Eden, p.1
Eden,
p.1
Eden
Single Dads of Gaynor Beach
Leona Windwalker
Published by Pahoa Paradise, 2023.
Also by Leona Windwalker
Mates of the Mylos
Braevan
Ramjin Alien Warrior Mates
Claimed
Single Dads of Gaynor Beach
Eden
The Ilyirzi Scions
Hunting by Moonlight
Standalone
The Bastille Sphere
A Kiss Worth Waking For
To my beloved, who was a single dad who blended our families to help make our own happy ever after.
eden
LEONA WINDWALKER
Copyright © 2023 by Leona Windwalker
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
About the Author
Martin has found his slice of paradise in the charming town of Gaynor Beach. With its idyllic ambience, affordable housing, a vibrant gay community, and the allure of Ft. Conway, he can't help but dream of retiring here after his Army service. But there's more than just the town that has captured his heart.
Enter Eden, the enigmatic local who has caught Martin's eye. Determined to forge a connection with Eden, Martin discovers that mixed signals seem to be Eden's specialty. Just when Martin believes there could be something between them, Eden pulls away, leaving Martin puzzled and intrigued.
As Martin continues his pursuit, he stumbles upon a clue to Eden's mystery—a precious little girl. Witnessing Eden's tender interaction with her at the beach, Martin's curiosity deepens. Could she hold the key to unlocking Eden's guarded heart?
In this tale of love, secrets, and unexpected connections, Martin finds himself torn between his desire to unravel Eden's past and the blossoming romance that awaits. Will they both find the courage to embrace their true selves and the love that beckons them in Gaynor Beach? Serendipity may just lead them to their ultimate happiness.
contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
About the Author
one
MARTIN
There he was again, the gorgeous young man with the dark auburn hair and honey colored eyes. I got into his line, feeling impatient when the private in front of me hemmed and hawed over what he wanted to order, oblivious to the glares he was getting from the rest of the hungry soldiers behind him eager to get their lunch, eat, and get back to their duty. At last, he decided, ordered, and paid.
"Hi," I said with a flirtatious smile as I stepped up to the counter.
"Hi," Eden replied, smiling back just as flirtatiously. "Double bacon cheese with extra bacon, no mustard, with onion rings and a chocolate shake?"
I'd been coming in twice a week now for six weeks, ordering the same thing, getting into his line if he was working. Looked like he'd been paying as much attention to me as I was to him.
"You got it. Just a regular, though, not a large." I grimaced, remembering this morning's weigh-in and the admonishment that I was two pounds within the limit for my height. "No, in fact, you know what? Make that a water and no extra bacon."
"Still a double burger?" he asked me, eyebrow raised.
"Yeah." I waggled my eyebrows comically. "I can swap to salads tomorrow."
He laughed. "That'll be six ninety-five."
I paid using my watch, then stepped aside to wait for my order number to be called for pickup. There were five orders ahead of mine, so I got to watch him serve a few more folks before it was time for me to grab my food and sit down. Unfortunately, all the tables inside were full, so I ended up having to take a seat outside. When I went back in to return my tray, he was gone from the counter, a young woman taking his place. Disappointed to not get one more look at him, I left.
One of these days, I was going to be able to grab a moment and take our flirtation further and ask him out. It would either suddenly be slow, or I'd catch him wiping down tables, or maybe even catch him as he left. He didn't know it yet, but he was going to be mine.
As I walked to the shuttle bus stop, I pictured our first date in my mind. I'd take him to the NCO Club for dinner, and afterwards, we'd take a stroll along the lake the club sat beside. I'd take his hand as we walked, and since during dinner he'd have told me all about himself, I'd tell him all about my future hopes. Of how I wanted to retire here once my twenty was up, which was only eleven more years away. Then we'd veer off down the path that led to the barracks, where I still lived since I was saving every penny I had towards getting to buy that dream beach lot and for paying off a VA building loan early to build the house of my dreams. Then we'd end up on the edge of the family housing area and make a loop back, but not before I slipped in a mention about how nice the newly renovated homes were, pointing out how close they were to the PX and commissary. He wouldn't fail to notice that this meant it was close to where he worked, and just maybe, he'd start imagining himself living in one of those houses with me.
The bus came, and all too soon it was back to reality, processing ID cards and base stickers for retirees, active duty, and their spouses.
