of the night.”
“That’s one of them.” Then he gave her a kiss that, while light and short, was one of the most heartfelt they’d shared over this stolen time apart.
• • •
He couldn’t be going to tell her it was over, Kelli assured herself. That being here together was only a stolen time that had no relation to their real lives. Because, all right, maybe this hadn’t exactly been a normal everyday existence. But it was real. And no way was she going to let him claim otherwise.
He was standing at the kitchen window, looking out at the snow, which had begun to fall again. Her long-dreamed-for white Christmas.
“If you’re planning to try to tell me that ‘what happens at Rainbow Lake stays at Rainbow Lake,’ I’m not buying it,” she said. “Because, whether you want to hear it or not, I love you.”
“Which is handy.” He handed her a mug of steaming black coffee that was, dammit, sweetened exactly the way she liked it. “Since I love you, too.”
That was so not what his grim face had her expecting. “Oh. . . . Well. Why do you sound as if your dog just got run over?”
That question clearly had them both thinking back to that day when he’d been the only person who could unbreak her heart.
“Remember when I broke my shoulder?” he asked.
Another surprise. “Of course.”
The only reason all those college scouts had come to Shelter Bay was to see the six-foot-three-inch quarterback who could throw bombs from the pocket and run like a sprinter. When his shoulder was shattered, any chance of a football scholarship had flown out the window. Even at nine years old, Kelli had realized what that had meant to him. And how devastated he must have been.
Refusing to indulge in any pity parties, before he could even rotate that arm again, he’d signed up for ROTC so Uncle Sam would pay his way in exchange for him risking his life in several deployments in two different wars.
“You baked me brownies.”
As sad as that time had been, she smiled at the memory. “Here’s where I confess that they were from a box.”
“It doesn’t matter. The important thing was you were the only person I could talk to about it. Even though you were still just a kid. It wasn’t really until this past year that I realized how unusual that was.”
“Not if I loved you. And you were destined to love me,” she suggested.
“Yeah. I thought about that a lot, too. About how much fate plays a part in our lives. Why one guy on a convoy gets blown up and another one, standing a few feet away, doesn’t even get a scratch. The randomness of life sucks.”
She wasn’t going to argue that.
“Are you trying to tell me you’re reenlisting?” She could live with the man she loved being deployed, Kelli decided. She wouldn’t like it. At all. She’d worry the entire time he was gone. But she’d understand that it was his choice. And living with fear every day for months on end trumped living without Cole Douchett.
“I was probably going to. Because I felt guilty about getting on with my life while leaving my brothers behind.”
She knew he wasn’t talking about Sax and J. T. Douchett. But his band of brothers. “Aren’t there always new Marines cycling into units?”
“Yeah.”
“Then when would you leave, Cole? Or do you intend to be the last Marine to leave Afghanistan in a flag-draped casket?”
His lips curved, but his smile held no humor. “You’ve never held back with me.”
“I did once. When I didn’t tell you that Marcia was all wrong for you. And I nearly ruined everything. For both of us.”
“I wanted to get married,” he surprised her by saying. “I came home and there was this one moment, when I had a flash of you and me together, and suddenly I knew I wanted the life our parents have. The life your brother has. A house and kids and a damn picket fence I’d have to paint and a big, stupid dog. And I wanted you.”
“What?” She’d been pacing the floor, but
“That’s one of them.” Then he gave her a kiss that, while light and short, was one of the most heartfelt they’d shared over this stolen time apart.
• • •
He couldn’t be going to tell her it was over, Kelli assured herself. That being here together was only a stolen time that had no relation to their real lives. Because, all right, maybe this hadn’t exactly been a normal everyday existence. But it was real. And no way was she going to let him claim otherwise.
He was standing at the kitchen window, looking out at the snow, which had begun to fall again. Her long-dreamed-for white Christmas.
“If you’re planning to try to tell me that ‘what happens at Rainbow Lake stays at Rainbow Lake,’ I’m not buying it,” she said. “Because, whether you want to hear it or not, I love you.”
“Which is handy.” He handed her a mug of steaming black coffee that was, dammit, sweetened exactly the way she liked it. “Since I love you, too.”
That was so not what his grim face had her expecting. “Oh. . . . Well. Why do you sound as if your dog just got run over?”
That question clearly had them both thinking back to that day when he’d been the only person who could unbreak her heart.
“Remember when I broke my shoulder?” he asked.
Another surprise. “Of course.”
The only reason all those college scouts had come to Shelter Bay was to see the six-foot-three-inch quarterback who could throw bombs from the pocket and run like a sprinter. When his shoulder was shattered, any chance of a football scholarship had flown out the window. Even at nine years old, Kelli had realized what that had meant to him. And how devastated he must have been.
Refusing to indulge in any pity parties, before he could even rotate that arm again, he’d signed up for ROTC so Uncle Sam would pay his way in exchange for him risking his life in several deployments in two different wars.
“You baked me brownies.”
As sad as that time had been, she smiled at the memory. “Here’s where I confess that they were from a box.”
“It doesn’t matter. The important thing was you were the only person I could talk to about it. Even though you were still just a kid. It wasn’t really until this past year that I realized how unusual that was.”
“Not if I loved you. And you were destined to love me,” she suggested.
“Yeah. I thought about that a lot, too. About how much fate plays a part in our lives. Why one guy on a convoy gets blown up and another one, standing a few feet away, doesn’t even get a scratch. The randomness of life sucks.”
She wasn’t going to argue that.
“Are you trying to tell me you’re reenlisting?” She could live with the man she loved being deployed, Kelli decided. She wouldn’t like it. At all. She’d worry the entire time he was gone. But she’d understand that it was his choice. And living with fear every day for months on end trumped living without Cole Douchett.
“I was probably going to. Because I felt guilty about getting on with my life while leaving my brothers behind.”
She knew he wasn’t talking about Sax and J. T. Douchett. But his band of brothers. “Aren’t there always new Marines cycling into units?”
“Yeah.”
“Then when would you leave, Cole? Or do you intend to be the last Marine to leave Afghanistan in a flag-draped casket?”
His lips curved, but his smile held no humor. “You’ve never held back with me.”
“I did once. When I didn’t tell you that Marcia was all wrong for you. And I nearly ruined everything. For both of us.”
“I wanted to get married,” he surprised her by saying. “I came home and there was this one moment, when I had a flash of you and me together, and suddenly I knew I wanted the life our parents have. The life your brother has. A house and kids and a damn picket fence I’d have to paint and a big, stupid dog. And I wanted you.”
“What?” She’d been pacing the floor, but
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