“Well, I’m not spending the last two nights I have with you down in the mouth. I want to enjoy our time together.”
He smiled, picked me up, and kissed me senseless before putting me back on my feet. “I’m starving. Let’s find some food.”
Excitement filled me as I pulled him into the house behind me. “I’ve got that handled. We have steaks, lobster, and shrimp ready to go on the grill. Heidi made fiesta corn salad. I roasted some Brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes.”
“Fuck me, I’m going to miss your cooking.”
“That was always the part of a deployment I hated,” Walker said, coming from the back of the house.
“Yes. The food is so damn bad. We are scheduled to make port in Australia, which means we’ll get some good food there. And I’m hoping for a stop in Okinawa. I love authentic Japanese cuisine. Shabu Shabu and Gyoza are my go-tos,” Hayden said.
“Good choices. I’m a sushi man,” Walker said, then laughed when I made a face. “That one isn’t a sushi fan. He bitches every time one of us eats it in front of him.”
Hayden stepped behind me, pressing his chest to my back and wrapping me in his arms. “It’s alright, carinõ. I’m not a fan of sushi, either. Food should be cooked.”
“Yes! Cavemen discovered fire for a reason.”
Walker shook his head and laughed. “For heat, kid. For heat.” He paused, giving me a look. “The rest of us are going to get out of your hair. You guys enjoy yourselves.” Then he looked at Hayden, “I’m going to assume you have duty tomorrow as usual?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, if I don’t see you before you leave, take care of yourself, and we’ll talk when you come home.”
“Yes, sir. I look forward to it.”
Walker pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to Hayden. “If you want to bitch about deployments with someone who’s been there, feel free to email me.”
“Thank you, Colonel.”
“It’s just Walker. You’re family, Sergeant.”
Hayden laughed, and I rolled my eyes at the two of them.
Walker patted my shoulder and called, “Heidi! Linc! Let’s move out!”
Heidi breezed in from the patio, with Linc strolling in behind her. He headed to the door, but she stopped at the television and turned on my favorite playlist. She waved with a smile as she said, “Bye, you two!”
The front door opened and closed, and I let my head drop back on Hayden’s shoulder as we stood alone in the living room. If he wasn’t deploying, this would be the perfect time to explain, but I didn’t want that hanging over his head for six or nine months, or however long he was gone.
“They didn’t have to leave.”
I turned around to stare up into his eyes. I loved how dark they were. There were times when you could barely tell the difference between his irises and pupils, but that wasn’t the case right now. Now they were like molten, dark chocolate, the color so vibrant it was like staring into one of those fancy chocolate fountains.
“I’m not sure why they did. The only reason I had you come here was because we were going to game plan before the meeting with the client tomorrow.”
“Well, let’s not waste the gift of a night in the lap of luxury. C’mon. You grab the food, I’ll grab the drinks, and then maybe, after dinner, I can fuck your brains out in the pool.”
“This house is under 24-hour surveillance in the common areas and the exterior. There’s no fucking way I’m giving my family that kind of show.”
“Spoilsport.”
The rest of the evening was the stuff dreams were made from. Or it would’ve been if it weren’t for the fast-approaching deployment and the secret I was hiding. We cooked and ate and drank. We did cutesy shit, like feeding each other things, cutting up, and laughing at the mess we made, either accidentally or on purpose.
Long before the sun set, we curled up on the double lounge chair by the pool and were still there when the sunset. Some of the time, we chattered our heads off, and others, it was deathly silent, both of us lost in thought yet not wanting to speak of whatever was on our minds.
Somewhere, in the midst of one of those moments of silence, I must’ve dozed off because the next time my eyes opened, I was greeted by the night sky and my husband dressed for another day of hero’s work.
“We crashed last night,” he whispered, leaning over me with his arms braced on either side of my head.
