“Oh, we couldn’t—”
“Rick is right. Join us,” Coop cut off Jeff’s protest. “Please have a seat.”
Rick watched the silent communication between the men before they nodded in unison.
“We’d love to.” Jeff led his husband to one of the empty chairs and held it out for him. Rick wondered what Coop would do if he did that for him? They’d shared their “I love yous” could they get to where Drew’s uncles were? Maybe in time. Maybe in time.
Rick thanked the waiter for his coffee before reaching for the creamer. Yes, he was a wimp, and even after all the time he’d spent in field exercises, if he could have it, he was adding creamer to his coffee. Flavored creamer was even better.
Sitting back with his doctored coffee, Rick watched Coop listen to whatever story Scott was telling him. The look of amusement on Coop’s face enchanted him. Rick’s man was attractive but something in his expression as he listened to the older man caught Rick by the balls.
“Hard to look away, isn’t it?” Jeff asked from next to Rick. “Even after all these years, I have a hard time believing that Scott is mine.”
Glancing over at Jeff, Rick knew he was wearing the same look on his face. “You’ve been together how long? Drew’s shared so many stories over the years of his family, I’m just not sure which stories were of you and Scott.”
Jeff threw his head back laughing. “That sounds like one of my nibbles. Proud of their family.” Jeff waved off his husband, who turned back to his discussion with Coop. “Scott and I have been together for over thirty years now. He took pity on me and went to Drew’s parents’ wedding with me. I wasn’t seeing anyone and was terrified that Brittany would kill me if I threw off her numbers at the reception. They got married right here at Campbell.”
“Wait? Isn’t there a picture of you all from then? All of you were Cavalry?” Rick could vaguely remember a picture with them all in Stetsons.
A big smile crossed Jeff’s face. “Yeah, we all got lucky in the love department around the same time. Photographers had a field day getting pictures of the heptad. Started at Kevin and Britt’s wedding and then each photographer had to try to top the last. Even Haley…” Rick must have looked confused as Jeff stopped to identify who he was talking about. “Haley is Spook and Jeannine’s daughter. Drew would consider her his cousin. She is a photographer now. When Noah and Rem got married last December, Noah asked us all to wear our dress uniforms to make a good memory for Rem. A story for another time, but anyway, we created the pose and included Tristan and Rem.”
“I remember Drew talking about that. I don’t know that he got a copy of the picture before we started packing up the apartment.”
“Probably not. I don’t know that we got our copy until June?” Jeff didn’t sound too positive about that. “That sounds about right. Are you scheduled for deployment anytime soon?”
“Not that I’ve been briefed on and that might be for the best right now,” Rick said as he looked across the table at Coop. “I’m not sure how that would work for us. Coop’s on medical leave from racing with his wrist, so he’s here with me. Not sure how any of it would work if I deployed.”
“Kevin and I deployed about three months after the wedding. Britt knew what she was getting into when she married Kevin, being a military brat. Scott got a crash course in what it meant to be with someone in the military.” Jeff shook his head as he said that.
Scott and Coop must have tuned into their conversation as Scott said, “Crash course? I was thrown in the fucking deep end.”
“Now, Scott—” Jeff started but his husband cut him off.
“Deep. End.” Scott raised his hands and started ticking off his fingers as he continued, “Adjusting to being alone, even though you’d only been at the condo for three weeks or so. Jeannine going into labor at lunch with me and Britt. Having to speed to the hospital while having Mooney find her husband in the field, which resulted in me being in the delivery room with her and Britt for Haley’s arrival. Kevin being injured. You trying to be all noble and break up with me over Skype. Shall I go on?” He looked at his husband pointedly. Rick glanced at Coop, who didn’t seem surprised at what Scott had said. Wonder what they had been talking about while he talked with Jeff.
Jeff blushed and looked down while rubbing his hand over the back of his neck. “I think that’s enough of our memories from that time.”
Rick let out a snort as he watched the older man fidget under his husband’s look. “I definitely don’t remember Drew sharing these stories with me. There’s more?”
“There are many more stories. You heard at the pinning, the heptad has over two hundred years of combined service. If one of our spouses hasn’t dealt with it personally, then they’ve counseled a spouse who has. Trish’s first husband was killed in action. Mooney, Kevin, and Mike were all injured during deployments. All of us have had soldiers with spouses who did x, y, or z while deployed and had to help them through the fallout. We’ve basically been there, done that, have the hats, t-shirts, commemorative coins, and heart aches,” Jeff finished.
Their waiter approached the table as Jeff trailed off. “Is there anything else I can get you? Re-thought about having dessert?” he asked.
The four of them looked at each other and shook their heads. Rick was closest to the waiter and answered for the table, “I think we’re good. Can we get our checks?”
“I’ve already taken care of it, Rick. Consider it a welcome to Campbell gift,” Jeff said as he pushed back from the table and held out a hand to his husband.
“Sergeant Major! We can’t let you do that,” Rick said as he stood also. There was no way he was letting Drew’s uncle pay for their dinners. The older couple led them outside and stopped at the parking lot curb.
Coop stepped up next to Rick and put a hand on his arm. “Thank you, Jeff and Scott. You didn’t need to buy our dinners. We should be buying your dinner for all the information that Scott shared with me.”
Both Scott and Jeff shook their heads. “It was my pleasure,” Scott said. “It’s been a while since I talked with a new spouseabout what to expect being connected to a soldier. The heptad and by extension, their spouses have always put taking care of soldiers at the forefront of their responsibilities. Accept dinner as our welcome to the military.”
Rick could see that Drew’s uncles weren’t going to change their minds. He looked at Coop who smiled at him and nodded. “Next time, our treat,” he told them.
Chapter Twenty – Coop
Dinner last night was incredible, and mostly because Scott had given Coop a look inside of what it would be like to be married to Rick. Married. The man even called him anew spouse. Was that where they were headed?
