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He’d handled their entire relationship completely wrong. He knew Cameron was afraid since she’d been burned by Josh. Alex should have been discussing this possibility with her all along. They weren’t teenagers, fumbling their way through first love; they were mature adults. If only he’d asked her to take their relationship more seriously before, then she wouldn’t have been blindsided when the reality occurred. But he didn’t have time to fix it now and didn’t know how to anyway. Not yet. But he would.
He checked his phone. Forty-five minutes until he had to leave for Joint Base Andrews. Then it was a nine hour C5 flight to Ramstein with an indeterminate layover before he’d climb on a C17 bound for Syria. One hopefully short hop in a Blackhawk later and he should be at the military installation.
And all that time, Mariana would be with Mrs. Rodriguez. Thankfully, she had agreed to let Mariana stay while he was gone. Mariana could handle this. She was ten years old, and she looked up to the older w
oman like a grandmother.
It would be okay.
If only saying it would make it so. His gut tightened at the thought of someone other than him tucking her into bed each night. Video calls just wouldn’t be the same thing. Not that he didn’t trust Mrs. Rodriguez, but leaving Mariana with Cameron would have felt like, well, family.
He pulled up one of the selfies he’d taken of him and Cameron that night on the mall. Before the police had shown up.
They looked happy. Correction—they had been happy.
They could still be if things hadn’t gone south.
He hung his head. That wasn’t fair of him. It took a special kind of person to be mar-, uh involved with a soldier. While he thought Cameron had the strength to handle it, that didn’t mean she wanted to. His opinion of what she should do with her life didn’t matter.
But for the first time, he was considering whether the Army was the right long-term goal for him. He loved his work, but being a single parent was hard. This trip proved that not even a non-deployment position was guaranteed in the military.
Could he really do that? Could he change who he was at his core?
No sense worrying about that right now. Time to leave. He grabbed his bags and stepped into the hall. “Mariana… it’s time to go.”
No answer. And no sound of movement anywhere in the house.
“Mariana, come on.” He pushed open her door, expecting to find her picking out books and clothes for her stay at Mrs. Rodriguez’s. Instead, she was curled in a ball on her bed, her back to the door and the covers tucked up to her chin. “I know you don’t want me to leave, but it’s only eleven days.”
He brushed her hair back from her eyes. Her skin was warm beneath his fingertips.
“Turn over and look at me, honey.”
Mariana groaned as she rolled over. She raised her droopy eyes to him. Her cheeks were flushed and she had pink splotches on her skin. He pressed the back of his hand to her forehead. Was she sick? This was all that he needed right now.
“I don’t feel good, Daddy.” Mariana’s voice was weak and strained. He pulled his daughter into his arms and squeezed her tight. He was out of his league here. It wasn’t like he had a normal job where he could call in sick. When the Army called, you answered.
He brushed his hand down Mariana’s back. “Lay here another minute, honey, while I call Mrs. Rodriguez.”
He stepped into the living room and tapped on his phone screen. This was not good. “Mrs. Rodriguez, I’m so glad I caught you. I was just getting ready to bring Mariana over and, uh, well, she isn’t feeling well.”
“Oh, my poor dear. What’s going on with her?”
He rattled off Mariana’s symptoms.
Mrs. Rodriguez didn’t respond.
“Mrs. Rodriguez?”
“I’m so sorry to hear Mariana isn’t feeling well, but it’s a health code issue for me to have her here if she’s contagious. I’m afraid I won’t be able to watch her.”
What now? This wasn’t Mrs. Rodriguez’s problem, it was his. “I understand. Thanks so much, Mrs. Rodriguez.”
“I’m so sorry, Mr. Sanchez. Please tell Mariana I hope she feels better soon.”
He clicked off and squeezed the phone in his fist. What was he supposed to do now? He was due to get on a plane in—he flipped his wrist and checked his watch—ninety minutes.
Wait a minute, had Mrs. Rodriguez said contagious? He and Mariana had spent a lot of time with Cameron and Lizzie recently. Almost every day. No matter how angry Cameron was with him, he owed it to her to let her know some germ might be poised to wreak havoc in her house.
