15. If It Happened

15

IF IT HAPPENED

H ours later they were at Raine's apartment. He'd rather spend the night with her at his place in a bigger bed, but he could suck it up like the next guy.

There was no hardship as long as he was with her and he found that he'd never wanted to be with a woman as much as he did Raine.

There were times in his life he wondered if he'd ever settle down.

The Army was going to be his career. How many women would want to move around and worry about what he did for a living? Not many!

He'd actually resigned himself to the fact he wasn't looking and if it happened then it did.

In the past few months since he'd been out of the service, his mindset hadn't changed.

He was going with the whole thing, that it did happen and now it could just go where it would.

"My family wasn't that bad, were they?" she asked when she came over to sit next to him on the little loveseat.

"No," he said. "I'm protective of Daphne too so I understand your brothers being the way they are."

"River is pretty laid back. He always has been. Brooks, he's just intense. My mother says he was like that as a baby. He's changed a lot since he met Ivy. All for the better, but he's still not like River."

"He should be who he is," he said. "Everyone should be. No one should change who they are if they like it. I mean, we all make choices in our lives. You just have to live with those choices."

She put her head on his shoulder. "I know that. I'm sorry I said what I had about you being shot. When I heard Brooks bring it up quietly I thought it was going to turn into this big issue. No one told me about it before so I thought no one knew."

"They did but didn't talk much about it," he said. And he had to say it was surprising that Ivy knew all along and never once brought it up to Raine. So many said Ivy was immature and young, but he didn't find that about her. He just found her chipper and excitable but always professional.

He supposed he wasn't so sure why this was a big deal to him that not many knew.

Maybe because deep down he was almost embarrassed over the attention he got for his actions.

He didn't want to be labeled a hero because with that came every major change in his life.

The loss of his career.

The increased size of his bank account.

Both of those things brought this massive fear it might change who he was inside.

And didn't he just tell Raine everyone should be who they were?

Could be why he escaped from his hometown to start over and see if he even knew who he was himself.

It was as he'd just said to Raine—we have to be who we are and if we like it, then everyone else can go screw themselves.

"My family won't say anything. I think Brooks did that on purpose."

"That was my guess. Why do you think that? Do you think he thought you didn't know? Could be why he said it quietly without you in the room. But I wouldn't keep that from you. You'd see the scars on my chest unless he didn't think you'd seen me naked."

She giggled next to him. "Maybe wishful thinking on his part. I remember when we all found out about how he and Ivy had started out and I made some comment about the way he treated her and that he thinks it's okay for men to have one-night stands but not women. He flipped out and said I'm not allowed to."

Aster ran his hand on her thigh. "Have you ever had one?" he asked. He wasn't sure why he asked that. He was guessing that was a big fat no. It didn't seem to fit her personality.

"No," she said. "I haven't been with that many men. I've dated on and off but didn't normally sleep with someone until I'd been with them for a few weeks. You know that. And even then, not everyone I dated for a few weeks I slept with. I could have gone on three dates over three weeks, but if I didn't feel a connection and wasn't sure I would, then I wouldn't do that. I don't even need to ask you if you've had a one-night stand. I'm pretty sure I know the answer."

He kept silent. No reason to answer when she didn't ask. "I think your brother wanted to know if you'd come to my defense," he said. "Not that if you knew or not."

She lifted her head and turned to look at him. "Why do you think that?"

He shrugged. "No clue. I'm only guessing. You know him better than me. If it were my sister, I'd do the same thing to see where her mind was at. Maybe defending me isn't the right word."

"No, it is," she said. "I've dated men in the past that I didn't always defend. Not sure if I should have or not."

"Like Colton?" he asked.

She snorted. "No, I defended him all the time to my family. Even in the end, I started to do it. Everyone was hating him for what he'd done. I felt played for years. I seriously thought we'd just get back together and didn't want my family to hate him. I thought he'd discover that he couldn't live without me and wanted to return home too so I waited it out even behind the hurt. Stupid on my part."

"So you took the blame for things?" he asked. He wasn't sure he liked hearing that any more than he liked the fact she loved this guy so much she was waiting for him.

"Not the blame, just thought that maybe I missed things. That he never said he was coming back here after college. Like those words didn't come out of his mouth and I just assumed it."

"But he never corrected that assumption?" he asked.

She sighed. "No, he didn't. And that falls on him. Once I got past the hurt, then I was pissed. I realized exactly what you were saying. He never corrected it. He knew what I thought and assumed. We were planning things. He even admitted it but then would argue that planning on getting married didn't mean it'd be back home."

"You actually talked about marriage?" he asked.

"We were young. We did. We'd been together since we were fifteen," she said. "Then spent four years in the same college. I had friends and all, but most of my time was spent with him. We did everything together."

Which made more sense about her wanting all these activities now. Did she feel as if she missed out on what all her friends were doing because she was spending it with the guy she'd thought she'd marry and have a family with by now?

"And the next logical step was marriage," he said.

"I thought so. He did too. I was old fashioned that way, I guess. My family is my everything. It always has been. I wanted a marriage like my parents. Not their life. Not one of struggling financially and the stress of that. But what they have as a couple. As a team. I looked up to that my whole life."

"You're lucky to have that example in your life," he said. "I never did."

"Yet you turned out just fine," she said.

"You think so?" he asked.

"I think you're a great boyfriend," she said. "Maybe you are living your life the way you are in spite of how your parents were. You don't want to be like them or what you thought was wrong so you're doing the opposite. In a way, that's not any different than me wanting what my parents have. We learn from our parents either way, what to do better or what to follow."

He never thought of it that way either and it went to show him again how smart she was.

How pure she was at times too.

