“I was close to Valerie and Joe. And Chief Tupper.” A bittersweet look fell over her then. “Chief and his wife, Trudy, had us all over for this giant cookout the night before we deployed. And I just remember standing there at some point during the night and thinking how lucky I was to have found a group of men and women to serve with who were like-minded and nice and…I don’t know.” Her head slid back and forth with an uncertain shake. “I guess when we were all together, it seemed more like hanging out with family, rather than just people I worked with. If that makes sense.”
“It makes perfect sense. You spend that much time with people…you see and do and hear the shit people like us do…you become like family. Sometimes closer than the real thing.”
“Definitely the case where I was concerned.”
“You’re not close to your family?”
“I might be…” That smile of hers twisted a bit before she added, “If I had any.”
Way to go, asshole. Kick the woman while she’s already down, why don’t you?
“Sorry.” He hurried to apologize. “I didn’t mean to?—”
“It’s okay.” She seemed as if it really was. “Not like you wouldn’t find out sooner or later anyway.”
After a quick shrug and a deep, lung-filling breath, she finally,finallybegan to share with him some details of her past.
“I grew up here, in Chicago. My dad split before I was born, and my mom…” Her expression softened with a look ofremembrance, and a touch of sorrow that did funny things to his heart. “She was killed in a convenience store robbery.”
Ah, hell.
“I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks. But you know, it was a long time ago, so…”
The tiny shrug of her shoulder seemed casual, but Rocky could tell the woman still felt the loss of her mother with every beat of her incredible heart.
“They catch the guy?”
The shake of her head was his answer.
“Shooter was just a kid.” A muscle in her delicate jaw twitched. “He got caught stealing a bottle of liquor, and rather than leave it and run, or take off with the damn thing, he pulled out a gun and shot the clerk before turning the gun on my mom.” Raegan’s voice grew thick, but she cleared it enough to add, “She was the only customer in the store at the time, and the only reason she was there was because I’d used the last of the milk that morning and forgot to tell her. So when she went to make dinner and saw that we were out, she left to go grab some from down the street.”
Jesus.
“How old were you?”
“Seventeen.”
“Damn. That had to be…Christ, I can’t even imagine.”
Rocky had shared a bit about himself when he’d been at her place the other night. Things like the fact that his parents were both still alive and well, and still living in the same small Kansas town he’d grown up in.
Even now, at thirty-two years of age, he wasn’t sure how he’d handle it if something like that ever happened to either of them. But to be dealt a blow like that at seventeen, with no other parent around to help pick up the pieces of her broken heart…
“What happened to you afterward?”
He could only imagine a young, scared, suddenly orphaned Raegan having to deal with the loss of her mother at a time in her life when she’d needed her most.
“I spent the rest of that year and the following with a foster family. They were nice enough, I guess. But I joined the military as soon as I could. I never went back.”
He knew he was asking a lot of questions, but he couldn’t help it. He wanted to know as much about her as she was willing to share, and since she was obviously in the mood to reveal bits of her personal life with him…
“Why the military?”
“At first?” The tip of her tongue ran a quick lick across her lips, making him think all kinds of naughty things. “College.”
“The G.I. Bill?”