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That voice though.
Finally gathering myself, I managed to walk back to the girls as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. No way I was going to tell them what had just transpired.
“Looks like Operation Distraction is working,” Charlee said when she saw me.
“Oh, it’s working all right.”
“Erik who?” Natalie asked.
I shuddered at the name. I hadn’t thought of him, didn’t want to think of him, and was pretty sure that chapter of my life was well and truly over.
Erik was my past.
And maybe, just maybe, Nate was my future.
CHAPTER TEN
nate
I’d just left the PAX terminal and headed to the chow hall.
I picked up my phone. Zoe would be sleeping. It was only six a.m. in New Orleans, and after starting the day yesterday with two Hurricanes at Pat O’s, I couldn’t imagine it would be an early day. Smiling as I thought of our first New Orleans exchange, I sat down at an empty table.
The urge to text her was strong.
Instead, I let my mind wander to the text I’d gotten from my uncle a few weeks earlier. The one that changed the trajectory of my life. Without warning, I’d been thrown back into high school with zero clue as to what I wanted for my future. College should have been the plan according to my parents. Yet that never felt quite right. And so, I’d enlisted in the army.
When my father’s brother later asked if I wanted to take over his well-established restaurant in downtown Saratoga, with no kids to leave it to and a desire to see it stay open, I’d jumped at the chance. It would work out perfectly. He wasn’t quite ready to retire yet, and I’d found my place here in the army having just graduated top shot at sniper school.
After my injury, learning I’d decided not to reenlist, he’d said, “Looks like that’s my sign to retire.” Although my mom wasn’t thrilled about my decision not to go to college, her not-so-subtle links to the Post-9/11 GI Bill coming every few months, my dad was happy to see his brother and I working things out.
Until it blew up in my face.
“Sorry, kid. Bad news. Unless you can come up with a half mil fairly quickly, I have to sell.”
It had taken me three reads to even understand what the hell his text meant. When my mother sent a succession of no less than five frantic texts a few seconds later, the picture had become pretty clear.
My uncle had all but gambled away the restaurant. And no, I couldn’t come up with half a million dollars, especially from over here, on that timetable. Probably not at all.
So, he sold.
And I was shit out of luck.
How’s it going over there?
I was pulled back to the present by Zoe’s text. I grabbed my phone.
What are you doing up so early?
Trying to catch you before you go off the grid for the day.
Go back to bed, you nut.
Make me. . .
I’d dearly love to.
Yeah? What would you do when you got me there?