"I'm not sure anyone has thought of me as a great boyfriend," he said.

"Because you don't think it yourself," she said. "You should. You have the fabulous qualities I am looking for. None of us is perfect and never will be. Life isn't perfect."

"No," he said, "it's not."

When his phone rang he reached for it to see that Daphne was calling and was happy for the interruption.

He answered and heard his sister's voice on the other end sounding tired. He hated that more than anything and couldn't fault Brooks for how he was with Raine.

"How was your day?" Daphne asked. "Did you cook a turkey for yourself or not even bother? Or did Zane invite you to his house? I didn't think about that until I was working and worried that you'd be there by yourself. I mean in the service you had other people around you."

He waited for her to get her mouthful of words out.

"Can you take a breath now?" he asked.

"Sure," she said, inhaling and letting it out. "What did you do today?"

"I had dinner with my girlfriend's family."

He turned to look at Raine and saw her soft smile.

"What?!" Daphne all but howled in his ear. "You've got a girlfriend and haven't said a word to me? How long has this been going on?"

"Over a month or so," he said. "Not sure the exact time." Though he'd bet Raine was. He turned to see if she was frowning over him not knowing, but she still had the same smile on her face.

"Geez, Aster, I thought you'd tell me that, but then, it's not as if we talked all that much when you were in the Army."

He felt bad that he didn't tell her before now, but they didn't sit on the phone much. "We text all the time," he said. "But not always talk. Or you're running from one job to the next and we don't have time to talk. Not a big deal. I'm telling you now and had planned on doing it when you called tonight."

"Which is why you asked me to call you when I got home," Daphne said. "I spent most of my shift worrying there was something wrong and didn't know what when it was something good. Wish you'd told me that."

It never occurred to him her mind would go that way. "Sorry. I should have said it earlier but didn't want you to ask me a bunch of questions about Raine when you had to be at work."

"So I can ask you a bunch of questions now?"

"You can," he said. "Or you can ask her. She's right here next to me."

"Wow," Daphne said. "It must be serious if you're offering that. I'm hanging up and calling on video. I want to see her."

He grinned. "I figured as much. Call me back." He hung up and turned to Raine. "She wants to see you." When the phone rang in his hand, he answered it. "We're here."

He held the phone between them on the couch.

"Hi," Raine said. "It's so nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you."

"I haven't heard anything about you, as you know," Daphne said. "But you look tiny next to my brother."

Raine laughed. "He is a lot bigger than me. You should see me trying to pull myself up in his truck, but I manage."

"We take Raine's car just as much," he said. "I push the seat back and my knees don't even touch the dashboard."

His sister laughed as he expected. "Aster is good about those things. He's an equal-opportunity man when he wants to be. Other times he just wants to take care of people and protect them."

"I've seen that," she said. "We have an understanding of things. We both do our fair share. Your brother helps me in the kitchen."

"I baked muffins and an apple pie," he said proudly.

"You baked?" Daphne asked. "Aster can cook and did a lot when he was home, but baking?"

"Did you really bake?" Raine asked, giving him a questioning goofy look, pretty much calling him out.

"Fine," he said. "I was Raine's assistant. I peeled and chopped and then helped clean up."

"Which is a huge help," she said. "I got everything done faster."

"You two are almost cute together," Daphne said.

He held his snort in...barely. "Thanks."

"What do you do, Raine? For work?"

"I'm a first grade teacher," she said. "I met your brother when we had a field trip to the fire station and he was there volunteering."

"Aster!" Daphne said. "You told me no more of that. You weren't putting yourself at risk."

"Oops," Raine said. "Didn't know that was a secret."

"Not a secret," he said. "And there is no risk. I haven't fought one fire since I've been here and they need volunteers. I'm not stupid. There isn't much call for running into burning buildings with volunteers. Most times you're working the fire from the outside and just keeping it under control rather than saving things."

He knew that. They weren't trained the same as professionals. They didn't have the same equipment.

His sister thought she'd lost him months ago. She'd said, as much as she knew he was upset over losing his Army career, she wouldn't have that worry daily that he might not come home.

He hadn't realized how much that bothered her, as they'd never talked about it before.

"Sorry," Raine said. "But that is how we met. We didn't talk for a few weeks until he got a call to come to the school on a false alarm. Someone started a fire in a garbage bin but put it out. It didn't stop the alarms though. We talked, or I should say, flirted. Still no date out of it."

"Not until we ran into each other at the store," he said. "Then we exchanged numbers and have been dating since. So we first met in early September, dating from early to mid-October. There is your timeline."

"I'm so happy to hear you are doing well, Aster," Daphne said. His sister yawned on the other line. She should have had the day off and yet busted her ass and probably still made more than a few days at her daycare job.

"I am," he said. "And not alone. You can ease your mind."

"Can I have your number, Raine?" his sister asked. "You know, just to check up on Aster. I have Zane's. Aster gave it to me just so I had someone's number there. I worry if I don't hear from him for a few days."

"I always reply to your texts within a few hours," he said.

"I know you do," Daphne said.

"You can have my number," Raine said. "No problem. I'll get yours from Aster and then text you."

"Thank you," Daphne said. "Now I'm going to watch some TV and soak my feet."

They said goodbye and hung up, him turning to his girlfriend. "You don't need to text her."

"Of course I do," she said. "I like her. A lot. She worries about you and that is what siblings do. You saw that today. Don't make your sister worry when she isn't here to see how well you're doing."

He sighed. "You're right."

She smiled. "I like being told I'm right."

"Really?" he asked. She climbed on his lap. "Then you're right again."

Her lips lowered to his. "Say it again."

"You're right," he said softly.