Carolina Man Read Online Free Page B

want to see my daughter,” Danny Hill said. “Stephanie was still pregnant when I left. I mean, I’ve seen the baby on Skype, but it’s not the same as being there, watching her grow up, you know?”
    Luke nodded tightly. At least Hill only had eight months to make up for. Luke had missed
ten years
of his daughter’s life.
    “Better hope you don’t drop her,” Ortega said.
    Hill turned pale.
    “You’ll do fine.” Luke intervened before Ortega’s teasing created a situation. After a ten-month tour and over thirty hours of nonstop travel, they were all on edge. “Babies aren’t so hard to figure out.”
    At least babies cried when they needed something, when they were tired or wet or hungry. They didn’t scowl at you with big, wounded eyes, leaving you to wonder what the hell you were supposed to do differently.
    Luke’s gut clenched.
    “So you’re some baby expert now?” Ortega asked.
    “I have a nephew.” Luke stared out the window. And a daughter he’d met exactly once.
    Luke was twelve years old when his brother, Matt, dropped out of college and showed up on their parents’ doorstep holding a three-month-old son and a world of hurt inside. The Fletchers had rallied, as they always did, to care for their own.
Back to back to back.
    Luke admired his brother for stepping up, his parents for stepping in, but he’d never figured on following in Matt’s footsteps. He’d never planned on dumping another grandchild on them to take care of. Mom and Dad weren’t getting any younger. They had their own business to run, a bed-and-breakfast on North Carolina’s Dare Island. Luke didn’t like adding to their responsibilities.
    But he didn’t have a choice.
    He was a Marine, first and foremost. Who was going to take care of Taylor while he was away?
    And now that he was back, what the hell was he supposed to do? He didn’t know the first thing about raising a kid on his own. Especially not a daughter.
    The bus rumbled through the main gate, following the trucks that carried the gear.
    Cody Burrows grinned. “My mom’s going to flip. She and Dad drove all the way from Texas to meet the bus.”
    Luke had told his family not to come. It wasn’t like he was returning from his first deployment. Anyway, his father, Tom, would be out on the boat with Matt. His mom was still recovering from a car accident a couple of months ago. The last thing they needed was to battle the traffic around base and then stand around for hours waiting for Luke to show up.
    As for the kid, his daughter, Taylor . . . She barely knew him. She might not even recognize him. She definitely didn’t need to take a day off from school to see him get off some damn bus.
    So, yeah, better for everybody if Luke collected his Jeep from the Privately Owned Vehicle storage lot and drove his own ass to Dare Island.
    He exhaled. And maybe sometime during the hour and a half it would take him to get home, he’d figure out what the hell he would say when he saw her again.
    Small signs driven into the ground directed traffic to the unit’s homecoming area. All around Luke, Marines shuffled their feet, shifting their weight, leaning forward in anticipation. The few who had been sleeping were nudged or kicked awake. Luke’s heart sped up, just as if he had somebody waiting for him. Or was going into combat.
    The brakes squealed. The bus gusted to a halt.
    After the dust haze of Afghanistan, everything out the windows looked sharp and clear. Blue-and-white event tents and Porta Potties bordered the arrival area, full of balloons and handmade signs. And people. Families. Lots and lots of families eagerly awaiting the one hundred and seventy five men and women finally coming home.
    Luke took his time getting off the bus. His men came first. Anyway, nobody was waiting for him.
    There would be no formations or welcoming speeches today. The tents, the music, the balloon vendors, were there to entertain those waiting. For the Marines, this was Standard