Chapter Five: Simple Man

Mac

SIMPLE MAN

Performed by Lynyrd Skynyrd

The Salty Dog was filled with locals and tourists in the height of the holiday week as I poured beers from the tap for Eli. I wasn't able to make the mixed drinks, but I could still help while Ava felt like cr―crud. Andy and Lacey―the prior owners of the bar―were usually the ones who filled in when Eli and Ava needed it, but they wouldn't be back into town until the next day.

Eli was all business as a couple of female tourists flirted relentlessly with him. He wasn't being rude, but I wondered if he even recognized that they were flirting with him. His love for Ava often had him in a cloud of No-man's-land when it came to things like that. I moseyed up to the women and flashed them my best Mac smile.

"Ladies."

They turned their eyes on me, and the blonde's smile widened. "Hey."

"I'm not sure if you know this or not, but my man, Eli…he's pretty much got a ring on his finger." That tu rned both their smiles down a notch as they both glanced to his hand that didn't hold a ring yet. "I know, to a lot of people, that might not mean all that much—a ring—but I can tell you for a fact that his getting a ring isn't just some societal mark to him. It's part of his soul, so getting his attention in that way is pretty much going to be like removing a Kraken from the sea, if you get my drift."

"What's a Kraken?" the brunette asked.

I fought back a snide comment and just smiled wider. The blonde returned the smile, her eyes darting to my left hand, which was ring free. I didn't intend it to be ring free forever, but it was at the moment. That had my brain and my body going back to the kiss with Georgie on my boat that afternoon, and my body's reaction to that memory pretty much halted any other thought going in or out of my brain.

I didn't hear a word the blonde said. Eli had to actually nudge me out of the way to put their drinks down. I just turned and walked back to the other end of the bar and the tap. It was the rudest I'd been to a woman in my whole life. Eli followed.

"What the hell was that about?" Eli asked. "You don't normally walk away from that kind of flirting unless you have to report to duty."

My brain was still trying to kick my body out of the kiss.

The life-altering, seared-on-my-mind-for-the-rest-of-my-life kiss. The kiss that I had promised would be just one. Except, now that I'd had the one, my body and soul were calling for more. Many more. Lifetimes worth of more. Because I had known, just like I knew I would, that Georgie could be the rest-of-my-days kind of woman.

But she couldn't be. Not at all for the reason she'd given about Ava and Eli and the potential awkwardness if things went south between us, but because she'd opened up and told me something about herself that was a death sentence to any political career I'd ever want. She'd said the words Russia and prison in almost the same sentence. I hadn't spent my entire life keeping my nose clean for nothing. I'd partied with alcohol and no drugs. I'd never driven drunk. I'd kept my dick covered every single time I'd had sex.

I'd done everything for one purpose: to make a run for a political office. To change our world for the better in a way I couldn't have done, even in the office at the DoD where I had proposed and nixed black ops. But to have a chance at a political career, you didn't marry a woman with Russian ties by choice. No way in hell.

"Mac?" Eli nudged me again, bringing me back from kisses, and careers, and heartbreak that hadn't even had a chance to happen.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm good."

Eli laughed. "I didn't ask if you were good, asswipe. What gives?"

But I wasn't able to say any of what had been in my head to Eli, to the man who—even if his knee hadn't forced it on him—would have given up his career in a heartbeat to spend the rest of his life with Ava.

I tried to reason with myself that I didn't know for sure what could happen with Georgie and me. That what I felt could have been wrong. But getting out before I was in too deep was the better choice so I wouldn't have to decide between love or my career. It made me feel like a chickenshit, and that made me do two things I'd never done. It made me lie to my best friend, and it made me run.

"I have to head back to D.C. earlier than I thought. Dani is up in my rear end about the workload she's shouldering while I'm here gallivanting with you."

"Gallivanting? I doubt Dani ever used that word. Besides, Dani loves me."

"Not enough to allow me to stay as long as I'd hoped."

He took me in, as if assessing my level of honesty. I didn't budge. I had a good poker face. Not only because my family ate you alive at poker if you didn't have one, but also because I had to have one at the DoD. It was good training for a political career where you sure as sin didn't show what you had in your hand.

"You're still waiting to see Truck, though, right?" he finally asked.

