Chapter 3

3

Two days later, Dante was walking across the Commissary parking lot when he heard someone shout his name.

He turned and found his brother’s best friend, Jethro Thomas, known to everyone as JT, jogging toward him. His appearance took Dante by surprise. The usually neat JT was a little ragged around the edges; his hair longer and a bit unkempt, his jaw had an overgrowth of a few days, and his clothes appeared rumpled. For a man who used to be active duty, he appeared to have had a bit of rough luck lately.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Dante asked as he shook his hand.

“Taking a little break for the day.”

Which Dante was pretty sure wasn’t the whole truth. JT was in NCIS and often couldn’t tell any of the Santinis about his work. Well, other than Anthony, who was also NCIS.

“I heard you just got back and figured you would know where to go to be entertained on a Friday night.”

Damn, it was Friday night. He was definitely getting bad. At one time, he’d been out every weekend night and some weeknights as well. Recently, though, his nights consisted of going over some work and going to bed early.

He was turning into his brother, Brando. The man had never liked to party and he was even worse now that he was active duty. Damn .

“Not sure. I haven’t been out that much since I got stationed here. Why don’t I give Jack Johnson a call and see if he can give us some suggestions?”

“Jack?”

“He’s related to the Santinis in a very roundabout way according to my Aunt Joey.”

He smiled. “Sounds like a plan. Wanna grab some lunch?”

Dante nodded. “Why don’t we hit the food court? Most of the lunch crowd should be clearing out, and I don’t have a meeting until after three.”

They made their way across the parking lot.

“How’s Anthony doing in Hawaii?” JT asked.

“I guess okay. I mean…he’s living in Hawaii. How hard can that be? You haven’t talked to him lately?”

Which was odd. Dante knew the two men had been thick as thieves since high school.

He shook his head. “Naw. I’ve been out of the loop for a while. I was at his going away party, then went deep.”

JT worked undercover every now and then as part of his job. He knew his brother did every now and then too, but JT seemed to do it more often.

“That was two months ago.”

He nodded as they stepped into the food court attached to the exchange. “It’s been a long seven weeks.”

Dante didn’t ask, because part of him didn’t want to know. The other part of him understood JT couldn’t talk about it.

“I’m going to grab a sandwich,” JT said. He headed off in the direction of the sandwich shop. Dante pulled out his cell and called Jack.

“Hey, Dante, how’s it going?”

“Fine. I was wondering if you had any suggestions about a place for dinner.”

“Is this for a date?”

“No, this is for hanging out with a friend.”

“Oh, so a drink and be stupid kind of place.”

He glanced at JT, who nodded toward a table. Dante nodded in return. The shadows he saw under the older man’s eyes told him JT needed to relax, at least for one night.

“Yeah. Definitely a drink and be stupid kind of place.”

Jack chuckled. “Not that I would know about that. I’ll text you the names.”

“Do you wanna join?”

He chuckled. “No. See, I have a hot woman to go home to.”

“Suck it, Johnson.”

He just laughed again and hung up. While he was standing in line to order his food, his cell buzzed indicating a text. True to his word, Jack sent him info on a couple of bars in the area. Knowing the Marine, none of them would be on the restricted list.

It was a good thing he ran into JT. Tonight was going to be a night to remember.

After returning home from her Friday afternoon class, Madison wandered around her house, something simmering beneath her skin. She felt…energized. The yoga class had been very positive. Most of them were, but there had been something in the air that had given her a special connection with her students.

Excitement. Good excitement. Not the sick, overwhelming sense that something bad was going to happen, but just good. She went out to her patio in the backyard, walked over to the water feature and sat on the bench. Charlie sat down beside her feet.

With the appearance of Dante the night before, it had her thinking of Dr. James’ suggestion that she reach out to friends more often. Accepting the dinner invitation the night before was one step. Hannah had been asking for months when she finally accepted. Other than dealing with her odd feelings for Dante Santini, she was pretty happy she had gone.

She hadn’t really made any girlfriends since she’d returned to California. Truth was, Madison had never been a girlfriend kind of a girl. She had been raised by a man who had wanted boys. Instead, he had been saddled with one daughter. She learned to hunt, fish, and fight…all of it like she was a boy. But she could never blame her father for her issues with what she called the “chick mindset.” Madison always thought it was built into her DNA. So many things all women seemed to get just went over her head. Why did they always want to go to the bathroom together? And the shoes…why so many?

But there was a woman who always seemed to understand her. Plus, the woman had just moved back to California. She pulled out her cell and hit Elena’s number.

“Hey, you’ve got Elena.”

Madison chuckled. “Hey, yourself. Is that how you answer the phone? Do you even know who this is?”

“Well, that tone tells me I’m talking to Mad Madison Baker,” she said, her voice filled with laughter.

She sighed dramatically even as her mood lightened. No matter how long they had been apart, it was always the same when they got together.

“You never change.”

“Why should I? My mother tells me I’m perfect.” Knowing their mother, Marcella Santini, she did. The mother of six always seemed to have something wonderful to say about each one of them.

“Does she say the same thing about Dante?”

“No. She says he’s ugly as dirt.”

“Sure, sure,” she said. “I had dinner with him last night.”

“My brother and you had a date?” she asked.

“Good God, no! I was invited to my next door neighbor’s house and Dante was invited too.”

“So, that’s your social life. Dinner with the married neighbors. Mad Madison, what a shame that you have come to this.”

“And Dante.”

“That’s pretty sad. I see that I’m the only one holding up the fort in the way of the dating scene.”

Knowing Elena, she was. Whenever someone was around Elena, they never seemed to have a bad time. She was a force of nature and she tended to overwhelm people. The pretty brunette was often the life of the party. She understood that part of it was being the only girl in the family of a bunch of Alpha males. Elena had been a godsend for Madison. She’d have spent her entire college life in her room studying and working out if it hadn’t been for Elena.

“These days, I tend to stick close to home.”

There was a beat of silence. “How about we go out tonight?”

Madison wanted to say no. It was her first instinct always. Even now, three years later, she tended to stay away from crowds. But, she did need to start pushing her boundaries or she would be a wreck for the rest of her life.

That she could not live with.

“Sure, and to show you how much I love you, I’ll drive since I can’t drink much.”

Elena let out an Oh-ra so loud, Madison had to hold the phone away from her ear.

“You do love me. In fact, if I went that way, I would propose marriage. Give me your address so I can head up your way.”

“Make sure to bring a change of clothes,” Madison said.

“Why?”

She rolled her eyes. For a woman who planned her career down to the minute detail, Elena tended to just go with the flow. Most of the time it was fun.

“So, if you drink too much, you can just crash here.”

“Hot dang, woman. I might just have to marry you.”

Madison laughed. “That’s what all the pretty girls say.”

After giving her friend directions to her house, she hung up and headed back into the house. She had a night of fun to get ready for.