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Twelve
DAKOTA
The old general was witty, charming, and funny as hell. Throughout the night, he had the best comebacks to anything that was said, by anyone who said it. He commanded the room, and when there was a question at the table he held all the answers.
All this, and the man was almost seventy-five.
“And do you remember the first time you saw each other?” he asked, swiveling the question my way. His eyes, which appeared to have once been brilliant blue, were going a milky grey from the outside in.
“Yes,” I told him with a smile. “I sure do.”
Even so, those eyes were sharp and piercing. Still totally full of life.
“Please tell me about it.”
I snuck a glance at Jace, who was dabbing at the corner of his mouth with a napkin. It was just one of five predetermined signals that I had free reign to make up whatever answer I wanted.
“It was summertime,” I said, smiling wistfully. “My friends and I had some pocket change, so we took our bikes up to the corner store for some candy.”
On the other hand, if this were something he’d previously made up a story for? I’d get a quick kick under the table that would let me know to defer.
“Not many kids on bicycles these days,” General Burke grunted.
“No,” I agreed. “Not nearly enough. But then again I always had parents who pushed me outside. Summer time, winter time, it never really mattered. I was expected to go swimming, take a hike, make a snowman — didn’t matter what it was, as long as I didsomething.”
“Good parents,” the general smiled. “Go on.”
I jerked a thumb Jace’s way. “Your golden boy here started throwing rocks at our tires. That’s my first ever memory of him.”
“Myfriendswere throwing rocks,” Jace jumped in defensively. “Not me.”
I smiled and leaned into the general conspiratorially. “That’s a decades-long point of contention,” I whispered softly.
The man laughed, eyeing Jace over my shoulder. “You always throw rocks at the ones you like,” he said. “That’s how I know he’s lying.”
“Oh yeah,” I agreed. “But in the end, he did the right thing. He followed me back to my house on his own bike, and that’s where he apologized. And so I shared my candy with him.”
“So it was love at first sight?” one of the Lieutenants at the table — a blond-haired man by the name of Dietrich — asked.
“Yes and no,” I smirked. “I mean, at first I was wary. We were still very young, and I thought boys were icky.”
“Boysareicky,” another officer chuckled.
“Well they becomelessicky in junior high,” I agreed. “They’re a whole lot cuter after their growth spurts.” I placed my hand over Jace’s, interlacing our fingers. “Especially this one.”
The CO’s gaze followed mine, dropping to where my big cubic zirconia flashed brilliantly on my ring-finger. I smiled happily at my pseudo-husband and pulled him close.
“So general,” I said, pausing until he looked up at me. “Are you ready to give him back to me?”
The man leaned back in his chair, pursing his lips as he considered me carefully. He was calculating, I knew. Weighing pros and cons and everything else a general might weigh, especially one who’d been through so many, many battles.
“I mean, you’ve had him for so very long,” I pressed. “He’s done everything that you asked.”
“And then some,” the man agreed.
“And then some.”
Every Army officer in the building was dressed to the nines, all decked out in their blue dress uniforms. Table after table, each came complete with black ties, epaulets, and gold-gilted buttons, along with colorful service ribbons pinned high on each person’s chest.
