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Grissom (In the Company of Snipers #26) Chapter Fifteen 38%
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Chapter Fifteen

Tuesday hadn’t felt this much at home in a very long time. Not because Grissom’s house was filled to the brim, though it was. He and the men were on the porch, no doubt talking about work, sports, or other guy things. Tanner and Luke had run for the master bedroom with Maverick’s daughter and Harley’s boys, where they were no doubt absorbed in some video game. Harley and Judy’s boys were fraternal twins, one named after Harley’s father, the other after Alex Stewart, which told Tuesday how close Harley and his boss were.

Tuesday felt at home simply because the wives had migrated with her into Grissom’s kitchen. She’d overheard Harley ordering pizzas as soon as he’d arrived, with extra-large everything. She’d only intended to fix a vegetable tray to go along with all that greasy, cheesy sausage and pepperoni. But China, Judy, and Persia had taken over, and now a fruit tray was also in progress, and steaks were definitely off the menu.

While China washed the bags of carrots she’d pulled from Grissom’s refrigerator, she explained how Persia used to work for the CIA, DEA, and a couple other federal agencies, before she’d wised up and joined The TEAM.

“Which is why she’s so quiet,” Judy teased, slicing two bunches of celery into petite finger lengths on a bamboo cutting board. “She’s afraid she’ll spill top-secrets if she starts talking.”

“Then she’ll have to kill us,” China stage-whispered.

Persia smiled from the sink where she was rinsing the bag of red and golden delicious apples she’d found in Grissom’s well-stocked pantry.

“I’m impressed with this guy,” Judy declared, as she lopped off the root end of a celery bunch. “If I’d sent Maverick to the store to get something for dinner, he’d come back with a ten-pound slab of bacon and half a beef. But Grissom’s kitchen is stocked full of healthy things. Did you see his pantry? The man has a bin of Yukon potatoes in there, and, get this, yams. Real yams. Not canned.”

Tuesday instantly rose to Grissom’s defense, “Of course. He’s a dad. Grissom takes especially good care of his boys, that’s all.” She wanted to add, ‘So what?’ But figured that might come off snarky, and she didn’t want to offend Grissom’s friends.

Now slicing the carrots she’d lined up on the countertop into finger-sized sticks, China went on about how Judy had first met Harley at Mark and Libby’s wedding. How she’d met Maverick when he’d shown up, out of the blue, one day in Wyoming, and saved her and her horse.

She reminded Tuesday of an over-confident girl from her soccer playing days, that one from an opposing team. Jenny was as much a tomboy as Tuesday had once been, and she’d loved their games together. Jenny was all about the sport, the rivalry, and the competition, which meant they were evenly matched. Other teenage girls had pictures of movie stars or boy-bands taped up on their bedroom walls. Tuesday had eight-by-twelve glossies of Lionel Messi of Barcelona. Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid, and Manuel Neuer of Bayern Munich. Real men. Famous soccer players who played and worked hard. Not pretty boys. She’d never been attracted to a guy’s looks as much as his strength, skill, and that elusive something that Shane, Heston, and Alex had. That Grissom had in spades. That innate male quality that told the world to ‘shove it’ with just a glance. That told weaker men and women to step up, man up, and amount to something. Tuesday could almost hear Grissom’s favorite F-bombs interspersed in that description.

“Yup, that cowboy just showed up out of nowhere and started digging Star and me out of that landslide,” China mumbled around the thin slice of carrot she was taste-testing. “We had torrential rain that spring and the hillsides were saturated. You know Star, the handsome gelding you thought was going to devour Luke this morning? Maverick’s quite taken with you, girlfriend.”

Tuesday jolted out of her head and back into the kitchen. A definite glimmer of mischief sparkled in China’s deep blue eyes, but Tuesday didn’t rise to the challenge. “Star’s a very handsome, umm, kid. Tanner sure likes him.”

“Yeah, well, Tanner likes all my kids, and they like Grissom’s boys. Those three are regulars. They ride a couple times each week. You should join them.”

“Mmmm,” was all Tuesday would say on that subject. Horseback riding with Grissom and his boys on a regular basis meant staying, and staying meant putting down roots, at the least, renting an apartment. That wasn’t happening. Her feelings for Grissom didn’t equate to a future with him and his sons, and it’d be presumptuous to think they did. It’d be better if she left before this “thing” between them turned sour or—worse.

