I can't help laughing. “I know, Hewitt, thank you for the offer but I have enough soldiers around all day. By the way, surely Max wouldn't agree, and you’re my second brother.”
“Ouch!”he acts all hurt.
“Where is he now??”Reyes asks me
“My brother? Afghanistan, I don't know exactly where but in a few weeks he should finally come home. I hope soon because I would like to let him join our team, if you agree. Alec forced me to expand the team by at least two other members and I wanted to talk to you about it. “
I am happy that we have changed the subject, the private sphere is not a subject that I love to touch. And now I'm angry with myself for not having understood that my marriage had been over for who knows how long. Do I want to save it? I don't think there is much to be saved. We seem to be friends rather than husband and wife.
“It would be fantastic,” the boys exclaim and they snatch me a laugh, one that Hewitt doesn't miss. He is too smart and I have no secrets from him. He knows everything, every microfiber of my being, every thought of mine even before I have to open my mouth and when he mouths “later”,I understand that it will be a long chat.
“Brake it up, guys, okay, he's my brother but we have to treat him like everyone else. Evaluation and testing, too, I want to be sure that everything is okay.”
I see them nodding and I'm happy, favoritism doesn’t save your skin. I know Max has all the skills, but having been on a mission for almost 5 years, I want to be sure that there are no traumas, so we can always focus on what awaits us.
The boys are resting and I'm having a coffee when I hear footsteps behind me. I knew he would not take too long.
“How are you?”Hewitt asks with an absurd sweetness in his voice.
“Great, as always. Coffee?”I try to divert his attention but it doesn't work. Damn it, he's too smart.
“I know we never talk about it, I know you avoid exposing your life, but I discovered something if you want to know.”
I sit at the table and look at him.“You know that if you tell a little girl that you have candies but don't give them to her, she will be so mad, right?! Same here, what’s up? “
He takes a few deep breaths and sits down playing with his cell phone; he doesn't know what to do or what to say and that worries me because the big Daniel Hewitt is never afraid of anything.
“I'm starting to worry, are you okay? Did something happen? “
He takes another breath and looks me in the eye. I feel naked in front of him. In his eyes, I see a thousand things, anger, disappointment, tenderness and fear. In the end he decides to speak.“Let's make a deal. I speak and after I am done, you can speak. Agreed? “
“What about democracy? Freedom of thought? “I pretend to be indignant but then I smile“Of course, I'm in. “
“Before you said you had suspicions about Jason cheating you, I asked for a couple of favors and honestly, I don't think you will like the results. Do you know that he is now in London? “
My mouth is wide open, I’m speechless. London. Jason went to London and hadn't told me about it. In the time that my brain goes on autopilot to create all the scenarios, Hewitt takes my coffee and drinks it, making a grimace of disgust at my sugar-free espresso and gives me his phone with an opened email. All of Jason's travels for a year now. London, Paris, London, Hong Kong, Maldives, London, London, London… Once a month he went to London for two weeks and all trips were booked for two.
Not only was he cheating on me but he was even expecting a son from his lover. Well, congratulations. I haven't finished reading, after all, I had expected it. I knew inside my heart that it would happen sooner or later but I never did anything to avoid it and here were the results.
“Thank you, thank you very much for everything. I will resolve the matter as soon as we return.”I give him a smile. I'm not sad, I'm not angry or disappointed. I am strangely in peace with myself.
“Are you sure you're okay?”he asks me searching for my eyes and staring at me. “I expected it, you know, so it doesn't touch me at all. It is not worth getting angry or depressed, life goes on.”
I spend the last half hour changing my clothes. When we land, we find two army soldiers waiting for us to escort us to the base where the General is waiting for us.
Crossing the large gates of the base, I felt at peace, as if we were at home.
The general was waiting for us in his office and once alone, he apologized for his behavior and congratulated us on the excellent work we did. He specified that he had to tell us that in person because an apology should always be made face to face and, above all, because he did not want to admit that he had made a mistake in front of his subordinates. Obviously, there was no mission to follow, it had only been a small lie so that I could reach him as soon as possible and I am happy with that.
No damage, we took the free evening to wander around the city, go shopping and then we headed to the hotel. Tomorrow, I’ll make a small stop in London. I called my lawyer asking him to prepare the divorce papers and get them sent to me as soon as possible. Two hours later the documents were ready in my mailbox.
While I print the documents, I listen to some music and write an email to Alec.
“Are you asleep? Knowing you, you’re surely still in the office. We’ll return tomorrow afternoon, everything went well and no mission in sight.”
In the meantime, I send a message to Jason, emailing the documents. I prefer to let them know about my arrival, also because it is not the best idea to go to their home with her pregnant.
“Hi, I would have liked to know about this from you rather than finding out from others. But it doesn’t matter. I wish you and Irene a happy future. Read the email I’ve sent you, tell me if you want to make any changes. I will make a stop in London tomorrow to get you to sign the divorce documents. See you at Phillies, I'll texting you before I land.”
