Page 89 of Forever Fallen

“Honestly?” Ryan said quietly, looking at the other man and seeing the genuine question in his face.

It was kinda comical to think that someone so flighty and fickle as Hot Cakes was actually curious about relationships. The man avoided them like the plague and the moment someone got clingy, or he was bored?

It was done.

Firefly called Hot Cakes a ‘Him-bo’one time… and the two had to be separated, but it felt like it was true - or sure was portrayed that way.

Jace ‘Hot Cakes’ Sorenson was an incredible aviator, looked young, innocent, and clean cut… but this same man before him had been dragged out of bars drunk, had all sorts of women hanging off of him before, and he could name at least five women that Hot Cakes had talked about during the last time he was on leave.

He earned his call sign for a reason.

… And he was asking about relationship advice?

“Well,” Ryan began, trying not to smile or laugh. “It sounds stupid, but we started talking and she just had this presence to her that was indescribable. She surprised me, wowed me, and was the most beautiful person I have ever met – on the inside and the outside,” he admitted openly. “I met Sophie and never looked back.”

“… But marriage?” Hot Cakes asked, his voice confused and full of disbelief. “Aren’t you scared that it’s not going to work out or she’s gonna fool around? I mean, did you do a pre-nup or…”

“Why?” Reaper laughed. “I’ve got nothing except a bank account and truthfully? If that’s why she married me, then we’ll both be disappointed. I’m not betting on things ending between us and maybe that is just my own outlook? I’m ‘all in’ and starting my life finally - with Sophie.”

Hot Cakes got really quiet before speaking again.

“Maybe my outlook needs a little work then…”

“Or maybe you haven’t met the right person,” Ryan countered. “You asked how I knew? It was lightning fast and there was no looking back. It happens – good, bad, or otherwise – and there’s no arguing or fighting it.”

The other man got up and walked off, abruptly ending the conversation.

“… And maybe that’s why you’re asking,” Ryan muttered, shaking his head. “You don’t like something that’s said – and you just leave.”

CHAPTER27

SOPHIE

She sat therein the car at the airport numbly.

It had been less than thirty days since Ryan entered her world and her whole life had flipped upside down in the most incredible way after having it all fall apart… and now he was just gone.

She’d been sitting there for forty minutes, waiting, and knowing that he was at the gate getting ready to board his flight. A part of her wished it was like some incredible TV show and he would call, come running out of the building, or simply abandon his duty to return to her…

But Ryan would never do that.

That wasn’t him – and she would never ask that of him. It would change things exponentially, including who he was as a person. He was an airman, a pilot, a brother to his teammates, honorable as the day was long… and her husband.

Inner strength came from confidence and security – and she had both, because she knew where she stood with him. He never made her feel differently about who she was and that was part of what touched her. Once he was involved and decided on their relationship… there was no budging.

No games.

She had been the confused one, the one who struggled, and he was there supporting her the entire time, knocking down every imagined obstacle between them, and loving her all the while.

No, it was time for her to be strong. She knew how she was feeling and imagined that it was the same for him. There was a barrenness to her soul, a recognition that her life was on ‘pause’ in the strangest way, because she would be waiting for happiness to resume the moment that he returned to her.

“One year,” she breathed openly, fearful, and yet strangely accepting. “One year to love him, reach out to him however I can, and be there when he needs me…”

Turning the key in the ignition, she expected to cry, bawl, or sob… yet she did none of those things. She felt numb, frozen, and hollowed out, like her heart had stopped beating, and she was going to be existing in a fog where the world moved around her.

Her phone dinged.

There was a small video clip from Ryan – and she immediately pressed play as she stared at his beloved face.

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