The Soldier's Baby Surprise (For the Baby's Sake, Book 1) (5 page)

              Willow looked as needy as he felt.

              “I should go,” he stated. 

              “I know,” she murmured. “Have a safe trip soldier.”

Chapter Six

              “Well, I don’t need to ask you how last night went,” Geneva stated, as she reached for the tea the waitress had just placed on the table. “You’re radiating more than the freaking sun right now.”

              Embarrassment and giddiness surged through Willow as she glanced around the cafe before looking back at her best friend. Thankfully no one seemed to be paying attention. While Hopkinsville had a population over thirty thousand, there were still days where it felt like a smaller city. Considering where she worked, she didn’t need her business getting out to the wrong person.

              “Last night went fine. Now, let’s change the topic to something else.”

              “Uh-uh. I know you don’t really think that is going to happen. What do you think the entire point of this lunch is?”

              “To eat?”

              Geneva smiled. “Nice try. So tell me all about last night.”

              “I don’t think so. Let’s just say I had a very nice time and leave it at that.”

              Fortunately, Willow was given slight reprieve as their food was delivered. She refused to tell her friend, how nervous she was concerning the plans she’d made with Chase. While she didn’t think he wasn’t a man of his word, anxiety swamped her.

              After he’d left her apartment this morning, she’d crawled back to bed and snuggled up next to the pillow with his scent still on it. She’d managed to get a few more hours of much needed sleep before getting back up to start her day.

              A hot shower had helped to relieve some of the aches from being so well loved. She’d done some of the cleaning chores on her list. Then she’d started getting ready for her lunch with Geneva. The entire time, Chase had been on her mind. Last night had been completely unexpected. She hadn’t thought such strong feelings would come so fast. Part of her wanted to blame it on her lack of a social life, but the remaining part knew there was something special about him. She hoped to figure out what it was before he returned home. The true test would be for him to keep his first promise to her.

              Turning her attention back to her food, she began to eat. She had a few moments to enjoy it in peace, before Geneva started up again.

              “So, you really aren’t going to tell me anything?”

              “There isn’t anything to say. Chase and I had a wonderful time. End of story.”

              Geneva chuckled. “You and I both know better than that. The chemistry between the two of you last night was off the charts. To be honest, I expected to wake up and hear on the news that two people had been rushed to the hospital with a case of spontaneous combustion.”

              Willow laughed. “Where do you come up with this?”

              “It’s a real thing. There are cases of it every year. People can’t figure out why it happens, but after watching you last night, I have an idea.”

              Willow shook her head. “You need help.”

              “And you need to put me out of my misery and tell me what happened.”

              “I don’t want to.”

              Geneva’s mouth fell open. “What?”

              Willow sat down her fork. “Last night meant something to me. I can’t say exactly what because I don’t know if there is a word to describe it. All I know is a few things changed. I want a little time to dissect that before I put it out there.”

              A look of understanding appeared on Geneva’s face.  “Okay, then. I won’t ask you about last night. However, I do want to know about today because I meant what I said to him last night. Do you have plans to see each other anytime soon?”

              “Yes and no.”

              “I’m sorry, but that’s a very confusing answer.”

              “Good. It’s definitely complicated. Chase shipped out this morning to Afghanistan.”

              Geneva scowled. “That rat bastard. I told him—”

              “Relax. He told me before we even left Slippery Slope last night. It was my choice to make and I don’t regret it.”

              Geneva relaxed a little. “Then why do you look so gloomy?”

              “Because I thought I knew what I was getting myself into last night. Now I’m not so sure.”

              “Did he sneak out this morning?”

              “No, the exact opposite. He woke me up, gave me his phone number and email address to contact him, and then kissed me goodbye.”

              “Interesting. So are you going to?”

              “He’s actually supposed to text me as soon as he arrives in Afghanistan.”

              “Okay, but you still didn’t answer my question. Are you going to take him up on his offer? It sounds like he wants to get to know you better.”

              Willow grinned. “I have to say he knows me pretty well.”

              Geneva laughed. “You know what I mean.”

              She was silent for a moment as she weighed her options. Last night with Chase had been spectacular and she wanted more. But she wasn’t sure if she was ready for it. He was clearly a military man and his job called for him to be wherever the Army needed him to be. Being in a serious relationship with someone like him had to be strenuous. She preferred her life the way it was. She’d relocated to Hopkinsville from Lexington, Kentucky six years ago for that reason.