Liking a man, any man, would make him a target for the relentless tragedy stalking her, and she knew better than to hold onto anyone too tightly or for too long. Grissom had just found his lost boys; he needed them more than he needed her. She’d get through dinner, but that was it. She loved Tanner and Luke enough to let them go. Love hurt, but sometimes, it killed. She refused to take the chance.

Jolting out of the depressing plans for her future, Tuesday found herself in the middle of Judy telling how Harley’d been in a massive accident outside DC a few years ago. How his Jeep had gotten totaled, and he’d suffered a serious head injury. How he’d returned to the apartment they’d shared while she was at work and taken his weapons and enough ammunition to start a small war. Once she’d gotten home and couldn’t raise him on his cell phone, she’d gone to her least favorite TEAM member for help—the Boss, as his employees still called Alex Stewart—whom she’d intensely disliked at the time.

“Why didn’t you like Alex?” Tuesday asked. “I’ve met him. He’s harmless. In fact, he was quite the gentleman when I visited him and Kelsey.” Since the other women had taken over the vegetable and fruit trays, she was carefully spreading thin layers of cream cheese over ham slices. Who didn’t like ham roll-ups?

“He was so darned bossy then, and he thought he knew better than everyone else, including me. Besides—”

“Harley kind of had a thing for Alex’s wife back then,” China cut in nonchalantly, as if she’d just mentioned a change in the weather instead of what sounded like Judy’s husband’s infidelity. “Not like he’d ever acted on it. Harley would never, but you have to understand that before Judy met him, he’d been dealing with an extreme case of PTSD, made worse by him self-medicating with some hardcore drugs and—”

“Who’s telling this story?” Judy bit out, the knife in her hand now pointed at China. “Me or you?”

China tipped her head back and laughed. “You are, Miss Touchy Pants,” she said, aiming a dripping wet carrot at Tuesday in return. “Before you get any more involved with Grissom, you need to understand that every single one of us TEAM wives are as bad-assed as our husbands.”

Tuesday set China straight. “I’m not involved with Grissom.”

“We have to be bad-assed,” Persia interjected quietly, slicing each peeled and cored apple into petite wedges. “We can’t help it. We’re attracted to strong men, to alphas. Not to mention we’ve all been through some bad shit ourselves, and some of us just turned out a little meaner because of it.”

China hip-checked Judy. “And kinder. At least, I’m kinder. Not sure about the rest of you.”

“Did you happen to see any caramel dip in the refrigerator?” Persia asked China.

“Sure. Two tubs. You want both?”

“Yes, please. I’ve got enough apples for two trays.”

“Here you go.”

“Thanks.”

“Sheesh!” Judy hissed, “Do you ladies mind if I finish telling my story?”

Both China and Persia laughed. It was easy to see that, despite their rowdy version of sisterly comradery, these women cared for each other. Judy hadn’t sounded angry as much as flustered with the persistent interruptions. She started again with, “Anyway—”

“Anyway, that was only misplaced affection on Harley’s part,” China cut in with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes, “for the woman whose life he saved. It happens between doctors and patients all the time.”

“Or nurses and patients,” quiet Persia added.

“Wait.” Tuesday cocked her head to make sure she’d heard right. “Harley saved Kelsey’s life? When?” This she had to hear.

“And here we go again,” Judy grumbled, aiming an exaggerated huff at the ceiling. “Yes, my husband had a thing for Kelsey. Yes, he saved her life before Alex finally married her. Alex and Kelsey were in the Pacific Northwest when everything went bad. He was in critical shape that night, so he sent Harley to find her. To save her. Her worthless ex kidnapped her after that worthless scum and his White Supremist buddies nearly beat Alex to death. When Harley finally located Kelsey, the first thing he did was snipe that asshole ex of hers and the jerks with him. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like they weren’t armed to the teeth. They were, but Harley took them out before they knew what was happening.

Judy’s pride in her husband was easy to read.

“By then, poor Kelsey was in a bad way. Harley was afraid she wouldn’t live to make it back to the Search and Rescue team. Alex had already been life-flighted to the nearest hospital, and… damn it!” Judy threw up both hands at the ceiling. “I know it was displaced affection! I know he loves me and his sons more than he loves anyone else! But just once, just once—!”

“You wish I’d shut my big mouth and leave Kelsey out of it, right?” China asked, leaning into Judy and wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

Judy didn’t answer. The cords in her neck were tight and her face was red. Which for a redhead, meant she was scarlet.

“But leaving out the Harley and Kelsey connection isn’t telling the whole story, sweetheart,” China murmured. “He was pretty messed up when you fell in love with him, just like Grissom is now.”

