“From what all you have to load, you should have brought a semi,” I told him.
“Hey, I’ve got a truck if you need more room, and I can help carry stuff out,” Jackson offered.
“I never turn down help,” Grady said. “And I really do appreciate the help. It’s supposed to start raining in a couple of hours, and I’d hate for any of Scarlett’s things to get wet. Let me repay you by asking you to supper Sunday evening at my folks’ house.”
“No problem, but you don’t owe me anything.”
The guys each picked up a box and headed toward Grady’s truck. In a few minutes they had everything loaded.
“Carla is coming to the supper, too,” Scarlett said with a wink. “And you’ll know a lot of the people, because they work for you out at the rig.”
“Then thank you. I would love to have supper with your family,” Jackson said.
“You could come to church with us, too,” Scarlett said. “It starts at six in the winter, and supper is at seven.”
“I’ll be there,” Jackson said. “The Baptist or the Catholic?”
“Baptist,” Grady answered.
Scarlett handed her house key to me. “This seems so final, and yet I’ll see y’all tomorrow morning. I hope that the new girl loves that bedroom. When I first came, it was a refuge—not only for my body, but also for my mind.”
“I’m not sure either one of those needed tinkering with for me, but my room is definitely a place I can call my own, which is more than I’ve had in years,” I said, and changed the subject before I started crying. “I bet Rosie hates goodbyes as much as I do, and that’s why she conveniently had to go to the church to talk about some kind of fundraiser.”
“This is not goodbye,” Scarlett frowned. “This issee you later.”
“I like that better. See you later, then, as in before daylight in the morning.”
“Yes,” she said with a chuckle and got into her vehicle.
Jackson slipped an arm around my shoulders. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. I am happy for her.”
He opened his truck door for me and whistled as he rounded the front of the vehicle and slid in behind the wheel. “Since the roads are clear now, I thought we’d go over to El Paso to my favorite steak house, if that sounds good to you.”
“That sounds great.” My SUV looked sad, sitting there all alone as we drove away. Tressa would arrive on Monday afternoon by bus, which meant she wouldn’t have a vehicle.
“Change is tough,” Jackson said as he made a left turn at the end of the lot and then a right onto the highway.
“For everyone?”
“Absolutely,” he answered. “I retired from the military in July. For the first three months, I still had trouble getting into a different lifestyle. I missed the thrill of planning a new mission. I longed for my team and even missed mess hall food. I still have the option of going back as a civilian and teaching. That sounded good in the beginning.”
“When did all that stop?” I asked.
“It hasn’t, but it’s getting easier each day. Staying busy helps, and also knowing that the job offer to go back and train new teams is on the table until July 4,” he answered.
July 4.
D-Day for both of us. Rosie must have known.
“Independence Day,” I whispered.
“Shall we plan to celebrate that day—one way or another?” he asked. “Over a nice dinner with champagne?”
“How about with pizza and beer or a shot of good whiskey? I really don’t like champagne.”
He nodded. “You got it. Beer in a place where there’s dancing, even if the music is coming from a jukebox.”
