Navy Orders. Geri Krotow
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Название: Navy Orders
Автор: Geri Krotow
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Современные любовные романы
isbn: 9781472016584
isbn:
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THE CHILLY SPRING evening proved too much for Ro’s cotton sweater. She closed the sliding glass door behind her, cheered by the bright colors of her family room while she waited for the warmth of the house to chase away her goose bumps.
She didn’t remember when she’d started, but sometime during her carrier tour she’d begun knitting decorative accessories out of the brightest hues she could find. She’d collected skeins of lush yarns in fibers she relished and brought a box of them on her deployment. Her downtime on the ship was basically nil, but every now and then she’d find a moment to pull out the yarn and start a pillow cover. The bright colors perked up the drab navy-gray and olive hues of her carrier stateroom, and gave her mind a brief escape from the pace of wartime carrier operations.
Once she’d returned stateside, the pillowcases turned into afghans, and then she found herself working on the wall hanging that hung over her bed. Her knitting wasn’t anything she shared with others—she knew there was a group of knitters and crocheters that met every week in downtown Oak Harbor because she saw the flyers whenever she shopped for wool. But what if one of those women was the spouse of someone she worked with? What if it was another active duty person she saw every day? She valued her privacy and didn’t want to share her hobby with anyone else.
The guys at work would have the ultimate weapon to tease her with if they knew she knitted. This super girly side of her belied the warrior image she wanted to project at work. Regardless of how good-natured her colleagues were, she didn’t need them prying into the one thing that gave her peace of mind no matter what was going on around her.
She looked at her watch again. Still forty-five minutes until she had to check back in with Miles. Unless he called sooner, it was certainly enough time to get in a few rows on the chemo cap she’d started last night.
Last night.
It seemed a lifetime ago. Before she’d finally pitched the diamond. When Petty Officer Perez had still been drawing breath.
The repetitive motion of her fingers began to work their magic. Fifteen minutes was all she needed....
Her doorbell sounded through her reverie.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” She quickly finished her row and shoved the project back into the cloth drawstring bag she used to stash her works in progress. It was bright neon green and had an equally neon pink sheep printed on the side.
If Miles had found out from the wing roster where she lived and had come here early—instead of letting her meet him—he was going to be sorry. But then it occurred to her that something critical might have happened regarding the investigation.
She opened the front door.
“Miles, I—”
The words lodged in her throat.
“I’m leaving Richard. Who’s Miles?”
CHAPTER FIVE
RO GAPED AT her younger half sister, Krissy. Her shoulder-length hair was its regular dyed platinum blond, but had unusually long, dark roots. Krissy never let her roots show. Ro took in the rumpled hair, the circles under her baby-blue eyes, the complete lack of makeup. Krissy was dressed in a wrinkled sweatsuit and looked nothing like the fashion plate she usually resembled. And she was...heavier. Fuller.
Heavier? Krissy―who put the skinny in skinny jeans―heavier?
Upon further inspection she concluded that Krissy was plumper in one particular area.
“Did you have a boob job?”
“Great way to greet your only sister after you cut her out of your life for over a year. Nice going, Ro.”
“You’re my half sister. And you married my, oh, what was it? Yes, that’s it—my fiancé. While I was at war. No biggie.”
“It’s time to get over it, Ro. I’m pregnant and I don’t have anywhere else to go.”
“You’re pregnant?”
“Didn’t Mom tell you? I’m due in February.”
“So you’re...four months along? I haven’t spoken to Mom since Christmas, really.” She left out Mother’s Day—she’d had a very brief conversation with Delores then.
Anger-induced tears welled in her tired eyes. Of course Mom hadn’t told her. Why would she? In her usual meddling manner Mom probably thought she was protecting Krissy from Ro’s jealousy and disappointment that she wasn’t the pregnant one.
That she wasn’t the one married to Dick.
“Can I come in? I’m exhausted. I’ve flown all day and then the drive from Seattle was sooo long. Why can’t you live somewhere more civilized?”
Ro stepped back.
“You can come in, Krissy, but just for a minute.”
“You’re kidding, right? I don’t have anywhere else to go. I’m almost five months pregnant and my baby’s father is an ass. You’re all I have!”
She’d been there all of thirty seconds and already Ro’s forehead pounded.
“What about Mom? What about all your girlfriends? Why didn’t you just kick Dick out?”
Ro walked ahead of Krissy, toward the kitchen.
“I couldn’t kick Richard out. I didn’t really talk to him about this, you know.”
Ro stopped in front of the refrigerator and turned back to face Krissy.
“What are you saying, exactly, sis?”
Krissy played with Ro’s knitting-related refrigerator magnets. Ro put her hand on the fridge door.
“You didn’t tell him you were leaving?”
“I don’t owe him anything! He’s been staying at work late and when he comes home all he does is eat, sleep and then go right back to work!”
Ro sighed.
“Of course he does, Krissy. He’s a surgeon. His work is his life.”
Krissy wouldn’t make eye contact while she pouted. The sight of her spoiled, immature sister with a burgeoning pregnant belly made Ro’s blood boil. She’d been getting Krissy out of jams for far too long. After Krissy and Dick got married she’d promised herself she was free of Krissy’s neediness, Mom’s conniving and Dick’s constant demands—whenever he wasn’t in the O.R.
It had worked for almost a year and a half.
Almost.
“You can stay here until you get on a plane СКАЧАТЬ