“No, it’s hard to accept. I’m seeing a therapist, and it helps, but even with that, I’m not really accepting it.”
“I’ve read the reports, and it doesn’t look like you all did anything wrong.”
His words surprised her. “You got the reports?”
He let go of a heavy breath. "We do a breakdown on all of our missions. It allows us to adapt. It's why we started leaving small drawings in dirt or on buildings to let our teammates know where to look for us. Going through everything from the moment the mission starts, which is long before we arrive, until we leave, is paramount to future success."
“That makes sense. I know some of the Recon forces do breakdowns. Our unit does to an extent. But it’s nothing like what you’re talking about.”
“So your CO was okay with you leaving?”
"She knew I was going to leave. We just ended up being stuck in the country longer than we'd expected, and then we were captured the day before we were set to head home. I should have been home a long time ago, but things happened, and we were stuck there. Now I'm home, and I'm glad it's almost over."
“I bet. That kind of sucks that you all ended up captured right before you were set to leave.”
"It does. I should have given up my apartment, but it was only supposed to be three months overseas. We were covering for a group that lost ten members. It was one of those last-minute things."
“Wow, that really sucks. So you all shouldn’t have even been over there.”
"Nope, I was supposed to be in California, but we ended up over there and everything went to shit."
“I’m sorry you all went through that.”
She shrugged, though he couldn't see her. "It's military life."
“Yeah.”
“Have you ever found yourself in a situation like that?”
Link blewout a breath and shook his head. “Yeah. I was captured and held hostage for a few days. The torture was brutal. I was able to escape.”
"Wow. That's awful and terrible, but I'm impressed you escaped."
His chuckle sounded hollow to his own ears. He didn’t want to talk about that mission, not right now. It had been rough. He’d almost not made it home.
“So when you stay here, I’m thinking about taking two, maybe three weeks off.”
“Is that to spend time with me?”
“Yeah, are you good with that?”
“I am. I think it would be nice to get to know you.”
“We could hang out here for a few days, then head to the condo at the beach.”
“That would be good.”
"Just so you don't think I'm being sneaky or sketchy, the condo has one real bedroom and a loft. I'll sleep up in the loft."
“Oh.”
“Is that okay?”
She didn't say anything for a few seconds. He wanted to see her as they talked, so he could gauge her reaction and she could see his.
“How about we hop over to video?” he suggested.
"Sure," Ansley said. "Give me a second to transfer to my laptop, then onto FaceTime."
