Cursing under his breath, Sam pulled his phone from his pocket. “Travers.”
After that, there wasn’t much in the way of conversation on Sam’s part. A few grunts here and there, then, “Roger that.”
The expression that crossed Sam’s face as he shoved the phone back in his jeans was a cross between worry and fear. And it scared the hell out of Poppy.
“I have to go,” he said, leaning in to kiss the corner of her mouth, then handing her the key to his truck. All around the backyard, the other SEALs who’d just gotten phone calls were busy saying their goodbyes to their significant others. “I’ll catch a ride with Lane and will call you as soon as I can.”
Head suddenly spinning, Poppy clutched the key in her hand as she watched Dalton give his wife and little girl a kiss and a hug. A few feet away, Kyla was kissing Wes almost desperately, while Hayley murmured, “safe and sound,” to Chasen as she hugged him tightly.
Poppy turned back to Sam, grabbing his hand and holding him in place even as Lane stood off to the side waiting impatiently for him. “What do you mean, you have to go? Who was that call from? Where are you going? When are you coming back?”
He grimaced. “Crap, this is all stuff I should have told you before. About me being a SEAL, I mean. That was a call from headquarters telling us that we have a mission. I can’t tell you where I’m going because I don’t know. And even if I did, I couldn’t tell you. It’s classified.”
Poppy nearly mentioned that she almost certainly had a higher security clearance than he did, but bit her tongue. That obviously wasn’t something she could get into right now—or ever for that matter. But the idea that the Navy could simply call Sam out of the blue and send him off to who knew where didn’t sit well with her.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you about the SEAL thing earlier, but I was worried you’d bail on me without giving me chance,” Sam said, both his tone and expression conveying all kinds of anguish that hurt her to see. “But right now, I have to go. I don’t have a choice.”
She wanted to ask him so many more questions, but then Sam was kissing the air from her lungs and the sense from her head.
“I promise we’ll talk when I get back,” he said before disappearing into the house with Lane.
Poppy stood there, transfixed by the sliding glass doors Sam had disappeared through, trying to comprehend everything that had just happened. But as good as she might be with math and all things logical, this moment escaped her. Sam was a Navy SEAL. Now, he was off to who knew where, probably doing something that could get him killed.
It struck her then how much Sam had come to mean to her, and in such an incredibly short period of time, too. Something tugged at her heart, and she found herself wishing she’d said something to him about it. She told herself that she’d get the chance, that Sam would be fine. But then she started thinking about all the issues they’d have to deal with when he did come back. Yeah, the part where he’d lied about being a SEAL would be hard enough to handle, but how would he react when he figured out that she’d slept with one of his teammates? Or that his parents hated her?
Melissa gave Dalton’s wife and daughter a hug, then the woman took the little girl’s hand and led her toward the sliding glass doors. Poppy supposed that meant they were leaving. The child, who’d been laughing and smiling a few minutes ago, now looked like all the life had been sucked out of her. Poor thing.
Letting out a sigh, Poppy turned to leave, too.
“Poppy, don’t go.”
She turned to see Kyla standing there with a concerned look on her face. Over by the grill, Kurt was serving burgers and hot dogs to the rest of the guests who were still there, even if the tone of the party was more subdued now.
“Stay, please,” Kyla added softly. “Having the guys take off like that is scary. Being with other wives and girlfriends can make it a little easier.”
“Kyla’s right,” Hayley said, stopping on her way to the picnic table up on the deck, a plate of food in her hand. “Stay so we can talk.”
Beside Hayley, Melissa surprised Poppy by nodding.
Kyla gave her a smile. “Come on. Let’s get something to eat.”
Poppy wasn’t very hungry, but she fell into step beside Kyla as the other woman headed for the grill. Melissa wouldn’t invite her to stay if she wanted to chew her out, right? Maybe she’d come out of this whole thing okay.
“So,” Melissa said after Poppy and Kyla joined her and Hayley with their plates, “I’m guessing you really are a college professor and not a stripper?”
Beside Poppy, Kyla gasped, her eyes wide as she looked back and forth between them. “Wait. What?”
Melissa didn’t say anything, the questioning look she gave Poppy clearly saying she was genuinely interested in the answer. Even Hayley was regarding her curiously.
Needing a minute, Poppy sipped the iced tea she’d traded the hard seltzer for. She never drank alcohol if she had to drive, but right now, she wouldn’t mind a little bit of liquid courage.
“No.” She took a deep breath. “I got into a discussion with my best friend about men not being into smart women, and the next thing I know, I’m making a bet that I can snag the next attractive guy who walked into the club if I pretended to be an airhead stripper.”
“And that guy was Dalton,” Hayley said.
She nodded. “Yeah. Our relationship—if you could call it that—lasted a week.”
Hayley sighed. “I wish I could say that surprises me, but I get the feeling that Dalton was like that. At least before Kimber and Emma.”
“The woman and child you saw him with earlier,” Melissa supplied. “It’s a long story, but the short version is that Emma is his daughter and he married Kimber shortly after finding out.”
Poppy didn’t know what to think about that, other than maybe Dalton had grown up drastically since she’d known him.
“So, that whole performance you put on here at the cookout when you were here with Dalton was all an act?” Hayley asked.
Poppy nodded, nibbling on a Dorito. “That’s the problem with pretending to be a ditz to land a guy. You’re forced to stick with the act. I couldn’t tell Dalton and after a few dates, everything fell apart and we went our separate ways.”
Melissa considered that for a moment. “How did you meet my son?”
Poppy couldn’t help smiling at the memory. “He moved into the apartment across the hall from mine and ended up dropping a box of his stuff while moving in. We ended up bonding over a Rubik’s Cube.”
Melissa laughed. “I didn’t even know he still had that old thing.”
“He has a lot of good memories about solving the puzzle with his dad,” Poppy said.
“Sam told you about that, huh? He doesn’t share stuff like that with people he’s just met. I guess that means he’s really fallen for you.”
“The feeling is mutual,” Poppy admitted, smiling again. “Though I have no idea why I’m telling you guys when I haven’t even told Sam yet.” Her smile faded and she gazed down at her plate. “I should have said something to him before he left.”
Silence descended around the table. Poppy usually didn’t mind being left alone with her thoughts, but after everything that had happened today, she couldn’t stop her mind from heading in a dark direction.