Free ALWAYS FAITHFUL by Isabella Page A

then the baby monitor went off with Grace babbling something in her bedroom. “Oh, it’s not important,” she said, pausing briefly. She suddenly realized she was about to confide in a near stranger about the truth of her relationship with Mike. She opted not to, since she suddenly realized she wouldn’t be seeing Nic after Mike’s funeral anyway.

    “I need to get inside if you don’t mind Nic.” Making it a statement rather than a question, she walked past Nic and into the house, and as she did, she hit the garage door button.
     

CHAPTER SEVEN

    N ic had decided to take a much needed day off and ride to the ocean. As Nic cruised down the street, she wondered what Claire had been about to say before being interrupted the day before. It’s none of my business how the Monroe’s lived, she thought. Putting it out of her mind she concentrated on her ride. She could smell the clean air, and feel the heat of the day warming her through the leather jacket. It had been awhile since she had taken the bike out on the picturesque drive and she wondered why she had waited so long. Oh yeah, rehab and informs, her two least favorite things to do these days. She let the surging traffic take her along the open highway, picking up speed as she maneuvered in and out of traffic.
    She watched as the beach opened up on her right-hand side and thought about taking that walk she had planned to make a few days ago. The ocean was cool on the Pacific coast side. In fact, it was downright cold and left her with little desire to swim in it. Nonetheless she loved the west coast a lot more than the placid east coast beaches. The Pacific had that unsettled beauty that often echoed her moods. She had been a rebel in her youth and was often amazed that she had lasted as long as she had in the military.

    Her dad often commented that he thought that she would be kicked out the first time someone told her to drop and do push-ups, opting instead to tell them where to stuff those push-ups. But she had surprised him and everyone else, flying through ROTC and Officer Basic, both at the top of her class. She knew why she did it- because someone had said she couldn’t and she was just stubborn enough to want to prove them wrong. Being told only men could be good officers and pilots probably had something to do with it, too.

    Regardless, she had made it this far, surviving both the military and the war. But now she felt it was time to make some decisions regarding her future. She had known this day was coming and sitting here on the back of her bike gave her some time to mull options over without any distraction. She took the exit to Del Mar and coasted her bike down the winding road. She had to be careful with all of the locals and tourists who loved this part of the world as much as she did. She wound in and out of traffic taking 15 th Street to Sea Grove Park, one of her favorite spots in San Diego. A person could look from Dana Point to La Jolla while sitting in the park. It didn’t hurt that there was no shortage of beautiful girls to look at either. Nic never objected to eye-candy and San Diego had its fair share of bikini clad bodies year-round.

    Nic found a parking space and drifted into it. She pulled her sunglasses off, slid her helmet off her head and shook her hair out as she sat and watched a few kids flying kites down on the beach. She stood and stretched, wondering how long she would be in San Diego. Her recovery was right on schedule. In fact, it was a little ahead of schedule, but she wasn’t in a hurry to go back overseas again. She felt bad for thinking that, but she had damn near lost her life and wasn’t in a hurry to put it back on the line for a cause she didn’t believe in.

    Her thoughts drifted to Claire and what she was going through. She was, without a doubt, one of the stronger wives she had met in the unit. She was handling Mike’s death with an inner strength that was admirable. She wasn’t like some wives who were