The breath he took didn’t slow his racing heart. But at least he was talking about it, getting the poison out one drop, one word, at a time. He swiped at his brow.

“Then there’s Luke hovering over me. Looking like he’s screaming. He dragged me behind a truck, used my belt as a tourniquet. I passed out, but they tell me he carried me under fire while the rest of the guys laid down cover.”

Harper gripped her soda so hard Coke rolled down the sides. “Why the fuck didn’t he tell me?” she demanded.

“Why the fuck won’t he let me say thank you?” Aldo countered.

Harper leveled a look at him, and Aldo shook his head in perfect understanding.

“Because he’s Luke,” they said.

“I’m going to type an email in all caps to him when I get home tonight,” Harper told him.

“I’ll mail him a thank you card with all caps,” Aldo decided.

“So why are you avoiding Gloria?” she shot back.

Aldo dropped his head against the seat back. “Anyone ever tell you you’re tenacious, Harpoon?”

“Oh, no, you don’t. I live with Luke ‘Jeopardy’ Garrison. I will not be put off by you trying to turn Q&A into Q&Q. Aren’t you interested in her anymore? Did your feelings change?”

Frustration bubbled to the surface. “Harper, look at me.” He pointed at his prosthesis. “I can barely fucking walk. How am I supposed to sweep her off her feet like she deserves?” Let alone protect her from whatever nightmares lurk in the shadows.

Besides, why would she even want him at this point? He couldn’t be who she needed. He wasn’t the same man who kissed her in the dark hours before deployment. He was something else now, inside and out.

Harper pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath that sounded more like a hiss. “Okay, I don’t even know where to start with your assininity.”

“Not a word.”

“Totally a word. First of all, you think you’re somehow less of a man because you’re sporting a new leg? That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. And I’ve heard a lot of stupid shit. Your leg has nothing to do with the man you are. Your attitude, on the other hand, has everything to do with it.” She poked him in the chest, hard. Letting him know exactly what she thought of his piss-poor attitude.

“This ‘woe is me, disabled cowboy’ crap act is not doing you any favors. Man up and be the rockstar you’ve always been.”

He thought she was done. Maybe she had a small, tiny, practically invisible point. But before he could be magnanimous with his admission, Harper’s mouth started again.