              As a child, she’d struggled to find a place where she felt she fit in. It hadn’t always been easy.  Her mother had gotten pregnant in high school at the young age of fifteen. From what she understood, her father had bailed early.  Her biological mother had put her up for adoption at the insistence of her parents. They’d gone through a closed adoption process, but her adoptive parents had never done anything to hide anything about the process from her.

              Once she’d turned eighteen, they’d even encouraged her to find and contact her birth mother. It was as if they could see the gaping hole within her. But Willow had chosen not to do that. She figured her birth mother had another life by that point and didn’t want to do anything to upset it.

              Still the feeling of not belonging had only increased, until six years ago, she decided to move to Hopkinsville. It was the best decision she’d ever made. She’d meet Geneva six months and they’d been inseparable ever since.  However, she always made sure to return home on all of the customary holidays and birthdays.

              But Hopkinsville felt more like home than Lexington ever did. It wasn’t her parents’ fault either. They’d provided everything she’d needed and then some over the years, but it’d still been tough. The hardest times had been as child when she’d always received the awkward question of why she didn’t look like her parents, or even worse, why didn’t her
real
parents want her? After a while, she’d stopped trying to make friends and always stuck to family functions. No one seemed to bother her that way.  

              She didn’t realize how lonely she’d been until she’d met Geneva. The first friend in her life who’d really liked Willow for who she was. The only person who pushed her to come out of her shell. She loved Geneva for it. They’d shared some awesome times over the past five and a half years. Thanks to her best friend, Willow always ended up doing something outside her “comfort zone” at least once a month. Last night at Slippery Slope had been one of those things.

              Yet, she’d had no idea that it would lead to her meeting a man as interesting as Chase. She was still a little up in the air about him, but she did want to get to know him better. She just hoped he would keep his promise because she’d been disappointed enough in her life.

Chapter Seven

              It took every ounce of self-control that Chase had for him to remain still during the briefing that seemed to be lasting an eternity. As soon as he and his men touched down, he’d given orders for them to go settle into their living quarters. They’d been traveling non-stop and after two connecting flights to get to their final destination, even he was exhausted.

              But there was no time for him to rest. He had gone to meet with the commanding officer. If he’d known it was going to take this long he would have tried to sneak a text to Willow before. He couldn’t believe how much he missed her already.

              Yes, he knew he needed to focus on the mission ahead, the lives of his men depending on it. As soon as he kept his promise to Willow, he’d be able to pay attention to the matters at hand. A short time later, the meeting was over and Chase headed toward his living quarters.

              “I don’t think I can ever recall a time when you’ve been this preoccupied.”

              Chase didn’t slow down as Kenny Dozier, his friend and another major that served in the same battalion, fell in line beside him.

              “I have something important to take care of,” Chase responded.

              “So it seems. I wonder what though,” Kenny stated.

              “None of your business.”

              Kenny chuckled. “Must have something to do with the woman from Slippery Slope that I heard about.”

              Chase did his best to school his expression. “I see you’ve been gossiping with the
ladies
again.”

              “Ah, defensive. So that means it true,” Kenny retorted.

              “Don’t you have something to do?”

              “Not at all. So are you going to stop evading my question?”

              “No. There’s nothing to discuss.”

              Chase cursed under his breath when he realized his curt answers weren’t persuading his friend to walk away and leave him in peace. But he refused to give in. He didn’t want to talk about Willow with his friend yet. He wanted to keep the newness to himself for a little while and savor it a little more.

              “I’ll be damned,” Kenny finally stated. “It’s happened. You’ve met the one.”

              Hearing his friend state what he’d only suspected made him hesitate slightly. He chose then to give his friend enough of an answer that would buy him a little peace.

              “Look, Dozier, I don’t want to get into this right now. I can’t afford to. I have to keep my head straight for this mission. You and I both know how dangerous it’s going to be. What I will say is yes, I’ve met someone nice. I don’t know what’s going to come of it since we just met several hours before I was due to ship out. She agreed to let me contact her while we’re here in this miserable hellhole. So let’s just leave it at that for now. Okay?”

