“That’s what I was hoping for,” I replied, stepping out of the shower. “This way we have an excuse for leaving.”

My family hadn’t taken the news that we were staying in Missouri for Christmas very well. They’d been understanding because that’s the way they were, but my mom hadn’t been able to hide her disappointment. The next day, Ani had called to let us know that she, Bram, and Arie were flying to Missouri to spend the holiday with us. I think her exact words had been “Buy an air mattress, asshat—we’re coming to you.” Since none of the kids would be in Oregon, my parents had decided to fly down and spend the holiday with my sister’s family in San Diego.

“You picked up the white-elephant gifts?” Sarai asked for the fifth time that morning.

“They’re in the truck,” I replied as she walked out of the room. “I even put them in gift bags.”

I was trying to snap myself out of the pissy mood I’d been in, but it wasn’t working. When I’d let my commanding officer know that I wasn’t going to be re-enlisting, I’d gotten a lecture about priorities with a heavy dose of guilt trip thrown in. I understood the sentiment, and I knew he’d been counting on me, but I wasn’t going to change my mind. My priorities had shifted. Unfortunately, the whole thing had left a bad taste in my mouth, and I couldn’t seem to shake it.

Sarai was blending a smoothie when I walked out of our bedroom, fully dressed and ready to go.

“I’m going to eat and brush my teeth, and then we can leave,” she said, ignoring my comment. “Do you want some?”

I looked at the green slime she was pouring into her glass. “No thanks.”

“It’s just green because of the kale,” she said. “You can’t even taste it.”

Before I could reply, her phone rang, interrupting us. She reached for it and accidentally knocked over the blender, sending pureed fruit flying across the countertop.

“Shit,” she hissed, bringing the phone to her ear. “Hello?”

I wasn’t really paying attention to her conversation as we both tried to mop up the mess, but when she went still beside me, the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

“Of course,” she murmured, her eyes meeting mine. “We’ll be right there.”

“What is it?” I asked as she hung up the phone.

“We need to go get Hailey,” she said, tossing the towel she’d been using to clean up onto the counter. “Right now.”

“What happened?” I asked, following her to the bedroom.