It wasn't difficult work and was usually pretty uneventful until right before closing time at five. This was when at least one person would come in, with maybe five or ten minutes to spare, and demand we issue a new ID card. That in itself wasn't a problem. No, the issue was usually just like the one now presenting itself to me.
"I need to go get my refills!" the middle-aged woman said, jabbing her forefinger against the counter. "My husband booked our cruise three months ago, and it cost us over a thousand dollars! I can't go all the way to Barbados without my pills!"
"Well, ma'am, I can certainly renew your ID, but even if I do call the clinic, they won't stay open so you can put in for a refill."
I knew this for a fact. You weren't even able to put into have a prescription filled after four-thirty unless you were coming out from a hospital appointment and the doctor called it in. She'd have to take her scrip to one of the drugstores in town instead.
"Just call them and let them know I'm on my way!" she insisted. "I need my pills, and if I get them here, I don't have to make a co-pay!"
I glanced over at Sergeant O'Reilly, who rolled his eyes.
"I'll try to get them on the phone," he said. "You just do her ID."
She grinned in triumph as I pointed over to the line on the floor where I needed her to stand on for me to take her photo.
"No smiling," I told her, and was pleased to see the smirk wiped off of her face. A sourpuss expression replaced it and fittingly became her new ID photo.
I'd just finished typing out her information and generated her new ID when O'Reilly sidled over.
"I've locked the doors and everything," he told me cheerfully.
"I just need to log out after printing this," I told him as I hit the button to do so.
"Did you call them?" she demanded.
He simply nodded, which she took as agreement that he had and everything was hunky-dory for her. I knew he was simply acknowledging that as soon as I handed her the new ID, we were out of here until tomorrow morning at 0800.
I checked the new card. Doris Farraday, birthdate 23 August 1973. Sponsor, Colonel Jackson Farraday, retired. Social and other information all matched, and the picture of her was clear. We were good to go. I logged off of my workstation and shut it down before handing her the card.
"What's this?" she demanded. "This looks a whole lot like my Sam's card!"
"New IDs are plastic cardstock," I told her.
"The old ones looked better, more official," she grumped before turning away. We watched in bemusement as she scurried on out, in a hurry to drive halfway across post to reach the hospital clinic's pharmacy.
"Want a ride?" O'Reilly asked me.
"I was going to hit the chow hall before heading home," I told him.
"I can drop you there."
"Okay, then."
He laughed as he unlocked his car. "Imagine her face when she gets there and it's closed."
I laughed. "Well, she shouldn't have waited until the last minute."
"True story," he said, getting in.
I climbed into the passenger seat, noting a pink hairbrush in the car's door pocket as I closed it. I knew it probably belonged to his wife, Twila, whom I'd met a few times when she came to pick him up after a com
But first, I have to ask him out on that first date.
two
EDEN
The post shuttle bus was free, and while it took a circuitous route around the base, there was one every twenty minutes until six, and it was free. It was an eighteen-minute ride from the McDonald's I worked at, located across the parking lot from the post exchange, Home and Garden Center, and the Commissary, to the front gate. It was a twelve-minute wait for the city bus then, and another thirty minutes to reach the stop I got off at to change buses. A five-minute wait this time and a twenty-two-minute ride home then, on average.
Of course, that was if traffic wasn't a mess, and it often was once we got closer to downtown. Gaynor Beach wasn't just a military town; it was a tourist mecca with gorgeous beaches and a laid-back, friendly atmosphere. Tourists meant traffic, as people slowed down to gawk or to figure out where they were, or even look for a place to turn around after missing a turn on their sat-nav. On average, it took me just under two hours to get to work, and half of the time, just over two to get home.
"Eden!"
The front door to Chantal's modest two-bedroom bungalow flew open as Prahdah caught sight of me through the window and raced out to greet me.
"Hey, munchkin," I said, ruffling her hair. She batted my hand away.
"Guess what? I'm 'ficial today!"
Chantal had followed her out, carrying her little flop mop of a dog, Bruce, in her arms. As always, she was accompanied by the scent of patchouli, sandalwood, and cloves.
"She means the homeschool registration arrived. She's now an official student of Granola Academy, along with Marcus."
