Tears welled up in my eyes and overflowed. “Can we see him?”

Jared hugged me to his side. “He can’t know you were ever here. We can’t take that chance.”

Jared's reasoning made sense. Explaining Ryan’s memories of me at his bedside in Landstuhl would be too difficult to explain away to our friends at Brown.

Claire looked at her dirty hands. “I hauled him to an empty shack off the path, stayed the night until Morning Prayer, and then back-tracked East to my Jeep.”

Colonel Brand knocked on the door jamb. Jared and Claire immediately stood, and Jared pulled me with him.

“Colonel,” Jared and Claire said in unison, both nodding.

“He’s out of the woods for now. Doctor Vanhooser is closing, and he’ll be in to speak with you shortly. He has been informed that Sergeant Scott is to be kept unaware of your presence.”

“Thanks, Jason,” Claire said, letting out a big sigh of relief.

“There is something you should know,” Colonel Brand said. “Ryan is going to need substantial physical therapy, and after losing his entire unit, his debriefing will be substantial.”

“What does that mean for Ryan?” I asked.

“Sergeant Scott’s chances to return to active duty are slim,” Colonel Brand said, matter-of-factly.

I was ashamed of the relief the Colonel’s words brought me. Ryan would be devastated, and I could only think of myself. Thoughts of Ryan returning to Brown on the military’s dime, and his empty seat at the Ratty being filled peppered my mind, and I had to cover my smile with my hand.

Jared glanced at me. He knew how Colonel Brand’s prediction had made me feel, and his eyes tightened. I sunk back into my seat, crimson splashing across my cheeks.

Claire took a walk down the colorless hallway, giving Jared the perfect chance to scold me. Before he could get the chance, my cell phone buzzed in my jacket pocket.

“Hello?”

“Grant is out sick, you’re gone, and the Japan firm is on line two asking questions I don’t know the answers to,” Beth barked in her southern accent. “I don’t understand half of what he says, Nina. Is there some way to patch you through?”

I smiled. “Just tell him I’m out of town, and I will call him tomorrow.”

“He said he’s been waiting on a return phone call from Grant for a week.”

“Then he can wait one more day,” I said.

“Where are you? I only have a billion documents for you to sign, and the billing on the Peterman account is messed up.”

“Ask an intern. They know the software better than the accountants.”

“Nigh,” she sighed.“Where are you?”

“Checking on an old friend,” I said. “I have to go, Beth. Oh, and…don’t ask Sasha for help. It will give her the mistaken impression that she’s needed.”

“The friend wouldn’t be Kim, would it?”