‘Not that far back,’ she objected, but he’d made her laugh and she felt a little of her awkwardness dissipate. ‘Though I still can’t believe you’re an army guy.’
‘No, I understand that.’ He shrugged, and she appreciated that he still wasn’t going to be drawn on his reasons.
It made her feel oddly shut out. He’d never shut her out once during their entire relationship all those years ago. Well, apart from the very end, of course, so that probably wasn’t the best comparison to make.
Hurt lanced through her, cold and steel-like, and she tried to grab hold of it as though she thought she might somehow wrap it around her chest and protect herself. She told herself that as much as she longed to know his reasons, it was going to be better to leave well alone.
Far better to hold onto the knowledge that they had a job to do, and that people’s lives in the future could hinge on how well she and Kane could pull things together now. And, despite everything else, she prided herself on being a good OC. Clearly Kane was a good WO2.
So, for now, that would he enough.
‘Fine.’ She made herself pick up her brief. ‘Then let’s run through the original exercise plans. Our main phase is running medical simulations with the battle group to test the support chain. This pre-phase now is about running our own medical scenarios to keep us sharp in a medical sense.’
‘Right, so your main phase is obviously just a medical phase in our battle group’s schedule. Brigade are now looking to break that element down further so that we have two distinct medical support chain phases.’
‘Run me through it.’ Clicking her pen, Mattie began making notes.
‘Initially we’d be running the scenarios in the briefing.’
‘Which means individual or small group scenarios.’ Mattie nodded, not needing to check her notes but doing so anyway. To keep her fingers busy, if nothing else. ‘To check how the support chain holds up with the new tactics.’
‘Right. Then, depending how that goes, we’ll tweak the tactics or support logistics and keep running those scenarios until we know they’re smooth.’
It was almost odd, seeing Kane flip so suddenly. A side of him that had always been there but which she’d never pictured in this military setting before—probably because he’d been so anti-establishment. Yet seeing him now, it was easy to see why he was already a WO2.
‘Agreed,’ she clipped out, pulling her head back to where it should be.
‘But Brigade also want to see if we can look at how a mass casualty incident could be approached.’
‘For this exercise?’ She cocked her head at him, her mind already beginning to build up a possible event.
‘Not necessarily. But possibly. You know how Brigade works.’
‘Hurry up and wait.’ She nodded. ‘Yes. I know. So they want us to start drawing something up in case, but otherwise it can shelved for a future battle group exercise?’
‘Pretty much.’
And Mattie couldn’t say what happened, or how, but like a switch flicking on they were suddenly in a different place. Talking and tabling suggestions as though they were any OC and WO2. Not Mattie and Kane.
Their intimate history was no longer an issue. If anything, Mattie was shocked to find it made the process even easier, because they knew each other so well they could pre-empt what the other was thinking or read the other’s body language.
And when that part of the discussion drew to a natural pause, it was startling to realise they’d been talking for almost ninety minute
s. Yet when she stood up to stretch her legs, intending to move around the room, she found herself naturally drifting towards Kane.
‘For the record,’ she heard herself say quietly, ‘I think now that we’re over the initial...shock of meeting out here, we will be able to work well together.’
He regarded her for a moment, his expression turning sober. Though she wished she could read exactly what was behind that slightly guarded expression.
‘I really think we can, Mattie. The army is in your blood, it’s who you are and you’re very good at it, anyone can see that. And I know you don’t understand how I came to be here, but I can tell you that the army saved me. I’m not here because my CO needed someone to fill a gap, I’m here because I’m good at what I do.’
‘Obviously.’ She eyed him with surprise. ‘Did you think I didn’t realise that? You wouldn’t have made it to CSM if you weren’t, and certainly not in under a decade and a half. You have to be exceptional at what you do.’
‘Not bad for a Wheeler kid, eh?’ He laughed self-deprecatingly.
Mattie didn’t laugh with him.
‘You were never like them, Kane,’ she said after a moment. ‘You always had the capability to make something of yourself. I just think... I just think that too many people around Heathdale were small–minded, saying that you’d never amount to anything, and you believed them. But I never thought that.’