Page 168 of Sloane

Chapter Sixty-One

Sloane

I hadn’t been excited about trading a beach house for barracks. Or going from spending my days laid back with Ashley, Millie, Stu, and Crash to a structured schedule with half a dozen other injured Marines, but it turned out to be the best thing for me.

I was able to focus on my physical, mental, and spiritual health and, well, to put it delicately—finally pull my head out of my ass.

The fact that Ashley hadn’t served me with papers and would send the occasional photo of my daughter gave me hope that it wasn’t too late to be a father to my little girl.

Whether I could salvage my relationship with Ashley was a whole different story.

I expressed my concern the night after Halloween. I’d just finished dinner at Grace and Ryan’s house, and I’d shown them the picture Ashley had sent me of Millie in her Halloween costume.

“You two made a damn cute kid,” Ryan said as he handed me back my phone.

“I know,” I said with a laugh. “It’d be a shame not to give her a brother or sister.”

Both my friends’ heads turned so fast to look at me, I was worried they’d gotten whiplash.

“What are you saying?” Ryan asked.

“I’m not saying anything. Just wishful thinking out loud. I think it might be too late. I really fucked that up.”

My friend didn’t try to spare my feelings or sugarcoat things.

“Yeah, you did. Big time. But it’s encouraging that you’re even talking about having another one. Less than two months ago, you were convinced you shouldn’t even be a dad to Millie.”

“I hope it’s not too late to make up for that. I can’t blame Ashley if she never wants anything to do with me again, but hopefully she’s still willing to let me coparent Millie.”

“Remind her why she fell in love with you,” Grace suggested before taking a sip of wine.

“How?”

“I don’t know. What made her fall in love with you in the first place?”

“My witty love letters,” I quipped.

She raised her eyebrows and shrugged, like it was that easy. “There’s your answer.”

“I should write her love letters?”

“Maybe not start with a love letter, but why not send her a letter and see what happens?”

I mean… what could it hurt?

****

Ashley

Through Military Angels, I was currently corresponding with two sergeants, one in the Army and one in the Marines. Writing two relatively generic letters a week and sending two packages a month seemed like a piece of cake compared to the amount of time I’d spent pouring my heart out in prose to Sloane.

So far, neither had written back, and that was probably just as well. Not that I’d ever get romantically involved with a pen pal again, but I didn’t have the emotional bandwidth to form even a superficial friendship with someone who could get hurt or worse. I was perfectly content being a socks, beef jerky, and battery supplier to military men and women risking their lives for my freedoms and not getting a letter in return.

So, when Crash announced, “Ash, you got a letter,” after he came back from the mailbox, I was surprised.

I was even more surprised when I immediately recognized the handwriting and the Camp Pendleton return address.

I had no idea why Sloane would be writing to me. Was this what Tammy had warned me about? Was he going to sue me for custody? My gut told me no; that wasn’t his style.

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