Chapter 26
“I still can’t believe you’re proposing.” I shook my head, staring down at a photo on Lucas’s phone of the ring he was having designed for Callie.
Lucas chuckled. “Can’t believe it in a good or bad way?”
“A good way,” I replied with a grin.
“I’m surprised your cynical ass isn’t trying to talk him out of it.”
I looked over to meet Blake’s dimpled grin. “I am not cynical.”
“Sure, my guy,” he said sarcastically, clapping my shoulder.
“If you weren’t so big, I’d kick your ass.” I couldn’t finish my statement without laughing, earning one from him, Lucas, and Gabe. He may only have an inch of height on me, but he outmatched me in every other way. “Seriously, what the fuck are they feeding you there?”
“Nothing,” Blake answered with a chuckle. “I just have more free time to hit the gym now that I’m not in residency.”
“Yeah, well, you can definitely skip a few days…or weeks.”
Blake came into town for New Year’s and was staying through the weekend before heading back to North Carolina.
Callie and Morgan were in Charleston that night celebrating an old high school friend’s birthday, so we decided to do Friday night poker at Gabe’s, complete with shit talk, pizza, wings, and beer.
“Let me see that,” Blake said, gesturing for Lucas’s phone. He looked down at the screen, smiling as he let out a low whistle. “That’s gonna be a hell of a ring.”
“When are you doing it?” Gabe asked.
“I think around March,” Lucas answered as he took his phone back from Blake. “The ring won’t be ready for another few weeks. And I want a little time to plan something out.”
“You think she’s gonna say yes?” I teased as I dealt out the cards. Lucas shot me a look, and I laughed. “I’m kidding. Calm down.”
“I think it’s safe to say that after everything you two have been through and finding your way back to each other, she’s going to say yes,” Blake said.
I chuckled. “And Gramps is probably ecstatic.”
Lucas laughed, shaking his head. “The old man is beside himself. He’s already called dibs on hosting the engagement party.”
I listened to Lucas as he continued to talk about the details of the ring and toss out some ideas he had for the proposal while we played cards. The man was practically vibrating with excitement.
It was strange to think of one of us taking that plunge.
Sure, we were in the last year of our twenties—Gabe nearing thirty-five—and it was probably high time one of us got our shit together, but it was still odd to think about it actually happening.
And he wanted it. He didn’t hold a single sliver of doubt about going through with it and spending the rest of his life with her.
And suddenly, those foreign thoughts started to creep up on me again. What would that be like? If I ever did want something like that…what would that person look like for me?
I reckon they would have a feisty personality similar to mine—they’d have to in order to put up with me.
Someone who wouldn’t be afraid to put me in my place because, if I were being honest, I needed that now and then.
Someone who would keep me on my toes and challenge me and how I thought and felt.
Someone who could be a shoulder to lean on, who could rely on me all the same.
Someone who made even the most mundane things silly because I needed fun. I needed laughter along with a little bit of crazy and a little bit of chaos.
Realizing how ridiculous it all sounded in my head swept away the thoughts like the tide on a shore.
I don’t know where they came from, and entertaining them was ineffectual because it didn’t change the fact that I wasn’t looking for that.
I liked the uncomplicated ease of my life.
It didn’t need to change. Like that old saying goes—if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.
Lucas and I tossed our cards in annoyance when Blake pulled in the pot after winning another hand, grinning smugly. “I see the Army has taught you a few tricks,” I quipped.
Blake chuckled. “Yeah, you could say that.” Gabe began to shuffle the cards while Blake stacked his chips. “Speaking of the Army…I have some news.”
Lucas and I both looked over at that. I noticed the way Gabe’s apprehensive gaze slid to his brother as he shuffled the deck, almost like he knew what he was about to say.
“What news?” Lucas asked.
Blake lifted his head and looked between the two of us. “It’s not a big deal, but…I found out just before I came home that I’m getting deployed.”
My gaze flickered from him to Gabe, whose apprehension now made sense, then back to him. “What the hell do you mean ‘it’s not a big deal’?” I said with a slight bite in my tone. “That sounds like a pretty damn big deal to me.”
“I said ‘not a big deal’ because it’s not active combat. It’s simply to assist in a medical infirmary. The unit there now has finished their deployment conditions, so they’re coming back, and they need a new unit to replace them. That’s it.”
“And you’re part of that new unit…” Lucas said quietly.
“Yeah,” he said with a nod.
“Can’t you, like, I don’t know…decline?” I knew the answer to that, but I asked anyway.
“No.” Blake chuckled. “It doesn’t work that way. I go where they tell me to go as long as I’m enlisted. But I don’t want anyone to worry or freak out.”
“When?” Lucas asked.
“Three months—April,” Blake answered. “The deployment is nine months, and when I get back, I’ll only have three months left until I’m out for good. And I’ll be home for a couple of weeks beforehand on a pre-deployment block leave, so I’ll be able to see you all before I head out.”
“We’re gonna get him one of those satellite phones so we can talk to him more,” Gabe said with a smile, clearly trying to lift the unease coming from me and Lucas.
Blake nodded. “Yeah. And I’ll be with Noah, my buddy I met during training when I first joined up, the one in North Carolina with me.”
“The guy from here?” Lucas asked.
“Yeah—well, Charleston, but close enough. But yeah, he’s getting sent out with me, so we’ll have each other over there to keep company and annoy and piss off,” he quipped with a grin.
I didn’t know how he seemed so calm, but I shouldn’t have expected anything less. That was Blake for you. He went into everything he did open and optimistic…even something like a deployment overseas.
“Guys, stop looking so morose,” Blake said, glancing between me and Lucas. “This was something I knew was a likely possibility when I enlisted. And those nine months will fly by, and then three more months, and I’ll be back here, and you’ll probably be wishing I was gone,” he joked.
We both cracked smiles at that, albeit small. “Well…” Lucas let out a breath. “Barring Callie says yes…no wedding will happen until you’re back. I’m not getting married without you standing up there with me.”
Blake pressed a palm to his chest, softening his blue eyes as he fought back a smirk. “I’m touched, Lukey.”
That broke the tension. I dropped my head with a snort while Gabe laughed.
Lucas chuckled. “You’re such an ass.”