CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
HUDSON
Our time was officially up.Caleb and I had stayed much longer than we’d planned, which meant we’d be catching the last flight out tonight since we were due on base in the morning. Our first day back was going to be absolute horseshit, but nothing to be done about it now.
Besides that, I wouldn’t change the past twelve hours for anything. I was just thankful I’d been here when Kenna had needed me. Thankful I’d been able to provide support to her by her side rather than from thousands of miles away.
Though, if I was being honest with myself, it wasn’t just being there for Kenna that had made my adrenaline surge or pride swell in my chest. I wasn’t a stranger to that feeling, not when I was flying a helicopter—I just hadn’t expected to feel it outside the army. But there was no denying I’d felt it this afternoon.
“You wanna talk about it?” Caleb asked quietly while my momma was distracted with a customer.
“Talk about what?”
How my head was all screwed up and I was confused as fuck about what it all meant? How Ella going missing and Kenna storming into the forest without a second thought like somekind of action movie heroine had me reassessing how fragile everything was?
Caleb, as much as I did, knew how lucky we were to get each moment we had. Hell, we knew that more than most, considering we’d fought in a war for ten years. Considering we’d watched friends and brothers-in-arms be wounded beyond repair, or worse—die in battle and never get to return home again.
Life was precious and fragile, and you never knew when one day was going to be someone’s last. The thought of something happening to my momma or my sister or Kenna while I was deployed had always been a whisper in the back of my mind. A whisper that had grown louder after my momma’s accident.
And now…I didn’t know if it was being home, or Richard’s heart attack, or Kenna marching straight into danger without hesitation, but suddenly that whisper had turned into a roar I couldn’t ignore any longer.
Caleb let out a soft snort. “That’s how you’re gonna play it, huh?”
“I don’t know what the hell you mean.”
Crossing his arms, Caleb stared at me hard, studying me in a way that made me feel emotionally naked. My best friend always had a way of stripping down the bullshit and getting right to the heart of the matter in as few words as possible.
“Seems to me with all the tourism they’re bringing to the town, there’d be a business in Havenbrook for an experienced pilot. Someone to do helicopter tours of the Range, or offer full-service guided hikes from the ground. Plus, help out with the new SAR team I’ve heard whispers about all day.”
I narrowed my eyes on my best friend. “What the fuck are you talkin’ about? You plannin’ to drop your papers and move to Havenbrook?”
“Not today. Just making an observation.”
I stared at Caleb—who only had eyes for Lilah—and tried to shake off his words. But, like with most things he said, they settled deep, burrowing in so far, I had no hope of escaping them.
Was he right? Was it possible that I could have the adventure I craved and provide life-saving assistance when needed, all while being where my family was? WhereKennawas?
True, I’d have to give up fulfilling my dad’s dream of retiring from the army—the one he’d never gotten the chance to complete himself. But I could finally admit it hadn’t ever beenmydream.
I could never resent my time in the army. It’d given me the adventure of a lifetime and had linked me to my dad in a way I couldn’t have been otherwise. It’d given me one of the best friends I could ever hope for and a lifelong brotherhood I’d have been hard-pressed to find elsewhere.
But it didn’t feel like home anymore. Hell, if I was honest with myself, I wasn’t sure it ever had.
Nope, home for me was in the eyes of the girl currently striding toward me. The girl who’d had my heart wrapped around her finger since I was eight years old. The girl I was going to fight like hell for today. And tomorrow. And the next day. And every day in the foreseeable and not so foreseeable future.
I didn’t know what the future held for us—for me. I couldn’t answer that today. But what I did know was that I wouldn’t stop fighting for us until my heart stopped beating.
Tugging on CB’s leash to follow me, I met Kenna halfway, the two of us toe-to-toe amidst the cacophony of a celebrating Havenbrook. I ran my gaze over her. She hadn’t even gone home to change or shower after the rescue, so her hair was a mess, her makeup smudged, and she looked absolutely exhausted, but I’d never seen anything more beautiful.
I reached up and plucked a small twig from her hair. “Hey.”
“Hey,” she answered, her gaze tracking over my face as if she were trying to catalog every one of my features. “I’m sorry you missed your flight.”
“I’m not.” I swept my finger down her cheek, tracing the soft skin from her temple to her chin. “I’m glad I could be here to support you being a complete badass.”
She huffed out a laugh. “I’m glad, too.”
Well, that was something, wasn’t it? She hadn’t told me to get lost or to fuck off, so I was winning in my book.
