Austin and Elodie started basic small talk, how unpredictable the rain was and how the weather people never got the forecast right, that Austin had a headache and that Elodie’s hands were starting to ache each day after work. The pain was increasing quickly, and she was a little worried. Austin touched the tips of her fingers and she winced.

“Sorry.” He let go, looking like a puppy who’d chewed apart a favorite shoe.

“It’s okay,” she assured him, verbally petting his head. “I have about ten minutes until I have to meet Martin; he’s with Julien and Gloria.”

I turned around faster than I meant to, coming comically close to chopping the tip of my finger off. I set the knife toward the back of the cutting board, facing away from me.

“Martin, Kael Martin?” I asked her, somewhat puzzled. He told me he had meetings on post until five, but he was with Austin maybe an hour ago; now he’s somewhere with Mendoza’s wife and baby, and Elodie is going to meet up with them?

Elodie nodded. “He picked them up from home and dropped them off at the doctor. Kael’s been spending all his time on post for his discharge stuff. I offered to take them home since Mendoza’s on twenty-four-hour duty. I haven’t met Gloria, but I’m hoping to make mom friends.” Elodie’s voice became more and more exhausted as she finished her sentence.

“Oh. Yeah. Gloria seems cool.” I turned back around and continued chopping the carrot, noticing that the water in the pot was beginning to boil. My mind drifted to Kael as Elodie and Austin started talking about some park she saw on Instagram. So Kael must have driven back and forth to help them out. Of course he did. I felt the little nudge between my lungs as I thought of how much I liked the softness of his actions and how they spoke infinitely louder than his words.

I realized that Kael and I don’t talk much about his military life day to day. It’s more about the big picture of his life, but even then, the conversation is mostly focused on me. Elodie seemed to talk to Kael every day, and I wondered what he might have told her about us. I thought about mentioning to Elodie how often I’m hanging out with him.“Hey, Elodie, Kael and I are. . . friends . . . and we kissed more than once. I kinda want to kiss him again, but we’re just friends . . . okay, thanks? But since I can’t even explain what the hell we’re doing, there was really nothing to say to her.

Elodie’s loud laugh suddenly interrupted my thoughts. Clearly, I had missed one of Austin’s jokes, but I noticed how he had managed to charm her. The banter between the two of them was a pleasant distraction.