I nodded. No way I was taking off before the three of us got to clink beer bottles together. It had been way too long as it was. Thank God Truck was getting his sorry ass into town the next day. I'd stay through the Fourth and then head out. That was just a couple of days. I could handle a couple days.

After helping Eli close up the bar and driving back to the beach house, I lay awake in my bed, thinking about the woman in the bedroom next door who seemed to fit in every perfect way with me except one. That had me tossing and turning and waking with the sea gulls .

I went for a run on the beach, trying to chase away the haze of sleeplessness, beating my body up and down the sand before the heat hit the day. When I came back in, Ava was at the kitchen counter, still looking gray.

"You still look like he―heck," I told her as I pulled a water bottle from the fridge. When I looked back at her, she was eyeing me in the way Eli had the night before.

"You don't look so great yourself. One night at the bar do you in that bad? I thought you were Mister Party-man?" she teased, but it was with only about half her normal snark.

"Time to throw aside the wild oats and settle down," I told her, sitting on the barstool at the other end of the counter. "You going back to bed?"

She shook her head. "No, I need to go into the bar and make sure we're stocked up for tomorrow. Brady called this morning and said he's coming to do a surprise performance on the Fourth before flying on to Phoenix."

That would be a huge moneymaker for the bar. Brady O'Neil had had four number one hits in the last two years singing Ava's songs. His showing up would draw a much bigger crowd than their normal tourist Fourth of July drew. I wasn't sure the tiny bar could handle it.

"Let me shower; I'll go with you. I can be your brawn while Eli is at work."

She put her head on her arms on the counter. "Thanks, Mac."

Her eyes were closed in a way that was so not Ava that I watched her with concern as I drank the water. She didn't even open them when a door creaked down the hall, followed by Georgie appearing in the kitchen.

Georgie's hair was all mussed, and her eyes were still sleep-filled. She wore a tank top that showed more than it hid and a tiny pair of sleep shorts that showcased her long legs like her swimsuit had the day before. My entire body was more awake from the vision of her than it was from the run on the beach.

She ruffled Ava's hair, saying, "Morning."

Ava groaned at her, making my concern ratchet back up. Georgie seemed troubled as well, because she frowned slightly as she made her way to the Keurig.

She'd gotten all the way to the coffee machine before she risked a glance at me.

My body ached to kiss her again. To see if, this morning, she still tasted like the cherry blossoms blooming. Like my favorite season and my favorite fruit all in one. Her eyes drifted to my lips before she turned back to the coffeepot.

Ava peeked out from her arms to eyeball us. "What gives?"

"What?" Georgie and I both said at the same time.

Ava sat up. "Please tell me you did not swag-and-bag one of my best friends, Mac."

"No!" Georgie and I both said again, which was not helping our case at all.

The coffeepot started whirring, and the smell hit the air. Ava instantly put a hand to her nose, jumped down, and headed for the bathroom, passing Eli in the hall. He turned around and followed her .

I stood, taking Georgie in from behind. Her shoulders were back, standing tall, as if she could take whatever life threw at her. Like she already had. I wanted to know more about all of that—every single bump in her road that had made her the elegant, confident woman she was now.

"I'm going to shower," I said instead, pulling myself away from her and the way her skin was calling to me. Running didn't seem like such a chickenshit thing anymore. Running felt right.

I practically smacked into Eli as he came out of the master.

"Ava said you were going to go to the bar with her?"

I nodded.

"Thanks, man. I need to put in an appearance at the office today before I take tomorrow off."

"What time is Truck getting here?"

"I think his flight lands at around eleven. He should be here by two. I'll let him know to head to the bar if no one is here."

I nodded and headed for the bathroom so I could be sure to be ready when Ava was.

? ? ?

It was early afternoon by the time we were done taking stock at the bar and filling every possible crevice we could fill before tomorrow came. Ava had spent the day, white as a sheet, going back and forth between the storeroom and the office while she checked in on the stock and the extra staff and security needed with Brady showing up.

Georgie had come with us, and she and I had done whatever Ava pointed at us to do. We brushed past each other without a word, but it felt like my body was building up enough electricity from the contact to be its own electrical storm. A storm that was waiting to be unleashed on something, anything, but especially her.

Ava finally sat down, and I could see she was shaking.

