I furrow my brows in confusion, “Your hair?”
She grabs a chunk of her bright blonde hair and starts waving it around. “Ali blonde, Tor, she went Ali blonde.”
“That’s not cool,” I say, trying to calm her.
“And what’s worse is, she went tomyhairdresser, and then, do you know what the bitch did?” She plants her palms on the back of the couch, and I really have to try not to laugh. “She showed us all a photo of the guy she’s going on a date with this weekend, that she got matched with on some app, and I swear he’s a dead ringer for Harry.”
My mouth falls open, and Ali nods, wide eyed.
“I know. Weird right? No one likes a copycat, Britney. Get your own ideas and man, because you aren’t stealing mine.”
“Harry would never,” I try to reassure her.
“Oh, I know he wouldn’t. That man knows where his bread’s buttered, as you British folk would say.” She waves her hands at me, and I laugh. “I need to set her up somehow. I swear, if I walked into tomorrow with a strap on and declared it as this season's must have belt, she would stroll in on Monday with one on but in a different color.
I snort a laugh and cover my mouth.
“Maybe you should,” I suggest.
Her eyes sparkle with mischief. “Yes, I’m going to do it.”
I chuckle. “Ali, I was joking.”
“I’m not,” she says, folding her arms. “Is Harry home?”
“In the office,” I reply, opening up my laptop back up.
“Perfect,” she mutters more to herself, and then yells as she walks toward Harry’s home office. “Harry, get your jacket. We’re going shopping.”
I roll my eyes and chuckle at her pettiness, but it’s so Ali. I love that she takes no shit. There is something to be said about caring less about what others think, and having that mentality is what has led me here. It gets to a point where you have to decide what’s most important. The opinions of others or how you want your life to be. I finally stopped caring what others thought about Noah and me and ignored the whispers and the stares.
People will have an opinion about you and your life, no matter what you do, so I finally chose what I longed for.
Noah.
The thought of him makes my chest tight, and the ache to be in his arms grows, so I do the only thing that makes me feel a little closer to him when that ache grows to a dull thud in my chest. I head for my bedroom and chuckle to myself when I hear Ali retelling the same story to Harry from behind the office door.
I take off my T-shirt and toss it onto the bed, leaving me in only my black bra and a pair of matching sweat pants. I reach my nightstand, take out the pink box, and set it on the table top where I take off the lid. Since Noah left, I have taken photos weekly to log my growing bump. It hurts my heart to know he is missing so much, but when he gets home, I want him to feel like he was somehow a part of it. I take out the Polaroid camera and hold it out far enough that I can fit my bump in, and I know it won’t be long before I will be asking Ali to take these photos because our girl is growing so fast.
I write the date on the photo and how many weeks I am and place it in the box with the others as I try not to break down. I just have to keep holding on, one day at a time. Having faith, he will be home as soon as he can.
Chapter Sixty-One
Noah
I lay in my bunk holding the photos of my girls between my calloused fingers. It’s been months since I saw Tori, since I held her, since I saw and felt our daughter growing. The only thing keeping me going is knowing this is my last operational tour, and they will be waiting for me at the end of this.
“Jones,” Mason yells into my room. He was in the Marines with us and is a recent joiner in the special forces and D-unit. “West, needs us to go through the plans.”
I sigh. “I’ll be right there.”
I swing my legs over the side of my bed and press a kiss to the photo of my girls, before carefully tucking them into the inside my pocket that covers my heart, and then head to our meeting point to go through today’s mission.
I never used to get nervous, never really thought about what I was doing. We went in, and we got out. Snatch and grab. That’s what I did. Kick some doors down, take out who needed to be taken care of, and save who needed to be saved. The idea of never coming home never really played on my mind because I didn’t have a place to call home, until Tori. She is home.
So now, every time I lace up my boots and put on my armor, I hope I make it back to base in one piece. The only thing that ever gave me a buzz and a sense of belonging was the military, and I never felt more alive than when I was staring the possibility of death straight in the face. But now, it’s different. My need for that adrenaline rush, the desperate need to feel wanted and useful like I belonged somewhere has vanished because of her. She gives me everything I’ve craved and the very thing I’ve spent my entire life trying to find.
So now the desire to stay alive and get back home is stronger than ever.
