research on Delta Force. They were one of the most secretive special forces units out there. Walker hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he’d never be able to tell her what it was he did when he was gone. Hell, she couldn’t find any concrete news stories about any group of Deltas at any event around the world. It was almost eerie how they simply didn’t seem to exist as far as the press went.
It had taken a day or so to sink in, but Gillian realized she was all right with the secrecy. As long as Walker returned safe, that was all that mattered. He’d probably seen some horrible things in his life, and she wanted nothing more than to give him happiness when he was home. He needed normal. Not a girlfriend who was hysterical when he left and not someone who brought unnecessary drama to his life. She wanted to be that person for him.
It was late on a Thursday night, eleven days after he’d left, when Gillian’s phone rang. Concerned, because nothing good came from a phone call after ten at night, at least not in her world, and because she didn’t recognize the number the call was coming from, Gillian answered it after two rings.
“Hello?”
“It’s me.”
Two words, but that’s all it took for Gillian’s entire body to sag in relief. “Walker,” she whispered.
“I’m back, but unfortunately I’ve got about six hours of debriefing meetings to attend before I’m free to go home. Then, as much as I want to see you, I need to sleep. I’ve been up for about thirty-six hours as it is.”
“It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re home. Are you…is everyone okay?”
“We’re good,” he said gently. “I just wanted to call as soon as I could to let you know that I’m all right.”
“Thank you. I missed you. More than you’ll know.”
“That’s my line,” Walker said. “You okay? Anything weird happen since I’ve been gone?”
“You mean besides me adopting a family of six and moving them into my apartment because they had nowhere else to go? No.”
“Gillian,” Walker said in a mock threatening tone.
She giggled. “No, nothing weird happened. I’ve been working, seeing my friends, and locking myself in my apartment by nine o’clock every night.”
“Good. Gotten any suspicious texts or emails from the other passengers?”
Gillian thought about a recent text from Andrea, about how she’d given up on therapy because it didn’t seem to be helping, and she still felt so angry that she’d been the one signaled out by Luis. And the email from Alice, telling Gillian she’d heard Leyton had been detained by Border Patrol when he’d tried to get into Mexico without a passport.
But now wasn’t the time to bring all that up. Not when Walker had just gotten home and was exhausted. “Everything’s fine,” she reassured him. “Go. Do your thing. Maybe I can come up tomorrow evening for the weekend?” she asked tentatively.
“Yes,” Walker said without hesitation. “Whenever you can get here in the afternoon will be perfect.”
“Okay. Walker?”
“Yeah, Gilly?”
“I’m glad you’re home.”
“Me too. I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll text later when I get back to my apartment before I crash. Okay?”
“Okay. Drive safe. I won’t be happy if you made it through whatever you were doing in whatever country you were doing it in, only to get into a car crash your first day back.”
He chuckled. “I will. Talk later.”
“Bye.”
Gillian hung up, but couldn’t get Walker out of her mind. Was he really all right? Were Lefty and the others too? He said he hadn’t slept in almost two days, so he probably hadn’t eaten very well either. Didn’t soldiers eat those MRE things when they were deployed?
Springing up from the couch, Gillian headed for the kitchen, a plan formulating in her mind. She knew Walker had meetings he had to attend. Then he had to get some sleep. But he also needed to eat. Something good, and not crappy takeout food or whatever he had in his apartment from before he’d left.
She opened her pantry and contemplated what she could make that would keep until he was done with his meetings. The last thing she wanted to do was push herself on him, especially when he’d just told her he needed to sleep. But she couldn’t just sit home and do nothing. She needed to do something for him.
Pulling a few ingredients out of the pantry, she nodded in determination. She would make him a casserole that he could easily heat up when he