“Someone by the name of Forbes.”

I took the phone.

“Hello?”

“Emily,” his voice sounded serious.

I started to cry. “Tell me he’s okay.”

“We haven’t heard anything.”

“What can you tell me?”

“It was MacDog and Guinness on the last bird. We lost radio contact. We have tried to go back over to see anything, but we’ve had heavy resistance.”

I sat there, with the phone pressed to my ear while tears ran down my face. “How bad is this?”

“Darling, this is as bad as it gets.”

I shook my head. “It can’t end like this. We had such a huge fight. Things ended so badly. I tried to call him, so many times after that. I texted him. But he didn’t call back.”

“He showed up at my place the night before he left for this mission.”

I put my hand over my mouth. “Oh, God. He was so upset. This is my fault. I distracted him. I upset him.”

“Darling, MacDog is a pro. He could turn his shit off like nobody’s business. Besides, he didn’t cause this crash. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

“I can’t do this without him, Forbes,” I confessed, trying not to sob. “I have no idea how to live my life without him in it.”

“I’m going to tell you something, so you listen carefully.”

“Okay,” tears clogged my throat.

“If there is one guy on our unit that can survive this, it'll be him, okay? MacDog is one of the toughest, most ruthless and determined men I have ever met in my life. That guy has a will of steel. I’ve seen him do the most heroic and insane things in my life, stuff that blew my mind, so if anyone has a chance of surviving this, it’s your husband. Now you focus on that.”

I openly sobbed. “Okay.”

“Are you eating?”

“Yes.”

“Sleeping?”

“Some.”

“I want you to go grab that cute dog of yours and go for a walk in the sunshine.”

He might as well have asked me to climb Mount Everest without an oxygen tank. “I can’t.”

“Yes, you can and you will. Because when Jackson is found, you need to be healthy and strong for him. He’s going to need you. So your job, the way you can help him the best, is to take implicit care of yourself right now.”

“Okay.”

“I’m going to be in touch in a few days, and I’m going to be asking if you went for a walk and you better tell me that you went for a walk every single day.”

“Okay.”

We sat there on the phone. Finally, I spoke. “Why are you so nice to me?”