Chapter 24
Griz shot off a quick text to Elowen, telling her that he would be at base and unreachable until morning.
The number of times they’d had to work overwatch had increased recently.
That meant there were more wars being fought, and that wasn’t a good thing.
The world needed to cool it instead of becoming more volatile.
Around the time he was settling down for lunch, he received a text from Elowen. He smiled as he read her understanding words. She really was the best. If they’d gotten together way back when, he knew she would have made a great military spouse.
She had to run to town to do shopping for the new guests coming in. They wanted certain wines and alcohol available so she was headed out to wine country to pick up a case of wine from a specific winery and wouldn’t be back until later. He told her he would text once he was done in the morning.
“You texting your girlfriend?” Squat asked as he took a seat across from Griz.
He nodded. “Yeah. She’s headed out to get wine for the group that will arrive in the morning.”
“Gosh, that was fun. It’s hard to think of other people going there having fun. It’s like I want to keep it as our own.”
“I get that,” Griz said. When he moved to live with Elowen, he imagined that area would become so familiar he might lose some of the specialness associated with it.
He knew that’s how humans were. He lived close to the beach, but it was something he saw every day.
It wasn’t unique anymore. Sure he could appreciate the sun and sand, but he didn’t really relish beach days.
“So when are you going back up there?” Squat asked.
“The next time I get a couple days break. I want to be there as much as possible. Of course, I have to eat up my vacation days, so I might end up out there sooner than I think.”
“Yeah. I’m sure with all our overnights and time out in the field you have a lot of days to churn through.”
He nodded. “I’m sure nights like tonight won’t be our last.”
The guys all chuckled. They were used to going where they needed to go and doing what they had to do. This would be just one more night in the load of nights they worked until dawn.
“I’m going to take a nap in a bit so I can stay up all night,” Griz said.
“We should all get some sleep,” Sharp said. “We’ll go for a run at three. Everyone, get some shuteye.”
Griz texted Elowen again, not expecting her to answer. He woke close to three to a few messages from Elowen. She’d sent a photo of the two cases of wine she’d picked up, and a note stating that she was driving home and would talk to him the next day.
After their run, they prepared for the evening activities, getting briefed on the mission, and filing all their paperwork.
They ate dinner then headed into the conference room where they would be locked away until the mission finished.
He couldn’t wait to hear from Elowen in the morning.
Soon enough he would be done with the Navy and be able to spend every day with his love.