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He held up his mostly full bottle. “No, I’m good.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
I left the plate in the sink and collected a beer for myself before I joined him on the swing.
“We used to sit here every Sunday night.”
“Yes, we did.”
“It seems like forever ago, but at the same time, it seems like only yesterday, too.”
“I know. Trust me, every day is like that here. Some days she’s really with it, others she mixes time up, and even I get confused about what is real or from the past. I’m sorry about what she said.”
Greg took my hand. “Don’t be. She’s sick, Mags. You can’t control that, and I know it’s hard. I am rather humbled that she remembers me, though, and that she would have approved of us being together.”
“Yeah, if things had been different.”
“Yes, if things had been different.”
“You know, after you broke up with me, she cried with me. I think she was almost as heartbroken as I was.”
He sighed and started to pull his hand away, but I held on tighter. “I didn’t say that to make you feel bad. I was just letting you know how much she thought of you.”
“I bet she was angry.”
“No, never,” I told him, and when he didn’t look at me, I let go of his hand and pulled his chin toward me. “She said to me that she knew it was gut-wrenching and that I probably thought that my heart would never heal, but that eventually, it would. And that one day I would understand your decision and how hard it had been for you. She knew that you had a higher calling—that you were destined to do more than just work a job but to immerse yourself into your career. Be one with it.”
His brow furrowed slightly. “She said that?”
“Yeah, right here on this swing.”
“Did you ever understand my decision?”
I let go of his face and turned to stare out at the street as a car passed. “I think so.”
“You think so?”
“Yeah, I mean, I get why you wanted to join the military. Trust me, after 9/11, I wanted to join the military and go after the bastards, too. I think the hardest part was realizing that while you cared about me, I would never be your everything. How could I compete with your pride and love of country?” I laughed softly. “I really did forgive you years ago; I know I joke about it, but I did get over you.”
“Did you?” he said, a brow cocked sexily.
I bumped my shoulder into him. “I did; it’s you that has secretly been pining for me all these years.”
He leaned his head back and laughed heartily as he put his arm along the back of the swing and squeezed my shoulder. “I have, I admit it.”
“See, I knew it!” I leaned into him, putting my head on his shoulder. For a few moments, the two of us rocked back and forth, lost in our own thoughts.
“Not that I’m not enjoying this little moment, but it’s been a long day, and I’m beat. What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Ugh, reality,” I grunted as I sat upright. “I know you said that I shouldn’t talk about what I saw, but is there any way around that?”
“Around what?”
“Around not talking about it?”
He shifted so that he was looking at me a little easier. “What is it that you want to talk about, Maggie?”
“The whole thing.”
