Page 65 of Small Town Sash

"Let's dance, then," she challenged, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the makeshift dance floor.

"Careful," he warned playfully, "I might step on your toes."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Hadley teased, her laugh easing the tightness in his chest.

They moved together in easy rhythm, the world narrowing down to just the two of them. Her hand on his shoulder felt like a promise, her smile like hope. Yet, as they danced, Braden's mind raced ahead to the inevitable departure, to the air base in upper Texas waiting for him. He wanted to freeze this moment, to stop time, and stay here where the future was a distant whisper.

"Thinking hard or hardly thinking?" Hadley asked, her gaze searching his.

"Bit of both," he admitted with a half-smile.

"Live in the now, Sergeant," she advised, spinning under his arm. "Tomorrow can wait."

"Easier said than done," he murmured, but he let the beat of the music and the warmth of her presence pull him back to the now, to the laughter and the light and the girl who saw him as more than just a bomb detector in uniform.

After a wonderful evening, the last strains of music died down, and the room began to empty. Braden watched as friends said their goodbyes: hugs exchanged, promises to keep in touch, laughter echoing off the walls. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, the weight of what he needed to say settling like lead in his stomach.

"Hey," Hadley nudged him gently, her blue eyes scanning his face. "You've gone all quiet on me."

"Sorry," he managed a weak smile. "Just thinking about packing."

"Ugh, packing." She rolled her eyes dramatically. "The worst."

"Actually," he hesitated, watching as her expression shifted from playful to cautious. "It's more than that."

"More than the horror of folding? Do tell." Her attempt at lightness didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Upper Texas," he blurted out. "I leave for the air base soon."

"Upper Texas," she repeated, the words falling flat between them. "That's...pretty far away."

"I wish it wasn't so complicated," he said, running a hand through his hair.

"Complicated," she echoed, wrapping her arms around herself. "Is that what we are?"

He took a step closer, the space between them charged with unsaid fears and unasked questions. "Hadley, I?—"

"Braden, don't." She held up a hand. "Let's not do the whole 'define this' talk now. Not tonight."

"Then when?" His voice was soft but insistent.

"Later." The word hung in the air, hopeful and hopeless all at once.

"But we don't have time to put this off until later," Braden challenged.

Hadley fidgeted with the hem of her sweater, a nervous habit. "Braden," she started, her voice uneasy, "when you leave..." She paused and took a breath. "I've been thinking."

"Thinking can be dangerous," he teased, but his smile didn't quite reach his eyes. They both knew this conversation was inevitable.

"Ha-ha," she shot back, rolling her blue eyes. "Seriously, though. I don't want 'us' to end just because of some miles."

"Neither do I," Braden said, but his brows furrowed as if he were solving a complex math problem rather than discussing their future.

"Then we won't let it,." Hadley stated firmly. "We can make this work. Long distance. We're not the first couple to do it."

"Long distance..." He trailed off, considering.

"Video chats. Texts. Calls. I'll send you selfies where I look like an absolute goddess," she quipped with a smirk.

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