Wade: How's Colorado? Mom wants to know if you're eating enough.
I type back.
Me: Fine. Tell Mom I had a vegetable this week.
His response is immediate.
Wade: A French fry doesn't count.
Me: It came from a potato. Potatoes are vegetables.
Wade: You're a disaster. Call home sometime.
I pocket the phone without responding. Calling home means questions about re-enlistment. Questions about the future. Questions I don't have answers to yet.
Maggie swings by with a fresh pot, tops off both our mugs even though mine's still half full. "You boys eating, or just taking up space?"
"Two Ridgeburgers," Javi says. "And whatever Ranger's allowed to have."
"Ranger gets a plain patty and a bowl of water, same as always." Maggie winks at me. "That dog eats better here than most of my human customers."
She disappears toward the kitchen, and Javi kicks my foot under the table.
"So, you'll come to the briefing? For the kennel thing?"
"I'll think about it."
"Top's going to make it an order if you don't volunteer."
"Then he can make it an order."
Javi shakes his head, but there's no heat in it. "Stubborn bastard."
"It's part of my charm."
"What charm? The vet clearly wasn't impressed."
Ranger chooses this moment to emerge from under the table and plant his head in my lap. His big brown eyes stare up at me with what I can only describe as hope.
"Don't look at me like that," I tell him. "We're not going back to the clinic."
His tail thumps once against the booth.
"I mean it."
Another thump.
Javi nearly chokes on his coffee. "You're already gone, aren't you? One encounter with a pretty vet and you're negotiating with your dog."
"I have conversations with my dog all the time. He's a good listener."
"He's a dog."
"An excellent dog who doesn't judge me."
Ranger licks my hand, which feels like judgment.
The burgers arrive, massive and dripping with Maggie's secret sauce, and the conversation shifts to safer territory. Training schedules. The new lieutenant who keeps getting lost on base. Whether Javi's crush on the barista at Timberline Espresso is ever going to turn into an actual conversation.
