but it does make me curious. I saw her out with the Carters, and I wasn’t going to push that angle, but now I feel like I need to find out with her deal is.

“So, this is none of my business,” I say. “But how do you know him? Dylan Carter?”

She sighs a little. “He’s a friend of a friend. His brother . . . “ she trails off, shaking her head.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” I respond.

“No, it’s okay. I get it. I don’t know why he was such a dick back there.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“No, I mean, I don’t want you getting mixed up with those guys,” she says, looking concerned.

I stop and face her. She turns and faces me, and I take her hand, pulling her toward me. She’s a little surprised when I wrap my arms around her waist.

It feels fucking good and right. Most of my anger dissolves right there and then, feeling her against my body. She looks up at me, clearly surprised, but she’s not pulling away.

“Tell you what,” I say softly. “You agree to go out with me again, and I won’t mess with those guys.”

“Okay,” she says, looking up at me, her lips parted slightly.

I know she wants me to kiss her. I don’t know why I’m hesitating. I don’t normally hold back, but for some reason, I don’t kiss her right away.

As I move closer, a bus suddenly drives past, loud and close. She steps back away from me and walks toward it.

“Where are you going?” I call after her.

“Going home,” she says, grinning at me. “See you later, Lucas.”

“Shit,” I say softly. “You don’t have to take the bus, I’ll drive you!” I call after her.

She hurries up and catches the bus at the corner. She gives me another grin and a wave before disappearing onto the bus. It pulls off, taking her away from me.

“Fuck,” I say to myself, suddenly alone on the damn sidewalk.

I should have kissed her. But that fucking cock Dylan Carter threw a goddamn wrench into the date. It was going so fucking well into he showed up. Now there’s some complicated shit between us and I doubt she wants to be involved with that at all. I wouldn’t blame her if she turned and ran away, never looking back.

I’m an ex-SEAL with an infant and apparently a feud with the Carters. But goddamn do I want that girl, and I’m not giving up just yet. I’ll have her eventually, and she’s going to thank me for it.