Page 1 of Forged By Sacrifice

Mac

HOPELESS ROMANTIC

“I'm just a hopeless romantic,

Looking for love,

I'd risk it all just to have it.”

Performed by Meghan Trainor

Written by Carlsson / Trainor / Golan

The sun was afterburner hot when I tied off and locked up my boat before stepping onto the dock in Rockport. The humidity hit me hard after being on the water for a few weeks. It made me question whether I really wanted to spend time on land or not. But the solitude of my boat had reached its limit for me.

Besides, I hadn’t been able to see both my best friends at the same time in a couple of years. I squinted at the road, waiting for Eli’s black pickup to come barreling down, while I thought about how long it had actually been since we’d all been together. I’d seen Eli, and I’d seen Truck, and they’d seen each other, but it hadn’t been the three of us since Ava, Eli’s fiancée, had graduated from Juilliard. That was over two years ago, so this time together was both rare and much needed.

Since Eli had left the military, I’d been able to see him the most. With Truck in the Coast Guard and me in the Navy, we’d been at the beck and call of our leaders and the imbeciles who were running the country. I mentally checked myself. I had to lose that kind of talk about our leaders if I was really going to be one of them in the near future.

Turning on my phone, it blew up with texts and messages received since I’d last had a signal.

NASH: Macauley?!

ME: Just got into port. What’s up?

NASH: Who the fuck did you leave in charge?

ME: ** laughing emoji ** Are you making friends already?

NASH: Seriously, the intel reports we’re getting are crap.

Leaving the Navy and my work at the Department of Defense behind had been harder than I’d thought it would be. I was leaving a family. Some of them were actual blood, like my dad, and some of them were men who’d become brothers through bloodshed, like Nash and Darren. People who had depended on me to make sure no one came home in a body bag.

ME: I can talk to Dad, see what’s going on.

NASH: Or just come back.

But Nash knew I couldn’t. Not if I was going to be true to everything I’d worked for since childhood. I didn’t know what else to say to him, so I opened the next round of messages from my sister, Dani.

Dani and I were a mere twelve months apart. I didn’t even want to think about what that meant for how often my parents had been having sex in order for that to happen. But because of the small age gap, Dani and I were the closest of our siblings. Unfortunately, she was older and liked to remind me of it every single time we met, as if the twelve months had somehow endowed her with a lifetime more of experiences. I’d wanted her to come on vacation with me, but she’d said there was too much to do before Congress was out of session for the summer break.

BRAT: When are you starting again?

ME: Rag, rag, rag. Hello to you too, Gooberpants.

BRAT: ** one fingered emoji ** I’m drowning in reports that I need you to look at.

ME: I’ll be back by the end of the month.

BRAT: I swear if you’re later than that, I’ll send an assassin after you.

ME: I think Nash is ready to do that for free.

BRAT: He’s still pissed you left?

I didn’t respond because I didn’t need to. Dani knew everything, including how I felt.

BRAT: You have a right to go after your dreams.

---