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“I don’t have a dent in my head.”
“You will in two seconds if you ever call Max ‘Stumpy’again, Gideon.”
Jake snorted where he sat – and then leaned forward to gingerly touch Max’s shoulder.
“When you’re ready to humble the man, I’ve got a few ideas.”
“Hey! Not you, too, Ortega.”
“Ain’t nothing like a little humility to straighten a man up.”
“You don’t have a humble bone in your body,” Max retorted to Jake, rolling his eyes. He’d seen that man strut through the showers mocking people because he could take them in a tumble – and liked the laughter it brought to the team. The man was arrogant, aggressive, had a chip on his shoulder a mile wide… with a heart nearly the same size – and smiled.
Lena married a good man, and Max hoped she knew it.
“Oh yes, I do. I’ve been humbled a lot lately, and while it’s not fun in the slightest, having your life flash before your eyes, meeting someone who deserves so much better than you, and realizing she’s picked you anyhow, along with learning they are your soulmate. Yeah, it’s really humbling.”
Lena didn’t say a word, resting her head on his shoulder as Jake kissed her hair. Max reached for Daphne’s hand again and folded his fingers, lacing them with hers, as he stared at her tense profile.
He gave her hand a silent squeeze as if to say ‘hello’… and nothing.
“Jill, babe, can we swing by the airstrip?”
“Of course. Do we have another soldier coming?”
“I’m out of cabins… so I hope not. I guess I need to get that fourth cabin ready eventually – just in case.”
“Who are we picking up?” Jill asked, looking openly surprised. “There’s not much room in the van and…”
“We’re grabbing Lena’s sister, Cajun, his son, Beau, – and my friend, Logan.”
Logan?
Their Captain Logan… from Ghazni?
Max glanced at Jake, who was grinning, and saw Daphne’s own questioning gaze just before she looked away again… and he sighed. He couldn’t wait to get her alone so they could talk.
An hour later, everyone was sitting around the table in the dining room laughing, talking, and listening to some of the stories that were being told.
“You just never know what kind of entertainment you’d get overseas,” Logan was grinning and pointing at the two of them. “Morrison and his spider – remember that? He was so fuming mad, but what I want to know is which one of you took it down?”
“I did,” Max admitted, wincing. “Last time I listened to Jake…”
“Hey now! Wait a second,” Jake protested, causing everyone to laugh at the table as his friend leaned forward to look at him. “You thought it was a good idea, too.”
“Oh noooo,” Houghton uttered openly – causing Logan’s eyebrows to shoot up in awareness and agreement.
“That’s what I’m saying,” Logan agreed, grinning. “And why did I not hear anymore to this story?”
“I’m shocked you didn’t hear it,” Jake muttered, causing Max to laugh knowingly as he glanced at Daphne. She was sitting about as far from him as possible. That was fine, he would give her a little space before cornering her later to find out what was wrong.
“I put the dead camel spider under Selkirk’s bunk,” Max admitted sheepishly and grinned. “I’m surprised Selkirk’s shriek didn’t blow out the glass in the entire building.”
The men were roaring in laughter, wiping their eyes, and Max thought back to that day fondly.
They had all been so tense due to the heat, and it had been so funny to see the man sweeping the floor around his bunk innocently… as he accidentally dragged the husk of the massive spider out from under his bed. The wild man had leaped up on his bunk, screaming like a banshee, before he realized it was dead.
“Oh Morrison…?” Selkirk had sung, not moving from his perch. “I found your pet, and Fido wants to go for a walk.”
