Hook gave him a long, sad look. “They’re in love.”

Kennet sucked his teeth. “You know, just because two fellows are close, doesn’t mean they’re in love.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Hook said calmly.

“You really think?”

“I know. I saw them together once. Middle of the night when I was on watch. They were hiding between the parked tracks and… I mean, they weren’t fucking on the ground, but they weren’t sharing a smoke, either.” He glanced at Kennet. “You think I’m full of shit, right?”

Kennet stretched out one leg. “This limb feels pulled.”

“That’s fair, I guess. But you know me, Fish. Better than anyone else. I pull your leg about things. I bullshit about stuff. Not people. Definitely not my mates.”

“This is true,” Kennet said slowly. “You saw them? Honest?”

“Wrapped up tight in each other’s arms. Close as any man and woman I ever saw. And they were kissing.” He crossed his arms over his chest and shook his head. “It was weird. Not them being in a clinch, but my reaction. You’d think I’d be shocked and disgusted, right? No, I only felt sad. Kind of sick at the risk they were taking. Sicker when I thought what if someone else caught them. And then I had this weird thought: screw guarding the perimeter. I need to guard them.” He gave a little shiver. “I’ve been feeling protective about them ever since. A little love affair in the midst of war is hopeful. It’s unconventional, sure, but I’ll take it.”

Kennet’s mouth fell open as he went over every Jock-and-O’Hara anecdote through this new lens. “Holy mackerel.”

“You can say that again.”

“Wait. If they’re together, then what the hell was Jock doing last night?”

“Alleviating suspicions, I guess. Shoring up his public record.”

“Cripes, no wonder O’Hara was pissed off.”

Hook put two new cigarettes in his mouth, lit them, and passed one over. “So. Them being queer bother you?”

“Should it?”

“Depends where and how you were raised, I guess,” Hook said. “Down south, people have extremely set ideas about men like them. Mostly what religion has bashed into their heads about it. But like you wrote in your notebook, it’s the end of that life.”

“It’s war. All O’Hara and Jock have is now.”