Night Maneuvers - By Jillian Burns Page 0,52

pain stabbed her as if a saber had just pierced her chest. If he’d meant to hurt her, he’d succeeded splendidly.

She bit down hard on the inside of her cheek. “I love you, you moron.”

“Yeah, well, baby, I don’t do love.” He slid his sneakers on. “Love is for suckers. I told you that.”

She scrambled off the bed and blocked his way out of the bedroom. “I don’t believe you.”

“I tried the white picket fence, and the two-point-five-kids route. I was all in. Thought I’d live happily ever after. And what did it get me? A cheating wife and court-ordered spousal support for a year. That’s what love gets you, Hughes.” He was bitter, sneering.

No matter how many times she’d imagined Mitch saying exactly that when she told him she loved him, it still felt like a physical blow to the chest. She’d known this would be the result. His thinking she was a cheater like Luanne only accelerated the inevitable outcome. She’d lost her best friend. The one person she counted on to make her feel better when life got hard.

Now who would she turn to?

“Goodbye, Hughes.” He grabbed his cell phone off the bedside table, stepped around her and called a cab.

Eyes stinging, Alex raced out to the backyard, around the pool to the far edge of her property and sank down against the fence. She couldn’t be in that house while Mitch gathered all his things and left in a cab. She pulled her knees up, lowered her head, but her eyes remained dry. She refused to cry over Mitch.

In a few hours she’d have to attend a ceremony in her formal dress uniform, step forward and receive her promotion to major next to the man who used to be her best buddy but now hated her. No way she’d get back to sleep. But she was pretty sure the stuff she’d bought during her makeover included some sort of eye cream. At least she wouldn’t have to stand in front of everyone with puffy red eyes.

And that mundane kind of thinking and performing those kinds of everyday tasks was the only thing that got her through the next twelve hours.

16

SITUATION REPORT: PROMOTED today.

This should be the happiest day of his life. His career was all he had. All he’d ever had. If he wasn’t a U.S. Air Force officer, he was nothing.

So why did Mitch feel like nothing anyway?

As he looked out over the small gathering, it seemed everyone’s families surrounded them. Wives, husbands, kids. Even Hughes’s mother and father had flown up to surprise her. She’d started freakin’ crying when she saw them out in the audience. He’d never seen Hughes cry. And he’d never seen her look more beautiful.

He had no one here.

Sure, Jackson had shown up. But he was here just as much for Alex. And Grady had to be here. He was Alex’s commander.

The ceremony was hard to get through. At 1350 the thirty-some-odd guests were asked to be seated. At 1400 Lieutenant Colonel Grady approached the podium. “Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today as we recognize two of our own, Captain Alexandria Hughes and Captain Mitchell McCabe, on the occasion of their promotion to major.

“Captain McCabe and Captain Hughes are two of the finest officers of any squadron I’ve had the privilege to serve with. They approach both combat and instructing with the highest level of integrity and honor. Their commitment and dedication is truly inspiring.

“And now, to officiate today’s ceremony, ladies and gentlemen, Commander Westland.”

Colonel Westland entered the room and stopped in front of the row of flags. He made a brief speech about his pride in his elite team of air-combat instructors. Mitch quit listening. It felt like Westland was talking about someone else. Someone Mitch didn’t even know.

Grady called attention to orders. “The president of the United States, acting upon the recommendation of the secretary of the air force, has placed special trust and confidence in the patriotism, integrity and abilities of Captains Hughes and McCabe.”

“In view of these special qualities, Captains Hughes and McCabe are promoted to the grade of Major, United States Air Force, by order of the secretary of the Air Force.”

Colonel Westland stepped forward and pinned on their new ranks and then stepped to their side for photographs while the audience applauded. Then Westland asked him and Hughes to raise their right hands and administered the oath of office.

After he and Hughes uttered, “So help me God,” Westland declared the ceremony concluded