Chapter 29

Peach could feel the difference during the briefing. This wasn't just information they were getting. The powder keg was about to blow, and they needed to stop it before it spread wider. They were dismissed but told to have their phones close because they could be called up.

He left the conference room and grabbed his phone from the cubby, texting Haisley before he went more than ten steps. He had to warn her that he could be gone for a week or two. God, he hoped she understood.

“Hey,” Andy said as he came up beside him.

Peach glanced at his buddy and then shook his head. "How long until Mel is due?"

“Three weeks.”

“Shit.”

Andy’s lips thinned. “Yeah.”

"Hopefully, this is a quick in and out," Peach said.

“I fucking hope so.” Andy pulled out his phone and called Mel.

Peach could tell by the set of his shoulders that Andy wasn't happy. But this was the job. They were SEALs every day of the week. The job didn't go away just because they had things going on in their lives.

“Hey,” Wild caught up to them. “Go home and grab your go bags. We’ll meet back here in two hours.”

Peach glanced at his phone. “Are you saying we’ve been called up?”

“Not yet. I want to give you time to say goodbye, especially you, Andy.”

Andy drew in a sharp breath but didn’t say anything. Peach couldn’t imagine leaving Haisley at the end. Andy would get it together and be one hundred percent once the mission started, but right now, he was going through some shit.

"I'll be back soon," Peach said as he took off to grab his keys and then head home to tell Haisley what was going on.

Before he made it halfway home, his phone rang. It was Haisley. "Hello."

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“It’s part of the job. I might have to leave for a few weeks.”

“Leave? What does that mean?”

“It’s a mission that we’re most likely going to get called out on.”

“I don’t know what that means. Will Andy be going?”

“Yes.”

“Shit. I’m going to hang up and call Mel. I want her to stay here. Are you okay with that?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. I’ll call her and ask her.”

“Thank you,” Peach said as his emotions thickened.

“Hey, I’m here for you. You were there for me, and now it’s my turn to be here for you.”

The call ended, and it took another fifteen minutes to get home. He raced into the house, finding Haisley standing in the den with a paper bag.

“I don’t know if you have time to eat, but I wanted to make sure you had something. I packed a sandwich and some cookies that I baked earlier.”

He moved to her and pulled her into a hug, breathing deeply so he could remember her scent when he was in some hellish place that was full of dirt and other things that were so much more disgusting. There was the scent that was all Haisley and something sweeter. It was the scent of cookies she'd baked earlier.

His lips skimmed her jawline and ended up on her mouth. The kiss was electrifying. He didn’t have time for sex, and that was punctuated when his phone buzzed. They were calling them in.

He ended the kiss and checked his messages. Duty called. They were heading out in two hours.

“You have to leave,” Haisley said, a twinge of sadness in her voice.

He nodded. “I have to.”

She cupped his cheeks and smiled so bravely that his heart cracked. "I'll be here when you get back. You're a good man, Robert Barclay."

He rested his forehead against hers and wanted to tell her he loved her, but she didn’t need that pressure if something happened. He would write down his feelings and stick them in his pack. If he didn’t make it home, she might get his letter, then she would know how he felt and know he wanted her to have a good life. He wasn’t expecting disaster, but he knew what they did and knew how dangerous his job was. He would fight like hell to make it back, but sometimes life didn’t work out how the SEALs wanted.