“So am I.”
“With all due respect, son,” he said with a healthy dose of irony, “you’re bleeding and he isn’t.” He let his words sink in. “Give Rich a wide berth for a while. Okay? Just a friendly word of advice, man to man.”
I started to say something sarcastic but thought better of it. “Yes, sir,” I said instead. “And I’m sorry.”
Anne didn’t clear her throat. She didn’t make a sound, in fact.
Harold looked at me in silent appraisal. “Well, you aren’t a coward. But you aren’t very bright, either.” He looked at his wife. “I’ll go talk to Rich before he does anything else stupid.”
She nodded.
He almost ran into Christy on his way into the house.
She looked at him fearfully and then glanced at me.
“Birdy,” he told her, “you have the damnedest taste in men. I haven’t decided if I like this one or not, but at least he isn’t a pantywaist. He may be an idiot, but he has balls.” He shook his head in disbelief. “Jesus Christ!”
Anne winced.
“I did not sign up for this shit,” he finished. Then he stepped past Christy and closed the door behind him.
Anne told me to sit down as Christy handed her the first aid kit.
“Just a sec,” I said. Then I walked to the door to the yard, opened it, and calmly threw up.
Rich and I didn’t even glance at each other over breakfast. Christy looked suitably chastised as well, but no one said a thing about what had happened.
And when Jim asked how I got the cut over my eye—which now sported butterfly closures under a gauze bandage—I told him I’d tripped during my run and hit a bench.
Harry and Marianne arrived with John, who went to play with his cousins. Jim told them the accident story with a chuckle. I faked a laugh and said I needed to be more careful.
My tension slowly lessened as the day wore on. Rich ignored me and acted like nothing had happened. Danny and Terry did the same. The women and girls went shopping after lunch, while the men and boys gathered around
the television to watch the Army-Navy football game.
Navy scored on the opening kickoff and then completely dominated Army for the rest of the game, so everyone was in a good mood over dinner.
After dessert Jim suggested a game of Florida Rummy.
“If you gents don’t mind,” Danny said to his father and brothers, “I’m going to take my bride-to-be for a walk on the beach.”
“Be our guest,” his father said.
“You’d’ve lost anyway,” Harry teased.
“Badly,” Jim added.
“It’s a lovely evening,” Anne said to Sabrina. “You might take a blanket with you.”
Danny perked up immediately. “That’s a great idea, Mom. Thanks!”
Anne glanced at Christy with an expectant smile.
Christy’s brow knitted, and I had to smother a grin. Her head shot up when she figured it out. She looked at me hopefully.
Harold followed the glances and unspoken questions, but he didn’t say anything.
Marianne followed too. She grinned and winked at me.
“Mind if we join you?” I asked Danny.
“No, come on.”
“Christine, dear,” Anne said, “let’s get a couple of blankets so you can sit on the dunes.”
The air was cool and the sky clear, a beautiful southern California evening. I held the heavy blanket over my arm as we walked behind Danny and Sabrina. Christy held my other hand and swung it gently.
“Sorry about this morning,” I said to Danny.
“I told you, Rich is mean.”
“Danny, be nice,” Christy chided.
“What happened?” Sabrina asked. She turned and looked at me. “You didn’t hit your eye on a bench, did you?”
“Rich and I had… a bit of a disagreement.”
“Birdy fell asleep with Paul,” Danny explained. “Rich came to wake us to go for a run and found them together. Things sort of got crazy after that.”
“Bit of an understatement,” I said.
“I thought you were going to fight him,” Danny said with a chuckle.
“That’s exactly what I was going to do.”
“No offense,” he said, “but he’d’ve kicked your ass. Or worse.”
“Don’t be so sure. I can fight. Judo, boxing, wrestling… take your pick.”
“That’s nice,” he said dismissively. “Do you know what Rich does? In the Navy, I mean.”
“He’s some sort of diver, right?” I glanced at Christy for confirmation.
“Underwater demolition?”
Danny laughed, low and grim. “In a manner of speaking. He’s a SEAL.”
“A what?”
“Sea, Air, Land. SEAL. Navy special forces. So he’s basically a trained killer. Suits him perfectly, if you ask me.”
“Did you know that?” I asked Christy.
She nodded and looked guilty. “He doesn’t like us to talk about it, though.”
“What he does isn’t secret,” Danny said, “but they do a lot of clandestine operations. Real cloak and dagger stuff. So they don’t advertise who they are.”
“Holy crap,” I said softly.
“Yeah,” Danny agreed. “Think twice next time you get the bright idea to fight Rich.”
“Thanks for the tip,” I said, with only a hint of sarcasm.
“I tried to tell you,” he said lightly.
“I thought you were kidding.”
“I never kid,” he said. “Except when I do.”
We walked along in silence until we reached the park that paralleled the shore.
“Bonfire down the beach,” Danny said as we crossed the grass. “Looks like a party. You guys wanna check it out?”
The party was about fifty locals, mostly high school and college kids, as well as a group of middle-aged adults who looked like they were trying to be former hippies instead of the wealthy suburbanites they actually were. They mostly sat in beach chairs at the edge of the firelight. One of them had a big boom box playing a local radio station, and plenty of coolers were scattered through the crowd.
Danny fit in immediately. He asked around and found an older surfer guy
willing to sell a styrofoam cooler full of ice and about a dozen bottles of a Mexican beer, Pacífico. Danny pulled out cash and gave it to him before I could chip in.
“You want any smoke to go with it?” the guy asked. “It’s primo dope.”
“Nah, we’re cool,” Danny said. “Thanks for the brews.”
“No problem. Peace out, man.”
“Peace.” Danny opened the cooler and uncapped bottles as he handed them to us.
Someone called to Christy from a knot of people. Several of them came toward us. They were friends of hers from high school, and she introduced me as “my friend, Paul.”
I faded into the background as she chatted about people I didn’t know.
“I thought you were officially dating,” Danny said quietly.
“Long story,” I said.
“So are you or aren’t you?”
“Let’s say it’s unofficial.”
“Well, you did sleep with her last night.”
“And that’s all we did.”
He laughed and waved away my denial. “Relax. Birdy isn’t a kid.
Besides, I’m not my dad. Yeah, I look out for her—we all do—but you’re good for her. So we’re cool, you and I.”
Sabrina nodded agreement and smiled.
Christy said goodbye to her friends and they returned to their group.
“You wanna spread the blankets?” I asked Danny.
“Let’s move away from the party a bit,” he said. “If you know what I mean.”
“Ah. Right. Got it.” I handed my beer to Christy. Then I picked up our blanket and the other one as well.
“Thanks,” Danny said. He picked up the cooler and headed into the darkness.
We walked a few hundred yards farther down the beach and stopped at a dark and quiet stretch. We could still hear strains of music from the direction of the bonfire, but the sound of the surf mostly drowned it out.
“This spot’s as good as any,” Danny said. He set the cooler on the sand and helped me spread one of the blankets. “Hey, honey,” he said to Sabrina,