One Week with the Marine (Love on Location)

When she didn’t, Avery asked, “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?” Myla’s voice was strained, and she didn’t bother to look up.

“Myla.”

“I couldn’t… You were with Holden. I didn’t want to bother you when you never get to see him.”

“Not even for this? You know I would have come—”

“I do. And that’s why I couldn’t tell you.” Myla leaned back on her elbows, her eyes closed as her chin tilted toward the sky. “How did you find out?” Myla asked, almost too quietly for Avery to hear.

“I saw it in the paper at the grocery store. You must have known for—”

Myla shook her head. “Soap News Today?”

“Yeah.”

“You found out the same way I did.”

“You can’t mean—”

“I was in the store trying to buy some groceries, and there it was, right on the front page. Oliver and that woman from his show. You know, the worst part was that the hotel in the picture is only a block from my house. It’s like he wanted to get caught. Like…” Myla shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t know why men do anything they do.”

Avery scooted toward her friend and put an arm around her shoulder. She waited for the tears to come, but when they didn’t, she said, “Maybe you should just be single for a while now. It might not be a bad idea to play the field.”

Myla let out a humorless laugh. “It’s the only option I’ve got. I don’t have someone waiting around for me like you do.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve got Holden.”

“Only sometimes. Then he goes off and—”

“Waits for you. And you wait for him. You both keep playing this game like you can’t handle being in a relationship, but—”

“I thought this was about you,” Avery interrupted, and Myla sighed.

“I’d just like to have what you guys have, you know? I want to know what it’s like to have someone love me as much as Holden loves you.”

“Holden doesn’t love me.” Avery let out a breathy laugh, but inside she wanted to scream. All she’d agreed to was that she didn’t just want to be his fuck buddy. Why wasn’t that enough for the universe? Why did it have to keep throwing words like “love” and “commitment” her way before she could even take a breath?

Why did everything have to be so serious?

“He does, though,” Myla said, her tone matter-of-fact. “I’ve watched you both since we were in high school together. I’m telling you, that boy loves you.”

“Well, Oliver said he loved you, too,” Avery said as delicately as she could manage.

“He said a lot of things. Whether he meant them or not was another matter entirely.” Myla waved her hand in the air. “But what you have with Holden is special.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t I? He was just on the phone with me, telling me about his big deployment plans, and about how he doesn’t want to leave you behind. That doesn’t sound like love to you?”

Avery blinked. “His what?”

“You didn’t—”

“His contract is up. Why would he deploy again?” Her heart froze in her chest. “He said his contract was up.”