A SEAL's Oath (SEALs of Chance Creek Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

which to pack up her things.
    “Downsizing. It’s nothing personal,” he’d told her.
    She didn’t know how she’d kept her feet as she’d made her way out of the building. She wasn’t the only one riding the elevator down to street level with her belongings in her hands, but that was cold comfort. It had been hard enough to find this job. She had no idea where to start looking for another.
    She’d held in her shock and panic that night and all the next day until Nadia from the adoption agency knocked on her door for their scheduled home visit at precisely two pm. She’d managed to answer Nadia’s questions calmly and carefully, until the woman put down her pen.
    “Tell me about your job, Riley. How will you as a single mother balance work and home life with a child?”
    Riley had opened her mouth to speak, but no answer had come out. She’d reached for her cup of tea, but only managed to spill it on the cream colored skirt she’d chosen carefully for the occasion. As Nadia rushed to help her mop up, the truth had spilled from Riley’s lips.
    “I’ve just been downsized. I’m sorry; I’ll get a new job right away. This doesn’t have to change anything, does it?”
    Nadia had been sympathetic but firm. “This is why we hesitate to place children with single parents, Riley. Children require stability. We can continue the interview and I’ll weigh all the information in our judgement, but until you can prove you have a stable job, I’m afraid you won’t qualify for a child.”
    “That will take years,” Riley had almost cried, but she’d bitten back the words. What good would it do to say them aloud? As a girl, she’d dreamed she’d have children with Boone someday. When she’d grown up, she’d thought she’d find someone else. Hadn’t she waited long enough to start her family?
    “Riley? Are you all right?” Savannah Edwards asked, bringing her back to the present.
    “Of course.” She had to be. There was no other option but to soldier on. She needed to get a new job. A better job. She needed to excel at it and put the time in to make herself indispensable. Then, in a few years, she could try again to adopt.
    “Are you sure?” A tall blonde with hazel eyes, Savannah had been Riley’s best friend back in school, and Riley had always had a hard time fooling her. Savannah had been a music major and Riley could have listened to her play forever. She was the first person Riley had met since her grandparents passed away who seemed to care about her wholeheartedly. Riley’s parents had been too busy arguing with each other all through her childhood to have much time left over to think about her. They split up within weeks after she left for college. Each remarried before the year was out and both started new families soon after. Riley felt like the odd man out when she visited them on holidays. More than eighteen years older than her half-siblings, she didn’t seem to belong anywhere now.
    “I’m great now that you three are here.” She wouldn’t confess the setback that had just befallen her. It was still too raw to process and she didn’t want to bring the others down when they’d only just arrived. She wasn’t the only one who had it tough. Savannah should have been a concert pianist, but when she broke her wrist in a car accident several years after graduation, she had to give up her aspirations. Instead, she had gone to work as an assistant at a prominent tech company in Silicon Valley and was still there.
    “What’s on tap for the weekend?” Nora Ridgeway asked as she scooped her long, wavy, light brown hair into a messy updo and secured it with a clip. She’d flown in from Baltimore where she taught English in an inner-city high school. Riley had been shocked to see the dark smudges under her eyes. Nora looked thin. Too thin. Riley wondered what secrets she was hiding behind her upbeat tone.
    “I hope it’s a whole lot of nothing,” Avery Lightfoot said, her auburn curls