Free Mended Hearts (New Beginnings Series) by Mandie Tepe Page A

wouldn’t try to come up with an excuse to cancel their plans to hang out for a while. He also hoped it wouldn’t be too hard to ditch the others when she did come over. He decided not to worry about it and just sat and caught up with Kelli, Meg, Tobi, and the guys. He thanked the SDDI crew for coming out to support the military families.
    “Happy to, Sonny! The military is such a huge part of this community. It’s the least we can do to help support you guys by trying to make sure your families are taken care of,” Kai said earnestly.
    “Well, it means a lot,” Sonny answered.
    Anthony launched into some questions about Sonny’s injury and treatment. He’d undergone knee surgery a few years before for a dance injury. “Wow. My surgery was nothing compared to this, Sonny. Hang in there. I know it’s a long road back, but you’re in great shape and I know you’ll get it all back.”
    “Hope so. The doctors are being very cautious about giving me my chances for a full recovery so that makes me really nervous.”
    “They have to be that way—to protect themselves. Try not to worry and just do whatever they tell you,” Anthony said. “Hey! When they give you the all clear to work out, call me up and we can work out together. I know your workout partners are still out of the country. We have great equipment at the Institute. We can do it there.”
    “That’d be great. There’re some guys on base who would work out with me, but they’re on active duty, so their time is limited. I’ll give you a call.”
    “Good. We’ll get that knee back to full strength as soon as it’s safe to do so.”
    Tobi bumped up against Sonny’s side. “So . . . this girl is really cute. And, boy can she sing. Like her, huh?” She grinned at him.
    “Okay, Tobi . . . let’s not get weird. She’s a friend. She’s going through some things and she really needs a friend. Please don’t spook her.” He ruffled her spiky hair.
    Meg added, “Yeah, Tobi. Let’s just be friendly. You know we can all be a little overwhelming.” She smiled over at Kelli, who blushed. “Except for Kelli. She’s very comforting.” Kelli had been the open arms and willing ears for all of the SEAL wives when they needed someone to talk to during their husbands’ deployment. They didn’t want to burden one another, because they were all going through the same thing. She, though, had always been available and had never let any of them down.
    Sonny glanced back at the stage . The band was about finished tearing down their equipment, with the help of some of the benefit volunteers. The next band was just starting to unload their stuff and set up for their performance. By all appearances, the park was gearing up to rock out—heavy metal style—with lots of black leather, bare chests and long scraggly hair. A little out of fashion, but they were obviously embracing their heavy metalness. Good for them, Sonny thought with amusement.
    The Sugar Creek guys had just rolled the last of the amplifiers up the ramp into Colby’s large paneled van. Sonny hobbled over to where the band had gathered behind the stage.
    “Sounded great, guys!” Sonny said.
    Colby turned around to look at him, a bandana around his bald head instead of his usual beat up straw cowboy hat. “Thanks, dude.” They shook hands. Colby turned back to the band. “I guess we’re done here. Thanks, everybody. We’ll skip out of practice tomorrow, meet back up at seven on Wednesday. That okay?”
    Everyone nodded, said their goodbyes, and headed in different directions. Gracie moved closer to Sonny.
    “How are you doing, Sonny? Feeling okay?” she asked with concern.
    “I am. I’ve had an easy week. Do you still want to hang out for a while?”
    “Sure.” She glanced over at his table, where some of his friends were still hanging out. “I see you brought friends.”
    He laughed. “No. I was as surprised to see them as you were. I mean . . . I knew they’d come down to the