Marcus was her sixteen-year-old, almost seventeen as he liked to rend us, son. He'd agreed to be homeschooled instead of dropping out, as long as she let him work. Basically, he was going to complete the online study guides for standardized tests he was going to have to take by state law, working from the public library as Chantal had a deep distrust of the internet, tracking cookies, IP addresses, and ‘government snoopers’. He was going to do it during what he called his downtime, when he wasn't busy selling bratwurst from the food cart his father left behind before hightailing it to Iowa after he had a dream telling him he had a destiny to fulfill there. Marcus planned to use the money he earned from the brats to buy a secondhand food truck where he could expand his menu to include pierogies while hiring someone else to work the cart. He had a plan to buy a couple more carts and food trucks, all inspired by a character he saw on Hawaii Five-O.
"No problem at all?" I asked, licking my lips.
"Nope," she replied. "They just want their name, age, and a copy of their immunization records in the official school files." She made air quotes around the word "official" as she spoke.
I relaxed. We'd done it, gotten six-year-old Prahdah officially registered as a student as required by state law. There was a great public school nearby, but that required things like a copy of her birth certificate and other things I did not have. She was mine, but I had no way to prove it. Besides, who was going to give a nineteen-year-old kid living in a garage legal custody of a six-year-old, sister or not? I could just see it now, the looks of dismay as they realized that we slept in bunk beds along one wall of Chantal's garage, sharing space with her lawnmower, washer and dryer, and boxes of Yule decorations. It had a split A/C unit in there, so we had heating and cooling, plus we could open the garage door for added ventilation and play space. We had use of the toilet in the half bath off of the kitchen and the outdoor shower the prior surfing owner had installed out back.
It wasn't ideal, but it was cheap, and Chantal more or less adopted us from the moment I replied to her ad on Craig's List. Hence why she had come up with the idea of homeschooling both Marcus and Prahdah.
"How was work today?" Chantal asked me as I trudged inside the house to ogle the homeschool stuff she'd received today.
"It was good. Much better than working downtown. No one ever starts anything, and my manager said if I don't miss any days or come late for the rest of this month, she'll offer me the full-time position coming open," I grinned. "Comes with health insurance, and she said all I gotta do is write down Prahdah's name and social."
"You know it?"
I nodded. "It was on a paper tax form our dad started to fill out before deciding to just do the free online filing. I found it in a drawer before we left and brought it with me. I, uh, used it last year to declare her on my own taxes."
"Look at you!" she crowed. "Working the system the man put in place, getting what you're owed without them finding a reason to hassle you."
I laughed, enjoying the cool air inside the house as the door swung shut behind me. "Yes, well, I declared her my dependent and waited for someone to wonder why an eighteen-year-old had a five-year-old, but no one gave a shit."
"Swear jar!" Prahdah said, pointing to the counter.
I dug out a quarter and handed it to her to put in the jar.
"And did that handsome soldier come by today?"
I regretted telling Chantal about him. Six-foot-something and all lean muscle, and always dressed wearing what I'd learned were called Class Bs, the brown-haired soldier with the tawny skin and dark brown eyes was sexy as hell. I knew he found me attractive from the way he flirted with me, and I often flirted back. But he was a complication I couldn't afford right now, not until I had that full-time job and worked long enough to get enough raises that I could move us into a real apartment.
Maybe not even then because while I might have gotten away with claiming her on my taxes and the neighbors all bought Chantal's lie that we were her nephew and niece, I still didn't have custody papers or anything, and trying to get them scared the ever-loving bejesus out of me. Chantal had told me I'd not just have to pay a lawyer, but he'd have to tell the court that our folks had abandoned us and they'd quickly find out that I'd buggered us the hell out of the transient hotel they'd left us in and took us right out of the state with no way for our dad or her mom to find us if they changed their mind. The court would want our folks found, possibly charged, and social services would probably get involved, and they might put Prahdah in foster care until everything was untangled. I might not get her back, either, especially if Dad and Amy claimed I'd kidnapped her, and if I was honest with myself, they definitely would try to say something like that in order to get out of criminal charges for abandoning us. Yeah. I couldn't risk it.
"He did, but there's nothing going on there," I said, doing my level best to keep the sound of regret out of my voice.
Not that I could fool Chantal. She gave me a look that told me she knew exactly how much she knew I wished there was.
three
MARTIN
Getting on the shuttle bus, I spotted my cutie, all ready to start his day of work too. He was looking out the window, and the seat was empty beside him, so I slid into it.
"Hey," I said, trying to sound casual. "You're Eden, right?"
He startled, his head whipping around. Pressing his lips together into a hard line, he nodded.
"I'm the double cheeseburger guy, remember?"
He just nodded once more.
