Page 73 of Jay Bird

He shook his head. “I don’t have any. My team and their families are my family.”

Something in his tone made her chest ache.

“My parents died when I was pretty young. Different times. Different circumstances.” He shrugged slightly. “I was an only child, so after that there wasn’t really anybody left.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It was a long time ago.”

That didn’t mean it didn’t still hurt. Willow understood that better than most.

“Is that why you joined the Navy?” she asked.

“Part of it.” Jay Bird nodded. “I didn’t have much keeping me in one place. Figured I might as well do something useful.”

“Apparently, you picked the least dangerous option available.”

He huffed out a laugh. Then he went quiet, but it wasn’t the comfortable kind of silence they were used to. This one felt heavier.

She could practically see him debating something with himself, his thumb slowly moving over the label on his beer bottle while he stared at the creek.

Finally, he exhaled. “There was someone once.”

Willow’s heart gave a small, unexpected squeeze.

“Her name was Amanda.”

The way he said the name told Willow everything before he explained anything else.

Jay Bird swallowed. “We met before I got really established in the teams. We dated for a couple of years.” A faint smile appeared. “She put up with a lot of shit from me. Eventually we got engaged. At the time, I thought that was it. Everything was settled. I had my career, and a woman I was ready to marry.” He gave a humorless laugh. “All the stuff you assume is going to happen because you make plans.”

Willow already knew something terrible was coming.

“She was driving home one night. Another driver crossed the center line. She died at the scene.”

Pain sliced through Willow’s chest. “Jay, I’m sorry.”

Jay Bird didn’t look at her. He kept staring at the water.

“I was at a training. I didn’t even know until hours later.”

Willow covered her mouth for a moment, her breath catching as the weight of his words settled over her. She wanted to reach for him, to offer some kind of comfort, but she hesitated, unsure if he needed space more than he needed her touch.

Then continued. “After I got back, her parents gave me some of her things. That’s when I found out she had been pregnant. According to her parents, she was planning on telling me when I got home.”

Willow’s eyes filled instantly.

The beer bottle remained untouched in his hand now.

“So I lost both of them without ever knowing there were two people to lose.”

Willow couldn’t take it anymore. Without thinking, without any careful plan or hesitation, she stood, stepped between his knees, and lowered herself onto his lap, wrapping both arms around him as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Jay Bird went rigid for only a second before instinct took over and his arms closed around her, holding her tight.

Willow buried her face against his neck.

“I’m so sorry.”