“Stop. Don’t tell me what I mean.” She took a step back. “I believe I could fall in love with you. I probably already have. But I can’t be some wife who waits for you to come home. I’ve been there. I’ve seen it. I’ve dug a bullet out of a chest and amputated a leg!”

His eyes narrowed, but not before she saw the panic in them. “So, this is it?”

“Does it have to be? Can’t you do something else?”

He flinched like she’d hit him. “Do something else?”

“Yes. Get assigned to DC. You wouldn’t have to deploy. You could do something different for the Army. Or leave it entirely. Get a consulting job or something. Surely someone with your training could find a good job.”

After several long moments he said, “I don’t have a job, Cynthia. This is what I do. Just like being a doctor isn’t your job, it’s what you do. I would never dream of asking you to stop being a doctor, but somehow it’s perfectly fine to ask me to stop being a soldier?”

She spoke so quickly she had no idea where the words even came from. “It’s not the same. I save lives. I bring newborn babies into the world. It’s a miracle, you know? Those brand-new lives? Every one of them is a miracle. Your job literally means you have to end lives and put yours at risk. I’ve seen it.”

A muscle in his jaw clenched. “So that’s what you think.” She started to speak, but he held up a hand. “Like I said, I’m doing what God would have me to do right now. When I’m doing it, I feel the most complete. We’re the same that way. I don’t look down on what you do or who you are. Clearly, you don’t reciprocate. You don’t respect what I am.”

“It’s not a lack of respect, Rick. It’s a depth of understanding that invokes terror.”

He shook his head. “You can’t mean this. After everything—” He took a deep breath and put his hands on her shoulders. “After the way we’ve connected, opened up, loved . . .” He closed his eyes and then opened them again. “Tell me you don’t mean this.”

Hot tears pricked her eyes. “I can’t,” she whispered. “Please . . .”

“Please what? Please submit to your conditions? Please change everything about who I am to become the man worthy of your conditional love?” He let her go and took a step back, checking behind his shoulder. “Your detail’s just around that bend. I’m going to leave you in their capable hands now.” He turned on his heel and walked back the way they’d come.

Panicked, she rushed after him. “Rick!”