Page 59 of Keeping Amanda
“Good. But that won’t give you the half of it. Trust me when I say, what those men do out there is insane. The way they can maneuver their helicopters is downright scary…and impressive. Are you going to be able to handle that? Being alone a lot? Having him gone and putting himself in danger?”
“Yes,” Amanda said with conviction. “I don’t need a man to be happy. I’ve been able to function without one just fine up until now. I want to make Nash’s life easier, not harder. I’ll miss him like crazy when he’s gone, but I trust that his skills, and those of his friends, will keep him as safe as hecanbe. And you’ll be there to make sure his helicopter isn’t going to fall out of the sky.”
“Damn straight.”
“Thank you for what you do, Laryn. Nash has spoken veryhighly of you. He knows how hard he and his fellow pilots are on their machines—we talked about it a little while we were in the jungle—and he’s impressed that you don’t even blink when they come back from a mission with, in his words, their choppers a little banged up.”
Laryn chuckled. “A little banged up? Yeah, that’s one way to describe it.” Then she sighed. “I’m being a bitch, aren’t I? Jeez, I never wanted to be this person. What right do I have to question you about your feelings toward Buck? You’re probably so irritated right now.”
“I’m not,” Amanda insisted. “I think it’s lovely that you care about Nash enough to want to make sure I’m not just after his hot body.”
Laryn laughed. “They are built, aren’t they? All of them. They’re the hot squad, for sure.”
“Totally.”
The women shared a grin.
“Right, hopefully you don’t think I’m a horrible person for interfering. I want to state for the record…I’d love to hang out with you sometime without the guys around. I mean, if you want to.”
“I do!” Amanda was quick to say. “I don’t have a lot of friends here. I mean, I hung out with some of the teachers at the school where I used to work, but you know how it is once you leave a workplace. The people you thought were friends seem to just fade away, and you realize you weren’t actually as close as you thought.”
“I get that. That’s happened to me as well, although probably not as much since I tend to work with mostly men. I definitely don’t have a lot of female friends, and I like you. You seem pretty down-to-earth. Not like a lot of women around these parts, who just want to sleep with a sailor or soldier for the thrill of the chase or something. And don’t get me started on the ones whoare looking for a baby daddy they can force to pay child support for the next eighteen years.”
“Ugh! There are women who do that?” Amanda asked.
“Oh yeah. It’s gross.”
“No wonder you wanted to make sure my intentions were good.”
“Come on. Let’s get back out there. I’m sure Buck is probably anxious as hell right about now.”
“Why?” Amanda asked.
Laryn grinned. “Because I’m sure he wants you to himself after we all crashed his date. And he’s also probably worried about what I’m telling you right now.”
“Do you have juicy stories about him?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Then we totally need to hang out again.”
Laryn was still laughing as they exited the restroom, and Amanda saw Casper and Nash standing at the end of the hallway waiting for them.
Laryn headed straight for her man, and Amanda smiled a little shyly at Nash as she came toward him.
“Everyone else leave?” Laryn asked.
“Yup. You good?” Casper asked her.
“We’re good. Great. Peachy. Right, Mandy?”
“Right,” Amanda agreed, giving the other woman a sincere smile.
“Awesome. Did you tell her all sorts of embarrassing stories about us?” Casper asked.
“Whatever,” Laryn said with a roll of her eyes. “We were just peeing. Come on, stud, take me home.”
Whatever Casper saw in Laryn’s eyes had him wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her against his side, and leaning down to whisper in her ear as they walked quickly toward the exit. Neither said goodbye, but Amanda wasn’t offended. If she had a man whispering in her ear, probably telling her all thethings he wanted to do to her when they got home, she wouldn’t remember to say bye to anyone else either.
