"I'm absolutely going to interrogate him."
"At least wait until the burrata arrives."
"No promises."
Emily leaned down and kissed Jake's cheek. Quick, natural, the gesture of a woman who'd stopped calculating what it meant to touch someone in public. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. We've got this."
She grabbed her bag and her phone and was gone, heels clicking through the restaurant with the purposeful stride of a federal prosecutor who'd just been summoned back to the building she'd barely escaped.
Jake watched her go. Turned back to find Claire studying him.
"She knew about the fish," Claire said.
"Yeah."
"You've never told anyone that. Have you?"
"Never came up."
"It didn't come up with her either." Claire picked up her wine glass. "She just knew."
The burrata arrived. Claire tore bread with the practiced efficiency of someone who ate well and often and wasn't going to apologize for it. Jake liked that about her. He liked that she'd ordered for the table without asking. He liked that she was fifteen minutes late and hadn't manufactured an excuse more elaborate than the truth.
“Can I ask a question?”
"You're going to anyway."
"How long were you in? Emily said seven years in Delta, but she mentioned Rangers before that. So what's the real number?"
Jake took a piece of bread. "Twelve total. Four years Ranger battalion, then selection, then seven in the unit. Mustered out last year."
"Twelve years." Claire said it like she was placing the number somewhere, fitting it into a framework she was building. "You went in at what, twenty-three?"
"Twenty-two. Got my degree in three years, went straight to Ranger school."
"And you turned down being drafted."
"Mid-round pick. Not exactly a guarantee."
"Emily says you were good."
"Emily's being generous. I was a solid college shortstop who might have lasted two years in the minors before washing out. The Army was the better bet."
Claire chewed, thinking. "What made you stay? Twelve years is a long time."
"The people," Jake said. "Same answer every time. You stay because the people beside you need you to stay."
"That tracks," she said.
"What does?"
"Everything about you." She waved her bread vaguely in his direction. "The way you are with Ray and Tommy. The way you are with Emily. You're the guy who stays."
Jake didn't say anything to that. The server came and they ordered. Claire got a salad with grilled salmon that she modified with three specific substitutions delivered so naturally the server didn't blink. Jake got the burger.
"Your turn," he said.
