“You still just exchanging friendly emails?” Tom asked.
“Very friendly,” she said.
“Well...” He looked thoughtful. “He did send you his G.I. Joe glamour shot. That’s got to mean something.”
Shiloh asked Cary a thousand questions about the photos. He sent her two or three answers.
“Are these photos military secrets?”she asked.
Cary said they weren’t.
“Can you picture life on a boat now?”he asked.
“I can picture it better,”Shiloh replied.
Forty-Eight
Cary was somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. It was hard for Shiloh to know how far behind he was, on the clock. And his hours were so strange and varied—she could never predict when he’d have time to check his email.
It was a surprise to get an email from him as she was sitting in bed, already composing a message to him on her laptop.
Cary’s message was short:
“I haven’t had a good day.”
Shiloh abandoned the silly message she was writing and replied directly to his email.“Can you tell me about it?”
“No,”he sent back.
“Cary, whatever happened today, I know you were doing your best.”
“How can you know that?”
Shiloh paused for a second and sucked on her lip. Then she typed,“Because I’ve only ever known you to do your best.”
She waited for Cary to reply. There was a delay sometimes. Internet on the ship was spotty. Cary had to send emails from a work computer because his personal laptop wasn’t connected to the network.
A new message appeared. She opened it.
“Shiloh? Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
She waited a few minutes. She felt anxious. She got up to pee and wash her face.
When she came back, Cary had sent,“Was Junie okay? After what happened?”
Shiloh frowned. She pulled the laptop closer.“Yes. Cary, she’s fine. I promise. Please don’t lose sleep over that.”
As soon as she sent the message, Shiloh started typing a new one:“Itsucks for my kids to have divorced parents. But they do. It’s reality. Their dad is already dating, and I could date someday, too. Theoretically. Junie’s going to have to adapt.”
Cary didn’t reply. Shiloh left the laptop open. She got under the covers and lay down. She kept the computer open by her face and refreshed her inbox every minute or so.
Cary’s name went bold with a new message. She opened it.
“You haven’t dated?”
Shiloh bit her lip and sat up a little to type.“No. It’s hard to picture that happening right now. My kids are so young.”
