Probably not. You likely had to be no longer be human to live with that shit easily. He’d rather remain human and deal with the pain. It meant he was alive.
Unlike Maki.
“I can’t imagine anything so awful. I’d never be able to do what you, Ford, and the others have done.”
He almost smiled at that. “You could do anything you set your mind to. But not many soldiers go around singing Broadway songs during missions.”
Her laugh held the sorrow from their conversation, but the quiet joy in it washed through him, helping him compartmentalize the grief and regrets.
She smiled softly at him, as if knowing he needed to lighten the mood. “I’ve seen movies, I know soldiers do that “left, left, left right, left” chanting thing to keep themselves in time when marching. I think “Doh A Deer” would make an excellent marching song.”
He didn’t know that one.
Before he could respond, she laughed again. “Or maybe the Darth Vader song. That might be more menacing.”
“Certainly sounds better than a song about a deer.”
She blinked at him, and then her eyes widened. “It’s not about a deer; it’s actually about learning to sing. You don’t know it?”
He shrugged, making those pretty eyes widen again.
She sang a few lines in a husky voice that had his blood thickening, and his fingers itching to touch. He stayed on his stool and fought his body’s reaction under control. “I've never heard it before.”
“It’s from “The Sound of Music,” one of my favorite musicals.”
“What’s it about?”
She blinked a few times, as if absorbing he’d never heard of her favorite show.
“A woman doesn’t have many choices, so she decides to be a nanny to a naval captain who has seven kids.”
“So, it’s a chick flick.”
She laughed. “It was written back in the sixties, I think. They do fall in love and get married, but it’s also about fighting the Nazis at the beginning of World War II, and finding ways to protect your friends and family.”
That surprised him. “A musical about fighting Nazis? Maybe it’s worth seeing.”
She laughed again. “Definitely. I’ll set it up one day for you.”
Snuggling with Mara on a couch, or a bed, to watch a musical sounded like a hell of a way to spend a few hours. And if he got to watch someone punch a few Nazis along the way, even better.
“I’ll warn you that whatever you’re expecting, it’s probably not going to be right.”
He shrugged. “I’ll go in with low expectations.”
“You’ll love it.”
He doubted it, but if it made Mara happy, he figured he’d do it anyway.
By the time they’d prepped the meal, Seth’s leg didn’t ache, although his cheeks did a little. When was the last time he’d smiled this often?
Gray grinned when he, Amber, and Boomer walked into the kitchen. “Smells like Christmas.”
Amber nodded as she looked around the kitchen. “I’ve told the gang that if they want to be fed, they have to show up here for dinner from now on. It’s ridiculous having you cart the food all the way there when there’s a dining room here.”
That would be easier. Carrying a turkey dinner with more than a half-dozen side dishes down to the other farmhouse would be a pain in the ass.
Amber smiled. “And it will give us an idea of how it works to have guests in the dining room.” She touched her stomach. “Oh. We’re going to have guests.”
