AllFreeNovel
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“They got on in the end though, right?”
“Yeah. My whole family fell in love with him after a while. They were almost as devastated as me when we split.”
“How long were you together?”
“Two years. He was my first real boyfriend.”
“Has he changed a lot since then?”
“In some ways. He definitely looks different,” I explained. “But underneath all that muscle he’s still the Harris I knew. A little tougher maybe, but still good and kind.”
“Yeah. The boss’s a good guy,” Kailan agreed.
“Why do you call him boss? Is he your boss?”
“Not anymore, but he was. He led our SEAL team, so we all just called him boss.”
“And he calls you Rush, right? Is that because you’re really fast or something?”
“Ha. I wish it was that cool. It’s just my surname though. Kailan Rush. I thought I’d get an awesome nickname when I was in training, but someone called me ‘Rush’ and it just stuck.”
“And the others? Did they have nicknames?” I asked. The smile dropped from his face slightly.
“Er…no. They…they weren’t in our team. They’re actually marines. We met them when…we just…we all met somewhere else.” He stopped talking and it was obvious he didn’t want to expand on that, so I left it there, grateful when I glanced up and saw the girl from behind the counter carrying over a tray.
She set down two huge bowls of ice cream, one before each of us. It was ridiculous, stacked high with scoops of different flavors, topped with candy, glitter and cream and all made to look like a unicorn with a waffle cone horn on top.
“Oh my God, Kailan! This is enough to feed a family of six!” I gasped. He had the exact same to himself too.
“Well I was gonna share, but you were strongly against it,” he told me with a smirk as he picked up his spoon and dove in.
“I can’t eat all of this.”
“All good. I’ll finish what you don’t,” he assured me just before he stuck almost a whole scoop of ice cream in his mouth.
“You can’t eat all of that and finish mine!” I exclaimed.
“Watch me,” he countered. I was agape as I picked at the bowl of ice cream, while he devoured his over the next ten minutes – the whole damn thing!
I did admit to myself that it felt good to be smiling though, especially after my meltdown in the changing room. Kailan had pulled me from my head, and we were doing something so normal – just chatting and eating ice cream. It was a much-needed reprieve from the pain and darkness that I felt swirling within me most of the time.
“You can’t possibly eat anymore!” I cried when he moved aside his empty bowl and dug his spoon into the mounds that remained inside mine.
“Thought I’d find you in here when you weren’t at the truck.” I looked up and found Harris approaching us.
“Harris! Tell him! He can’t eat any more ice cream. He’s going to make himself sick,” I cried as I waved my hand to Kailan’s empty bowl.
“Come on, Evie. Quit hoarding your bowl and share with me. I’m hungry,” Kailan whined, making me laugh again. He was insane!
“Fine,” I sighed as I pushed the bowl across the table to him. “But don’t blame me when you throw up on the drive back.”
“Are you stealing Evie’s ice cream?” Harris asked suspiciously as he took the free seat at the table.
“Oh no. I’m done with it. I’m just not sure Kailan should be eating it either,” I clarified.
“Leave him to it, sweetheart. He always eats like he’s going into hibernation,” Harris laughed. “You feeling okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m good,” I agreed. And it surprised me just how true that statement was. It had been a long time since I felt that way. If felt really damned good.
