Out of Uniform (Wingmen Warriors 14)

“House.”

Stenciled cartoon airplanes along a wall. “Nursery.”

“Baby.”

Love. “Child.”

“Husband.”

Nothing. She drew a blank. Her head throbbed with the effort of trying to force an image. She pressed her fingers to her aching temples. “It’s fading.”

Jacob touched her elbow. “We’ll try again later.”

“Sure.” Dee swiped her hand over her forehead, feeling wobbly and caught between two worlds. She looked around the room to ground herself in the moment.

Her gaze hooked on Emily feeding French fries to the teenager she guessed to be Chase. His mother must be watching the baby, because Madison wasn’t anywhere in sight. Chase’s clothes hung from his frame. Broad shoulders filled out his oversize T-shirt and open button-down. Dee couldn’t help but think that if Emily were her daughter, she’d blow that boy out of the water for putting his hands so low on Emily’s hips, especially in public.

She could see the tension in Jacob’s jaw, felt an echoing frustration. What was the right answer for those two? She honestly didn’t know. They were stuck in such an awkward age, hiding all those confused feelings behind too much hair and droopy pants, teenagers trying on new personas like hats.

Was she much better off? Trying to find pieces of herself and patch them into a whole person.

Even if she discovered her old identity, she wondered how much of the new creation she would carry with her. She couldn’t imagine emerging from this ordeal as if it had never happened. Certainly her short time knowing Jacob would be imprinted on her brain long after she left Rockfish and this moody man behind.

“Supper was nice.” Clouds puffed into the night air as Dee spoke. “Thanks for the fried walleye.”

Outside Dee’s motel door, Jacob leaned against his truck fender. “No problem.”

He watched Dee clutch the doorknob behind her back. Was she reluctant to say good-night, too?

They’d shared a room once, but concerns for her health had offered a substantial cold shower. Tonight, especially after that kiss, his resolve was weakening.

A fleeting image of waking up next to her tormented him. He couldn’t leave fast enough. “See you in the morning.”

“Jacob—” Her voice reached to him.

Glancing back over his shoulder, he asked, “Yeah?”

“I appreciate your taking me to the diner and introducing me around. I needed that.”

“It wasn’t anything special.” As a matter of fact, it had felt too comfortable.

“Maybe not to you. But to me, it was blessedly normal, kind of like…catching snowflakes on your tongue. Magical in its simplicity. Thank you for that gift.”

Then she smiled. Just smiled, but the happiness spread all the way to her eyes.

Her beauty blindsided him like a surprise whiteout.

How could he have ever thought her merely pretty? She radiated something incredible that far surpassed an average word such as “pretty.”

A lock of hair slid free from her scarf and lifted with the circling winds. Drawn to Dee in spite of his better judgment, he shoved away from the truck and stopped in front of her. The wind at his back, he shielded her.

Her fingers fluttered upward and landed lightly on his head, dusting snow away. “You really should remember to wear a hat.”

He smiled down at her. “Sure, Mom.”

Her arm dropped back to her side again. Hurt dimmed her eyes. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He kept forgetting how prickly she could be. He folded the ends of her scarf over each other and resisted the urge to smooth his hands along her shoulders, cup the softness just below her coat. “You need to sleep. You didn’t rest much last night.”