Part 30 (1/2)
”Yes, and I've heard that most young men have found that the quickest and easiest way into a woman's bed is to get up at the crack of dawn and spend five hoursa”or was it six?a”at the home of her mentally ill brother. Oh, but wait. That's neither quick nor easy nor particularly funa”especially compared to picking up a woman in a bar.”
”Grammaa”'
”Some men aren't jerks, Joanie, even if they are only twenty-five years old. You know this man far better than I do, I'll grant you that, but if first impressions count for anythinga””
”They don't. My first impression of him wasa””
Charlie plowed right over her. ”When he shook my hand, he looked me straight in the eye, and I thought, He's the one Joan's been waiting for. I know that sounds sillya””
”It does,” Joan said. ”He just has really pretty eyes. Pretty everything. Maybe you 're the one who's smitten.”
”You whisked him out of there so quickly, I was sure you were intentionally hiding him from us. Even Cramps noticed.”
Joan put down her coffee cup. ”I was,” she said. ”I was trying to avoid this very conversation.” She sighed. ”Look, Mike is a really nice guy, all right? Really nice. Stupidly nice, in fact. I really like him. I do. But I can't think about him in terms of any kind of a real relations.h.i.+p.”
”Why not?”
Joan rolled her eyes. ”Do you have three hours? The list of reasons would take that long to work through.”
”Abbreviate.”
She sighed again.
”Come on. Humor your old gramma.”
Joan laughed. ”You're impossible.”
”That's what Vince tells me. Tell.”
Another big sigh, then, ”First of all, he lives in California. The last time I checked, the federal government had no plans to move the nation's capital from Was.h.i.+ngton, D.C., to the West Coast. And if that's not enough, he's a Navy SEALa” who needs that aggravation? You should know what that's like more than most people. And, oh, didn't I mention that he's twenty-five years old? He's a baby. Even if I completely lost my mind and wanted to start a relations.h.i.+p with a man who lives three thousand miles away from me and risks his life regularly as part of his job, I can't get past the age difference. Everyone will look at us. Wherever we go. They'll wonder why he's with me.”
Her cell phone rang before Charlie had a chance at reb.u.t.tal.
Which was probably for the best. There was no point arguing over a truth that Joan wasn't ready to hear.
What Charlie did say when Joan closed her cell phone was, ”Gramps is quite a few years younger than me. Did you know that?”
Joan shook her head. ”Three years isn'ta””
”Seven isn't either.”
She just laughed as she gathered up her handbag. ”I have to get back. Apparently there's some kind of problem with Brookea”what a surprise. I'm needed back at the hotel. I swear, I'm really starting to dislike that woman, even though she is my President's offspring. Don't get up.” She gave Charlie a kiss. ”Tell Gramps I'm sorry I had to miss our card game. After this thing with Brooke is over, probably by next Thursday, I'll be around more often.” She snapped her fingers. ”Oh, I meant to ask you. d.i.c.k Evans told me you were invited to next year's anniversary ceremony at Pearl Harbor, that they'd asked you to speak on behalf of the families of the men who were lost.”
”I'm not sure yet if we're going,” Charlie said. ”That's more than a year from now.”
”A free trip to Hawaii?” Joan laughed. ”I think you're going.”
”We'll see.” She hadn't even mentioned it yet to Vince. She didn't know how he'd react. Of course, he'd never say a word in complaint, but she'd suspected he'd been bothered by that interview she did last week for the History Channel. He was still pretty subdued, still oddly quiet at times, and it had been days.
And she wasn't quite sure how to broach the subject. Are you still jealous of my dead first husband? It was so absurd, it seemed impossible, after nearly sixty years of a good marriage. And yet...
”d.i.c.k also asked me to ask you if you'd come to this thing in Coronado next weeka”the SEAL demonstrationa”as a guest of President Bryant's. Sit on the riser with the other VIPs... ?”
”She'd love to.”
Charlie turned to see Vince standing in the open sliding door.
”The invitation is for you, too, Gramps,” Joan said.
”Then we'd love to.” Vince smiled at Charlie. ”Even though we didn't vote for the guy. Just tell us where and when and we'll be there.”
”You'll get an official invite, probably tomorrow, but d.i.c.k wanted to be able to give the news agencies something on the local angle. So don't be surprised if you get a call from the San Diego Union-Tribune.”
”Oh, goody,” Vince said. ”Reporters. Let's see what they get wrong this time.”
”Easy there, you,” Joan said, and gave him a kiss. ”Reporters are our friends. I've got to run. Bye, Gramma.”
And then she was gone.
Vince shook his head. ”At least we got her to sit still for a few hours.”
”She's not dating that Navy lieutenant,” Charlie told him. ”They're just friends.”
Vince laughed at thata”a sharp burst of merriment. ”Yeah? The way we were just friends, I bet, huh? Did you see her looking at him?”
”Did you see him looking at her?”
”Yes, ma'am, I did,” Vince said. ”I give 'em till the end of the week, tops.”
Chapter 15.
COMMANDER PAOLETTI, LIEUTENANT Jacquette, and Senior Chief Wolchonok, the mighty trinity of SEAL Team Sixteen, were deep in discussion.
Or rather, Tom Paolettia”looking pretty grim considering that their exercises in the cave had gone as well as they possibly could havea”was talking, and Jazz and the senior were nodding in solemn agreement.
As Sam watched, Paoletti turned and briefly made eye contact with Mark Jenkins, who immediately approached the three, clipboard in hand. Hah. So that's how Jenk did it. Sam had always thought the freckle-faced petty officer had some kind of Radar O'Reilly-type telepathic abilities, but apparently he just kept his eyes open and stayed alert, ready to leap into action.
Sam watched Jenk nod and take notes as both officers and the senior chief gave him instructions.
No doubt about it. There was going to be a detour. They weren't going straight back to the base. Which was fine with him. The later he got home tonight, the better.
”What's up?”
He turned to find both Muldoon and Cos...o...b..side him, also watching the team's senior officers.
”I don't know,” Sam admitted.