The Colonels' Texas Promise. Caro Carson

      “There’s always a chance, but you should have that chance. And I shouldn’t assume everything is a battle.” She turned her face toward him once more. “Forget I tried to rush it. I’m sorry about that. Back to the original plan. You should meet my son first, before you decide anything.”

      She was afraid he was going to change his mind and leave without her. Juliet: afraid. Incredible.

      “I already decided. If a week could make any man change his mind, then you shouldn’t be with him anyway. You deserve better.” You know that—but he choked back the words, because her brown eyes suddenly glittered not with gold, but with unshed tears.

      She tugged the brim of her hat down a half inch.

      Time had passed. They’d had separate experiences, for certain, and hers had included a man who had changed his mind and broken a promise, hadn’t it? Rob Jones had been so much less than she deserved.

      Evan shoved down the guilt. “Juliet, I won’t change my mind.”

      “Twenty minutes ago, you didn’t know I was divorced. You didn’t know I was stationed at Fort Hood.”

      A sergeant passed behind Juliet. Evan returned his salute without taking his attention off Juliet. He looked her squarely in the eye, unafraid, as sober and serious as he’d ever been about anything in his life. “You and I are getting married because we’ve had sixteen years to think about it, and neither one of us has changed our mind.”

      They stared one another down for a moment.

      The memories continued to bombard him, the times they’d gauged one another just like this, each holding their ground during debates over chemistry lab hypotheses or proper pizza toppings. In retrospect, he could see that their showdowns had been frequent but fearless, because they’d been so certain that their friendship wouldn’t be changed by championing opposing views. They’d opposed each other on lab reports and pepperoni just for the heck of it sometimes, because it was always invigorating, often fun, and it had made the rest of their friends either groan or place bets on which one of them would concede the point. Now here they were, debating how and when to get a marriage license. It felt natural.

      Surrounded by the sights and sounds of his everyday life—the beige building, the battalion sign, the people in camouflage crossing the sidewalks—Evan was struck anew by the miracle of Juliet restored to his life, standing here, right before him, right in the middle of his ordinary world. He shook his head slowly and started to smile.

      “Lieutenant Colonel Grayson, can we please get in your car and continue this conversation somewhere, anywhere, away from here? I can’t touch you or hug you or have any kind of normal interaction with a woman I’m so damned happy to see, because we’re standing outside my own headquarters.”

      “You’re happy to see me?”

      “Ecstatic.”

      “You want to hug me?”

      “You have no idea.”

      “Hmm.” She pressed her lips together skeptically, another expression he knew so well. It tugged at his heart. He hadn’t thought about missing Juliet’s expressions. Now that he didn’t have to miss them any longer, each one was making him realize in how much denial he’d been all along.

      She pulled out a car key from somewhere in the vicinity of her skirt waistband. “Being in a car isn’t going to make us invisible, but I’m parked over there.”

      “Lead the way.”

      But she didn’t move. “You made a valid point. It’s been sixteen years. Next Friday will work.”

      “Yes, it will.”

      But she didn’t smile. In fact, she’d barely smiled at all in the past twenty-something minutes. Juliet had always been smart and sharp and driven, but she’d also been joyful. He knew her expressions, and her smile had been the most frequent of them all. Even at the end of a deployment to Afghanistan, she’d smiled on that airfield. Had life dealt her so many negative experiences while they were apart that smiles were less frequent than skepticism? That talking about her current life required stoicism?

      There’d been nothing stoic or skeptical in that kiss in his office.

      She kissed like the Juliet he’d known, the woman who loved life. She’d been the ringleader, the friend who’d coaxed everyone else to go to new places, to taste new foods, even to wear crazy hats or face paint, just for fun.

      He was a man who didn’t like surprises in general, but to realize Juliet had lost her joy in life was the least welcome surprise of all. Evan assigned himself a new mission in life: to bring a little fun back into hers.

      A lot of fun.

       Exploit the advantage. Strike while the iron is hot. Give her no chance to retreat.

      “We have some time before school’s out. Let’s go to your hotel room and get you out of that uniform.”