"Don't make promises you can't keep."
"Fair point." I open her car door for her, and she slides in. "Drive safe, Doc."
"Try not to fall into any more bodies of water."
"No guarantees."
She's smiling as she pulls away, and I stand in the parking lot watching her taillights disappear around the bend.
The drive back to base takes twenty minutes. I spend every one of them soaking wet, radio up, windows down, grinning like an absolute idiot.
My shirt is still damp. My boots are going to smell like lake water for a week. Ranger is passed out in the back seat, dreaming about squirrels he'll never catch.
And I don't care about any of it.
Javi's going to roast me forever when he finds out about this.
Worth it.
Chapter 7
Callie
We’ve been seeing each other almost every day for the past two weeks and I have no reason to get jealous.
I don't get jealous. That would require caring.
So, the tight feeling in my chest when the blonde at the bar touches Dean's arm is definitely just heartburn. Bad whiskey. Atmospheric pressure. Literally anything other than jealousy.
"You're glaring," Sophie observes, swirling her drink.
"I'm not glaring."
"If you glare any harder, you'll set her hair on fire."
The Rusty Spur on a Saturday night is exactly what you'd expect from Pine Valley's only bar—weathered wood walls covered in neon beer signs, pool tables in the back, a jukebox playing country songs nobody asked for. The place smells like spilled beer and bad decisions, and it's packed with a mix of locals and soldiers from the base, everyone looking to blow off steam after a long week.
I was not expecting Dean Mercer to be here.
I was definitely not expecting the leggy blonde currently leaning into his space, laughing at something he said, her hand resting on his forearm like it belongs there.
"Heartburn," I mutter, taking a long sip of whiskey.
"Sure." Sophie doesn't bother hiding her amusement. "Heartburn that looks exactly like a woman watching another woman flirt with her man."
"He's not my man."
"You went on a date with him the other day."
"It wasn't a date. It was a professional dog-walking consultation."
"He fell into a lake trying to impress you."
"That was Ranger's fault."
"And you were supposed to meet him again today."
"For the dog."