“I know. Except Grissom never did drugs like Harley did,” Judy admitted surly.

That perked up Tuesday’s ears. “Excuse me? Grissom isn’t messed up. He just went through a lot of crap, that’s all. So did his boys. And he doesn’t do drugs. They’re all getting better. But healing from abuse takes time, and his boys are happy again. He’s the best father I’ve ever known, well, except for my dad. Surely you can all see that.”

Grinning, China hip-checked Judy again. “What’d I tell you?”

Persia’s big brown eyes were now fixed on Tuesday. “Damn, you’re right. It’s about time.”

Judy just grinned.

Tuesday tossed her head, embarrassed she’d snapped at them for no reason other than they were discussing Grissom and his boys, and that needed to stop. The McCoy men were off-limits.

China chuckled. “You’re not going to stand there and tell us you don’t care for Grissom, are you?”

Tuesday’s mouth went dry. That was exactly what she’d already done and intended to do again. “Umm…”

“I knew it!” Judy crowed. “You like him. A lot. I’m so happy. That man needs a real woman in his life for once. Talk, girlfriend. We want the deets.”

But talking about Grissom behind his back was the last thing Tuesday would do. “Of course I like him; I like everybody. This is the first day we’ve had a chance to talk since Costa Rica, and he’s been more concerned with his boys than me. As he should be, and…” She was rambling and suddenly as flustered as Judy’d been minutes ago. Judy, whose beautiful, piercing green eyes were right then looking straight through Tuesday.

A wave of prickly, warm embarrassment swept up her neck, and too soon her face would be as flushed as Judy’s. Darn it. There was no way out, so Tuesday plowed through like Freddie had taught her. Swallowing hard, she admitted, “Yes, okay. I’ve liked Grissom since I first saw him. He was so gentle with his boys, and they were so traumatized. It was hard not to fall in—”

Screech! Hold the phone. You’re not—in—love. You. Just. Met. Him.

“Stop it,” Persia said, her voice commandingly soft. “Stop interrogating Tuesday. Don’t mind us, honey. We’re just nosy old women who talk too much” —she glared at Judy when she said that— “and we’ve all stood right where you’re standing now. Just know that, no matter how things turn out between you and Grissom, you’ll always have us. I, for one, am happy to finally meet the woman who took out that bitch, Maeve Astor. Heston brags all the time about how calm you were during that encounter in Little Rock. Do you believe in destiny?”

That question came out of left field. “No,” Tuesday answered cautiously, not sure where Persia was headed. “Not after the life I’ve had. If that’s destiny, you can keep it.”

“I believe in destiny,” Judy admitted softly. “Destiny’s what brought Harley back home to me after that awful wreck nearly destroyed our lives. For a while, he didn’t know who I was. Do you have any idea how awful that felt?”

Tuesday nodded. But at least Harley had remembered. Her mom and dad and Freddie weren’t coming back. Couldn’t.

“It sure as hell was destiny that brought Maverick all the way from Virginia to my ranch in Wyoming, on what could’ve been a very, very bad day,” China said, her tone tender for the first time tonight. “I never would’ve been able to dig Star out of that landslide by myself. I had no cell service, not as high up on the hill as we were. It was steep and, once that hill let loose, it was muddy and…” It took a long moment before she added, “Yup. I believe in destiny. Star and I wouldn’t be here today if Maverick hadn’t been there to rescue us. That exact morning. On that exact hill. Jesus!” China dashed a hand at her eyes. “I owe that man in there everything.”

Tuesday had no idea what to say, so she said nothing.

“I’m just as sure it was destiny that brought Walker to my beach in Florida,” Persia whispered. “He’d just swum all the way from Cuba, alone, without back-up or a swim buddy. He was exhausted, and he could’ve chosen any strip of sand to land on, but he… he chose my beach. And I just happened to be there that day. Normally, I would’ve been in Washington, D.C. If that isn’t destiny, I don’t know what is.”

Tuesday had nothing to contribute. She didn’t know these women well enough to call them girlfriends. Sure, they were amicable enough, and their husbands were hotties, each an outstanding definition of hunk all by himself. But she could never believe in the abstract called destiny. Her life hadn’t been easy, and everything she’d lived through hadn’t been fair. She’d lost her parents too early in life and then Freddie. She’d been slandered by the press and hunted by the FBI, both because Astor had framed her for murders she’d committed out of her insane jealousy. If destiny was the driving force behind the horrors that were her life, Tuesday wanted nothing to do with it. Destiny was as bad as love. Not worth the risk.

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