AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Surely, one of Bethann’s single friends has expressed interest or you can check out some of the online dating sites.”
All of Bethann’s friends he knew were married, mostly other officer’s wives or friends from church.
“Just don’t date a dancer from a strip club if you ever want to get assigned to SOCOM.”
“No worries.” An exotic dancer wasn’t the kind of woman he’d be comfortable introducing to his adult kids or their spouses. “The only times I’ve been to those bars was as part of bachelor parties, and that was years ago.” Not that he didn’t admire a beautiful, barely dressed women, but he wouldn’t jeopardize his marriage when he had the near perfect woman supporting him. Raising their kids. Holding things together when he’d been deployed over and over.
He missed having a companion, but he hadn’t thought about dating yet, nor could he imagine his kids being thrilled about his dating so soon after their mother’s death. It would suck to get transferred overseas or even across country now, though, he wasn’t going to disrespect his wife’s memory by replacing her with some random woman for the good of his career. He needed time to think. To feel his kids out this weekend.
Maybe he could find a compromise.
Faking it with the Colonel Exerpt
CHAPTER TWO
After the ding from the incoming message tone assigned to Piper,Erin picked up the phone to see the reply to her earlier text.
ETA 5 minutes.
She must not have stopped on the drive here. “You two be nice to Piper. She’ll want to pet you,” Erin said to the two cats as if they understood her. As a long-term pet-sitting gigs went, it was an easy one. Even if they didn’t answer and ignored her except for the occasional rub against her leg or foot, she tried to befriend them, though they merely tolerated her since she fed them and changed their litter boxes.
A few minutes later, headlights slowly approached, and Piper parked her SUV next to Erin’s sedan. She took a breath before stepping outside.
“Hey, sweetie.” Erin embraced her youngest daughter and Piper hugged her back even tighter. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you too.”
The tightness in Piper’s smile pulled at Erin’s heart. “Can I help you carry anything in?”
“I’ve just got the one bag.” Piper studied the parked cars and exterior of the older condos as the hatch lifted, and she grabbed her duffle bag.
Erin led her in, making sure neither cat snuck out.
“Oh,” Piper crooned, setting down the duffle. She dropped to her knees and held out a hand to the cats.
“The yellow tabby is Tink.” The larger cat studied Piper for a long moment before edging close enough for Piper to scratch behind her ears.
“Tink, not Tank. Like an Army tank?”
“Tink is short for Tinkerbell. She even has a green collar with bells on it. I switched it out for now because it gets annoying when she and Smokey there engage in a game of chase at seven in the morning.”
“Maybe they’re on Army time instead of our night owl clock.” Piper sat cross-legged on the floor and coaxed Tink closer. “I expected more of a camouflage motif décor.”
“Mareena and Sydnee wear camo fatigues for work, but they are both beautiful and definitely girlie-girls when off duty from the little I saw before they deployed.”
“Were they able to get you any connections with Special Forces guys?”
Smokey ventured closer to Piper. It’d taken three days after Erin moved in before Smokey didn’t run from the room every time she got near. Piper was clearly the cat whisperer in the family, despite never having pets in their house.
“No. They’re in a medical unit. They don’t interact with Special Forces units. They did say there’s a bar called Jumpy’s that’s known for being a hangout for the Spec Ops guys. However, can you see me hanging out at a bar at my age offering to buy guys in their twenties, or even thirties, a drink if they let me pick their brains or will invite me to come shadow them for a few days or training for research for the TV series I’m writing.” That hadn’t been picked up yet. Which meant she had zero credibility.
“It could happen. You have a way of connecting with people.”
“I’m volunteering twice a week at the USO on base and hoping I’ll make a connection there. I worked a homecoming for the 82ndAirborne two weeks ago. One of the wives I talked with seemed receptive to introducing me to her husband, but I want to give him a few weeks home before I reach out. I’ve got five more months here, though I hope it won’t take that long. Ian says Marty Blane is on board. He played a soldier in a military series a few years ago and has done several USO tours. He has a good following, so getting him attached would increase the chances of HBO, Netflix, Showtime, or Amazon picking up the series. Ian said Marty thinks he can get Chris Remington attached as lead.”
“Chris Remington? He’s officially on the Hollywood Chris’ A-list now. I’d watch if he were in it.”
“That’s good to know.” Erin chuckled. A younger demographic could increase the appeal and chances of success.
