“So,” she said, turning her soft blue eyes on me again. “What are you—”
“Come here, you.” I opened my arms, and she came. But even as she leaned against my chest, it felt strangely awkward. Hugging her had never felt awkward before.
“I am here,” I said before anything could get any worse, “to kidnap you.”
“To kidnap me.” She stepped back and smiled. “Usually the victim isn’t warned, you know.”
“Well,” I shrugged, arms still wrapped around her, “I might be aware of just how much makeup my kidnappee requires on average to feel put together.”
She laughed. “And why, precisely, am I being kidnapped?”
“Because,” I said, pulling back enough to see her reaction, “my squadron’s annual summer picnic is coming up. And I really want to show you off.” I forced a hard laugh. “My coworkers don’t think you exist. They’re taking bets.” I watched her carefully as I spoke. “I even had to hire a stand-in for the ball in case you couldn’t come—”
Her eyes looked like they might fall out of her head. “You did what?”
I held my hands up. “Just so my sergeant would leave me alone and quit pestering me to date his daughter.”
“Wow.” She shook her head and smiled. “Just…wow.” Well. At least she wasn’t angry?
I shoved my hands in my pockets and tried not to think about how much she used to like holding my hand. But then, that was before she had her own office and wore fitted pantsuits and had a secretary to take her calls, including the ones from her fiancé. That was before she pulled out of my arms and went to stand across the room and started leaning against her desk with her arms crossed as she looked at me expectantly.
“I know…something’s wrong,” I blurted. “And I came because we need to figure out what it is.”
She picked up a file and stared at the folder. So I crossed the room again and took the file out of her hands before taking them in mine.
“I don’t know what I need to do to fix this,” I said, willing her to look me in the eye. “But whatever’s happened between us, I wish you would just tell me.”
Another pause.
“Because I’ll do what you want. I’ll tell Jessie I don’t need her to go to the ball. Heck, I’ll hang in the back the whole time so Sergeant Barnes doesn’t see me and I can attend without attending. And if you’re that busy, I’ll fly here as much as possible until our wedding.” Inwardly, I cringed at the hole that would put in our honeymoon travel savings. But at this rate, our future travel seemed like a bit of a distant dream anyway. “But I can’t,” I said, leaning down so we were face-to-face, “fix any of it until you tell me what’s wrong. I need to know what happened that makes you want to avoid me at all costs.”What’s preventing you from picking a wedding date,I almost added. But one thing at a time.
No answer.
“Amy—” I groaned.
“It’s not what,” she said in a small voice. “It’s who.”
“I’m confused.”
When her eyes met mine again, they were no longer soft, like a summer sky. Instead, they were hard and cold.
“You up and left me without even asking me how I felt about it.”
I gawked, dumbfounded.
“Just called one day to announce that you had pulled some strings, and you were requesting a transfer back to Arkansas.”
“Well, yeah.” I nodded. “I didn’t think that would be a surprise. You knew the military is a transient lifestyle. I warned you over and over again I could get orders to leave any day.”
“But you didn’t justgetorders, did you?” She leaned forward, eyes bright. “You requested them. Geez, Derrick, it’s notthatyou moved. It’swhyyou moved. It’s why you do everything!”
“I don’t—”
“Jade, Derrick. It’s Jade. Everything in your world revolves around Jade.”
I felt like someone had just punched me in the side. “Jade? Jade needs me.”
“Your sister has parents, in case you’ve forgotten. And you have me. Or at least, I thought you did. But after you proposed to me, and you spun me all those wonderful tales of traveling together and adventures and a lifetime of us, then you were gone. And I couldn’t seem to buy a minute of your time without your sister being dragged into everything. It’s like you can’t breathe without her.”
