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He hesitated and Faith finished for him, “But you don’t want to move forward if there’s no chance at a future.”
He nodded slowly. “Yes.”
Faith smiled and reached across the table, taking her hands in his. “I understand,” she said. “I want there to be future between us. That’s the honest answer.”
“But?” he asked with a soft smile.
“But jobs like mine are hard on relationships,” Faith said. “I can be called away at any moment and spend days, weeks, even months being very hard to contact in any meaningful way. I can be moody and withdrawn and irritable, and I’ll have no way of knowing how to explain why to you. Sometimes I might not be allowed to tell you why. It’s a lot like being in the military. Most of my Marine buddies are divorced at least once. It’s very hard to love someone with a job like ours.”
He nodded. “I know. I won’t lie to you and say I’m absolutely sure I can handle that, but I can say that I want to give it a shot.”
“So do I.”
He smiled and said, “Good. While we’re on the subject, I’m going to be an annoying medical professional and tell you that you should definitely talk to a therapist about that.”
Faith smiled sweetly and caressed his cheek. “I’m going to see a therapist,” she said, “but you are never allowed to ask me about it.”
He chuckled and said, “All right.”
“One day,” Faith said, “I’ll tell you all about it, but right now the fact that I have to talk to a shrink is the most irritating thing about my life. I’m going to be very angry about it even when I know it’s helping me.”
“Fair enough,” David said. “I can wait.”
The conversation turned to far more lighthearted subjects for the remainder of dinner. Faith shared stories of growing up and wanting to be a Marine like her Daddy. David talked about his childhood dog who inspired him to be a veterinarian.
Mostly, they talked about nothing, just laughed and joked about whatever came to mind. Faith decided that as long as they could laugh with each other, they’d make it.
At the end of the night, David walked her to her car. “You know,” he said, when they reached it, “I know the owner of this place. He’ll let you leave your car here overnight. If you wanted to come over.”
Faith smiled. “I would love absolutely nothing more than to come over,” she said, “but I promised Michael I would be home tonight.”
Michael was watching Turk for her. Turk still saw her place as free game, and she was hoping Michael would find a way to preserve her furniture so she could enjoy some alone time with David. She had very low hopes of that, but she knew they would appreciate the playdate anyway. Faith was pretty sure Michael wished he had kept Turk for himself. For her part, she was glad he had decided to give him to her. He had literally saved her life. Besides, without him, David wouldn’t be in her life at all.
David sighed in exaggerated frustration. “I suppose the kids come first,” he said.
Faith laughed, and David continued, “Horribly awkward time to ask this, but I guess you know by now that I’m horribly awkward. Is Michael okay with us?”
“Michael?” Faith asked, brow furrowing. “Of course, he is. Why wouldn’t he be?”
“Well,” David said, “I mean, I know you guys used to date.”
“Oh,” Faith flipped her hand dismissively. “A long time ago. It ended over a year before you and I met. We both talked and agreed we’re not right for each other. Anyway, he’s dating someone else now, going on four months.”
“Ah,” David said, “so he moved on first.”
Faith’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Webothmoved on at the same time, thank you very much. Anyway, I’m only saying that he’s fine with me having my own love life, and I’m fine with him having his.”
“Got it,” David said. “It’s not weird? You two being partners?”
“David Friedman,” Faith said, “are you jealous?”
“No, no,” he said quickly. “Not at all. Just being horribly awkward.”
Faith giggled. She leaned up onto her tiptoes and kissed him softly. When she pulled away, she said, “I like that you’re awkward.”
“That’s good,” he said, “because I’ll never grow out of it.”
“Promise?”
