“You really think Kelly would let you go to a hotel room after your flight came in this evening?”

“You didn’t have to tell her when I’d be back.”

“Because she didn’t know when I was scheduled to return?” Lukas challenged, then gestured to the dog lying across Bodie’s lap. “Besides, somebody missed you. Never seen him just sit and stare at the door the way he has the past two weeks.”

Harry had practically tackled him when he’d walked into Lukas’s place. No one had ever missed him the way the dog apparently had.

Bodie stroked his hand along Harry’s spine. Harry lifted his head, gave Bodie’s cheek one appreciative lick, then settled back down.

“Thanks for watching him while I was away.” Closing his eyes, Bodie leaned his head back against the recliner.

He had missed Harry. Missed a lot of things.

But the mission had been good.

An extraction of a well-connected Middle Eastern family who’d gotten trapped behind enemy lines as political winds had shifted. Bodie and his team had gone in, gotten the family out, and moved them to a safe location.

They’d run into resistance, which had tested Body’s readiness, but he’d had no difficulties doing what needed to be done.

Afterwards, flushed with success, he had felt alive, whole.

And yet, he’d also felt as if something were missing.

Someone.

“You planning to stick around until the new year?”

Opening his eyes, he met his friend’s gaze and shook his head. “Figured I’d head out in the morning for Texas.” That way Lukas and Kelly could spend Christmas morning together without his intrusion.

“You’re welcome to stay until January when you go to D.C.”

“For my glorified babysitting job?”

Lukas laughed. “Sorry. Most of our jobs aren’t like the one you just pulled off.”

Bodie’s phone vibrated and, shifting Harry around until he could reach his pocket, he pulled the phone out.

Merry Christmas.

The same fluttery feeling he got anytime he thought of Sarah filled him. He hadn’t expected to hear from her, to have any contact with her ever again. That she’d reached out to tell him “Merry Christmas” fit, though. Sarah wanted everyone to have a good Christmas. It was just who she was.

“Everything okay?” Lukas asked when Bodie remained quiet, staring at his phone.

He glanced up at his friend and nodded. “Fine.”

“You’re a terrible liar,” Lukas pointed out. “That from Kentucky?”

Bodie glanced at his friend. “Since when did being my boss give you rights to my private life?”

“Since when did you have a private life?”

Since he’d gone to thank an elderly lady for his quilt and met a young, beautiful woman who lived to serve others. A woman who smiled and lit up a room. A woman who smiled and lit up him.