SEAL The Deal by Sharon Hamilton Read Free Book Online

and, knowing himself those days, no way would he have noticed her.
    Plus other things had weighed on him, and his interest in girls waned a bit that summer. His dad had been working two jobs after having been without work for nearly six months. Nick took up weeding and cutting lawns and donated his meager earnings to the family, which at first was refused. But later on, even with his father’s two jobs, his parents gratefully accepted what little he could pay. He’d sometimes gone with Sophie to buy their clothes at Goodwill, and had always checked out the store to make sure none of his friends saw him there.
    But as the summer wore on, the calls started coming, then strange men and women in business suits stopped by the house and spoke quietly with his parents. One day his father announced the bank was foreclosing on the house, and they had less than a week to move out. Nick couldn’t remember ever seeing his father smile again. He’d been sure back then that if he and Sophie just worked hard enough, they could help rescue their home. But they’d had no choice but to move into a dirty two-bedroom apartment, and he and Sophie had to share one bedroom for a year.
    It had broken his poor dad, who died of a heart attack soon after they’d moved, and then his mother got sick and was gone less than a year later. Nick stayed on with Sophie while she attended the local community college until she could transfer to Sonoma State. During her senior year Nick realized he wasn’t cut out for college so he joined the Navy, and later tried out for the teams. He couldn’t do anything to save his own parents physically or financially, but he could defend his country…and he had nowhere else to go. The Navy became his new family.
    Stop dwelling on the past. Cut the baggage. Get your head in the game at hand. Face it. Just like the SEALs Creed , The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday, life was hard and would continue to get harder, and that was all there was to it.
    Nick sorted through more pink specially labeled envelopes and found a delinquent gas and electric bill for nearly a thousand dollars. He folded it quickly and slipped it into his pants pocket.
    “Don’t go through my mail.” Sophie had been sitting slumped over the table, finishing her coffee.
    “Sorry, sis. Thought I saw something important there.”
    Marc dried his hands and walked over to Nick to take a look.
    Sophie was on her feet faster than he’d thought she could move these days. “Dammit, Nick.”
    She elbowed him out of the way, her robe nearly falling off her shoulders. Nick let her push him aside, but he grabbed her robe by the collar to make sure her bony flesh remained covered.
    Sophie jerked out of the way and glared at him. “My mail’s private.”
    “Gotta ask you, though. Some of those bills look like they’re late. You okay with the mortgage?”
    “They’ll get paid when the place sells. That’s Devon’s job, so don’t fret about it.”
    “What if it doesn’t sell fast enough?”
    “It will,” she said over her shoulder as she hugged the pile of bills to her chest and marched off to her bedroom, slamming the door.
    Marc shook his head. “Damn shame, Nick. You think she waited too long?”
    He pulled out the orange electric bill notice. “I’m going to at least keep the power and lights on. Wish I could do more.”
    “We should organize a work party. Get all this shit sold.”
    “Good thinkin’.” Nick said.
    “Have a big fire sale, like that rug place in San Diego that goes out of business every year. That kind of thing. Get all of it cleared out.”
    “I think we’re gonna need more help.”
    “I’ll go call Kyle and some others. They’d love a road trip up here, doing your sister a good turn. Word gets out a bunch of Navy SEALs are working the nursery without their shirts, selling potted plants and daisies. It’s bound to bring a crowd.”
    “Not that high-profile shit, Marc. You know Timmons would bust us for that.”
    “Not