Dr. Adelson steps in beside her, one arm linked around her waist.
“I’m feeling a little tired. It’s been a long—don’t give me that look, Haddy,” Mom chides. I press my molars together and look to Richard whose expression is unreadable. I’m about to say something to him when Mom grabs my arm, softly pulling my attention. “Havefuntonight, sweetheart. Dance, drink, celebrate, do whatever you want. You deserve it. I’m in good hands, I promise.”
I sigh. “Okay. Brunch tomorrow?”
“Always.”
With that, Mom leaves on Richard’s arm and the tuxedoed soldier thrusts a glass of bubbly into my hand boasting a dimpled grin all too excited to get to all thefun.
On our way to the dance floor, Rowan gets lured into a conversation with a nurse who knew his grandmother. Without missing a beat, another handsome soldier swipes my flute, sets it aside, and begins to twirl me around to the music.
Dubs smirks while Rowan steals evil glances over the nurse’s shoulder like a grumpy chaperone.
“Getting his face to look like that is my favorite pastime.” Dubs hurls me into a dramatic dip. Rowan scowls at us then flips to a bright smile on a dime when the woman asks him something.
I laugh. “You’re pretty good at it.”
“Years of practice.” He hauls me to my feet with a hand placed safely in the middle of my back and we begin an easy sway. “You’re good for him.”
Together, we look over at thehimin question.
All the big, forever kind of thoughts I have about this man are swallowed down as I turn back to his friend. “What makes you say that?”
“The bullet wound on his shoulder?” I nod, lips pulling tight. “Stupid idiot jumped in front of me.” He shakes his head, avoiding the memory, gaze drifting off. Can’t say I’m surprised Rowan left out the part about taking the bullet to save his best friend’s life. Because of course he did.
“And Ifuckinglove him for it,” Dubs adds. “But I hate him a little bit too for risking his life like that.”
His gray eyes meet mine. “Nobody loves harder than my guy, but he’s too competent for his own damn good.” He spins me under his arm and slides me back in. “My friend is a lot of things, Hannah. Most of them good, but he hates asking for help. And you…I can tell you’re strong like him, but a caretaker like Tess. He needs that. Guy’s gonna work himself to the bone taking care of everyone else if someone doesn’t start taking care of him soon.”
My throat grows tight. I’ve never met anyone who cares for others the way Rowan does—sacrificially and without conditions. Strangers on the sidewalk or his own flesh and blood, it doesn’t matter. He’s all in from the word go.
Dubs’ next words hit hard, but the look on his face when he says them lands like a Mack truck straight to my gut. “So take care of him, yeah?”
I hold his stare for long seconds, unable to find the right response. His gaze, so kind and compassionate, makes it impossible to answer honestly. If only he understood the mountains of odds stacked against his best friend and me.
“Hands off.” Rowan curls a possessive arm around my waist and pulls me out of his friend’s hold, severing the silence.
Dubs takes the interruption in stride, tips an imaginary hat my way. “Thanks for the dance, Hans. I’m off to annoy my future betrothed.” He sidesteps us and finds Bri on the edge of the dance floor who eyes him like a dare she’s already decided is a no-go. Tess is perched beside her, delighted over the whole thing. “Yo, Bridge! You. Me. Dance.”
“Not a chance, Nunchuck.”
“Wasn’t a question, sweetheart,” he croons, voice fading behind us.
Rowan swings me around until we’re chest to chest, his hand set low on my back while the other claims mine over his collarbone.
“Is the man of the hour gracing me with his presence?” I tease.
“Cute. This is all your fault, you know.”
“Sorry, not sorry, soldier.”
The song transitions into a brassy rendition of “Moonlight Serenade.” Other couples dancing around us, this room, the world beyond it—it all begins to fade. First, only a blur of sound and color and light until the rock of our bodies, the fervent thump of Rowan’s heart beneath my hand, and the ocean-blue eyes peering down at me narrows our entire universe to just this. Only us.
Take care of him.
How badly I wish I could. If the situation were different, I wouldn’t hesitate. If he wasn’t leaving in twelve hours, I wouldn’t waste another second without telling this man how much I love him.
Someone or something bigger than either of us managed to collide our worlds together twice already. Timing and crappy circumstances limited any possibility of seeing where a real relationship might take us. But if we’re lucky, if we’ve got anyone in our corner on the other side of this life, maybe we’ll get a third try. Someday.