Page 86 of Sweet Somethings

Thirteen

"That call must have been from a woman," Doug told Roman as he returned to the kitchen.

"Why would you say that?"

"Because you have that look on your face that you used to have when Amy Downing called you."

"Amy Downing," he echoed with a laugh. "That is a name out of the past. Do you know what happened to her?"

"I do," Travis put in. "She married a lawyer who became a state senator in Illinois last year. They have three kids and apparently quite a bit of money. Oh, and I saw a picture of Amy recently, and she's still hot, my friend."

Roman laughed. "How do you know all that?"

"My mother is friends with her mother."

"I told you that you should have called her after graduation," Doug reminded him. "You blew it."

He shook his head. "I didn't call her, because it was over. I told her I was going to enlist, and she said have fun, but don't think I'll be waiting around for you to come home."

"Ouch," Travis said. "You never told us that."

"It wasn't exactly news I wanted to spread around."

"So who put that grin on your face today?" Doug asked. "Or do I have to ask? It's Juliette, isn't it? You've got a thing for her."

He couldn't deny it, but he also didn't want to talk about it. Because Juliette was far more important to him than he wanted to tell these guys, so he just shrugged.

"I knew she was into you when she brought you up on our date," Doug said.

"Wait, you dated Juliette?" Travis asked. "Are we going to have another problem on our hands? Because I don't want to be in the middle of some love triangle."

"There's no triangle," Doug said. "Juliette is into him, and he's into her."

"Thanks for the recap," he said dryly. He reached into the fridge and pulled out another beer.

"You should be careful," Doug said, a more serious note in his voice now. "She's going to be hard to leave. And you are leaving, aren't you?"

"That is the plan," he admitted. "Juliette knows that." He took a long draught of beer, not wanting to think about the moment when he might have to say good-bye to her. He sat back down at the table. "So, who's going to the love boat parade tomorrow?"

"I'll be on the water," Doug said. "I'd invite you on the boat, but we're full."

"That's fine." He turned to Travis. "What about you?"

"I thought I'd take Cameron over there. He likes boats."

"What happened to your wife?" Doug asked Travis. "If you don't mind me asking."

"Since you already asked," Travis said, his lips drawing into a tight line, "she left us about six months ago. She said she was bored with being a wife and a mother, and she read some book about traveling and hiking and finding herself, and the next thing I knew she was gone. Oh, and she took most of our savings for her trip."

"Sorry," Doug said. "That's rough."

"Yeah," Travis said. "I understand why she left me, but not why she left Cameron. She hasn't called. I can't reach her. He can't talk to her. It's like she died, only she didn't. But I'm going to try to make things right for Cameron and for my mother, who has her own issues." Travis looked at Roman. "She said you and Juliette were checking up on her."

"Only because Cameron looked a little lost before you came back."

"I had no idea she was as scattered as she is. I won't be asking her to babysit again." He paused. "I do appreciate your looking out for my kid."

"When Juliette sees someone in trouble, she doesn't look away."

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