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Cassie nodded. “I know how my friend Penny’s mother has grieved for her daughter, praying she’d come home safe and sound. I would want to know, once and for all, what had happened to my loved one. It gives closure.”
“Good point.” He drove on in silence.
Cassie guided him to the spot and waited until the truck rolled to a stop and he’d shut off the engine before she smiled and asked, “What do you think?”
He pushed open his door and climbed down. Before he could round the front of the truck, Cassie was out, meeting him in front.
Drake stared out across the sky bathed in indigo, a million stars providing enough illumination he could see the bluffs, the river below and the mountains surrounding them.
“Wow,” he said.
She laughed. “This place at night has always had that effect on me.” Cassie leaned her back against his truck’s hood and stared at the stars. “I lived in Missoula through most of the years I attended college. The city lights make it hard to see the stars. Sometimes at night, I would drive away from Missoula until the city lights faded and I could see the stars again. It reminded me of here.”
As Cassie spoke, Drake panned his surroundings, the blanket of stars above, and finally, let his gaze settle on the woman beside him.
She raised her face to the heavens as if bathing in the starlight, letting its radiance wash over her.
And it did, giving her skin a blue glow that emphasized her inner radiance.
“Beautiful,” she whispered.
“Yes,” he agreed. “Won’t your neck get sore tilted back like that?”
She straightened and rubbed the back of her neck. “A couple of lounge chairs would be nice about now.”
“I don’t have any lounge chairs.” Drake rounded to the side of the truck, opened the back door and pulled out the sleeping bag he kept rolled up behind the seat for emergencies. “I could spread this out on the ground.”
“Perfect,” she said with a grin. “How about spreading it out in the back of the truck? I’d rather not tempt the snakes to cuddle up beside us.”
“Good point.” Drake untied the strings, unrolled the bag, unzipped it and shook it out. He lowered the tailgate, climbed into the back of the truck and spread out the bag.
Cassie hiked her bottom up onto the tailgate and swung her legs around. “Is there room for two?”
“There is.” He waited for her to settle on the sleeping bag and dropped down beside her, lacing his hands behind his head. “Better?”
“Much.” She stared up at the stars. “The Perseid meteor shower is in the fall, but I can usually spot a shooting star on any given clear night. Sometimes, I’ll spot the International Space Station shining brightly overhead.”
Drake sighed and drank in the silence and vastness of the night. “I don’t need to see meteors, space stations or the rings of Saturn. Just lying here fills me with a peace I haven’t felt in a long time.”
“It is nice to escape the chaos of everyday life.”
“Agreed,” he said. “What chaos follows you?”
“The feeling that I’m not doing enough to find my friend. Having a cold case to resolve to give a family answers. Figuring out how to help my brother manage a ranch now that we’re the older generation.”
“It’s a heavy burden you carry,” he said.
She snorted softly. “I’m sure it all sounds like first-world problems compared to the stress and lingering nightmares of battles with people shooting at you, lobbing grenades and dropping bombs on you from airplanes.”
“While in the battles, it’s just another day on the job. Only there’s a constant sense of urgency. You have to keep moving. Your life depends on it.
“Back here, it’s more about appearances, rules and restraint. We’re forced to assimilate into a society that will never understand what we’ve lived through. Most civilians have never had a buddy blown to shreds in front of them or had one bleed out in their arms.”
“No, most of us haven’t experienced that,” Cassie whispered.
“I was glad Hank called to ask me to come work with other men like me. The men of the team working the demo are all prior military, spec ops. We speak the same language and know things.” Drake stared up at the vast blanket of stars filling the sky. It could have made him feel smaller…alone. But it didn’t. With his team nearby… “It’s like coming home.”
Cassie scooted closer and rested her head against his shoulder.
