over their old messages was her favorite pastime. She hated how long it had taken her to reply this time. She could have sent a rushed note, but he deserved to have her full attention. She wondered what sorts of things he’d want to know from home. Where does he live when stateside, anyway? He’d probably like hearing about their snowball fight, and really, what else could she tell him about her day? Helped my beautiful and incapable-of-independence mother with her finances . . . So snowball fight it was.
She had no idea where the idea of sending him a couple of pictures had come from. As she stared down at the one of her and Kaylee that she planned to attach, she wondered if it was a good idea. Her face was flushed and her hair was standing up in a couple of places. She looked exactly like someone who’d recently rolled in the snow. Surely she had more flattering ones she could send. She was still staring at the images in indecision when Kaylee startled her by saying, “We look pretty, Sarie.” Her innocent approval was enough for Sara. If Gabe didn’t agree, then too bad. He was her pen pal, not her future husband. Her appearance shouldn’t matter.
Her bravado ended the moment she hit the Send button. Crap, what have I done? She wanted nothing more than to get the e-mail back, yet that wasn’t possible. There was nothing she could do now but wait for his response. Time for a distraction. “Kaylee, how about we make homemade pizzas for dinner tonight?” She smiled as her suggestion was met with a roar of approval. Don’t leave me hanging, Gabe.
Chapter Six
Gabe lay on his back in his small bed and stared up at his phone screen yet again. He’d lost count of how many times he’d looked at the picture Sara had sent him earlier. He’d barely been able to control his excitement while he’d scrolled down until the two images popped up. The first had been shallow outlines in the snow, clearly the angels she’d mentioned. But the second one . . . wow. He didn’t think he was capable of that heart-melting feeling he’d read about. But when he saw the beautiful, smiling woman with one arm around a beaming child’s shoulders as they both made rabbit ears atop the other’s head, his insides had turned to mush. Her cheeks were pink and her eyes fairly glowed from within with vitality and mischief. She had long, dark hair that was hanging to one side from a ponytail, and her figure looked lush and curvy in the formfitting clothing she was wearing. To put it crudely, she was every wet dream he’d ever had. And she had no idea how much he needed the smile she’d given him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t tell her for probably another twelve hours.
Jason had delivered the news earlier that they’d lost a soldier to friendly fire. Of all the casualties in this endless war, those were the losses that he had the hardest time accepting, senseless and avoidable accidents that cost the life of another. Worlds were forever changed and there wasn’t a damned thing he or anyone could do to make it better.
When something like this happened, the base went on a communication blackout until the situation had been handled and proper notifications had been made. Usually that was around twenty-four hours. He shouldn’t have even gotten Sara’s e-mail until much later, but he had temporary leeway to send a couple of official messages before he was once again off-line. He couldn’t have guessed how much that correspondence would help him deal with this latest tragedy.
Even without Wi-Fi, there was work he could do, but he’d temporarily lost his ability to give a shit about it. There was also the fact that he hadn’t slept in going on two days now. The biggest workaholic had to hit the wall at some point, and he was pretty much there. As spent as he was, he couldn’t make himself put his phone away. He’d long since memorized every single feature he could see in her picture. He was a logical man, not given to flights of fancy. Yet he was captivated by her and he had been even before he knew what she looked like. You’ve been in the desert too long. An argument could certainly be made for that, yet he was practically an old pro at this life by now. He’d