Fallen SEAL Legacy by Sharon Hamilton

soccer practices some of her friends had opted for They looked happy enough, but she knew herself well enough to know it wasn’t on her radar. Not even close.
    Libby put three large boxes destined for Goodwill in the garage outside the kitchen door. She made some tea and watched her father’s new gardener work silently on his knees by the walkway that ran from the garage to the house. He lifted his gaze up to her, and then lowered his baseball cap to completely cover his face and eyes. He stabbed the black soil in the grassy mound at the edges of her mother’s zinnia patch, exposing plastic PVC tubing.
    Still in her pajamas, Libby brought her tea upstairs and flopped back on the bed. She began reading one of her favorite romance novels . The hours ticked by. She finished the book just as the sun was beginning to lower toward the horizon. She heard her mother return home and deposit groceries for dinner on the kitchen counter, so Libby made a dash to the shower.
    She thought about the hero in the novel. Though the author had described him as dark-haired, Libby saw the face of that SEAL bending down to kiss her, just like she’d imagined the Brazilian painter would do in her novel. She put on a black pair of lacy underwear, which made no sense at all. She slipped on her jeans and an oversized deep pink cotton shirt she felt comfortable in. She walked through a spritz of her favorite perfume.
    Libby heard a sound outside, and looked through her bedroom window as Cooper’s muscular frame detached itself from— a scooter?   The shiny red thing looked like it belonged to a tanned San Diego coed. The SEAL’s black slacks hugged muscular thighs and a tight, swimmer’s butt. He leaned back and cracked his back. She could see a trace of treasure trail peek just above his fly as the white shirt inched up just enough.
    Lord, has it been that long?
    When she dropped her hairbrush on the hardwood floor, he looked up into her open window and spotted her staring back at him.
    So much for looking disinterested. She’d been chastising herself all afternoon. Her heart was racing in anticipation of being in the same room with this guy. She wasn’t sure whether it was attraction or the sense of danger hovering like a cloud above him, which was strangely exciting. It defied logic. And she liked it.
    Her mother had opened the front door with a loud squeak, her elegantly mannered voice welcoming and fresh. Libby couldn’t make out the words, but the SEAL grabbed his helmet and climbed the porch steps slowly, smiling. She held her breath as he disappeared from view. Into her home.
    There was a light tap on her bedroom doorframe. Dr. Brownlee poked his head in.
    “Brownie, you think I can just send him away?”
    “Oh, Dad. Didn’t know you were home already.”
    “Just got here. You up for this?”
    “He’s here to see you. This isn’t my show. He wants to tell you something.”
    “Yea? Well I want to tell him something too—”
    Libby was surprised at the acid tone in her Dad’s voice. “Dad, everything all right? This is just some sailor with a message from the Navy of some sort. Not a big deal, really.” She saw his frown and gave him a gentle peck on the cheek, stepping back.
    “They send someone who’s just lost his family, so I can’t tell him what I really feel about this whole war and the military machine that runs it. Smart, aren’t they?”
    “That what you’re upset about? The war?” She wanted to bring up Uncle Will’s name but something told her to be cautious. She was getting more and more nervous as she noticed the changes in her normally casual and confident father.
    “I just don’t like it. Not now,” he said.
    Why not now? “ They aren’t doing anything. Besides, you always told me to watch out for they and them .” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “Let’s go downstairs and face this sailor together.”
    Dr. Brownlee sighed, then stepped ahead as Libby followed him down the sweeping curved