Rescue Me(36)

Meredith clapped a hand over her mouth. This was unbelievable. Her brother had kept all of this a complete secret from her. And now she had to wonder, did Cole know too? He was working here, to help out a friend, he'd said. It was too much to take in. "I have to talk to him."

"No, you promised!" Katrina looked panicked. "He will be furious if he finds out I told you."

"He won't find that out. But I have to know why he didn't tell me this. And what I can do to help."

***





Cole knocked on Brandon's office door and peeked his head in. He was on a call but waved him in to have a seat and gestured that he was wrapping it up.

He sat down and waited, mulling over the phone call he'd just had. His next assignment was on the table and it was time to decide what he was going to do. Hopefully discussing it with Brandon would give him a little more clarity. He'd always been level headed about these types of things.

Brandon ended the call and leaned back in his chair, looking more exhausted than Cole had seen him in a long time.

"Everything okay?"

"Guess that depends on your definition of okay. We're still trucking along, so I guess so."

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not yet. What's up with you?"

Cole leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees and shook his head. "I just got off the phone with my superior officer."

Brandon lifted his brows. "And?"

"They have a new assignment for me. A different one than I had expected. They offered me a position in California. And a promotion."

"That's great news." He paused at Cole's lack of response. "Isn't it?"

"It should be. I'm just not sure where to go from here. These past few weeks here at the resort have been unbelievable. Getting to be out on the water as much as I have, really throwing myself into the work, it's been a refreshing change."

"You're not happy."

Brandon was perceptive. Even with the handful of brief conversations they'd had about Cole's career he was able to sense that Cole was growing weary of the direction it was headed.

"I've always loved it. Up until the last couple years. I'm moving up the ranks and have a lot of opportunities ahead of me. It's just different than I'd expected."

"How so?"

Cole steepled his fingers against his chin, thinking of the right way to phrase it. "In my earlier years I spent a lot of time out on the water. It was exhilarating, the rush of adrenaline after a rescue. Feeling like I was making a difference. But this last post. It's more bureaucracy and paperwork than I'm interested in. I don't get to be as hands-on with the missions as I'd like." He commanded a great team, but part of what went along with that authority took away what he'd loved about the job to begin with.

Brandon chuckled. "You never have struck me as a paperwork kind of guy."

Not at all. He thrived on being in the thick of things. Overseeing it was great, but not when he wasn't as active as he wanted to be.

"So what does this new job entail?"

"I'd be overseeing a handful of teams. It sounds great, on paper." But when he just wanted to be on the water it wasn't so great.

"What are you going to do?"

"Take it, I guess."

Brandon surveyed him silently and Cole wasn't sure what he was thinking.

"I mean, I've worked this long to get here, right? I'd be crazy to walk away now."

"Can you do that? Walk away, I mean."

"My service term is up in a few months. If I take the new job, I'll be signing on for another three years. So technically, if I'm done I can get out now. But if I stay in, it's going to be for the long haul." As in he'd be a career military man. He'd work his way further up the ranks and further from the water. It looked great from all angles except that one.

"I don't know what to tell you, man. Like I said before, you've got a job here if you want it. That's one area where we could afford some help."

He knew he did. But he still wasn't sure if that was right for him. All he'd ever known was the Coast Guard. Taking a job at a resort seemed like such a leap in the opposite direction. One he wasn't sure he was ready to make.

But he did feel an inexplicable tug to make a change. He'd been restless ever since he'd been at the resort. He'd loved every minute of it, but he'd felt he was at crossroads and wasn't really sure why. As much as he didn't want to admit it, it was in no small part due to Meredith. Her passion for life made him realize there was more out there than one night stands and work.

And it scared the hell out of him.

Enough so that he was considering taking the promotion just to get as far away as possible. Not that he could tell Brandon that. But how could he stay on at the resort when it would be full of memories of her and what she was starting to stir up in him?

Don't go there.

He couldn't even let the thought cross his mind. And just like that, he knew he had to take the job in California.

It was the safe bet.

But a nagging voice in his head asked him when in his life he'd ever taken the safe bet.

"What else is going on with you?" Brandon's words shook him out of his thoughts. "I know I told you to stay away from the guests while you were here, but I didn't expect you to actually listen to me. Unless you've been seducing your students after dark, you're keeping a pretty low profile. That's not like you."