by E. J. Noyes
“Absolutely, I’ll come straight from work. I might miss some of your first game, but I’ll definitely be there. There’s no way I’d give up a chance to see you in those, uh…sexy bowling shoes.”
Sabine snorted. “Noted for future roleplays. You know, with you watching me as incentive, I might even get four strikes this week.” With a smirk she added, “I think there’s a most valuable player trophy in my future.”
“A trophy? Well, darling, that will certainly earn you a reward,” I murmured. The banter was natural and sweet, another reminder of our shift back to that place of easiness.
Smiling, Sabine returned to her menu and after a minute or so, glanced up and said, “Oh! I almost forgot, Gavin emailed today. They’ve set the wedding date for next October, and he wanted to double-check my contract end date, so he could be sure we’d make it.”
“That’s lovely of him. Did you tell him we’d be there regardless?”
“Mhmm, and I reminded him he’d better not be deployed on our wedding da—” Sabine, like me and most of the restaurant, started when a patron who wasn’t watching where he was going plowed into one of the poor waitstaff, scattering his double armload of empty plates.
The crash echoed sharply through the restaurant and I tensed, waiting for Sabine’s reaction and readying myself to help her if needed. Aside from working on communication, part of our couple’s counseling had been both of us learning how to give and receive help. I felt confident that if needed, she would accept it from me now, and for what it was, not as an indicator of imagined disappointment or something demeaning.
Her long, dark eyelashes fluttered while she drew in a few deep breaths. Then she raised her head and smiled knowingly at me. “On our wedding day,” she finished calmly before returning to the menu.
My emotion welled up so strongly that I blurted, “I love you, sweetheart and I’m so proud of you.” Just as I’d trusted her to receive my help if I’d offered it, I trusted her to receive those words as I’d intended them to be taken.
“Thanks.” She reached across the table to squeeze my hand, turning it over and studying my finger intently. Every time she looked at my sapphire and diamond engagement ring—which was frequently—the same expression of awe and something akin to pride came over her face. I knew the feeling, and felt it echoed in my own body when I looked at her ring finger.
A neatly presented server sidled up beside me and waited for our acknowledgement. When I smiled up at her, she apologized for the loud disruption to our evening, offered a complimentary glass of wine each, and launched into a spiel about seasonal offerings and recommendations. Once we’d ordered, Sabine turned slightly sideways in her chair, crossing one leg over the other. “I meant to tell you, I lost a hundred bucks today,” she said conversationally.
“Really? How’d you manage that?” I swallowed a small mouthful of Zinfandel.
“I made a bad bet.” At my confused expression, Sabine clarified, “For the deployment pool at work.”
“Ah, yes. That secret betting pool you all think we don’t know about?” One year, I’d put in a secret bet by proxy and won over two thousand dollars, and I knew some of my friends and fellow commanding officers had done the same over the years.
Her smile was sheepish. “That’s the one.”
“Mmm. So who won?”
“Mitch. He’s such an ass, I don’t know how he did it because nobody else came close. I’ve already told him he’s taking us out for dinner and drinks.”
I laughed shortly, until the sudden realization of the betting pool having been paid out meant that the decision had been made, and orders given for her next posting. The thought of her leaving me again made my breath catch. “So what did you put down for your entry?” I asked as nonchalantly as I could.
“Landstuhl in seven months and thirteen days.”
“And…what is it?” I desperately hoped that I didn’t appear as panicked as I felt.
She turned her as-yet-untouched wine in slow circles. “Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda. Until the end of my contract.” A cheeky, insouciant shrug. “So I guess we’re celebrating that tonight too.”
The wash of relief was so sudden that I almost sagged in the chair. “You’re staying here?” I breathed. More than staying in the area, she would finish out her contract at the facility where she was working now.
“Yes, I’m staying home.” She grinned. “Sorry, Bec, now you’re really stuck with me.”
The grin was contagious and I felt my cheeks lift in response. I took her left hand, my thumb playing over the platinum band with a double line of inset diamonds that I’d slid onto her finger a few days after she’d proposed to me. “Darling, I thought you already knew that from the moment we met, all I’ve wanted is to be stuck with you.” Raising her hand to my mouth, I slowly kissed each of her knuckles and finally, the ring.
Bella Books, Inc.
Women. Books. Even Better Together.
P.O. Box 10543
Tallahassee, FL 32302
Phone: 800-729-4992
www.bellabooks.com