Semper Fi by Keira Andrews Read Free Book Online

face flushed. Jim was relieved the shower and dry clothes had done the trick, and that Cal was warming up again.
     

     
1948
     
    “Jim?”
    He glanced at Cal, who had walked back from the tree he was pruning and now eyed it critically. “Are these branches evenly spaced, or should I cut that little one off?”
    From midway up his ladder, Jim gave the tree a once over. “Cut it off. It’s drooping too much. The branches should sort of look like the rungs of a ladder when you’re done.”
    Cal nodded thoughtfully and took a gulp of water from his canteen after wiping his forehead. He’d taken off his jacket, and he and Jim both had their plaid work shirts rolled up at the sleeves. “Speaking of ladders, after those goddamn rope nets we had to climb to board the ships, I swore I wouldn’t get on another ladder even if you paid me.”
    Jim remembered the treacherous climb after Guadalcanal, his limbs burning, the rope swaying and shifting as dozens of men scaled it. He gave the solid wooden ladder a pat. “These are a little easier to manage.”
    Cal climbed his and whacked at the offending branch with his machete. “Good thing, or I’d be liable to take off my own hand if I was swinging around like we did on those ropes.”
    Jim chuckled. He could always rely on Cal for a laugh. Not to mention all the other things he could rely on him for. Cal understood the nightmares and didn’t say a word in the morning light. Jim hadn’t felt so…settled in a long time. “Speaking of getting paid, we really need to discuss that.”
    Ignoring him, Cal hacked away.
    “I know you can hear me.”
    “What’s that? Gone partially deaf. I was in the war, you know. Lots of explosions. Hell of a racket over there.”
    “Har, har. Seriously, Cal. I’m paying you.”
    Cal pointed up. “Hey, is that a hawk?” He whistled softly. “Look at that wingspan.”
    Jim glanced at the bird soaring above the treetops. “Yes, it’s a hawk, and don’t change the subject.”
    With a sigh, Cal faced him, propping one foot up on a low branch, the other firmly on the ladder. “I’m not taking your money.”
    “Why not? You’re doing the work, fair and square. So you should be paid, fair and square.”
    “I don’t need it. I have more money than I know what to do with. Put it aside for the kids. Send Adam off to college one day. Maybe even Sophie. It’ll do a lot more good that way. Just make sure they go to Princeton and not Yale.” He winked.
    Jim contemplated the notion. He knew Cal was richer than the devil himself, and that any salary Jim could pay him would be hopelessly paltry. But it didn’t sit right, not paying a man for his work. “You need to be compensated. Even Mrs. O’Brien lets me give her a little every week. Fought me tooth and nail, but I wore her down.”
    “I am being compensated!” Cal waved his arm around. “Look at this place. It’s paradise, Jim. Plus I’m getting room and board. I hated the bank. Sure, I had a lot more to do than before the war, but I’ll never really make my father happy.” He snorted. “Not until I get a wife and have a son to carry on the family name.”
    “Well, that’s another thing. You aren’t going to meet many women around here.”
    “On the contrary, my good man, just the other day I met a delightful woman who happened to ride up on her bicycle. Amazing cook.”
    “Aside from being two decades your senior, Mrs. O’Brien is happily married.”
    “Alas. Another heartbreak, but I’ll persevere.”
    Jim chuckled. “But really, out here you aren’t going to meet anyone.”
    “I don’t want to meet any women,” Cal muttered as he went back to the branch, hacking into it forcefully.
    “You’re thirty now. Not getting any younger.” Jim kept his tone jocular.
    “Oh, this handsome face will still be reeling ’em in for years to come, don’t worry.” He finished cutting through the branch with a flourish.
    “I just hate to see you missing out.”
    Cal climbed