“Maybe.”
“How far away from the pod were they—this camp you saw?” she asked. “Because we should be even more careful when you leave. I mean, to go to the extraction point to check for messages, not for—”
“I know what you mean,” he said.
“And maybe we—you—should, I don’t know, camouflage or somehow cover—”
Thomas interrupted her again. “This shelter’s concrete bulwark? Yup. Already done. As of yesterday morning.” He stood up, ready for his shower.
“Wow, it’s useful having a Navy SEAL around,” Tasha said. “I mean, the always-thinking-and-planning-for-disaster thing might be worth the serious deficit in optimism.”
“Might be?”
“Jury’s still out,” she told him. “I’ll let you know.”
He had to laugh—and the question came out, almost involuntarily. “So is Ted an optimist, too?”
Her gaze turned thoughtful, as if she were considering her answer carefully. “I think maybe you’re asking if Ted’s a happy idiot, like me?”
“Nuh-nuh-no. I donotthink you’re a happy idiot,” he countered.
“But you think maybe Ted might be...?”
“Nah,” he said, drawing the word out, but yeah, she recognized another lie, and she laughed, shaking her head at him.
“First, he’s not even close to an idiot,” Tash said. “And he’s definitely not happy being groomed as the future king, but... He’s generally optimistic. Not necessarily about the things that matter most in his life, which is a shame, but day-to-day, I’d say, yeah.”
Thomas could see that Tasha realized he didn’t understand what she’d meant about Ted not being optimistic about things that mattered. Like, what kind of things? But he didn’t have to ask—she kept going. “Ted probably has exactly what it takes to get through a program like BUD/S, for example.”
Thomas felt his eyebrows rising, and she rolled her eyes at him and waved her hand, dismissing his disbelief.
“Yeah, yeah, I know, Navy SEAL BUD/S training is for the best of the best,” she continued, “and Ted’s some soft, spoiled prince. But he’s smart, he’s strong, he’s creative, he’s a fantastic team player,andhe doesn’t have any faith in himself, whatsoever, so he’d never even try. He quits before he eventhinksabout starting. That’s Ted’s MO. But in the little, seemingly unimportant day-to-day things, or during the times he doesn’t stop to think, he just acts...? Like,Hey, the sky is really blue today, let’s climb that mountain!OrLook, that car has engine trouble, let’s stop and help and figure out how to fix it with the random things in our pockets and bags!That’s Ted’s MO, too.”
“He sounds...”
“Complicated?” Tasha finished Thomas’s sentence for him. “Yeah.”
“I was going to sayinteresting,” he said.
“Most complicated people are.”
And now she was looking at him like she could see inside of him, which made him nervous, because he wasn’t quite sure himself why he’d started this conversation about her soon-to-be-fiancé.
There was a spark of hope, and yeah, plenty of optimism, in the warmth of her eyes, so Thomas went back to the unsettlingly honest thing she’d said to him, and echoed her own words. “You know, it’s nice to meet the real, grown-up you, too. I’m glad we’re friends again, Tash. I really am. And Ted sounds like he’s pretty great, so... I’m happy for you.” He’d buttoned that badly, so he finished with, “You need to use the bathroom before I, uh, hit the shower?”
Tasha shook her head. “No, thanks, I’m good.”
Thomas closed the bathroom door behind him, thinking,shit. He’d leaned hard on thatfriends, but was that for her benefit—or for his?
Chapter Sixteen
As Rio and Dave approached, the little rural airfield’s runway lights powered up.
“I’m hoping that’s a signal that their tower’s had contact from the prince’s jet,” Dave said optimistically. “If he lands soon...”
If he landed in the next five minutes, it would only take seven hours and five minutes to make the round trip to Burlington, Vermont. Seven hours and five minutes before they returned to their primary mission of finding Tasha and Thomas.
Assuming the prince wasn’t packing any bullshit in his carry-on. Assuming he landed without mishap and willingly gave himself up, cheerfully climbed into the backseat of their SUV, and enthusiastically let himself be delivered to Vermont without any pushback.
