Page 188 of Sloane

He grabbed my hand and stared into my eyes.

“I’m doing this for us. For our family.”

“I love you so much.”

“I love you, sweetness. You and Millie… you’re what matters.”

I glanced over to see my mom crying, too, and had to laugh out loud through my tears when she blurted out, “What does it say?”

He turned to her with a smile.

“I’m retiring.”

~~~~

You know the saying, “But wait, there’s more!”

There was more.

Much, much more.

Chapter Seventy

Sloane

She sat in the passenger seat of the Odyssey as I legally drove us back to the beach house.

“You’ve been a busy boy this last week,” she remarked as she looked over at me with her head against the seat rest.

If you only knew how busy, baby…

“So, you’re going to be officially retired on January ninth. Does that mean you have to leave the regiment?”

“Yes.”

“Any idea where you’re going to go?”

“I have an idea. I’m actually hoping to get into it before the holidays so we can spend Christmas and New Year’s there. And I can finally get Tank back.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful? Where is it?”

“I’ll show you tomorrow, if you have time.”

“Jeff is coming for one last appointment with Stu before he moves out this weekend.”

I chuckled. “Stu’s getting his wings? That’s great. Good for him. Where’s he going?”

“He’s following Crash’s footsteps and enrolling at your alma mater. And, he and Crash are actually going to live together. Which opens up a whole different set of concerns.”

“Mainly for the women of San Diego,” I supplied with a grin.

Those two might be Wounded Warriors, but I think they also had the propensity to be lady killers.

“It seems like all the little birds from my first clutch have moved on.”

“That’s good, right?”

“It means I’m doing my job.”