CHAPTER ONE
RAFE
The day went too smoothlyfor my liking. “Sarge, you sure there wasn’t at least one incident in the last twenty-four hours?” I pinned the Master Sergeant with a steely glare that had earned my reputation of being an eternal grump. However, Devlin never blinked. He was rock solid and ran the K-9 unit as if his life depended on it. And from what I knew of his past tragically, it had, and now he rarely relaxed that stance.
“It’s all in the status report,Short.” On his way out, Devlin’s expression changed ever so slightly that someone without my experience may have missed. The sarge’s lightning-fast quirk of his lips told me everything I needed. And he, along with everyone else in the unit, had relished using the nickname since I’d announced my retirement a couple of months ago.
The next three weeks couldn’t pass quickly enough as far as I was concerned.
After the sergeant left, I also called it a day. At loose ends since my announcement, I needed to figure out how I was going to fill my days. I couldn’t wait to load up my beat-up workhorseof a Suburban, and move north with Duchess to work with my cousin West.
Since I took over the security forces on Ridgeway a decade ago, I’d never worked directly with the K-9s, although I had plenty of contact with them and their handlers. I may be partial, but they were the best in the Air Force.
Ridgeway may not be one of the larger AF bases in the country but with the addition of drone tech development in recent years, plus the elite rescue squadrons and more on site, it meant we were far from immune to threats from abroad attempting to gather intel.
It had been rewarding work, sometimes intense and randomly exciting, but I was done. Done filling out reports, done with the repetition and rigidity of the military. Although I didn’t know exactly what my life would look like once I moved, as there were still some minor details needing to be ironed out, I guess it made sense why I felt unsettled. Probably would until after I arrived in Idaho.
And for the first time in a damn long time, I’d be nothing more than a team member. No longer in charge of hundreds of men and women. And that felt…well, the word relief came to mind.
Just me and Duchess.
Typically, my conversations with my cousin involved plenty of good-natured razzing but seeing as how he’s blood, retired from the Army and running a veteran’s sanctuary in Idaho, he’s the only person who could get away with calling out my bullshit.
West and I were related on my mother’s side, and he’s the closest thing to a brother I ever had. We hadn’t seen each other in person for forever, but we had plenty in common besides our military duty and shared Celtic ancestry so the long breaks didn’t matter.
However, the one thing my cousin recently discovered still baffled me. He found a woman who managed to tame him, and now they have a child together. West would spend half our conversations either telling a toddler to get something out of their mouth or extolling the virtues of matrimony and fatherhood.
The one thing I liked about him was that he never pried too deep into why I’d never married or had kids because he got it. Had been of the same mind that he didn’t need a wife or kids. But that had all changed when he’d met Lauren during a rainstorm on his mountain, where he ended up rescuing her. He said he knew instantly she was the one. I had my doubts but looked forward to meeting the woman who’d tamed him.
And then there were the men who served under me on Ridgeway. They thought just because I had less than three weeks left before my retirement that the rules didn’t apply any longer to our interactions.
I’d endured more nosy questions about my personal life and what I’d be doing once I left the Air Force than in all my twenty-four years, eleven months and nine days of active duty combined. Every other interaction centered on me finding a wife now that I’d no longer be married to my job.
Yeah, not going to happen. My parents' marriage had been the first and last relationship I’d witnessed that had actually lasted. I’d seen too many failed relationships and drama from infidelity, which cemented my stance on signing a piece of paper tying me legally to a woman.
The military was lousy with failed marriages. Not. For. Me.
Fortunately, the only one who’d kept his nose out of my business was Caleb over at Pine Valley Outfitters, unless I offered anything, which I usually didn’t. He also served in and retired from the Air Force and opened up his store almost twenty years ago. Caleb and I had an understanding. We discussed timespent overseas, my dog or the latest camping and rock climbing equipment I should try and little else.
He’d been the closest thing I’d allowed to a friendship since I began at Ridgeway. But soon even those interactions would end. I had a plan for my retirement that I hadn’t shared with anyone in Colorado. Not even the base’s commander. And until today, the Lt. Colonel hadn’t a clue what my so-called dream retirement looked like.
CHAPTER TWO
JACI
The chaos of the move had finally evened out over the past week. Moving a thousand miles cross-country had been less than fun during the four-day drive from Nashville. We would have made it in three, but I had a sinus infection, which kept me from driving for more than four or five hours a day.
Simon, who’d been unable to contain his excitement once we arrived. From the second day we’d been in Pine Valley and during his non-school hours, he explored our new neighborhood. I still wasn’t sure exactly what he found to occupy his time since the sinus infection had me in its grip. But since we were living on the Ridgeway Air Force base with my sister, I’d loosened my rules about letting him wander off alone.
But now, I’d finally finished updating my Etsy page, organized my inventory in the garage and reached out to the local bookstore owner about doing my first ever in-person pop-up event. Even though I burst out in hives just thinking about it, I knew if I was ever going to grow my business and eventually afford our own place; I had to step out of my comfort zone.
And thank goodness for Bec. She hadn’t hesitated in offering her home to us afternumb-nutsdrained our joint bankaccounts. Thankfully, I’d kept my business account separate, so I wasn’t totally dependent on him, but that money was for bills associated with my handmade jewelry shop.
Since the divorce just under a year ago, my eight-year-old had somehow gained twenty years of wisdom on me. Never professing to have my life figured out at thirty-six even before his father left us, Simon’s quick recovery continued to baffle me. My ex had never been father of the year, but I thought their relationship had been a good one. Guess I’d been wrong.
Now that I’d fully recovered from the fog of the infection, it was time to put a few restrictions on his wanderings. I stepped onto the back deck scanning the backyard to find out what my precocious son was up to.
As far as base housing went, it was a nice set-up. Becca was base commander, so that helped, but I’d always wished she would have found someone to spend her life with, maybe fill the extra bedrooms Simon and I now used. Instead, she was all in with the military life. She’d been widowed young, barely a year into her first year as an airman. But she’d snuck off to Colorado Springs last weekend, and I had my suspicions there was someone special there for her.
