“That sucks. But it was someone you knew.”
“Yeah, that was good. Still, it threw me. I was unsettled until the train took off. I hope we figure out where Pete is soon, because I don’t like not knowing.”
Link came close and pulled her into a hug. “We’ll find him. He’s not going to be able to hurt you.”
She blew out a breath and squeezed him close. He made her feel safe, and that was good, because with Pete out there, everything else seemed up in the air. Pete hadn’t hurt her before, but his recent actions seemed very desperate.
Link hatedthat Ansley felt fear. She was a badass, but Pete had lied about her, putting a target on her back. The threat of so many people looking to find her had to be scary as hell. When he went on a mission, he knew he had a target on his back, but at home, no one cared who he was. He felt totally safe in the USA, but Ansley was being unfairly targeted by an idiot who wanted to make her life hell.
"Go freshen up, and we'll eat. Then we can watch a funny movie and I'll hold you while we laugh at the antics on screen."
"Thank you." Ansley stepped into the bathroom, and he headed to the kitchen to finish making their dinner. He wanted her to feel safe. Hopefully, the FBI would find the idiot, and it all would be over soon.
When she came out, she'd changed into a t-shirt and shorts and looked refreshed. Ten minutes were left on the timer when Ansley received a ping on her phone. Her eyebrows shot up, and a smile spread across her face.
“Good news?”
“Yes. It’s my contact at the State Department. They said there’s an offer in my email.”
"Oh, nice. That's great."
“Yeah.” Ansley was staring at her phone, her smile even wider. “It’s a good offer. I’m going to accept it.”
“Congratulations. That’s great. I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you. I’ll take care of the paperwork after dinner.”
“You can do it now if you like.”
She shook her head. “No. Dinner is almost done. I can sign the paper and scan it after we eat.
Things were working out for them. Ansley was working at a job she enjoyed, he was in a good place at work, and they were together. Life was looking up.
Dinner was perfect. Ansley told him about the interview and how it had gone. Her excitement was easy to see.
“It was weird running into Miller. He was someone I served with, but I’d kind of forgotten about him. Honestly, I feel bad about that.“
“You shouldn’t. I know you probably met hundreds of people when you were in the Marines. You won’t remember all of them.”
"Yeah, after I left him, I had to rack my brain to figure out when I'd served with him. It was in Italy. He'd wanted to go on the vacation with us, but he didn't put in for time, and we weren't going to change our plans. He was nice enough, but I think he wanted to date someone in our group, and she didn't like him."
“That’s rough.”
“Yeah. For him, not her. She wasn’t into guys, so she was oblivious to his interest.”
“So she didn’t know?”
“Not really. We got different assignments after Italy, so I lost contact with her. I should see if I can find her.” She blew out a harsh breath. “See, it’s stuff like that. I haven’t even thought about her in years.”
"Don't be so hard on yourself. You can't keep up with everyone. If you tried, you'd never get anything else done. You have the people who stick with you, and then other people who come into your life and then leave. Not everyone has to be someone you keep up with."
She nodded, still looking a little off. "I did send an email to Luis, the guy with the dog I sent you a photo of. I was good friends with Luis. I want to keep up with him."
"That's good. I'm sure Luis appreciated your email."
"He did. I did, too. Made me feel like I wasn't abandoning everyone."
Link nodded. There were hundreds of people he met in the military that he didn't keep up with. “I know there are people Ileft an impression on who I don’t really remember. It’s part of life.”