"Have you eaten anything?" Georgie asked, also noticing her friend's condition.

Ava shook her head. "Don't say food. The smells in here are bad enough."

"Should I take you to the doctor?" Georgie asked.

Ava shook her head again. "No, but I think I'm going to run to the drugstore and see if I can find something that will calm the waves down."

"'Kay. I'll go with you," Georgie said.

Ava went and grabbed her purse from the back, and they headed for the door. "Don't worry about me, ladies. I'll be fine right here until Truck arrives."

They both turned as if they'd forgotten me. I knew for a damn fact that Georgie hadn't. She'd been avoiding my gaze all day, just like I'd been avoiding hers. Just like she'd been avoiding me since I'd dropped her at the house yesterday after our sail and our kiss.

Ava gave me a tired smile that made me regret my attitude. "Thanks, Mac."

Then, she disappeared—so not the Ava we all knew and loved. The one who could barely sit still for more than two seconds. The one who gave as good as she got. The one who pranced around stages with an attitude the size of Texas.

I sat at the bar while the daytime bartender continued the prep work behind the counter. I shot off a text to Eli.

ME: Your fiancée is about ready to pass out. Maybe you should come get her?

CAPTAIN: Shit. I'm on my way.

ME: She left with Gorgeous to the drugstore, so you have time.

CAPTAIN: Gorgeous?

I looked up at my prior text, and I had typed Gorgeous instead of Georgie. Worst Freudian slip ever. Eli would never let me live it down.

ME: Georgie. She left with Georgie.

CAPTAIN: You've got it bad, my friend.

ME: Nah. But she is gorgeous.

CAPTAIN: You can't fool me. I've known you too long. I'm just leaving Corpus Christi. I'll be there in about thirty.

ME: Yes, sir. I'll hold down the fort till you get here, sir .

CAPTAIN: **middle finger emoji**

The door of the bar opened, and I looked up to see my other best friend, Travis Dayton, a.k.a. Truck, walk through. He looked both better and older than the last time I'd seen him when I'd gone to Hawaii on leave. His normally pale hair looked almost white it was so bleached by the sun. It had always been one shade away from white anyway, but now that he'd let it grow out, it looked like he could be ninety instead of twenty-eight.

"Douche!" I got up and almost jogged to the door I was so excited to see him. I hugged him tightly.

"Dickwad," he greeted back, squeezing me as hard as I was squeezing him.

"How's Hawaii?" I asked as we let go and made our way back to the bar. The bartender already had a pint on the counter for him.

"Good, but I'm itching to get out of there."

"Really?"

"Yep. Few more months."

"You're not going to reenlist?" I asked in surprise.

He laughed. "Shit, yeah, I'm going to reenlist, but I'm going to ask to get the hell out of Hawaii."

"Beaches, ladies, and umbrella drinks not everything they're cracked up to be?"

"Cost of living, crowds, and humidity that never stops is more like it."

I nodded.

"So, you came to more humidity?"

He grinned. "To see you two asswipes, of course. "

"Lucky us."

"Damn straight," he teased. "So, how does it feel being a civilian again?"

"Honestly? It hasn't really settled in yet. Nash has been giving me shit nonstop."

Truck knew my S.E.A.L buddies from meeting up with all of us on leave. Nash wasn't the easiest man to get along with, but Truck had gotten on his good side in that way that Truck did with everyone.

"Here's to hoping you can be a better politician than you were a wingman." He held up his beer, and I refused to tap it with my own.

"I'm a damn good wingman."

"Until you set your sights on some unexpected lady yourself, then you abandon ship."

I was abandoning ship now, too, but it wasn't for a woman it was from a woman.

"If it takes you too long to close your own deal, and I get propositioned, you can't expect me to say no," I retorted, grinning over my beer.

"Hence, not being a good wingman."

"I take it you won't be voting for me come election day then?"

"That's years in the future. And you'd have to be in the same state as I am."

It sucked being spread all over the country from my closest friends, but it helped that I was tight with my family. Being away from my friends allowed me to focus on work in a way that I might not have been able to do if I was trying to balance all the portions of my life. The unexpected melancholy I felt at leaving the Navy hit me again, along with the agony of not being able to have a certain pair of pale-green eyes to call my own, and I ordered another beer to wash it away.