guys on the base.” Joanie divided the rest of the wine between the four of them. “Lindsey’s Real Estate out of Sugar Run. They live on the other side of town, and she works out of her garage. He says if we haven’t had any bites at all on the place in a month, that we’ll go wider when he gets home.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. Is that all the new business?” Tootsie yawned.
“Well, I do have one more piece of new business,” Carmen said. “I make a motion that we all sleep in tomorrow morning and don’t hit the hotel dining room until nine o’clock.”
Diana raised a hand. “I second the motion.”
“And I third it,” Tootsie said. “Now let’s join hands, and, Carmen, you can read the sign tonight.” She pointed to the little plaque that was now lying on the end table beside Tootsie’s bed.
When they’d finished, Diana and Joanie hurried across the hall to their room, and Tootsie sent Luke a text telling him the real estate agent’s name. Then she closed her eyes, snuggled down in her bed, and dreamed of Smokey. In the dream, they were sitting on the porch of their house in Sugar Run watching little children run and play on the front lawn. She awoke at midnight with a smile on her face. Maybe the dream meant there would be more children on her block after all.
Chapter Twenty
Eight long days passed.
There had been lighthearted banter between Luke and the ladies all week. But underneath, awkward tension still prevailed when Diana was alone in the room with Luke. He was such a good man, and he deserved more out of life than she was willing to give. But with each passing day, she wanted to be with him more and more. To be held and kissed like he’d held and kissed her on the back pew of that church, to know that feeling of closeness, of breathlessness—she wanted it so badly.
They’d just finished breakfast when Diana’s phone rang. She squealed when Rebecca’s picture appeared on the screen, and answered it on the second ring. “Can you talk longer than a minute this time?”
“Maybe all of five, but don’t put it on speaker, Mama. We know about the divorce. Daddy spilled the beans when I talked to him this morning. I called to say happy Veterans Day like we always do on this day, and he told me. Zoe and I decided it was best to tell Natalie,” Rebecca said.
“Happy Veterans Day to you,” Diana said. “I never would have believed that I’d be saying ‘Thank you for your service’ to my daughter, but I am. And is Natalie going to call her mama tonight, too? I’m right here with the rest of the folks. Should I put it on speaker?”
“Just tell them all hello for me,” Rebecca said.
“So what’s going on in your world today?” Diana asked.
“Well, I wanted to talk about this Luke fellow you mentioned. I kind of remember him from Smokey’s funeral. Handsome dude. Is he there in the room with y’all, too?”
Diana sneaked a sideways glance over toward Luke. “I want to talk about you. It’s only about four more weeks until basic is over. Any idea at all where you might be going for training?”
“So Luke is there, too,” Rebecca giggled. “Okay, then, we’ll talk about me. Natalie and I both tested high in the intelligence field. I’m really hoping and working toward eventually getting into the cyber program, but that’s later on down the road, like after officer training school. Still don’t know where I’ll go for training, but I’m ready to dive into it,” Rebecca said.
“And where’s the AIT located?” Diana held her breath.
“Goodfellow Base at San Angelo,” Rebecca giggled. “I signed up to see the world, and I get sent to a base only a couple of hours from home. But after twenty-four weeks of training, we’ll both probably be sent overseas, like maybe Germany.”
Six months. At least Diana would have her close by until summer. “How do you feel about that?”
“Well, you could drive down and see me once in a while there, and I enlisted to serve, Mama, so wherever I’m needed is where I’m willing to go, just like Smokey was. And I’ll get to see the world.”
Scratch any grandchildren for a long time, Diana thought.
Carmen’s phone rang, and she took it upstairs, answering it on the way up to her room. “I’ve been sitting in the living room eavesdropping on