CHAPTER 21
Magnolia
TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OLD
8 MONTHS INTO DEPLOYMENT
My phone rings, a shrill, ear-piercing sound that cuts through the dark of night. I roll over in my bed, squinting at my bedside clock. My breath hitches, knowing it’s got to be Lukas calling me in the middle of the night.
I don’t even look at the set of numbers on my glowing screen; I just quickly reach for my phone and swipe, pressing it to my ear. “Lukas?”
“Hey, baby.” His raspy, sleepy voice is so quiet, so broken, tears immediately spring to my eyes.
“Are you alright? Are you hurt?”
“No, baby, I’m fine. Just needed to hear your voice, that’s all.”
I take a deep breath, willing the adrenaline to calm, and I roll over, pressing the phone to my opposite ear. “God, I miss you. What’s going on? Where are you at?”
“We’re at a British base for a few days. Came to stock up on supplies, eat, shower, hopefully get a good night’s sleep before we head back out.”
“Did you get any of that done?”
He chuckles a little. “I ate and showered. Can’t sleep.”
“What time is it there?”
There’s some shuffling along the line, a little static, and then he says, “About three in the morning.”
The tears start to build. I worry about him all the time, but worrying about him not sleeping is the hardest. He has to patrol, to stand guard and be ready for anything they might encounter. His mind needs to be sharp while somehow living in a state of constant sleep deprivation. It’s going to wear him down until it eventually breaks him, if it hasn’t already.
“What’s keeping you up?” I ask softly, and he’s quiet for a while, but Lukas is always quiet when he’s trying to work through his thoughts.
“Everything, I guess.”
“Can you tell me maybe one thing?”
“You know that guy, Collins, I talk about?”
I nod. “The one that’s Harper’s age?”
“Yeah. He’s going through some rough stuff, thinks his wife might be cheating on him.”
I grimace at the thought of that. I’ve never understood cheating while in a committed relationship. I’ve always been of the mindset that it is one of the most disrespectful things someone can do. Cheating isn’t an accident. It isn’t an oopsie. No matter how you spin it, it’s planned. It takes effort to lie and make excuses like that. It’s something I couldn’t ever come back from if it happened to me.
“I feel bad for him and I don’t even know him.”
“He’s a good guy. I hope it works out however it’s meant to be, you know?”
“Same.”
“He laughed when I told him I don’t worry about that.”
“About cheating?”
“Yeah,” he says softly. “You’d never.”
“Never,” I repeat. “Never, ever. That’s a promise.”