              A slow grin appeared on Kenny’s face. “Alright. I’ll agree to that for now, but we are going to talk about this at some point. I’ve been waiting for this moment forever.”

              Chase shook his head. “This coming from a man who’s been divorced twice and married three times?”

              “Just because I’ve been a little unlucky at love doesn’t mean you have to be,” Kenny retorted with a shrug.

              “Something is seriously wrong with you. Now how about you get out of my face and let me have a little peace before we have to get to it?”

              “Deal.”

              Chase turned and continued on his way, ignoring the sound of his best friends’ chuckle. He was too excited about what he was getting ready to do to let Kenny’s amusement annoy him. A short time later he entered his living quarters. He found his cell phone and turned it on. Once it had completely powered up. He fired off a quick text to his mother, letting her know he’d arrived safely. Then he sent one to Willow.

              He waited a few moments and when she didn’t respond back, disappointment surged through him. While he hadn’t been expecting her to be clutching her phone to her chest awaiting his message, it bothered him a little that she didn’t respond back.

              Instead of dwelling on it, he began to unpack and set his space up for his six-month stay. Halfway through his unpacking his phone dinged, indicating he had a text message. He was slightly disappointed to see it was from his parents instead of Willow. After typing a quick response, he put the phone back down and finished putting his stuff away.

              When his stomach grumbled, he decided to take a break and venture down to the mess hall. It wouldn’t be anything to write home about, but it would provide him the nutrition he needed until he was able to get back to the real stuff.

              Because he couldn’t help himself, he took one last look at his phone. When he saw that Willow still hadn’t responded back, he placed his cell on the charger then headed out. As much as he wanted to figure out why she hadn’t responded, he was in Afghanistan to do a job. In order to do it efficiently and safely, he had to stay focused.

* * * *

              Willow stretched slowly as she came awake. She usually didn’t sleep on Sunday afternoons, but her late night rendezvous with Chase on Friday and exhausting day out with Geneva yesterday had left her completely drained. Reaching for her cell phone, she checked the time and gasped. She’d slept through Chase’s text message.  

                
Hey beautiful. I made it safely. How is your day going?

              A surge of happiness swept through her. He’d kept his promise. She sat up and tried to clear the remnants of sleep from her brain. Once she was more awake, she hit the reply button and typed a message back.

             
Hey handsome. I’m glad you arrived unharmed. Sorry it took me so long to respond. I

              fell asleep and didn’t hear the phone. I’m sure you’re busy getting settled, but thanks

              for keeping your word. I look forward to hearing back from you soon.

              She hit the send button. As long as her message was, it might take two texts for it to go through. Still, she couldn’t wait to hear back from him. When he didn’t respond right away, a quick glance at the time told her that it was about ten or eleven o’clock where he was. He was probably asleep.

              At the thought of food, her stomach grumbled. It was past lunchtime for her, but a fresh green salad would hurt. She made her way into the kitchen and began preparing it. Half way through, her phone indicated she had an incoming text message.

              Excitement swept through her when she saw it was a response from Chase.

             
“Hey beautiful. Glad to hear back from you. Hope you had a good nap.”

              She dried off her hands and sat down at the table. “I did. How are you doing?”

              “As well as can be expected. I’m tired. I did manage to unpack everything though. Looking forward to a decent nights rest. How are you?”

              “I’m fine. Just making a light late lunch.”

              “Well, I won’t keep you. I just wanted to keep my promise.”

              “I’m glad you did.”

              “So am I. Is it too soon to say I miss you?”

              A tingle of excitement traveled down her spine as she stared at the text message. It was refreshing to have someone that was straight to the point. However, she couldn’t help but to feel slightly unsettled as well. Regardless, she appreciated his honesty.

             
“No. I miss you as well.”

              “I hate we didn’t have more time before I had to leave.”

              “So do I, but I’m sure six months will be over before we know it.”

              “I hope so. Now I hate to run, but I have a few things to do before I head to bed. I’ll try to text you sometime tomorrow.”

              “Okay.”

              “Sweet dreams.”

              “You too.”

              Willow stared at her cell phone for several long moments after she’d ended her conversation with Chase. There was something about him that made her want more. To have such a strong reaction to a man she hardly knew was abnormal for her. But she was going to take Geneva’s advice for a change and just go with the flow. Hopefully, she wouldn’t end up hurt in the process.