Liberty sighed and sadness washed over her face. “Logan is…” she trailed off then started again. “Logan needs time and there’s a reason he does. I’m not saying you should wait around for him, though in my opinion, he’d be worth the wait, but that wait might be long.”
Two pagers went off simultaneously and my heart immediately jumped in disappointment until I caught the tones. Not mine. Thank the Lord.
Quinn stood and the commotion started. Her fiancé, Brice, was coming our way and my eyes caught Echo doing the same.
“Gotta run, sis, call out,” Echo told me when he got close.
Damn.
“Be safe.”
“Always.” My brother pulled me into a bear hug and kissed the top of my head. Before he let go he whispered, “I like him. Don’t fuck this up.”
“Don’t piss me off when you’re leaving to answer a call.”
“Only time I can say this when I know I won’t catch attitude. I’m being serious. Luke’s solid. He’s all-in. Drop the walls, sister.”
My body went solid in my brother’s embrace.
“Did he tell you that?”
“Yup. Now, be a good girl and listen to your big brother.”
Ugh.
So annoying.
I shoved away from Echo and gave him my best scowl. This was wholly ineffective.
“Love you, Sunny.” He smiled.
“Love you, too, big jerk.”
Echo said his goodbyes to the women, and he was off.
Brice was jogging toward the parking lot and Quinn was watching him go.
“Three-alarm fire,” Quinn announced. “They need more trucks.”
Brice was a firefighter. Echo was a narco. My best guess was a lab had exploded.
Addy stood with a sticky Emma in her arms and said, “I’m taking her back to her parents.”
I couldn’t blame Addy. Emma was covered in popsicle juice and so was Addy’s shirt.
“I’ll be back.” Hadley followed her sister.
“I’m getting another beer, want one?” Quinn asked.
“I’ll go with you,” Lauren chirped and stood.
“No thanks, I’ll have a water,” I answered.
“Are you on call?” Liberty inquired when the rest of the ladies walked away.
“No. But these days that doesn’t mean much.”
Liberty nodded as if she understood, which she probably did, considering most of her family had been in law enforcement or the military. And she herself, was still active duty.
“I heard Drake say you weren’t reenlisting.”
“No. I’m ready to start a family and I don’t want to deploy after I have kids.”
That made sense but there was something in her tone that didn’t sound happy.
“But you’re not ready to leave the military,” I surmised.
Liberty was silent a beat while she studied me closely.
Crap. Maybe I’d overstepped. That was a personal question. I didn’t know this woman and had no business asking her something private.
“Sorry, that was rude. Forget I asked.”
“It wasn’t rude. I’m just trying to figure out how to answer. My whole life I knew I wanted to be in the Army. I went to college, joined, trained hard, and worked my ass off to prove I had a place in Special Forces. It wasn’t easy. But the harder it got the more I wanted it. And I earned it. I earned my tab. I earned a place on my team. I proved to myself I was good enough. Then I had to prove to my family I was strong enough to go back out after I was captured. I did that, too. I’ve served honorably. And now I’m ready to get out. Drake’s never said and he never would, but I know he’s ready for me to be done. And honestly, the way he stood by me after everything that happened, I owe it to him to be done. No more deployments. No more getting called out with five hours’ notice, unable to tell him where I’m going and how long I’m gonna be gone. I know he gets it; he was a team guy. But still, it sucks, having that between us. And I want kids.”
I wanted to ask her about being captured. I wanted to ask if she was okay even though she was sitting across from me. I wanted to ask what she meant by “everything that happened”. But I didn’t because that would be crossing a line, with the potential of her asking personal questions of her own.
I also wanted to tell her I understood what it was like to have to prove you’re good enough to be on a team comprised of men. I understood the fire that ignites in your belly when someone tells you you’re not strong enough or tough enough—which translates to you’re not a man, so you don’t belong.