“Those women are solid. I’m glad they asked you.”
“That’s saying a lot,” I say. “If they get a Greyson endorsement.”
“They do.” He pulls the mug away from the coffee makerand walks to the fridge, taking out the sweet creamer and setting both in front of me. “Teach me how you like it.”
“My coffee?”
“Everything. Whatever you want to teach me, I’ll become a student. And then I can do it for you.”
I reach down and pinch my forearm.
His face contorts.
“I’m just checking if I’m dreaming here.”
He laughs. “Hallie, if I told you …”
“Told me what.”
“The way I’ve thought of you over the years.”
“Of me?”
“Yeah.” He ducks his head so I’m not looking him in the eyes. “It’s almost embarrassing.”
“You thought of me?”
“After Munich …” he takes a seat at the island next to me. “We went to Afghanistan. You were the last person I spent time with before deploying. That night was …”
“Special,” I finish for him. It was for me too. He has to know that.
“Yeah. Special. So, whenever things would get hard—rough. Sometimes it was really bad. Or boring. It could be really boring too. Anyway, I’d think of you—of our night. And it would carry me through. The thoughts of you were like this promise.”
A weight settles in my chest, constricting and heavy.
I stare into his eyes: blue, clear, honest.
He’s thinking of Afghanistan. I see the memories in his gaze.
“I thought of you too,” I tell him. “I’d wonder whatever happened to you.”
He puts his hand over mine. “So, now? I found you. Or you came to me. And I didn’t know what to make of it.”
“So you were stone-cold silent and aloof.” I smile over at him.
“No game,” he admits with a smile that has all the game he needs and then some.
Does he even know how handsome he is?
“I was watching and waiting. Seeing if you’d end up recognizing me.”
“And if I didn’t?”
“I don’t know. I just knew I had to wait you out.”
“Like a soldier.”
“Like a patient man.”
