Chapter Sixty-Five
Ashley
“Oh my God, Ashley! It’s so good to see you, again!” Maddie exclaimed right before she hugged me in the entrance of her and Craig’s house.
She glanced down at Millie in the car seat Sloane was holding and gasped. Our baby girl was wide awake and looking around.
“She’s so beautiful.”
“I told you she looks like me,” Sloane said with a smug smile.
“Can I hold her?”
“Sure,” I replied at the same time Sloane asked, “Do you know how to hold a baby?”
“You’re ridiculous,” she chastised and took the handle from him. “I’m a certified peace officer, of course I know how to hold a baby.”
Grace and Maddie took turns holding Millie until she started to get fussy and smack her lips.
“I think she’s hungry, Mom,” Grace declared as she handed her back to me.
“Is there somewhere I can nurse her?”
“Of course, follow me,” Maddie replied and led me to a formal living room where I took a seat in a leather wingback chair and pulled my shirt down. Millie latched on immediately as Maddie continued. “We never use this room. It’s so stupid that we don’t turn it into something else.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know… a game room, a gym, hell, even a room for Greta and Fritz, anything other than a room with expensive furniture that we never sit on.”
“Travis turned the dining room at the beach house into a physical therapy room-slash-gym.”
“We do use our dining room. We’re actually eating in there tonight.”
“Thank you again for the invitation.”
“My pleasure. I’m glad to see you and Sloane spending time together again. He really loves Millie—and you.”
I smiled when I wistfully replied, “We love him, too.”
“And you’ve worked at the VA, so you have an idea of what it’s like to be in a relationship with someone in the military.”
“That’s not really the same.”
“Well, I’m sure you guys will figure it out. Hopefully, he’ll be able to stay stateside, at least for a while.”
“I wish he’d take the medical retirement.”
She cocked her head.
“I didn’t know that was an option for him.”
Oh shit.
“I—I thought you knew. I didn’t mean to talk out of turn. Please don’t tell him I told you that. That’s not my story to share. I never would have said anything if I thought you didn’t know.”
“My lips are sealed.”
God, I hoped I could trust her. I didn’t want to upset Sloane already; we were barely three hours into our truce.
****
Sloane
My friends waited until Ashley was done feeding Millie before preparing the food for the table.
“What can I do to help?” she asked after putting our baby girl who was in a milk-induced coma back into her car seat.
“Absolutely nothing,” Grace said as she filled two serving bowls with mashed potatoes.
“I feel like a free loader. I didn’t even bring anything.”
“You brought Millie,” Ryan chimed in.
“I brought a dessert and rolls, babe,” I murmured in her ear. “I got us covered.”
“They were store bought, weren’t they?”
I knew she was trying to shame me for that, but it wasn’t going to work.
“Of course,” I replied with a proud grin.
“Honestly,” Maddie said as she backed out of the kitchen with two bowls in her hand. “We prefer he bring things store-bought.”
Ashley called out to Maddie, “I promise next time, I’ll bring something homemade.”
I liked that she was planning on there being a next time.
We were in good spirits as we sat down, and Grace suggested we go around and say what we were thankful for.
My answer was easy, “My girls,” I said when it came to my turn, and I squeezed Ashley’s thigh under the table.
She was beaming when she looked over at me and said, “My friends and family,” then she looked around the table and was so sincere when she added, “Thank you again for inviting me. You’ve always made me feel included, and I appreciate that.”
“You’re always welcome,” Craig said.
“Yeah, you’re stuck with us now,” Ryan chimed in.
That made her laugh out loud, which made my heart swell.
When we started eating, Grace casually said, “So, Sloane. Do you think you’re going to stay in the Marines?”
Ashley started coughing, and I patted her back until she took a drink, then I addressed Grace’s question.
“That’s the plan. If I continue progressing at the rate I have been, I should be back on active duty by no later than the spring. Maybe even earlier.”
I didn’t get the “that’s greats,” or, “good for yous,” or anything how I was expecting them to reply.
Instead, crickets filled the room as silverware clanged against the china.
“Don’t everyone congratulate me at once,” I grumbled.
“When are you going to have your twenty?” Craig asked from the head of the table.
“Next May.”
Ryan looked at me as he cut his turkey with his fork. “You’re not going to retire at twenty?”
I felt my spine stiffen defensively.
“Are you?”
“No. But I might consider it if I went through what you did.”
Maddie added her two cents. “And had a little girl.”
I noticed Ashley just stared at her plate as she took small bites without saying a word.
“I appreciate you all sharing your opinion about my career, but let’s change the subject.”
Ryan dutifully did and said, “So, Ash, are you still in school?”
“I took this semester off, for obvious reasons, but I’m enrolled in two classes next semester.”
“How much longer?” Grace inquired.
“It depends. At the rate I’m going, probably five more years.”
Five years? She was going to be twenty-eight next week. That wasn’t her plan.
“I thought you wanted to be finished by the time you were thirty-one.”
She smiled sweetly and replied, “Well, that was before I had a baby.”
“I can help take care of her, you know. So, you can take more classes.”
“How are you going to do that if you’re deployed?”
Hmph. Good question.
“Well, I’m not deployed now, so use me. Sign up for another class.”
She shrugged and murmured, “I’ll look into it,” before taking a bite of food.
I didn’t believe her.
The topic turned to Maddie and Craig’s engagement a year ago, and my thoughts went to O’Brien. He never got to give Lainey her ring. I wondered if Callahan made good on his promise.
Ashley’s hand stroked my forearm as she asked, “You okay?”
I looked up at her and offered a reassuring smile.
“I was just thinking about Shawn O’Brien, my second lieutenant who was killed in the RPG blast that injured me. He’d been planning on proposing to his girlfriend the next time he was home.”
Her fingers entwined with mine and she squeezed.
“I’m so sorry.”
I stared at the condensation running down the outside of my glass.
“I think about him a lot. I owe it to his memory to live a productive life.”
“You are.” She ducked her head, so I’d have to look at her when she reiterated. “You are. You said so yourself, you’re making great strides with your recovery, you’ve got an incredible daughter you’re going to help raise, you’ve got wonderful friends, not to mention”—her face broke out into a wide grin—“you have an amazing girlfriend.”
I couldn’t help but smile back and peck her on the lips.
“I do have an amazing girlfriend.”
Girlfriend.
I loved the sound of that.