the Army relatively late compared to some others. I graduated from college and started a job, then realized I hated being cooped up in an office all day. There was a recruiting station across the street from where I worked, and one day on my lunch break, I found myself in their office, talking to them about joining. That was about thirteen years ago.”
“So you’re a lifer then.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah, I haven’t thought about when I’ll retire, but I’ll do at least twenty years,” Trigger said. “I met my team in training.” He had to be careful about telling her too much, but she’d already pretty much guessed that he was special forces, so he kept going. “Lefty, Grover, and I were in the same recruitment class. We slogged through mud, puked, got rained on, got shot at with rubber bullets, and nearly drowned together. We forged a bond that’ll never be broken, no matter what we do in the future or where we go.”
“Well, that sounds fun…not,” Gillian said with a smile.
“It wasn’t, but it was,” Trigger said with a smile. “I knew I was going to be doing something that would make a difference in the world. Even if I couldn’t talk about it to anyone, I’d know.”
“Like rescue hostages from a hijacked plane in Venezuela,” she said quietly.
“Exactly,” Trigger agreed, reaching across the table for her hand. He caressed the back of it with his thumb and didn’t break eye contact with her. “We met Brain, Oz, Doc, and Lucky later, when we were teamed up together. Sometimes I feel as if I’ve known them all my entire life. We can finish each other’s sentences and when they hurt, I hurt, and vice versa. It’s a bond I always wished I had growing up. I’m an only child and always wanted a brother or sister.”
“And now you have six brothers.”
“I do.”
Gillian smiled, then she licked her lips and looked down.
“What? What’s wrong?” Trigger asked, holding on to her hand when she tried to pull back from him.
“I just…what if they don’t like me?”
Trigger couldn’t help it. He laughed.
When he got himself under control and looked back at Gillian, she was glaring at him. Once more she tried to pull her hand out of his grasp, but he held on.
“I’m not laughing at you,” he reassured her. “I’m laughing because if anything, I’m going to have to worry about you deciding you like them better than me. They’re going to love you; already do, in fact.”
Her brows furrowed. “I haven’t really even met them.”
“Yeah, but I’ve talked about you. A lot.”
“But we just met a few days ago.”
Trigger shook his head. “Wrong. We met a few weeks ago. And the guys saw the kind of person you were then, and after me not being able to talk about anything but you for the last few days, they’ve gotten to know you even better.”
Gillian flushed, and Trigger couldn’t help but grin. He squeezed her hand. “You have nothing to worry about, Di,” he told her softly. “I think I have more to be concerned about. My best friends are all single. They’re horn dogs and will probably annoy you to no end. They’re a little uncouth and brash. You might meet them and hate them, and that wouldn’t bode well for our relationship.”
“I’m not going to hate them,” she assured. “They’re your friends…how could I?”
They were smiling at each other when someone called from across the restaurant.
“Trigger!”
He turned and smiled as he saw who was approaching. Standing, Trigger shook the man’s hand and smiled at the woman at his side. Gillian had also stood, and Trigger introduced everyone.
“Gillian, this is my friend Truck and his wife, Mary. This is Gillian, my girlfriend.”
Mary instantly looked like she had a thousand questions, but she managed to keep them inside as she shook Gillian’s hand.
“It’s good to meet you,” Truck said. “We didn’t even know Trigger had a girlfriend.”
Trigger grinned and put his arm around Gillian’s waist. “I do,” he said firmly. Then he looked down at Gillian. “Truck is with a group of soldiers that we’ve worked with in the past. His team and mine are all friends. Seems like just yesterday that we were at Truck and Mary’s wedding.” Then he turned back to his friend and asked, “Are you guys excited to go get your kids?”
“Definitely,” Truck said with a smile. “Feels like we’ve waited forever for the paperwork to go through to be able to pick