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“I’m always here for you. What’s going on? You don’t normally call me. Did something happen with you and Luke? Do I need to come there and beat the shit out of him? Pave the way for Mom so she isn’t on your case to come home now?”
Gavin was laughing. She didn’t find the first part funny. Or the last part either, though on another day she might.
“Not coming home regardless,” she said.
There was silence for a second. “Did you and Luke split?”
She realized now that he would assume that. “No. I’m debating what I can tell you. It’s not that I know anything official either.”
“Tell me what you know and it won’t go any further.”
She told him about the situation at the casino last night. “I’m sure you can read about it online.”
“It was on the news even here,” Gavin said. “It’s making the rounds. I know the person was taken out by a sniper. Shit. Was it Luke?”
“I’m going to say yes,” she said. “I didn’t ask. I wouldn’t and don’t know if he can tell me. I think if he could, he still wouldn’t.”
“Probably not,” Gavin said. “Not something I’d want to share with a woman I was with.”
“Why?” she asked, sighing.
“Heather. Come on now. You just said you were freaking out last night. Those are the same fears I have and the same with Noah. I’m sure Luke does too.”
“I don’t know that I was freaking out,” she argued. “A poor choice of words. I was concerned. It was a dangerous situation, but then the rational part of my mind said that he wasn’t going to be in the line of fire. He’d be camped out somewhere away from the action. Right?”
“That is normally where snipers are,” Gavin said.
“You shot someone,” she said. “I know you did. I know I’m not supposed to know, but I heard Dad talking to you one night. How hard was that?”
“My situation was different,” Gavin said. “We were being fired at and had to fire back. I did hit one of the guys. I didn’t shoot to kill but to disarm. Others shot to kill.”
“What were you told to do?” she asked.
“You do what you’re trained. You have to make that decision fast. You have to live with your actions and your results. If I had to shoot to kill, I would have. I know it. And I think I could have accepted it after a period of time. There is a reason you need to seek counseling after those situations. They want to make sure you’re fine.”
“Oh,” she said. “Luke never said anything.” Then she reminded herself she wasn’t supposed to know it was him. She didn’t ask and he didn’t volunteer the information.
“He might not,” Gavin said. “Are you going to ask?”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do. I went to see him last night. I could tell he was putting a front on, but he wouldn’t talk either.”
“You can’t force those things, Heather,” Gavin said. “Or maybe you can. You know him, I don’t.”
“I don’t know him as well as I wish I did.”
“You love him,” Gavin said. “That’s all you need to know. And as Grandma Jane used to tell you all the time, don’t let people stand in your way. Even if it’s the person you love, if you think he’s standing in the way of your happiness, then you owe it to push through.”
She laughed. “I think I needed to hear that. I don’t want to push him away.”
“If it pushes him away because you are trying to help him then he’s not for you. Because in the long run that will make you miserable if you see him suffering.”
“I never knew you were this smart,” she said. “It does make me wonder why you’re single.”
“I haven’t found someone as great as my sister yet,” Gavin said. “She might be out there. If I’m lucky. And if Luke doesn’t realize how lucky he is to have you, I can make sure he does.”
Heather laughed. “No need to do that,” she said. “I’ll make him see it.”
She hung up the phone and then went back to work feeling much better than she had before.
