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want to wait. So this was the first open date the facility had and we put a deposit down yesterday. Actually, we lucked out. They had a cancellation just this week. Otherwise we would have had to wait until next fall. So it was three months, or over a year.”
    Ben sat there quietly listening to his parents’ excited questions and tried not to focus on the details. He would do what he needed to, which with any luck meant showing up, drinking and eating. He heard them say they wanted a small wedding, which suited him just fine. On such short notice he didn’t expect it to be a big affair anyway.
    The grandfather clock struck the hour in the other room. He looked down at his watch and realized Presley had started her shift. He wondered what she thought of his surprise.
    It had been three days since their lunch. He knew her schedule now, Wednesday and Saturday off. He had kept his distance on Friday, not wanting to seem overly eager, and since they were both off on Saturday that made it easy to stay away. But he knew leaving something there today would throw her off balance. She wouldn’t have expected it on what was one of his days off. He wanted to keep her on her toes.
    Still, he felt bad that he knew as much about her as he did. Not that he’d tried, but a sense of honor pushed him to balance the scales, so he gave her some information. More than he had ever said to anyone else before, and that worried him.
    No one had ever asked why he went into the service. His family just seemed to always know he would. He lived and breathed the water and had always had a keen sense of justice. He loved his county and had a fascination with the military. He never made a secret out of it. It was who he was.
    But when she asked him that question, he wasn’t sure how to answer. And still to this moment, he wasn’t sure what possessed him to write down the one thing he’d never said to another soul before.
    It was true, that was why he went into the Navy rather than another branch of service. He felt at home in the water. Connected to it. Unfortunately, that was also why he left the Navy. It wasn’t his home anymore.

Focused
     
    Ben bit his tongue in an effort to stop the escape of any noise through his lips. He wasn’t about to indicate the amount of pain he was in. His muscles were screaming in agony, but he held on tight, and held his pose with every fiber of his being.
    Flat on his back, hands out to his sides, he grasped the hands of the people on each side of him, legs together, forcing himself to relax to try to dull the pain in his muscles. Ride it out, he repeated to himself again and again. Just ride it out.
    He heard the water coming—the hard fast rush of the waves—and fought even harder not to move because he knew he was being watched. Closer now, even closer, almost there. The minute it hit his feet, he had less than a second to close his eyes and hold his breath. Each time holding his breath longer and longer until he thought surely his lungs were going to burst, the burning pain in his chest almost worse than the cramping muscles.
    That had been the longest one yet. Thankfully, it was over. Forcing his brain to shut down, his legs to relax, he kept a tight grip on the two men on each side of him, opened his eyes, and breathed slow and steady. No gulps of air. A nice quiet breath, keeping a steady pace, in and out. Calming his heart rate down, preparing for the next one.
    Twice now the man on his right tried to pull out of his grasp, but Ben wasn’t letting go. No, go in as a unit, come out as a unit. No one was letting go on his watch.
    Others were screaming in agony, but not him. He wasn’t making a sound, wasn’t letting anyone know the pain raging through his very soul. They were all in pain, he knew, but he refused to let his show.
    Trent tried to pull out of his grasp to his left, but Ben wasn’t letting go of him either.
    The two of them came into this together, and they were leaving together. It was