him to the living room and sprawled out on the couch while he checked for messages. Much as he didn’t expect to hear from her, he was kind of hoping he would. But no, nothing from Cassie. He did have two voice mails, one of them from Mike.
Shit.
Moony rarely called him, which meant he probably wanted to talk about last night. Though everything had seemed cool between them after Cassie walked off with Gwen. And surely Moony didn’t blame him for his wife’s inappropriate behavior. John hadn’t asked her to touch him, and he’d made it clear it was unwelcome.
A whiff of the brewing Columbian drew him back to the kitchen. He filled a mug before he punched in Mike’s number, prepared to leave a message since Mike was at work. Luckily, he answered.
“Hey...what’s up?”
“I’d wanted to talk to you last night but you left too soon.” Mike had to be near the hangar. The fading noise from a Raptor engine drowned out half his voice. “Wait a second...I’m on the move.”
John listened to the familiar background sounds, trying to decide if he missed being on the base. There was an odd comfort in hearing a fighter take off and land. But he had to admit, he was enjoying his leave. Primarily because of Cassie.
“I just came off a three-hour debriefing that should’ve taken two,” Mike said when it was quieter. “Goddamn Sanford’s got a stick up his ass today.”
“He always does.” Bullshit debriefings John definitely didn’t miss. “So you flew this morning.”
“Yeah. Wasn’t scheduled to. Good thing Gwen and I left shortly after you and—is it Cassie or Cassidy?”
“Cassie.” He wondered if Mike’s wife had told him about Cassie’s using-him-for-sex comment. Well, yeah, of course she had. John smiled.
“She seems like a real spitfire.”
“Oh, she is.”
“Gwen really liked her. She was hoping we could all get together for dinner.”
Christ. Was that why he’d called? John squeezed the bridge of his nose. “That would be hard. She works nights.”
“No problem if you can’t. I told Gwen I’d mention it.” Mike paused. “By the way, she had one too many margaritas. She didn’t mean anything.”
“Already forgotten.”
Mike quietly cleared his throat. “The reason I called, some of us—Towlie, Rufus and maybe Waldo... We’re planning an Alaskan fishing trip. We figured we’d hop a transport to Seattle, rent a plane and then fly to Seward. Book a few one-day charters. My neighbor went last year. He said the halibut and salmon fishing is unreal.”
“When?” John wasn’t into standing around holding a pole, but he knew that bunch. There’d be more to the trip than fishing. “I don’t know when I’ll get more leave.”
“Not right away. We’re in the planning stages.”
“How long a trip?”
“Personally, I’d like to go for ten days, minimum. But Gwen would bitch. But then she’ll complain even if I take off for a week.”
“Ah...come on. You’re still newlyweds.”
“Screw you, Devil.” Mike laughed. “Wait until it’s your turn. Let’s see how you handle being on a short leash.”
“Never happen, buddy.”
“Marriage or the short leash?”
His knee-jerk response was to say both. But that wasn’t true. “Nothing’s slipping around this neck.”
“We’ll see. Half my damn reenlistment bonus is gone, and I only got the check three months ago.” Mike kind of laughed again, but he wasn’t fooling anyone. “Hell, I’m not sure where the money all went.”
John hoped he was exaggerating. They were talking six figures.
“Don’t think I’m complaining about Gwen. I’m not. She likes to look good, and I want her to. It’s just—” His sigh was pure frustration. “I figured I’d better grab some of that bonus for the fishing trip. I can’t remember the last time we all got together. Been a while.”
There was a good reason he couldn’t remember. The five of them had never gone out of town as a group. But John knew the chatter was more about steering the conversation away from Mike’s wife. “Yeah, sounds good,” he said, wondering if he’d still be around. “Let me know once you guys work out the details, and I’ll find out if I can get leave.”
“You’re coming up on reenlistment soon, right?”
John briefly closed his eyes. Why had he thought for one second that it wouldn’t come up? “Yep.”
“Don’t sign until they give you a week off for Alaska.”
“Right.” John knew everyone assumed he was staying put. And why not? He’d be crazy to give up his air force career. He knew that. Trouble was, it didn’t make his decision any easier.
“You got plans for the money?”
“What? I