When she grabbed his arm, he spun back around, jerking free. “Stop it. You don’t get to just suddenly drop this on me. Go home, Cynthia. Thanks for coming to visit. It’s been very edifying.”

This time when he walked away, she didn’t go after him.

FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA

As he went into the headquarters building, Rick slipped his green beret off his head. The specialist manning the desk said, “Morning, sir.”

“Specialist.” He didn’t recognize the man. The unit replacing them here at Fort Bragg had started arriving during Rick’s leave, and he guessed the specialist belonged to them.

As he passed Colonel Jenkins’s office, he glanced in and spied the empty desk. He turned right down a hallway and went into the ready room, where he found the colonel standing at the podium, typing on a laptop.

“Morning, sir,” Rick said.

Colonel Jenkins glanced up. “Captain. You headed out to Campbell?”

“Tomorrow morning, sir. Clearing out my desk today.”

He’d driven back to North Carolina the day after he last spoke with Cynthia. He’d spent the last several days packing up his house, spending as much time as possible trying not to think about Cynthia and what she’d said.

“See you there next Tuesday.” Colonel Jenkins gestured at the screen behind him as it lit up with a slide presentation. “I have the new team coming in today. Going to give them the post briefing.”

“Yes, sir.” Rick headed to the outside courtyard, putting the beret back on. Over his left eye he lined up the crossed arrows and sword atop the crest, while he draped the beret over his right ear. The movement looked effortless despite the hours it took to shape the wool berets into submission.

He found Bill playing basketball with a man he didn’t know. “Hey, Drumstick. Got a sec?”

Bill shot and missed from the three-point line, then turned toward him. “Yes, sir!” He slapped the man on the shoulder as he jogged toward Rick, then held out his hand. “Good to see you, brother.” He stopped at a bench and picked up a towel and a bottle of water. “You headed out today?”

“In the morning.”

Bill downed half a bottle of water in a few gulps, then asked, “You okay?” They sat on the bench, and he mopped his face with a towel.

When Rick left Charula, Bill had stayed behind, taking up the spare bedroom at Rick’s parents’ house, visiting with Waller and letting Rick’s mom pamper him and mother him after his injury.

“Cynthia and I broke up,” Rick said.

“Oh?” Bill slowly lowered the towel. Rick thought he tried to look surprised. “Want to talk about it?”

“No.”

Bill nodded. “Good.”

Rick sighed. “Yes.”

Bill waited, looking about as uncomfortable as when he’d had a bullet lodged in his chest.