Until the World Stops - L.A. Witt Page 0,7

into the holster on his hip.

As he walked past me to the coffeepot, he acknowledged me with a nod, but he didn’t say anything. My heart sped up. The sooner we got this over with, the sooner I could start strategizing my painfully uncertain future.

So I took a deep breath. “Hey, MA1?”

He turned. “Hmm?”

“Listen, um…” I glanced around, making sure we were alone. “Do you have a minute?”

He checked his watch. “I’ve got about twenty minutes before Colby and Kennedy need me back in the guard shack. Why?”

“Uh, well…” I cleared my throat. “I wanted to ask you about last night.”

The way he shifted his weight didn’t leave a lot of room for doubt that the conversation made him uncomfortable. “Oh. Um. Sure.” He held my gaze with some effort. “What about it?”

“Well, um… I mean…” I tilted my head. “Are you serious about it? And are you sure about it?”

To my surprise, he chuckled. “Let me show you something.” He took out his phone, scrolled through something, and handed it to me.

I glanced at him, then looked at the screen. On it was a text conversation between him and his mom.

It isn’t like a man is just going to fall out of the sky when you’re ready for him. What happens when you’re almost 50 and still haven’t met someone?

Then I’m almost 50 and still haven’t met someone.

Casey. OMG.

I’d rather not meet someone than settle with the wrong guy.

But you won’t have as many to choose from if you wait too long!

Eyes wide, I handed back the phone. “Wow, seriously?”

“Uh-huh.” He slid it into his pocket. “She means well, but holy shit she will not get off my back about it.” Rolling his eyes, he added, “My dumb ass’s fault for actually telling her I didn’t want a relationship right now. Should’ve just said I hadn’t met someone yet.”

I laughed nervously. “So, that’s it? You just want to do this to get your mom off your back?”

“That’s part of it.” He sipped his coffee and put the cup aside. “I meant what I said, though. I really feel like I owe you because what happened to you is partly my fault.”

“You—really?”

Blushing, he nodded and avoided my gaze. “I knew if Chief found out, it would blow up. I didn’t think it would cost you your career, but I knew he’d flip shit and try to fuck with you. So I wanted to keep it at our level, you know?” He exhaled. “But I lost my temper, and now you’re fucked. And besides…” He glanced around, then lowered his voice to almost a whisper. “I mean, we’d only be married on paper. The rest of the time, we’d just be roommates. You do your thing, I do my thing, and nobody knows but us.”

I thought about it. “Hmm. And I guess we’d have more space than we did when we shared barracks rooms and berthings with other guys.”

“Exactly. Hell, I shared a barracks room with an outspoken homophobe. This can’t be any worse than that.”

I laughed. “Okay, you’ve got me there. I’m definitely not a homophobe.” Sobering, I said, “But if we got married, I’d also be dependent on you. Like…dependent. Especially since, like I said, I doubt I’m going to find a decent job with the admin sep on my DD214. There aren’t a lot of jobs available around here anyway.”

Parker shrugged. “We can work around it, and it’s not like I’m going to be here forever. Another eighteen months, I’ll be up for orders.”

I chewed my lip. “Yeah, and those probably won’t be CONUS, will they? If you get sent overseas, then I’m either on my own over here, or I come with you and most likely can’t work unless I can snag a job at the commissary or something.”

“That’s true. But we can cross that bridge when we get there, you know? Worst case, we can always ‘break up’”—he made air quotes—“and move on.”

He had a point. Marriage made me think lifelong commitment, but we were specifically doing this as a temporary thing. If we divorced, I’d lose the health insurance and I’d be ass out for a place to live, but I was pretty sure I’d still have his GI Bill. I hadn’t had a chance to look up how that worked, and I made a mental note to check on it today in between all the nothing I’d be doing.

“I know it’s a pretty wild idea,” he said. “But honestly, I think it’ll work out